Catalog Year: 2024-2025
Africana Studies
Africana Studies is the critical, intellectual, and representational expression of the history, culture, and ideas of
people of Africa and the African Diaspora, past and present. Founded in 1969, it is an interdisciplinary and
transnational program of study that includes theoretical and methodological approaches reflective of the
experience and intellectual traditions of Black people. It also includes studies of political and social
movements, such as Négritude, Garveyism, Pan-Africanism, the Civil Rights Movement, Decolonization, Black
Consciousness, Black Identities, and Black Feminism. Zora Neale Hurston, Frantz Fanon, Walter Rodney,
C.L.R. James, W.E.B. Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah, Patricia Hill Collins, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, Ama Ata
Aidoo, Buchi Emecheta, Samir Amin, and Oyeronke Oyewumi are among the writers and intellectuals studied.
Through the disciplines of history, literature, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science,
economics, religion, the cinema, and the creative arts, students examine the African world and the relationship
between Africana people and the larger world system. Students obtain a wide range of knowledge and
analytical tools as well as intellectual grounding, coherence, and integrity of the major. Each student will be
assigned a faculty advisor, and be required to take the introductory course and attend a colloquium titled:
"Africana Colloquium: The Common Intellectual Experience," offered each semester.
As an intellectual expression of Africana peoples, Africana Studies is designed to acquaint students with a
critical perspective on the Africana world that is found primarily in Africa, the United States, the Caribbean/Latin
America, but also among peoples of African descent in Asia and Europe. Grounded in the history, culture, and
philosophy of Africana peoples, Africana Studies promotes knowledge of the contributions of Africana people
to the world, develops a critical perspective to examine the Africana experience, and cultivates a respect for
the multiracial and multicultural character of our common world humanity. Although Africana Studies
emphasizes an interdisciplinary and multicultural approach to scholarship and learning, it also seeks to ground
its students in a specific discipline and an understanding of the breadth of the Africana experience. As a result,
the Africana Studies Department expects its students to develop a critical and analytic apparatus to examine
knowledge, seeks to contribute to a student's self-awareness, and attempts to broaden her perspective in
ways that allow her to understand the world in its diversity and complexity.
Africana Studies Major
Goals for the Africana Studies Major
To understand the concepts, theories, knowledge, research methodologies, and skills in Africana
Studies from a multidisciplinary perspective, through a series of required, core, elective, and
experiential courses and mandatory colloquia
To develop the ability to understand and communicate specialized and general knowledge in the field
of Africana Studies that includes Africa and the African Diaspora in the United States, the Caribbean,
Latin America, Europe, and Asia
To obtain a representational and wide-ranging multidisciplinary education and an ability to apply
knowledge to critical thinking that is creative, persuasive, and linked to problem solving
To develop skills and abilities necessary to conduct high-quality library and field research; to apply
methodological tools and use modern technology to discover information and to interpret data
To synthesize and develop knowledge of Africana world issues through the “Africana Colloquium: The
Common Intellectual Experience”
To achieve an understanding of the discourses of the African Diaspora through a variety of disciplines
To develop skills that are essential for a range of careers and leadership roles in an increasingly global
and diverse world
Requirements for the Africana Studies Major
A major in Africana studies requires nine units. AFR 105, Introduction to the Black Experience, is required, and
it is strongly recommended that majors and minors take AFR 105 before undertaking specialized courses of
study. This course provides an overview of the discipline of Africana studies, including its philosophical and
historical foundations, and introduces students to its major fields of inquiry. AFR 105 is still required but an
alternative, AFR 209 or AFR 210 will be allowed for juniors and seniors who declare their majors late and who
may not have been able to take AFR 105 earlier. Of the eight additional units required for an Africana studies
major, at least two must be at the 300-level. Ordinarily, no more than three courses may be taken outside the
department. A student who majors in Africana Studies must also attend the “Africana Studies Colloquium: the
Common Experience” that is offered each semester.
A student majoring in Africana studies will choose one of four possible tracks or concentrations: Africa, the
Caribbean and Latin America, the United States, or a General Africana Studies track. All of the four
concentrations encompass the interdisciplinary approach of the department, while allowing students to focus
on a particular area and gain expertise in one discipline. The first three courses of study focus on geographic
areas; the fourth, designed in consultation with the student’s advisor, allows the student to create a
concentration on a particular salient aspect (e.g., Africana women or Africana arts) or issue (e.g., comparative
race relations) in the Africana world.
For all concentrations, students are encouraged to gain first-hand experiential insights in the Africana world.
Students in the Africa and the Caribbean and Latin America tracks are encouraged to consider the
Wintersession courses in Trinidad and Africa offered by the department and Wintersession courses on Latin
America offered by other departments. They are also strongly encouraged to consider study abroad programs
in these geographic areas. Those focusing on the United States should consider studying away at an
historically Black college and/or participating in a relevant U.S. internship.
Honors in Africana Studies
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above
the 100 level. The department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.3 and 3.5. See
Academic Distinctions.
The Africana Studies Colloquium
The Common Africana Studies Experience is designed to offer an opportunity for students and faculty to
reflect, review and study the history, philosophical underpinning of Africana Studies. It also discusses the
theoretical and methodological foundations, directions and major tenets of Africana Studies. The colloquium is
offered every semester, and attendance of majors and minors is mandatory.
Courses for Credit in the Major
General Africana Studies
This concentration allows students to design a more thematic and eclectic focus in Africana studies or an
approach that cuts across boundaries of geography and discipline (e.g. Africana women’s studies) or a
discipline-focused course of study that is cross-cultural (e.g. Africana arts) or a thematic focus (e.g. Africana
urban studies). Students must have their programs of study approved by their advisors. This program should
demonstrate the same geographic and disciplinary breadth as the previous three (i.e. at least two geographic
regions must be represented in the courses chosen; and at least one history course, one humanities, and one
social science are required). Of the courses elected, at least three must be in one discipline.
Africa
This program of study is designed to provide students with an interdisciplinary and integrated understanding
of the peoples of the African continent, from its ancient foundation through its current geopolitical situation.
However, to ensure students’ breadth of knowledge of the Africana world, two courses that focus on a
geographic area other than Africa are required. Six courses that focus on Africa are the foundation of this
concentration: one course must be in history; one must be in a social science (economics, political science,
sociology, anthropology, or psychology); one must be chosen from the humanities (literature, language, art,
music, philosophy, and religion); and two should be chosen from a specific discipline. The following courses
are appropriate for the Africa concentration:
History: AFR 105, AFR 238, AFR 239, AFR 340, HIST 265
Social Sciences: AFR 204, AFR 213, AFR 215, AFR 221/POL2 270, AFR 235, AFR 236/POL2 231, AFR 245, AFR
255, AFR 280, AFR 297, AFR 301, AFR 306, AFR 318, AFR 341
Humanities: AFR 202/PHIL 202, AFR 207, AFR 211, AFR 222, AFR 251, AFR 316, FREN 218, FREN 330, MUS
209
AFR 105
Introduction to the Black Experience
1.0
AFR 202
Humanitarianism in Black Countries
1.0
AFR 207
Images of Africana People Through the Cinema
1.0
AFR 211
Introduction to African Literature
1.0
AFR 213
Race Relations and Racial Inequality
1.0
AFR 215
Unpacking Blackness
1.0
AFR 221 / POL2 270
The Politics of Race and Racism in Europe
1.0
AFR 235
Societies and Cultures of Africa
1.0
AFR 236 / POL2 203
Introduction to African Politics
1.0
AFR 239
Seminar: African Civilizations to 1700s
1.0
AFR 255
The Black Woman Cross-Culturally: Gender Dynamics in
the Africana World
1.0
AFR 292 / ARTH 292
African Art & the Diaspora
1.0
AFR 297
Medical Anthropology: A Comparative Study of Healing
Systems
1.0
AFR 301
Seminar: South Africa
1.0
AFR 306
Urban Development and the Underclass: Comparative
Case Studies
1.0
AFR 316 / ARTH 316
Seminar: Race & Gender in Contemporary Art
1.0
AFR 318
Seminar: African Women, Social Transformation, and
Empowerment
1.0
AFR 341
Africans of the Diaspora
1.0
FREN 330
French, Francophone and Postcolonial Studies
1.0
HIST 265
History of Modern Africa
1.0
MUS 209
A History of Jazz
1.0
The United States
As with the other concentrations, students who choose the United States should approach their study of
African America through many disciplines. The concentration requires five courses focusing on the United
States: one in history, one in the humanities, one in social science, and two in the discipline in which the
student chooses to concentrate. To ensure students’ breadth of knowledge of the Africana world, however, this
track also requires two courses focused on one or more geographic areas other than the United States. The
following courses are appropriate for the United States concentration:
History: AFR 105, AFR 208, AFR 209, AFR 210, AFR 239, AFR 303, AFR 340, AFR 345, AFR 380, AFR 390
Social Sciences: AFR 213, AFR 215, AFR 217, AFR 225, AFR 255, AFR 237, AFR 306, AMST 152, AMST 215,
AMST 315, POL1 337
Humanities: AFR 201, AFR 212, AFR 222, AFR 243, MUS 209, MUS 300
AFR 105
Introduction to the Black Experience
1.0
AFR 209
African American History -1500 to the Civil War
1.0
AFR 210
African American History from Reconstruction to the
Present
1.0
AFR 212 / ENG 279
Black Women Writers
1.0
AFR 213
Race Relations and Racial Inequality
1.0
AFR 215
Unpacking Blackness
1.0
AFR 217
The Black Family
1.0
AFR 220
Black Studies at Wellesley and Beyond
1.0
AFR 222
Blacks and Women in American Cinema
1.0
AFR 243 / PEAC 243
The Black Church
1.0
AFR 255
The Black Woman Cross-Culturally: Gender Dynamics in
the Africana World
1.0
AFR 303
Seminar: Understanding American Slavery Through Film
1.0
AFR 306
Urban Development and the Underclass: Comparative
Case Studies
1.0
AFR 345
Enslaved Women in the Transatlantic World
1.0
AFR 390
Seminar: No Moral High Ground, A History of Slavery and
Racism in the North
1.0
AMST 152
Race, Ethnicity, and Politics in America
1.0
AMST 315
Beats, Rhymes, and Life: Hip-Hop Studies
1.0
MUS 209
A History of Jazz
1.0
The Caribbean and Latin America
This program of study also provides students with an interdisciplinary knowledge of a particular geographic
area: the Caribbean—its history, peoples, culture, and significance in the world system. As with the other
concentrations, students focusing on the Caribbean are expected also to acquire some breadth of knowledge
about the Africana world; thus, two courses focused on other areas are required. Of the five courses on the
Caribbean, one must be a humanities course; one must be a social science; one must be a history course;
and two must be chosen from one discipline. (See the African track for the specific disciplines considered
“humanities” and “social sciences.”) The following courses are appropriate for the Caribbean and Latin
America Track concentration:
History: AFR 216, AFR 299, AFR 340, HIST 215, HIST 377
Social Sciences: AFR 105, AFR 213, AFR 215, AFR 245, AFR 255, AFR 299, AFR 300, AFR 306
Humanities: AFR 207, AFR 234, AFR 310, FREN 218, FREN 330, SPAN 269
AFR 105
Introduction to the Black Experience
1.0
AFR 205 / EDUC 205
Black Pedagogies in the Americas
1.0
AFR 207
Images of Africana People Through the Cinema
1.0
AFR 213
Race Relations and Racial Inequality
1.0
AFR 215
Unpacking Blackness
1.0
AFR 234
Introduction to West Indian Literature
1.0
AFR 255
The Black Woman Cross-Culturally: Gender Dynamics in
the Africana World
1.0
AFR 306
Urban Development and the Underclass: Comparative
Case Studies
1.0
AFR 310
Seminar: Reading Du Bois
1.0
AFR 380
Violence in the Black Atlantic World
1.0
FREN 330
French, Francophone and Postcolonial Studies
1.0
SPAN 269
Caribbean Literature and Culture
1.0
Africana Studies Minor
Requirements for the Africana Studies Minor
A minor in Africana Studies will consist of five units, including one 300-level course. A student who minors in
Africana Studies is strongly encouraged to take AFR 105 and one of the following: AFR 209 or AFR 210, and
must attend the "Africana Studies Colloquium: The Common Experience" that is offered each semester. Minors
are strongly encouraged to take courses in at least two geographic areas (e.g., the United States and the
Caribbean) and in two or more disciplines. Minors are also encouraged to attend departmentally sponsored
extracurricular lectures, especially those (required of majors) that focus on methodology.
AFR Courses
Course ID: AFR105 Title: Introduction to the Black Experience
This course serves as the introductory offering in Africana Studies. It explores, in an interdisciplinary fashion,
salient aspects of the Black experience, both ancient and modern, and at the local, national and international
levels. This course provides an overview of many related themes, including slavery, Africanisms, gender,
colonialism, civil rights, and pan-African exchange.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Carter-Jackson; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AFR201/ENG260 Title: The African American Literary Tradition
A survey of the Afro-American experience as depicted in literature from the eighteenth century through the
present. Study of various forms of literary expression including the short story, autobiography, literary criticism,
poetry, drama, and essays as they have been used as vehicles of expression for Black writers during and since
the slave experience.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR202 Title: Critical Perspectives of Humanitarianism in Black Countries
This course examines arguments, claims, and evidence used to justify intervention or non-intervention in key
humanitarian crises that have affected Black countries, such as the 1994 Rwandan conflict, 2014 Ebola
Outbreak, or the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti. This also questions the role of international organizations that
routinely work in such countries and their impacts in local communities. Students interested in global affairs
and international relations may be interested in this course, no pre-requisites are needed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Franklin; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AFR205/EDUC205 Title: Black Pedagogies in the Americas
Rooted in Afro-centric principles, the course explores the foundations of Black Pedagogies and examines the
ingenious ways enslaved Africans and their progeny tapped into their sacred cosmologies, wisdom and
memories, and devised emancipatory strategies of learning and passing on information during the period of
enslavement and its aftermath. Through the enactment of violent slave codes and anti-literacy legislation,
enslaved Africans were prohibited to read and/or write in the language of the enslaver-colonizer. Moreover,
they were not allowed to freely access or openly express an education that reflected their dynamic history or
heritage, which was later enforced by discriminatory Jim Crow and colonial laws. In this way, the course
dismantles the intended-ills and history of Western Eurocentric curricula, religious instruction, and media. It
unearths and underscores Black pedagogical tools, intellectualism, institutions, and creative expressions as
redemptive, remedial, and inclusive pathways for diversifying and humanizing the education curriculum. We
will peruse the wide breadth of languages and cultural modes of knowledge production and transmission that
emerged during the harrowing passages of the trans-Atlantic trade of captured Africans and their subsequent
enslavement and oppression in the Americas. Central themes and areas of study include: the praxis of love,
sacred science, oral and literary traditions, memory, storytelling, nature and communal engagement,
community, quilt-making, food-ways, dress, art and artifacts, religion, ritual, trauma, resilience, black talk/black
text, interjections, body language/gesticulations, theatre, music, dance, genealogy, ancestral reverence,
graveyards, schools, and other sites of knowledge creation, expression, and preservation. The course will be
aided by a wealth of lively and interactive lectures, discussions, documentaries, literature, works of art, oral
tradition and first-hand testimonies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: AFR206 Title: African American History -1500 to Present
An introductory survey of the political, social, economic, and cultural development of African Americans from
their African origins to the present. This course examines the foundations of the discipline of African American
history, slavery, Africans in colonial America, migration, Reconstruction, and Harlem Renaissance artistry and
scholarship.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Jackson; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR209 Title: African American History: From the Slave Trade to the Civil War
This course is a survey of the first half of African American History and Culture and traces the historical,
political, social, and cultural contexts of black Americans from the slave trade to the American Civil War.
Thematically, we explore the meaning of freedom, the dynamic between black struggle and white resistance,
and the ways in which factors such as gender and geography complicate any notions of a single black
experience. Each week we will focus on different events, writings, narratives, debates, and political ideologies.
This course combines discussion, lecture, and multimedia. It presents a narrative, interpretation, and analysis
of African American history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Carter-Jackson; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR210 Title: African American History: From Reconstruction to the Present
This course is a survey of the second half of African American History and Culture and traces the historical,
political, social, and cultural experiences of black Americans from Reconstruction to the modern freedom
movement for Black Lives. This course will focus upon a number of specific movements in the history of black
Americans. Thematically, we explore the meaning of freedom, the dynamic between black struggle and white
resistance, and the ways in which factors such as gender and geography complicate any notions of a single
black experience.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Carter-Jackson; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR211 Title: Introduction to African Literature
The development of African literature in English and in translation. Although special attention will be paid to the
novels of Chinua Achebe, writers such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Camara Laye, Wole Soynika, Miriama Ba, Nawal
El Saadawi, and Buchi Emecheta will also be considered. The influence of oral tradition on these writers' styles
as well as the thematic links between them and writers of the Black awakening in America and the West Indies
will be discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR212/ENG279 Title: Black Women Writers
The Black woman writer's efforts to shape images of herself as Black, as women, and as an artist. The problem
of literary authority for the Black woman writer, criteria for a Black woman's literary tradition, and the relation of
Black feminism or "womanism" to the articulation of a distinctively Black and female literary aesthetic.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR215 Title: Unpacking Blackness, Ethnicity and Identity in the African Diaspora
This course is designed to examine the meaning of race and ethnicity and the determinants and fluidity of
membership in a particular racial or ethnic group. We will also explore different ways to measure ethnic and
racial identification and how ethnicity affects attitudes, economic development, social mobilization and
migration. We will seek to assess to what extent ethnic and racial identities shape trust and prejudice, and
examine the impact of ethnic diversity on development and the provision of public goods. Analyses will be
made of ethnic and racial electoral politics and the varying extent and impact of ethnic voting patterns in
relation to democratic governance and ethnic conflict.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Dendere; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AFR218 Title: Val Gray Ward: The Power of Black Arts, Theatre, and Movement
Through a critical and exhilarating exploration of the life and legacy of dramatist-historian, producer-director,
and activist, Val Gray Ward, this course underscores the emancipatory, political, and pedagogical power of
Black Arts and Black Life. Known as “The Voice of the Black Writer” and founder of Chicago’s pioneering
Kuumba Theatre, Val Gray Ward was born and reared in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, one of the oldest all-Black
towns in the U.S. before she migrated to the city of Chicago in the early 1950s. Inspired by her assertion,
“Black Art is Black Life,” the course is immersive in nature and will be facilitated by an enriching combination of
audio/visual materials such as interactive lectures, discussions, first-person testimonies, interviews, music,
poetry, plays, photos, quotes, books, articles, documentaries, library research, and "The HistoryMakers Digital
Archive." Further, we will study “Kuumba Theatre’s 12 Principles” and Val Gray Ward’s autobiographical quilt
titled "Peace The Way Home" to learn about notable people and moments through her family ties and
friendships with Gwendolyn Brooks, Mari Evans, James Baldwin, C.L.R. James, John Henrik Clarke, Sonia
Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Elma Lewis, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Betty Shabazz, John O. Killens, Walter Rodney,
Sammy Davis Jr., Lerone Bennett Jr., Abdias do Nascimento, Margaret Burroughs, and Useni Perkins to name
a few along with her travels to Africa for the Sixth Pan-African Congress (6PAC) and FESTAC ‘77, Japan, the
Caribbean, and other parts of the world. Additionally, we will listen to her tribute CD, "rhapsody in hughes 101,"
and view the docutainment film "Precious Memories: Strolling 47th Street." Central themes of the course
include Blackness, Black consciousness and cosmology, identity, family, community, the arts, language, oral
tradition, orality/literacy, Black talk/Black text, ritual theatre, womanism, activism, Civil Rights, Black Power,
Black Arts Movement (BAM), FESTAC ‘77, Pan-Africanism, and freedom.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: AFR220 Title: Black Studies at Wellesley and Beyond
This foundation and team-taught course surveys the history, importance, and core tenets of Black Studies, and
its emergence and evolution at Wellesley College. Facilitated by stimulating lectures, discussions, readings,
archival research, oral historical testimonies, and invaluable interactions with living alums, faculty, and staff, we
explore (1) the dynamic lives and legacies of members of the Black community at the College; (2) the
pioneering architects and pillars of the Black Studies department; and (3) the establishment of Black
intellectual and cultural organizations, and communal spaces founded by students, faculty, and staff on
campus. Students will also learn from the interdisciplinary expertise and experiences of the current Africana
Studies faculty in Black studies, literature, history, political science, psychology, cosmology, ontology, religion,
and culture. Central themes include Black pedagogy and intellectualism, cultural identity and expression, selfdefinition and -determination, community consciousness, activism, systemic discrimination, civil rights, political
and social movements, Black Power to Black Lives Matter, wellness, and wholeness.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR221/POL2270 Title: The Politics of Race and Racism in Europe
The façade of European culture expresses enlightenment, progressive politics, and a sense of freedom
amongst scenic beauty. However, did you know that a review of the 2017-2019 mortality cases showed that
Black women are four times more likely than White women to die during pregnancy or childbirth in the U.K?
This is despite the country’s well known universal healthcare services, The NHS. Or, did you know that it is
illegal in France to collect statistics on racial, ethnic, or religious demographics, thus making it harder to track
problems such as housing or employment discrimination? Or that for the first time in Ireland and Finland, hate
crimes are rising, and yet, these countries do not have any legislations on hate crimes. This course examines
the implications of ethnic and racial identities in Western Europe through a comparative politics lens. It is
designed to learn the history, dynamics, and salience of ethnic and racial inequality and political cleavage. It
would appeal to students in Africana studies, humanities, and social sciences. No prerequisites are required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 27; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Franklin; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR225/PSYC225 Title: Introduction to Black Psychology
This course is designed to provide an overview of Black psychology as a field of study. Both conceptual
frameworks and empirical research related to the psychology of individuals of African descent will be
presented, with appropriate historical and sociopolitical context. Topics include the Black child, Black youth,
achievement and schooling, kinship and family, identity development and socialization, gender norms and
behaviors, sexuality, religion and spirituality, wellness, and mental health. The course will also look at the
psychology of Black people through the lenses of gender, ethnicity/nationality/culture, and religion.
Additionally, this course will explore the legacies of enslavement, racism, discrimination, and racial violence as
factors in Black psychology, as well as the role of the Black social movement in the psychology of Black
people. The course will incorporate current topics and controversies related to Black psychology, as well as
recent advances in the field of Black psychology.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR227/EDUC227 Title: Black Girlhood Studies
This course is designed to examine interdisciplinary theories, methods, and analytical approaches to define
and study of Black girlhood. We will explore Black girlhood as a developmental period, a public and private
performance, and a source of identity and agency. Students will discuss the duality of Black girlhood, risk
versus resilience, to understand how Black girlhood is enacted and evaluated in families, schools,
communities, mass media, and the larger society. The cultural, social, psychological, and political
constructions of Black girlhood in the U.S. context will be interrogated by analyzing academic texts, film,
media, poetry, novels, art, and music focused on Black girls.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Lindsay-Dennis; Distribution Requirements: SBA
- Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR236/POL2231 Title: Introduction to African Politics
This course offers an introduction to contemporary African politics. The primary goal is to introduce students to
the diversity of challenges and development issues facing African countries since independence. Questions
motivating the course include: (1) Why state institutions weaker in African than in other developing regions? (2)
What explains Africa's slow economic growth? (3) What can be done to improve political accountability on the
continent? (4) Why have some African countries been plagued by high levels of political violence while others
have not?
In answering these questions, we will examine Africa’s historical experiences, its economic heritage, and the
international context in which it is embedded. At the same time, we will explore how Africans have responded
to unique circ*mstances to shape their own political and economic situations.
As we address the core themes of the course, we will draw on a wide range of academic disciplines, including
political science, history, economics and anthropology. We will study particular events in particular African
countries, but we will also examine broad patterns across countries and use social science concepts and
methods to try to explain them.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Dendere; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AFR239 Title: Seminar: African Civilizations to 1700s
This course explores the historical landscape of Ancient Africa, with specific emphasis on its founding
civilizations, politics, trade & commerce, culture and cosmologies. It serves to dispel the myth that the African
continent was ahistorical, “dark” and primitive before European invasion in the 1400s. Through an
interdisciplinary approach, the course encourages students to critically engage Africa from an Afro-centric
perspective by examining its ancient kingdoms such as Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Songhay and Great Zimbabwe. It
is anticipated that by studying these early civilizations and cultural formations, students will see Africa’s
contribution and engagement in the global exchange of ideas and goods. Major themes include the political,
economic and social impacts of European imperialism; the Atlantic Slave Trade; ‘Legitimate Trade’ and
prelude to colonialism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AFR242/REL214 Title: New World Afro-Atlantic Religions
With readings, documentary films, discussions, and lectures, this course will examine the complex spiritual
beliefs and expressions of peoples of African descent in Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and North America. The
course surveys African diasporic religions such as Candomble, Santeria, Voodoo, Shango, and African
American religions. Attention will be paid to how diasporic Africans practice religion for self-definition,
community building, and sociocultural critique, and for reshaping the religious and cultural landscapes of the
Americas.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: AFR243/PEAC243 Title: The Black Church
This course examines the development of the Black Church and the complexities of black religious life in the
United States. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this course explores the religious life of African Americans
from twin perspectives: 1) historical, theological dimensions, and 2) the cultural expression, particularly music
and art. Special emphasis will be placed on gospel music, Womanist and Black Liberation theologies as forms
of political action and responses to interpretations of race in the context of American religious pluralism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR245/POL3245 Title: The Impact of Globalization on Africa and the Caribbean
This course is designed to offer an inside look into the processes of globalization in Sub Saharan Africa and
the Caribbean. This course will focus on the ways that international forces, the political economy and new
technologies are affecting citizens and countries on the continent, as well as the way that African and
Caribbean countries and actors are influencing the rest of the world. We will explore a diverse set of topics
including changing political landscapes, digital & technological change and development, immigration, art
and culture, foreign aid, and China’s role in Africa and the Caribbean. The course will attempt to highlight the
new opportunities for citizens as well as the challenges that remain for African and Caribbean countries in the
globalized world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Dendere; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: AFR249 Title: From Mumbet to Michelle Obama: Black Women's History
This course focuses on African American Women's history in the United States with certain aspects of black
women's activism and leadership covered within the African Diaspora. The course is intended explore the ways
in which these women engaged in local, national, and international freedom struggles while simultaneously
defining their identities as wives, mothers, leaders, citizens, and workers. The course will pay special attention
to the diversity of black women’s experiences and to the dominant images of black women in America from
Mumbet (the first enslaved black woman to sue for her freedom and win) to contemporary issues of race, sex,
and class in the Age of Obama. We will explore such questions as: What is black Women’s History? How does
black women’s history add to our understanding of American history? Where should black women’s history go
from here?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Carter-Jackson; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AFR250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: AFR256/CPLT256/PORT256 Title: Cultures of the Portuguese-Speaking World through Film, Music
and Fiction (In English)
This course is conducted in English and will introduce students to the cultures of the Portuguese-speaking
world through selected films, music and readings. In this interdisciplinary course, we will explore how
filmmakers, musicians and writers respond to social and political changes in Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde,
Mozambique and Portugal. Topics covered include colonialism; postcolonialism; wars of independence in
Africa; Brazil’s military dictatorship; Portugal´s New State dictatorship; evolving national identities; and
representations of trauma and memory. Readings are in English and films have subtitles.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Igrejas; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AFR264/ARTH264 Title: African Art: Powers, Passages, Performances
As an introduction to the arts and architecture of Africa, this course explores the meaning and the contexts of
production within a variety of religious and political systems found throughout the continent, from Ethiopia, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mali, to name a few. We will consider important topics such as the ancient
art outside the Nile Valley sphere, symbols of the power of royalty, and the aesthetic and spiritual differences in
masquerade traditions. We will pay special attention to traditional visual representations in relation to
contemporary African artists and art institutions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Greene; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AFR265/ENG265 Title: African American Autobiographies
This course traces the life stories of prominent African Americans, which, in their telling, have led to dramatic
changes in the lives of African American people. Some were slaves; some were investigative journalists; some
were novelists; and one is the president of the United States. We will examine the complex relationship
between the community and the individual, the personal and the political and how these elements interact to
form a unique African American person. The course also draws on related video presentations to dramatize
these life stories. Authors include Linda Brent, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Richard Wright, Maya
Angelou, Malcolm X, and Barack Obama.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR271/CAMS271 Title: Understanding American Slavery Through Film
This course will examine the history of cinema through the lens of American slavery. Outside of the classroom
much of what we know, or think about slavery derives often from popular media-particularly through film and
television. Can Hollywood do the work of historians? Does historical interpretation through film serve as useful,
beneficial, or detrimental? Can we make an argument for the historical efficacy of films? What is the difference
between historical accuracy and historical authenticity? In examining these films, we will take into account the
time period, location, and the political and social context in which they were created. We will see how much
film tells us about slavery and, most importantly, what film might tell us about ourselves. Through a critical
reading of a range of historical works, cultural critiques and primary sources, students will have a better
comprehension of how historians and filmmakers both differ or find mutual agreement in their understanding of
the past.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Jackson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: AFR292/ARTH292 Title: African Art and the Diaspora: From Ancient Concepts to Postmodern
Identities
We will investigate the transmission and transformation of African art and culture and their ongoing significant
impact on the continent, in Europe, and in the Americas. This course explores the arts of primarily western and
central Africa, including the communities of the Bakongo, Yoruba, and Mande, among many others. The
influences of early European contact, the Middle Passage, colonialism, and postcolonialism have affected art
production and modes of representation in Africa and the African Diaspora for centuries. Documentary and
commercial films will assist in framing these representations. The study of contemporary art and artists
throughout the African Diaspora will allow for a particularly intriguing examination of postmodern constructions
of African identity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: Greene; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR295/ENG295 Title: The Harlem Renaissance
This is an exploration of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement of African American literature and culture of the
early twentieth century, which encompassed all major art forms, including poetry, fiction, and drama, as well as
music, the visual arts, cabaret, and political commentary. This movement corresponds with the publication of
The New Negro anthology (1925). Literary authors we will study may include Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer,
Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, and Richard Bruce Nugent. We will also enter into
contemporary debates about “the color line” in this period of American history, reading some earlier work by
W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, or James Weldon Johnson, in the context of early Jim Crow, the Great
Migration, the Jazz Age, and transatlantic Modernism. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: González; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR299 Title: Seminar: Caribbean Cultural Expressions and the Diaspora
This course exposes students to the dynamic forms of Caribbean cultural expressions and the demographic
diversity of its peoples. Through a multidisciplinary lens, students shall explore major themes including
identity, migration, language, religious expression, cultural expression including festivals, music and cuisine,
the role of women, and Caribbean traditions of intellectualism. We will engage in critical examination of the
history of slavery, colonialism and emancipation, as well as regional movements toward independence and
unification and the contribution of the region to global development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: AFR302 Title: Caribbean Intellectual Thought in the Twentieth Century
During the twentieth century the Anglophone Caribbean produced a rich body of ideas that had an enormous
impact upon the colonial and postcolonial worlds. These ideas cover fields such as history, politics,
economics, and culture. This course traces the development of these ideas, examines their applicability to the
specific circ*mstances in the Caribbean, and analyzes how they resonated in the larger world of ideas. We will
look at the works of writers and thinkers that could include: A.R.F. Webber, Marcus Garvey, Arthur Lewis, Eric
Williams, C.L.R James, Amy Ashwood Garvey, Jamaica Kincaid, Patricia Mohammed, Erna Brodber, Cheddi
Jagan, Walter Rodney, Maurice Bishop, and Michael Manley.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One 200-level course of relevance to Africana Studies or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR303 Title: Seminar: Understanding American Slavery Through Film
This course will examine the history of black cinema through the lens of American slavery. The institution of
slavery has had a profound impact on the United States and Atlantic World. Yet, it has not always been the
easiest topic for public discussion. Outside of the classroom much of what we know, or think about American
slavery derives often from popular media—particularly through film and television. Classics like Gone with the
Wind, the television miniseries Roots, and even lesser known films such as Langston Hughes’ (screenwriter)
Way Down South have done much to shape our perspective regarding how we remember and understand the
slave system, the enslaved, its participants and politics. This course poses the following question: Can
Hollywood do the work of historians?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: AFR 105 or AFR 206. Not open to students who have taken AFR
271.; Instructor: Carter-Jackson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AFR304/POL3302 Title: Seminar: The Politics of Chocolates and Other Foods
Why is it that although the majority of cocoa is grown in Africa the most expensive chocolate is made in
Europe? Why is it that the average cocoa farmer lives in poverty or earns just $2,000/year when the wealthiest
chocolate and candy families are worth more than $10 billion? During the course of this semester, we will
study the supply chain from natural resource extraction to final project and investigate the politics that allow for
inequalities as well as the progress that has been made. Therefore, this course will examine the sociohistorical
legacy of chocolate, with a delicious emphasis on the eating and appreciation of the so-called “food of the
gods.” Interdisciplinary course readings will introduce the history of cacao cultivation, the present-day state of
the global chocolate industry, the diverse cultural constructions surrounding chocolate, and the implications
for chocolate’s future in terms of scientific study, international politics, alternative trade models, and the food
movement. Assignments will address pressing real-world questions related to chocolate consumption, social
justice, responsible development, honesty and the politics of representation in production and marketing,
hierarchies of quality, and myths of purity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one Africana Studies or Political Science course.;
Instructor: Dendere; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AFR306 Title: Urban Development and the Underclass: Comparative Case Studies
Throughout the African Diaspora, economic change has resulted in the migration of large numbers of people
to urban centers. This course explores the causes and consequences of urban growth and development, with
special focus on the most disadvantaged cities. The course will draw on examples from the United States, the
Caribbean, South America, and Africa.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One 200-level course of relevance to Africana Studies or
permission of the instructor.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR310/SOC310 Title: Seminar: Reading Du Bois
This seminar examines various works of W.E.B. Du Bois within their historical, social, and cultural contexts.
Although this course will pay special attention to Du Bois's literary endeavors, it will also examine his concept
of race and color and his approaches to colonialism, civil rights, and politics. This seminar will examine The
Souls of Black Folk, Darkwater, John Brown, The Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois, and The Suppression of
the African Slave-Trade as well as some of his poems and other fiction.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One 200-level course of relevance to Africana Studies or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR312 Title: Seminar: The political economy of natural resources in Africa
This course examines key themes on the political economy of natural resources and development in subSaharan Africa. It considers the following questions: Why are resource-rich African countries often poor? Is the
‘paradox of plenty” real, or there are other alternative explanations that account for this phenomenon? What is
the agency of African communities and governments in shaping outcomes with resource endowment? What
are the antidotes to the resource curse? The course uses historical and theoretical analyses in African political
economy to answer these questions in a holistic, multipronged manner, focusing on themes such as
colonialism, post-colonial state-building, the ‘decade of development’, and Africa in the global system. It
combines this with analyses of the governance of oil and diamonds, and case studies on how resource
endowment has affected producer countries in different ways.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: AFR 263 or POL2 204, or by permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Shingirai Taodzera; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR314 Title: Reading C.L.R. James
C. L. R. James is an outstanding intellectual/activist of the 20th century. He has also been described as one of
the seminal thinkers of the anti-colonialist struggles in the Third World and is seen as a profound thinker of
Marxism. Although James has written on history, politics, culture, philosophy and sports this seminar will
examine four areas of his theorising: history (The Black Jacobins); cultural theory (Beyond a Boundary);
literary theory (Mariners, Renegades and Castaways); and his novel (Minty Alley). The seminar will also look at
his thoughts on other subjects such as Black Studies, Athenian democracy and feminist writings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to students who have taken one 200-level literature course in
any department, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR316/ARTH316 Title: Seminar: The Body: Race and Gender in Contemporary Art
This course charts past and present artistic mediations of racial, ethnic, and gendered experiences throughout
the world, using the rubric of the body. In the struggle to understand the relation between self and other, artists
have critically engaged with the images that define our common sense of belonging, ranging from a rejection
of stereotypes to their appropriations, from the discovery of alternative histories to the rewriting of dominant
narratives, from the concepts of difference to theories of diversity. The ultimate goal of the course is to find
ways of adequately imagining and imaging various identities today. We will discuss socio-political discourses,
including essentialism, structuralism, postmodernism, and post-colonialism and we will question the validity of
such concepts as diaspora, nationalism, transnationalism, and identity in an era of global politics that
celebrates the hybrid self.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 or a 200-level ARTH course or a 200-level AFR course
or a visual culture course.; Instructor: Greene; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes:
Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: AFR330 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Black Diaspora, Political Experiences in
Pandemics
The ongoing global pandemic and elections have revived conversations on race and the marginalization of the
Black Diaspora. In this course, we will engage with the various ways in which black people practice politics in
Africa and elsewhere in the diaspora. We will pay special attention to the ongoing impact of national politics on
the global pandemic. Scholars taking the course will each week respond to a reading by writing public facing
work such as blogs, editorials and/or opinion pieces, and other forms of public writing. A primary goal in this
course is to learn how to bring academic arguments to the general public.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least one Africana Studies or Political Science course.;
Instructor: Dendere; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories:
CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AFR332/WGST332 Title: “Rhodes must Fall”: Decolonial and Antiracist Research Methods
In 2015 a global movement began at the University of Cape Town to decolonize education, research, and
tackle institutional racism in academia. This course gives students an introductory engagement of decolonial
research practices. Decolonizing research and knowledge means to center the concerns and perspectives of
non-Western individuals on theory and research. Thus, this course will be a process of “unlearning” social and
scientific standards that we have taken as universal, resisting coloniality in academic production of knowledge,
and moving research into action. This course will broadly discuss research methods and praxis in social
sciences and in public health/medicine.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Franklin; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AFR338/LING338 Title: Seminar: African American English
This course will examine the history, linguistic structure, and sociocultural patterns of use of English as spoken
by African Americans in the United States. We will focus on the phonology and morphosyntax that is
considered unique to AAE, and discuss lexical and discursive features as well. We will cover the major debates
that continue to rage within AAE scholarship, including the debates surrounding its origins and its use in
education. Additional topics include AAE and hip hop, appropriation, and crossing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Either LING 114 or CLSC 216/PSYC 216 and related coursework at
the 200 level or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: S. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AFR341 Title: Africans of the Diaspora
This course explores the nature and composition of the African Diaspora and its changing meanings. We will
examine the sociocultural connections among diasporic Africans such as the forced migrations of enslaved
Africans and voluntary emigration of Africans out of continental Africa. The seminar also explores the historical,
religious, and cultural factors that foster distinctive diasporic African identities and how these people constitute
and contribute to global citizenry.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 200-level course of relevance to Africana Studies or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR345 Title: Enslaved Women in the Atlantic World
This course is intended to explore ways in which enslaved women engaged in local, national and international
freedom struggles while simultaneously defining their identities as slaves, mothers, leaders, and workers. This
course will pay special attention to the diversity of black women’s experiences and to the dominant images of
black women in North America, the Caribbean and Brazil, but greater emphasis will be placed on the American
experience. The course asks: What role did gender play in the establishment of slavery and racial hierarchy in
the trans-Atlantic World? How did gender shape the experience of slavery for enslaved women and men and
their masters?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: AFR 209 or AFR 105; Instructor: Carter-Jackson; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: AFR350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: AFR360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: AFR370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: AFR 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: AFR380 Title: Violence in the Black Atlantic World
This course will examine the role of political violence in the form of riots, rebellions, and revolutions in the black
Atlantic world. Together, we grapple with black liberation in the face of chattel slavery and white supremacy.
We will spend considerable time examining the unfinished work of the American Revolution, the success of the
Haitian Revolution, and the failed rebellions of the French Antilles. From there, we will examine how equality is
obtained in post-emancipation societies. This course asks: What is a revolution? What makes revolutions
revolutionary? What does failure mean? Is progressive change possible without the tools of war? In the last
part of the course, we will focus on some recent and contemporary events that involve political violence and
carry the potential to turn into a revolutionary process. In sum, this course reckons with the inseparable ideas
of race, violence, and political power.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 200-level course of relevance to Africana Studies or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Carter-Jackson; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR390 Title: Seminar: No Moral High Ground, A History of Slavery and Racism in the North
American slavery was a national crime. Every state in colonial America enslaved black people. However, the
North’s profit from—indeed, dependence on—slavery has mostly been a shameful and well-kept secret. This
course reveals the history of the slave trade and slavery in the American North. We grapple with New England
in particular as we examine the lives of the enslaved people in places that feel incredibly “close to home.”
From there, we will explore how after the Civil War, structural racism and white supremacy manifested in the
policy, housing, education, and policing systems of northern cities and states. This course covers the false
promises of the Great Migration and the myth of an equal North in the face of Jim Crow South. Ultimately, this
class uses history to combat the idea that slavery and racism are regional.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. A course in African American History recommended (AFR
209 or AFR 210).; Instructor: Carter-Jackson; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
SWA Courses
Course ID: SWA101 Title: Elementary Swahili
The primary focus of Elementary Swahili is to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Aspects
of Swahili/African culture will be introduced and highlighted as necessary components toward achieving
communicative competence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SWA102 Title: Elementary Swahili
The primary focus of Elementary Swahili is to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Aspects
of Swahili/African culture will be introduced and highlighted as necessary components toward achieving
communicative competence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: SWA 101.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SWA120 Title: Swahili Language and Cultures in East Africa (Wintersession in East Africa)
This course is offered as an immersion experience designed to provide students with the unique opportunity to
study Swahili language, community service leadership, and the diverse cultures of East Africa. The course
blends regular classroom activities with daily immersion in the cultures of the Swahili speaking communities.
Students will learn through intensive coursework and community engagement to expand their Swahili
language skills, gain better understanding of the social, cultural, political, and economic context in Tanzania in
particular and East Africa in general. The students will have the opportunity to explore the intersection of
language and culture with contemporary issues in leadership and development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: SWA 101 and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff;
Typical Periods Offered: Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course does
not satisfy the language requirement. Not offered every year. Subject to Provost's Office approval. This course
may be taken as SWA 120 or with additional assignments, SWA 220.;
Course ID: SWA201 Title: Intermediate Swahili
Intermediate Swahili builds on Elementary Swahili to enhance listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills at
a higher level. Aspects of Swahili/African culture will be expanded upon and highlighted as necessary
components toward increasing communicative competence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: SWA 102.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SWA202 Title: Intermediate Swahili
Intermediate Swahili builds on Elementary Swahili to enhance listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills at
a higher level. Aspects of Swahili/African culture will be expanded upon and highlighted as necessary
components toward increasing communicative competence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: SWA 201.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SWA203 Title: Intermediate Swahili (Intensive)
Intermediate Swahili builds on Elementary Swahili to enhance listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills at
a higher level. Aspects of Swahili/African culture will be expanded upon and highlighted as necessary
components toward increasing communicative competence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: SWA 102.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SWA220 Title: Swahili Language and Cultures in East Africa (Wintersession in East Africa)
This course is offered as an immersion experience designed to provide students with the unique opportunity to
study Swahili language, community service leadership, and the diverse cultures of East Africa. The course
blends regular classroom activities with daily immersion in the cultures of the Swahili speaking communities.
Students will learn through intensive coursework and community engagement to expand their Swahili
language skills, gain better understanding of the social, cultural, political, and economic context in Tanzania in
particular and East Africa in general. The students will have the opportunity to explore the intersection of
language and culture with contemporary issues in leadership and development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: SWA 201 and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Winter; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course does not satisfy the language requirement. Not offered
every year. Subject to Provost's Office approval.;
American Studies
American Studies is the academic area of inquiry that seeks an integrated and interdisciplinary understanding
of American culture. Rooted in the traditional disciplines of literature and history, the field has evolved from its
establishment in the first half of the twentieth century to include artifacts, methodologies, and practitioners
drawn from a wide variety of disciplines within the humanities, including Political Science, Sociology, Religion,
Anthropology, Music, Art History, Film Studies, Architecture, Women's and Gender Studies, and other fields of
inquiry.
American Studies Major
Learning Objectives for the American Studies Major
Students majoring in American Studies will:
Gain competence in the theories and methods of American Studies interdisciplinary work and explore
viable models of interdisciplinary learning and critical inquiry in the arts, humanities, and social
sciences
Develop knowledge of the histories and cultures of the United States, understanding the complex
interrelationships of culture and society
Learn to evaluate the influence and impact of America beyond its borders and the transnational, racial,
ethnic, and religious interactions that, in turn, define its own identity
Gain knowledge of the many innovations within disciplines that attend to changes in historical
understanding, literary and artistic sensibilities, and social life
Learn how to conduct in-depth, independent research in American Studies, making connections
among disciplines in sharp and critical ways
Attain skills as critical thinkers, cogent writers, and skillful researchers on a broad range of topics in
American life through their course work, individual study, and honors work
Requirements for the American Studies Major
The American Studies major seeks to understand the American experience through a multidisciplinary
program of study. The requirements for the major are as follows: Nine units of course work are required for the
major, at least six of which should be taken at Wellesley College. These courses include either AMST 101 or
AMST 121, which should be completed before the end of the junior year; at least two courses in historical
studies (in addition to AMST 101); one course in literature; one course in the arts; and one course from any
one of the following three areas: social and behavioral analysis; or epistemology and cognition; or religion,
ethics, and moral philosophy. Students are also expected to take at least two 300-level courses, one of which
should be AMST 300-399, taken in the junior or senior year. AMST 350, AMST 360, and AMST 370 do not
count toward this requirement.
To augment this structure, students will choose a concentration that lends depth and coherence to the major.
Chosen in consultation with the major advisor, a concentration consists of three or more courses pertaining to
a topic, for example: 1) race, class, and gender 2) comparative ethnic studies 3) American culture and society
4) Asian American Studies 5) Latinx Studies. Students may also construct their own concentration.
Students are encouraged to explore the diversity of American culture and the many ways to interpret it. A list of
courses that count toward the major is also included as a separate section in the catalog. Most courses at the
College that are primarily U.S.-focused in content may be applied to the American Studies major: if a course
isn’t listed and seems eligible for credit, students should consult with the department chair. American Studies
majors are encouraged to take as part of, or in addition to, their major courses, surveys of American history,
literature, and art (for example, HIST 203, HIST 204, ENG 262, ENG 266, ARTH 231) and a course on the U.S.
Constitution and American political thought (for example, POL1 247). In addition, students are urged to take
one or more courses outside the major that explore the theory and methods of knowledge creation and
production (for example, ECON 103/SOC 190, PHIL 345).
Honors in American Studies
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above
the 100 level; the department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5.
Interested students should apply to the chair in the spring of the junior year.
Courses for Credit Toward the American Studies Major
The following is a list of courses that may be included in an American Studies major. If students have
questions about whether a course not listed here can count toward the major, or if they would like permission
to focus their concentration on a topic studied in more than one department, they should consult the chair.
AFR 201 / ENG 260
African-American
Literary Tradition
1.0
AFR 209
African American
History: From the
Slave Trade to the
Civil War
1.0
AFR 210
African American
History: From
Reconstruction to
the Present
1.0
AFR 212 / ENG 279
Black Women
Writers
1.0
AFR 215
Unpacking
Blackness
1.0
AFR 225 / PSYC 225
Introduction to
Black Psychology
1.0
AFR 227 / EDUC 227
Black Girlhood
1.0
AFR 242 / REL 214
New World AfroAtlantic Religions
1.0
AFR 243 / PEAC 243
The Black Church
1.0
AFR 249
Black Women's
History
1.0
AFR 265 / ENG 265
African American
Autobiographies
1.0
AFR 271 / CAMS 271
History of Slavery
Through Film
1.0
AFR 295 / ENG 295
The Harlem
Renaissance
1.0
AFR 303
Seminar: Slavery
and Film
1.0
AFR 310 / SOC 310
Seminar: Reading
Du Bois
1.0
AFR 316 / ARTH 316
Seminar: The Body:
The Race and
1.0
Gender in Modern
and Contemporary
Art
AFR 345
Enslaved Women in
the Atlantic World
1.0
AFR 390
Seminar: No Moral
High Ground, A
History of Slavery
and Racism in the
North
1.0
AMST 292 / ENG 292
Film Noir
1.0
ANTH 214
Race and Human
Variation
1.0
ANTH 232 / CAMS 232
Anthropology of
Media
1.0
ANTH 235 / MUS 245
Ethnomusicology
Field Methods
1.0
ARTH 206
American Art,
Architecture, and
Design
1.0
ARTH 217
Historic
Preservation
1.0
ARTH 225
Modern Art Since
1945
1.0
ARTH 226 / CAMS 207
History of
Photography: From
Invention to Media
Age
1.0
ARTH 228
Modern
Architecture
1.0
ARTH 231
Architecture and
Urbanism in North
America
1.0
ARTH 245
House and Home:
Domestic
Architecture,
Interiors, and
Material Life in
North America,
1600-1900
1.0
ARTH 262
African American
Art
1.0
ARTH 267 / ES 267
Art and
Environmental
Imagination
1.0
ARTH 314
Seminar: Lorraine
O’Grady ‘55. Writer,
Artist, Archivist
1.0
ARTH 317
Historic
Preservation
1.0
ARTH 318
Seminar: New
England Arts and
Architecture
1.0
ARTH 320
Seminar: Frank
Lloyd Wright
1.0
CAMS 222
"Being There":
Documentary Film
and Media
1.0
CAMS 233 / JWST 233
American Jews and
the Media
1.0
CAMS 240 / WGST 223
Gendering the
Bronze Screen:
Representations of
Chicanas/Latinas in
Film
1.0
CAMS 241 / WGST 249
Asian American
Women in Film
1.0
ECON 222
Games of Strategy
1.0
ECON 226 / EDUC 226
Economics of
Education Policy
1.0
ECON 228 / ES 228
Environmental and
Resource
Economics
1.0
ECON 232
Health Economics
1.0
ECON 306
Economic
Organizations in
U.S. History
1.0
ECON 311
Economics of
Immigration
1.0
ECON 318
Economic Analysis
of Social Policy
1.0
ECON 326
Seminar: Advanced
Economics of
Education
1.0
ECON 327
Economics of Law,
Policy, and
Inequality
1.0
ECON 332
Advanced Health
Economics
1.0
EDUC 207 / PEAC 207 / SOC 207
Schools and
Society
1.0
EDUC 215 / PEAC 215
Educational
Inequality and
Social
Transformation in
Schools
1.0
EDUC 234
Children’s
Literature: Fostering
Agency, Equity, and
Academic Success
1.0
EDUC 236
Race, Class, and
Ethnicity in
Education Policy
1.0
EDUC 334
Seminar:
Ethnography in
Education: Race,
Migration, and
Borders
1.0
EDUC 335
Seminar: Urban
Education and
Emancipatory
Research
1.0
ENG 242 / ES 242
Ecopoetics
1.0
ENG 251
Modern Poetry
1.0
ENG 252
Contemporary
American Poetry:
Unrest
1.0
ENG 253
Contemporary
American Poetry
1.0
ENG 267
American Literature:
1940s to 2000
1.0
ENG 270 / JWST 270
Jews and
Jewishness in
American Literature
1.0
ENG 275/JWST 275
Representation and
Appropriation in US
Video Game
Narratives
1.0
ENG 290 / JWST 290
Minorities in U.S.
Comics
1.0
ENG 291
What Is Racial
Difference?
1.0
ENG 294
Writing AIDS, 1981Present
1.0
ENG 356
Ernest Hemingway:
Life and Writings
1.0
ENG 357
The World of Emily
Dickinson
1.0
ENG 358
Sapphic Modernism
1.0
ENG 399H / PHIL 399H
Race, Justice, and
Action
1.0
ES 299 / HIST 299
U.S. Environmental
History
1.0
ES 381 / POL1 381
U.S. Environmental
Politics
1.0
FREN 229
America Through
French Eyes:
Perceptions and
Realities
1.0
GER 388
Seminar: Germany,
Europe, and the US
1.0
HIST 114Y
First Year Seminar:
American
Hauntings
1.0
HIST 203
Out of Many:
American History to
1877
1.0
HIST 204
The United States
History since 1865
1.0
HIST 220
U.S. Consumerism
1.0
HIST 223
The Hand that
Feeds: A History of
American Food
1.0
HIST 244
History of the
American West:
Manifest Destiny to
Pacific Imperialism
1.0
HIST 245
History of American
Capitalism from
Revolution to
Empire
1.0
HIST 249
Cold War Culture
and Politics in the
United States
1.0
HIST 251
Roads to Power:
The Transformation
of Space in 19th
Century North
America
HIST 252
Civil Rights
Reconsidered
1.0
HIST 253
Native America
1.0
HIST 254
The United States
in the World War II
Era
1.0
HIST 255
Black Lives Matter
in Print
1.0
HIST 256
Colonial America
1.0
HIST 260
America in the Age
of Revolution
1.0
HIST 261 / PEAC 261
Civil War and the
World
1.0
HIST 262
Political World of
Hamilton
1.0
HIST 267
Deep in the Heart:
The American
South in the
Nineteenth Century
1.0
HIST 277
China and America:
Evolution of a
Troubled
Relationship
1.0
HIST 311
Seminar:
Revolution to Civil
War
1.0
HIST 312
Seminar:
Understanding
Race in the United
States, 1776-1918
1.0
HIST 314
Seminar: Fashion
Politics
1.0
HIST 319
Seminar: Fear and
Violence in Early
America
1.0
HIST 320
Seminar: History of
American Food
1.0
HIST 321
Crime and
Punishment in Early
1.0
America
HIST 340
Seminar: Seeing
Black: African
Americans and
United States Visual
Culture
1.0
HIST 341
Seminar: Narrating
the “Struggle”
1.0
LING/SPAN 270
Language,
Sociopolitics, and
Identity: Spanish in
the United States
1.0
MUS 209
A History of Jazz
1.0
MUS 220
Jazz and Popular
Music Theory
1.0
MUS 276
American Popular
Music
1.0
MUS 309
A History of Jazz
1.0
PEAC 219 / SOC 209
Social Inequality
1.0
PEAC 240 / WGST 240
U.S. Public Health
1.0
POL1 200
American Politics
1.0
POL1 210
Campaigns and
Elections
1.0
POL1 215
Courts, Law, and
Politics
1.0
POL1 247
Constitutional Law
1.0
POL1 300
Public
Policymaking in
American Politics
1.0
POL1 303
The Politics of
Crime
1.0
POL1 317
Health Politics and
Policy
1.0
POL1 328
Seminar:
Immigration Politics
1.0
POL1 329
Political Psychology
1.0
POL1 333
Calderwood
Seminar in Public
Writing:
1.0
Perspectives on
American Politics
POL1 337
Seminar: Race in
American Politics
1.0
POL1 397
A Seat at the Table?
Race and
Representation in
American
Institutional Life
1.0
POL3 227
The Vietnam War
1.0
POL1 317
Health Politics and
Policy
1.0
POL1 328
Seminar:
Immigration Politics
1.0
POL1 329
Political Psychology
1.0
POL1 333
Calderwood
Seminar in Public
Writing:
Perspectives on
American Politics
1.0
POL1 337
Seminar: Race in
American Politics
1.0
POL3 227
The Vietnam War
1.0
POL4 249
Neoliberalism and
its Critics
1.0
POL4 311
Seminar:
Grassroots
Organizing
1.0
POL4 341
Beyond Prisons
1.0
POL4 345
Seminar: Black
Liberation from
Haiti to Black Lives
Matter
1.0
PSYC 337
Seminar: Prejudice
and Discrimination
1.0
REL 280 / SAS 280
South Asian
Religions in the
USA
1.0
SOC 205 / WGST 211
Modern Families
and Social
Inequalities: Private
Lives and Public
Policies
1.0
SOC 208
Technology:
Progress, Power,
and Problems
1.0
SOC 212
Marriage and the
Family
1.0
SOC 306 / WGST 306
Women and Work
1.0
SOC 308
Seminar: Children
in Society
1.0
SOC 311 / WGST 311
Seminar: Families,
Gender, the State
and Social Policies
1.0
SOC 334
Consumer Culture
1.0
SPAN 244
Spain in the US:
Past and Future
1.0
SPAN 305
Seminar: Hispanic
Literature of the
United States
1.0
SPAN 344
Spain in the US:
Past and Future
1.0
THST 122
Fashion and
Costume History in
Film and TV
1.0
THST 200
Trailblazing Women
of American
Comedy
1.0
THST 215
Twenty Plays,
Twenty Years
1.0
WGST 121
Reading Elvis
Presley
1.0
WGST 217
Growing Up
Gendered
1.0
WGST 220
American Health
Care History in
Gender, Race, and
Class Perspective
1.0
WGST 221
Gender, Race, and
the Carceral State
1.0
WGST 222
Gender and
Sexuality in
Contemporary
American Society
1.0
WGST 224
Feminist Methods
1.0
WGST 226
The Body Across
Medicine, Media,
and Politics
1.0
WGST 245
Romance Films and
Feminist Theories
1.0
WGST 267
Visual History and
Memory:
Representations of
the Japanese
American
Internment
Experience
1.0
WGST 305
Seminar:
Representations of
Women, Natives,
and Others
1.0
WGST 307
Seminar: TechnoOrientalism
1.0
WGST 320
Seminar: Race,
Gender, and
Science
1.0
WGST 341
Seminar: AntiCarceral Feminism
1.0
Asian American Studies Minor
The interdisciplinary field of Asian American Studies examines the lives, cultures, and histories of people of
Asian descent living in the Americas. Emerging from the ethnic identity movements of the late 1960s, it has
become an established academic field that encompasses history, sociology, psychology, literary criticism,
political science, and women's and gender studies. It intersects significantly with the study of other minority
groups in the United States and with the study of the Asia-Pacific region.
Learning Objectives for the Asian American Studies Minor
Students minoring in Asian American Studies will:
Gain competence in the interdisciplinary study of the fastest-growing racial group in the United States
Grasp how history has shaped the lives and experiences of Asian Americans
Examine the relationships between this group and other minority groups within the United States
Understand the transnational ties and global contexts of Asian Americans
Course Requirements for the Asian American Studies Minor
The Asian American Studies minor consists of five units:
1. Either AMST 151 The Asian American Experience or AMST 121 Ethnic Studies: Key Concepts, Theories, and
Methods
2. One course that examines race, ethnicity, immigration, or minority politics in the North American or South
American context. To fulfill this requirement, the following categories may be included:
This requirement can be met by courses about the history, culture, religion, or politics of America: AFR
215 Unpacking Blackness: Race and Ethnicity in African Diaspora; AFR 299 Caribbean Cultural
Expression and Diaspora; AMST 264 Asian American Labor and Immigration; AMST 152 Race,
Ethnicity and Politics in America; AMST 255 Life in the Big City: Urban Studies and Policies; AMST 223
Gendering the Bronze Screen: Representations of Chicanas/Latinas in Film; AMST 242 American
Reckonings: Race, Historical Memory, and the Future of Democracy; AMST 246/SOC 246 Salsa and
Ketchup: How Immigration is Changing the US and the World; EDUC 336 Theorizing Race in Education
through Counternarrative Inquiry; HIST 244 The History of the American West: Manifest Destiny to
Pacific Imperialism; POL1 328 Immigration Politics and Policy; POL 337 Race and Politics; REL 218
Religion in America; SPAN 335 Asians in Latin America: Literary and Cultural Connections
Courses about minority groups as defined by race, ethnicity, class, caste, or gender in this region: AFR
105 Introduction to the Black Experience; AFR 209 African American History: From the Slave Trade to
the Civil War; AFR 242 New World Afro-Atlantic Religions; AFR 390 No Moral High Ground, A History of
Slavery and Racism in the North; AFR 295 The Harlem Renaissance; AMST 217 Latina/o Popular Music
and Identity AMST 235 From Zumba to Taco Trucks: Consuming Latina/o Cultures; AMST 274 Gender
and Race in Westerns: Rainbow Cowboys (and Girls); AMST 327 New Directions in Black and Latina
Feminisms: Beyoncé, J-LO, and Other Divas; CAMS 240 Gendering the Bronze Screen:
Representations of Chicanas/Latinas in Film; EDUC 334 Ethnography in Education: Race, Migrations,
and Borders; HIST 252 The Twentieth-Century Black Freedom Struggle; SOC 209 Social Inequality:
Race, Class, and Gender; SOC 315 Intersectionality at Work; or SPAN 255 Chicano Literature: From
the Chronicles to the Present.
Courses about comparative or theoretical frameworks for comprehending America and Asia, including
empire, immigration, and globalization: AMST 161 Introduction to Latino/a Studies; AMST 264 Asian
American Labor and Immigration; AMST 251/SOC 251 Racial Regimes in the United States and
Beyond; AMST 310 Asian/American Politics of Beauty; AMST 323: Bad Bunny: Race, Gender, and
Empire in Reggaeton; LING 312 Bilingualism: An Exploration of Language, Mind, and Culture; POL2
204 Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment; SOC 221 Globalization; SOC 232/SAS
232 South Asian Diasporas; or WGST 206 Migration, Gender, and Globalization.
3. One course that examines history, culture, or politics in the Asian region. To fulfill this requirement, the
following categories may be included:
Courses about the history, culture, religion, or politics of East, South or Southeast Asia: AMST 310
Asian/American Politics of Beauty; ART 248 Chinese Painting; ARTH 255 Twentieth-Century Chinese
Art; ARTH 312 Art and Empire in the Nineteenth Century; CAMS 205/JPN 256 History of Japanese
Cinema; CAMS 203 Chinese Cinema; HIST 270 Colonialism, Nationalism, and Decolonization in South
Asia; CHIN 214 Love and Other Emotions in Ancient China; CHIN 242 Supernatural China; CHIN 236
China on the Silver Screen; EALC Language, Nationalism, and Identity in East Asia; HIST 373 Food,
Sports, and Sex: Body Politics in South Asia; HIST 274 China, Japan, and Korea in Comparative and
Global Perspectives; JPN 251 Japanese Literature from Myth to Manga (in English); JPN 314
Contemporary Japanese Narrative (in English); JPN 280 Japanese Pop Culture: From Kaiku to Hello
Kitty; POL2 211 Politics of South Asia; POL3 227 The Vietnam War; REL 259 Christianity in Asia; SAS
302 Traditional Narratives of South Asia; or WGST 325 Asian Feminisms.
Courses about minority groups as defined by race, ethnicity, class, caste, or gender in this region:
HIST 275 The Emergence of Ethnic Identities in Modern South Asia; MES 264 Religious and Ethnic
Minorities in the Ottoman Empire; REL 303/SAS 303 Models of Religious Pluralism form South Asia;
SOC 232/SAS 232 South Asian Diasporas; or EALC 236 The Girl in Modern Asian Culture.
Courses about comparative or theoretical frameworks for comprehending America and Asia, including
empire, immigration, and globalization, as listed above under (2/C).
4. Two courses on Asian American topics, such as AMST 116 /ENG 116 Asian American Fiction, AMST 212
Korean American Literature and Culture, AMST 232 Asian American Popular Culture, AMST 222/PSYC 222
Asian American Psychology; AMST 264 Asian American Labor and Immigration; AMST 306 Life Narratives:
Research & Writing the Asian American Experience; AMST 310 Asian/American Politics of Beauty; AMST 314
Food and the Asian American Experience; CAMS 249/WGST 249 Asian/American Women in Film; WGST 267
Visual History and Memory: Representations of the Japanese American Internment Experience; WGST 307
Techno-Orientalism: Geisha Robots, Cyberpunk Warriors, and Asian Futures.
To ensure that appropriate courses have been selected, students should consult with the program chair or
their minor advisor.
A maximum of two units, including AMST 151, may be taken at the 100 level. At least one unit must be at the
300 level. Four units must be taken at Wellesley. American Studies majors minoring in Asian American Studies
must decide whether to count an eligible course toward the major or the minor.
Latina/o Studies Minor
Latina/o Studies brings together cultural studies, humanities, and social sciences to consider the histories,
philosophies, social lives, and cultures of U.S. Latina/o communities. As a discipline founded after 1960s
student protests and now widely established, Latina/o Studies shares its interdisciplinary focus on social
inequalities and racial dynamics with other Ethnic Studies disciplines such as Africana Studies and Asian
American Studies. Latina/o Studies, however, uniquely focuses on the experiences, cultures, and politics of
people of Latin American descent living in the United States from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Learning Objectives for the Latino/a Studies Minor
Students minoring in Latina/o Studies will:
Gain competence in the interdisciplinary study of the largest minority group in the United States and to
its increasing importance in all areas of U.S. social life.
Grasp the historical, social, and political contexts of Latina/o life and culture in the United States.
Examine the relationships between this group and other minority groups within the United States.
Understand the transnational ties and global contexts of Latina/os.
Course Requirements for the Latino/a Studies Minor
The Latina/o minor consists of five units:
1. Either AMST 161, Introduction to Latina/o Studies or AMST 121, Ethnic Studies: Key Concepts,
Theories, and Methods
2. Two courses that examine Latina/o history, culture, and politics: AMST 217, AMST 235, AMST 290,
AMST 323, AMST 325, AMST 327, WGST 216, WGST 218, WGST 223/CAMS 240, or WGST 326.
3. Two courses that cover the larger contexts of race, ethnicity, immigration, economics, language,
religion, education, and urban life that are relevant to Latina/os in the United States. To fulfill this
requirement, the following categories of courses may be included in a Latina/o Studies minor.
Courses about the history, culture, or politics of the United States: AFR 206 African American History:
Reconstruction to present; AFR/ENG 295 Harlem Renaissance; AMST 152 Race, Ethnicity and Politics
in America; AMST 242 American Reckonings: Race and Memory in US; AMST 274/WGST 274 Rainbow
Cowboys (and Girls): Gender, Race, Class, and Sexuality in Westerns; AMST 315: Beats, Rhymes, and
Life: Hip-Hop Studies; EDUC 335 Seminar: Urban Education: Equity, Research, and Action; ENG/JWST
290 Minorities in US Comics; HIST 244 History of the American West: Manifest Destiny to Pacific
Imperialism; HIST 245: The Social History of American Capitalism from Revolution to Empire; HIST 252:
The Twentieth-Century Black Freedom Struggle; HIST 312 Seminar: Understanding Race in the United
States, 1776-1918; POL 1 337 Racial and Ethnic Politics in the United States; POL 1 386 The Politics of
Inequality in America; WGST 102 Lessons of Childhood; or WGST 226 The Body.
Courses about transnationalism, immigration, language, or globalization that reflect on Latina/o
experience: AFR 215 Unpacking Blackness: Race and Ethnicity in African Diaspora; AFR 299
Caribbean Cultural Expression and Diaspora; AMST 264 Histories of Asian American Labor and
Immigration; AMST/ENG 296: Diaspora and Immigration in 21st-Century American Literature; AMST
310 Asian/American Politics of Beauty; AMST 314 Food and the Asian American Experience; ECON
311 Economics of Immigration; EDUC 334: Seminar: Ethnography in Education: Race, Migration, and
Borders; LING 312 Bilingualism: An Exploration of Language, Mind, and Culture; LING/SPAN 270
Language, Sociopolitics, and Identity: Spanish in the United States; MUS 210 Music and the Global
Metropolis; POL 1 328 Immigration Politics and Policy; REL 226 The Virgin Mary; SOC 246/AMST 246
Salsa and Ketchup: How Immigration is Changing the U.S.; SOC 310 Encountering the Other:
Comparative Perspectives on Mobility and Migration; SPAN 243: Spanish for Heritage Learners; SPAN
305: Hispanic Literature of the United States; WGST 206 Migration, Gender, and Globalization.
Courses about comparative or theoretical frameworks for comprehending questions of race, ethnicity,
and class, such as EDUC 216 Race, Class, and Ethnicity in Education Policy; ECON 243 The Political
Economy of Gender, Race, and Class; POL4 311: Grassroots Organizing; POL4 345: Black Liberation
from Haiti to Black Lives Matter; SOC 249 Social Inequality; SOC 251 Racial Regimes in the United
States and Beyond; WGST 296 US Women of Color and Economic Inequality; WGST 395
Representations of Women, Natives, and Others.
To ensure that appropriate courses have been selected, students should consult with the program director or
their minor advisor.
A maximum of two units, including AMST 161, may be taken at the 100 level. At least one unit must be at the
300 level. Four units must be taken at Wellesley. American Studies majors minoring in Latina/o Studies must
decide whether to count an eligible course toward the major or the minor.
AMST Courses
Course ID: AMST101 Title: Introduction to American Studies
An interdisciplinary examination of some of the varieties of American experience, aimed at developing a
functional vocabulary for further work in American Studies or related fields. Along with a brief review of
American history, the course will direct its focus on important moments in that history, including the present,
investigating each of them in relation to selected cultural, historical, artistic, and political events, figures,
institutions, and texts. Course topics include intersectional ethnic and gender studies, consumption and
popular culture, urban and suburban life, racial formation, and contemporary American culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: P. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
This course is required of American Studies majors and should be completed before the end of the Junior
year.;
Course ID: AMST102Y/EDUC102Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Lessons of Childhood: Representations of
Difference in Children's Media
From Disney films to Nickelodeon cartoons to Newberry award-winning texts, popular children's media offers
us the opportunity to analyze how complex issues of identity are represented in cultural productions aimed at a
young audience. This course takes as a site of analysis media aimed at children to investigate the lessons
imparted and ideologies circulate in popular films and books. How is class drawn in Lady and the Tramp?
What are politics of language at play in Moana? What are the sounds of masculinity in Beauty and the Beast?
How does Mulan construct gender, race, and militarism? Using an intersectional frame of analysis, we will
trace popular tropes, identify images of resistance, and map out the more popular messages children receive
about difference in our world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Mata; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course. Registration in this section is
restricted to students selected for the Wellesley Plus Program. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: AMST106/SOC106 Title: Meritocracy: An Introduction to Sociology
The word meritocracy was coined by the sociologist Michael Young in the 1950s. In the intervening years it has
taken on a life of its own and has become an enduring part of social and cultural debates over such diverse
issues as equality, privilege, luck, and achievement. What is the relationship between these issues and, for
example, admission to college? We will read Michael Young’s The Rise of the Meritocracy along with both
support for and criticism of the idea of merit. How is it measured? What is its relation to social status? Are there
alternative systems to meritocracy?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Imber; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST116/ENG116 Title: Asian American Fiction
At various times over the past century and a half, America has welcomed, expelled, tolerated, interned,
ignored, and celebrated immigrants from Asia and their descendants. This course examines the fictions
produced in response to these experiences. Irony, humor, history, tragedy and mystery all find a place in Asian
American literature. We will see the emergence of a self-conscious Asian American identity, as well as more
recent transnational structures of feeling. We will read novels and short stories by writers including Hisaye
Yamamoto, John Okada, Mohsin Hamid, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Min Jin Lee. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in
English requirement
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST121 Title: Ethnic Studies: Key Concepts, Theories, and Methods
This course offers an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Ethnic Studies. Ethnic Studies centers the
theories, histories, and perspectives of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American people in the United
States, with particular attention to the study of comparative race and ethnic relations in the United States and
its empire. We will explore key themes and concepts in Ethnic Studies such as imperialism and colonialism,
social movements, migration, and intersectionality using analysis of popular culture, and historical and current
events.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rivera-Rideau; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST151 Title: The Asian American Experience
An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of Asian Americans, the fastest-growing ethnic group in North
America. Critical examination of different stages of their experience from "coolie labor" and the "yellow peril" to
the "model minority" and struggles for identity; roots of Asian stereotypes; myth and reality of Asian women;
prejudice against, among, and by Asians; and Asian contributions to a more pluralistic, tolerant, and just
American society. Readings, films, lectures, and discussions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Remoquillo; Distribution Requirements: HS or
REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST161 Title: Introduction to Latina/o Studies
Latinas/os in the United States have diverse histories, cultures, and identities, yet many people in the U.S.
assume a commonality among Latina/o groups. What links exist between various Latina/o groups? What are
the main differences or conflicts between them? How do constructions of Latina/o identities contend with the
diversity of experiences? In this course, we will examine a variety of topics and theories pertinent to the field of
Latina/o Studies, including immigration, language, politics, panethnicity, civil rights, racialization, border
studies, media and cultural representation, gender and sexuality, and transnationalism, among other issues.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rivera-Rideau; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: AMST206/EDUC206 Title: Abolitionist Study: Knowledge Production in U.S. Prisons
In this class, we will look at several forms of knowledge production that have historically emerged behind the
walls of U.S. prisons. These have included captivity narratives, disciplinary regimes, formal university-funded
humanities education and, most importantly, self-organized political education and study groups. Moments of
the latter have caused some political and politicized prisoners to refer to prisons as “universities of revolution.”
In today’s prison abolitionist movement, inside-outside study groups serve as social hubs, political workshops
and cultural anchors. By looking closely at the history of imprisoned intellectual production (writing, radio,
artwork, etc), we will see how imprisoned people and their supporters theorize, understand, and struggle
against the prison regime through organic and mutual forms of political education
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Alexander; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: AMST212 Title: Korean American Literature and Culture
What is Korean American Literature and what is the justification for setting it apart from the rest of Asian
American literature? The course approaches this question by taking up a range of recent fictional writings, all
of which were turned out by Korean Americans, between 1995 and the present day. Films on Korean
Americans help us to look beyond literature to a wider cultural perspective. As the semester evolves we will
continue to keep an eye on the range of styles, issues, and silences that characterize this field. Finally, we will
take up the problem of language: the ways in which English is used to evoke a specifically Korean American
idiom and the contrary process through which certain Korean American works reach beyond the "ethnic"
designation and into the mainstream.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Widmer (East Asian Languages and Cultures);
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST217 Title: Latina/o Popular Music and Identity
This course uses Latin music as a lens through which to examine broader social issues in the United States.
We will consider how music industries decide what counts as “Latin,” and how these processes intersect or fail
to intersect with ideas of Latinx identity on the ground. We will explore topics such as racial identity,
immigration, gender and sexuality, transnationalism, and crossover. We will study genres including, but not
limited to, banda, norteña, bachata, reggaetón, and pop, and artists such as Aventura, Daddy Yankee, Jenni
Rivera, Selena, and Shakira.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rivera-Rideau; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST218/REL218 Title: Religion in America
A study of the religions of Americans from the colonial period to the present. Special attention to the impact of
religious beliefs and practices in the shaping of American culture and society. Representative readings from
the spectrum of American religions including Aztecs and Conquistadors in New Spain, Puritans; the
Evangelical and Enlightenment movements; Native American prophets; enslaved persons, slave owners, and
abolitionists in the antebellum period; ethnic and assimilationist Catholics and Jews; the Black Church;
Fundamentalists and Liberals; American Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus; and new internet sectarians.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST220/SOC220 Title: Freedom: Great Debates on Liberty and Morality
Among the various challenges that face democratic societies committed to the ideal of pluralism and its
representations in both individuals and institutions, is what is meant by the term "liberty". Among those who
identify as conservative, the concept of liberty has over time been addressed in ways that seek to impose
order on both individual and institutional behavior or what some conservatives refer to as "ordered liberty".
Classical liberal views of liberty stress the removal of external constraints on human behavior as the key to
maximizing individual agency, autonomy and selfhood. This course examines the historical and sociological
debates and tensions surrounding different visions of liberty. Focus on case studies of contentious social
issues that are at the center of public debates, including freedom of expression; race and ethnicity; criminality;
sexuality; gender; social class, religion, and the war on drugs.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Cushman, Imber; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST222/PSYC222 Title: Asian American Psychology
How can cultural values influence the way we process information, recall memories, or express emotion? What
contributes to variations in parenting styles across cultures? How do experiences such as biculturalism,
immigration, and racism affect mental health? This course will examine these questions with a specific focus
on the cultural experiences of Asian Americans. Our aim is to understand how these experiences interact with
basic psychological processes across the lifespan, with attention to both normative and pathological
development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101 or AMST 151; or a score of 5 on the Psychology AP
exam; or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Chen;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST223/CAMS223 Title: Gendering the Bronze Screen: Representations of Chicanas/Latinas in
Film
The history of Chicanxs and Latinnes on the big screen is a long and complicated one. To understand the
changes that have occurred in the representation of the Chicanx/Latine community, this course proposes an
analysis of films that traces various stereotypes to examine how those images have been perpetuated, altered,
and ultimately resisted. From the Anglicizing of names to the erasure of racial backgrounds, the ways in which
Chicanxs and Latines are represented has been contingent on ideologies of race, gender, class, and sexuality.
We will examine how films have typecast Chicanas/Latinas as criminals or as "exotic" based on their status as
women of color, and how filmmakers continue the practice of casting Chicanas/Latinas solely as supporting
characters to male protagonists.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Mata; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST225/PEAC227/SOC225 Title: Life in the Big City: Urban Studies and Policy
This course will introduce students to core readings in the field of urban studies. While the course will focus on
cities in the United States, we will also look comparatively at the urban experience in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America and cover debates on “global cities.” Topics will include the changing nature of community, social
inequality, political power, socio-spatial change, technological change, and the relationship between the built
environment and human behavior. We will examine the key theoretical paradigms driving this field since its
inception, assess how and why they have changed over time, and discuss the implications of these shifts for
urban scholarship and social policy. The course will include fieldwork in Boston and presentations by city
government practitioners.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST228/REL220 Title: Religious Themes in American Fiction
Human nature and destiny, good and evil, love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, tradition and assimilation,
salvation and damnation, God and fate in The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and
contemporary novels including Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, Allegra
Goodman’s Kaaterskill Falls, and Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine. Reading and discussion of these texts as
expressions of diverse religious cultures in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST231/FREN231 Title: Americans in Paris: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the City of Light (in
English)
For more than two hundred years, the experiences of Americans in Paris have exerted an outsized influence on
American, French, and global culture. These transnational encounters have included writers and artists as well
as diplomats, students, filmmakers, jazz musicians, bohemians and tourists. Drawing on a variety of historical
and literary documents, among them novels and essays, along with films and music, we will trace the history
of American encounters with Paris from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Through our study,
Paris emerges as a long-running site of complex cultural encounters, a creative and dynamic metropolis with
special significance to many different groups, among them, African Americans, women, and queer people,
who have made this city a hotbed of intellectual innovation and social change.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. ; Instructor: Datta, P. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST232 Title: Asian American Popular Culture
This course analyzes the significance of Asian American pop culture. We will investigate cultural constructions
of gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality through an examination of various kinds of popular media,
including film, music, performance, social media, and art. We will read key works in cultural studies alongside
transnational feminist works. Central to this course will be an examination of how popular culture can
reproduce and challenge racial, sexual, gender, class, and national identity formations in the United States.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Clutario; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AMST234/REL231 Title: Radical Individualism and the Common Good
There is a deep crisis of values at the heart of contemporary culture in the United States. On one hand, the
nation is unquestionably committed to the principle of radical individualism, marked especially by free-market
capitalism, consumerism, and increasingly violent libertarian politics. On the other hand, increasing
competition and diversity require principles of the common good to sustain the cultural coherence, social
media, and environmental stability necessary for civil society to function effectively. This course will investigate
the conflict between these two sets of values through theoretical readings and the inspection of public life in
the United States in the twenty-first century. It asks whether there ought to be any constraints on individualism
that can be justified by an appeal to the common good and, if so, what those constraints should be.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST235 Title: From Zumba to Taco Trucks: Consuming Latina/o Cultures
From the Zumba Fitness Program to Jane the Virgin, salsa night to the ubiquitous taco truck, “Latin” culture is
popular. But what do we make of the popularity of “Latin” culture at a time when many Latina/o communities
face larger systemic inequalities related to issues such as race, ethnicity, or immigration status? How do
organizations and industries represent and market Latinidad to the US public, and how do these forms of
popular culture and representation influence our perceptions of Latina/o life in the United States? How do
Latina/o consumers view these representations? This course explores these questions through a critical
examination of the representation and marketing of Latinidad, or Latina/o identities, in US popular culture. We
will pay particular attention to the intersections between Latina/o identities, ideas of “Americanness,”
immigration, race, gender, and sexuality in the United States.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rivera-Rideau; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST240/ENG269 Title: The Rise of an American Empire: Wealth and Conflict in the Gilded Age
An interdisciplinary exploration of the so-called Gilded Age and the Progressive era in the United States
between the Civil War and World War I, emphasizing both the conflicts and achievements of the period. Topics
will include Reconstruction and African American experience in the South; technological development and
industrial expansion; the exploitation of the West and resistance by Native Americans and Latinos; feminism,
"New Women," and divorce; tycoons, workers, and the rich-poor divide; immigration from Europe, Asia, and
new American overseas possessions; as well as a vibrant period of American art, architecture, literature,
music, and material culture, to be studied by means of the rich cultural resources of the Boston area.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: P. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AMST241/SOC241 Title: A Nation in Therapy
What is therapy? Although historically tied to the values and goals of medicine, the roles that therapy and
therapeutic culture play in defining life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are now ubiquitous. The impact of
therapeutic culture on every major social institution, including the family, education, and the law, has created a
steady stream of controversy about the ways in which Americans in particular make judgements about right
and wrong, about others, and about themselves. Are Americans obsessed with their well being? Is there a type
of humor specific to therapeutic culture? This course provides a broad survey of the triumph of the therapeutic
and the insights into the character and culture that triumph reveals.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Imber; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST242 Title: American Reckonings: Race, Historical Memory, and the Future of Democracy
On January 6th, 2021, a right-wing mob violently attacked the U.S. Capitol using guns, clubs, and fists. But
perhaps their most powerful weapon was not physical, but ideological: a white supremacist version of
America’s revolutionary past. This course examines the complex interplay between historical memory and
present-day social and political realities. We will consider how stories, symbols, and artifacts shape popular
understandings of the past, and in turn, how historical memory legitimizes social attitudes and systems. How
do narratives about colonization, slavery, and war impact policy decisions? How do they shape racial attitudes
and social identities? How do people of different racial groups, political leanings, and generations see the past
differently? Students will examine a range of cultural artifacts, including fiction, film, monuments, museum
exhibits, speeches, and digital media and create their own sites of memory. These items provide tangible links
to the past that will shape the future of democracy in America.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: E. Battat (Writing Program); Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered; Notes: This course is recommended for students who have some familiarity with American history
and critical reading and analytical writing in the humanities.;
Course ID: AMST245/CAMS245 Title: Speculative Media in the U.S.
This will be a course about the future and how it is made. We will look at multiple modes of speculation,
including financial speculation, speculative storytelling through fiction and cinema, and speculative political
claims on new futures. Each of these modes of speculation will imagine and predict radically different futures,
and each mode will tell us something crucial about economic, cultural, and political life in the US. We will study
the rise of futures trading and money as a speculative media technology; read some of Octavia Butler’s fiction
and watch sci-fi movies; and look at contemporary movements for debt cancellation, prison abolition, and
climate justice. Readings will draw from film and media studies, Black feminism, queer theory, anti-colonialist
thought, and Marxism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Alexander; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: AMST246/SOC246 Title: Salsa and Ketchup: How immigration is Changing the US and the World
We live in a world on the move. Nearly one out of every seven people in the world today is an international or
internal migrant who moves by force or by choice. In the United States, immigrants and their children make up
nearly 25 percent of the population. This course looks at migration to the United States from a transnational
perspective and then looks comparatively at other countries of settlement. We use Framingham as a lab for
exploring race and ethnicity, immigration incorporation, and transnational practices. Fieldwork projects will
examine how immigration affects the economy, politics, and religion and how the town is changing in
response. We will also track contemporary debates around immigration policy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST248/ENG248 Title: Poetics of the Body
Sensual and emotionally powerful, American poetry of the body explores living and knowing through physical,
bodily experience. From Walt Whitman’s “I Sing the Body Electric” to contemporary spoken word
performances, body poems move us through the strangeness and familiarity of embodiment, voicing the
manifold discomforts, pains, pleasures, and ecstasies of living in and through bodies. We’ll trace a number of
recurring themes: the relationship between body and mind, female embodiment, queer bodies, race, sexuality,
disability, illness and medicine, mortality, appetite, and the poem itself as a body. Poets include Whitman,
Frank O’Hara, Rita Dove, Thom Gunn, Claudia Rankine, Ocean Vuong, Tyehimba Jess, Jos Charles, Max
Ritvo, Laurie Lambeth, Chen Chen, and Danez Smith. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Brogan; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST251/SOC251 Title: Racial Regimes in the United States and Beyond
How can we understand the mechanisms and effects of racial domination in our society? In this class, we
develop a sociological understanding of race through historical study of four racial regimes in the United
States: slavery, empire, segregation, and the carceral state. We relate the U.S. experience to racial regimes in
other parts of the world, including British colonialism, the Jewish ghetto in Renaissance Venice, and apartheid
and post-apartheid states in South Africa, among other contexts. Thus, we develop a comparative, global
understanding of race and power. We conclude with a hands-on group media project engaging a relevant
contemporary issue.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: At least one social science course required.; Instructor: S.
Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST254/CAMS254 Title: Carceral Cinema in the US
This course will look at representations of prisons, policing, and criminality across US cinema history. We will
watch a wide range of movies, from Thomas Edison’s 1901 recreation of Leon Czolgosz’s execution to classic
noir, cop procedurals, crime thrillers, horror, and science fiction. Readings will draw from abolitionist, feminist,
Marxist, and Black Radical traditions to guide our attention to the ideologies of crime, punishment, policing
and incarceration that circulate in and spill out of US cinema. Readings will occasionally invite us to step back
and think about the role of cinema in the production of what Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Jordan T. Camp have
called “carceral commonsense.” In addition to Gilmore and Camp, authors will include Angela Y. Davis, Khalil
Gibran Muhammed, Dylan Rodriguez, W.E.B Du Bois, Assata Shakur, Stuart Hall, Mariame Kaba, Jonathon
Finn, Eric A. Stanley, Gina Dent, Simone Browne, and Erin Gray.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Alexander; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST258/ENG258 Title: Gotham: New York City in Literature, Art, and Film
This course examines how that icon of modernity, New York City, has been variously depicted in literature and
the arts, from its evolution into the nation’s cultural and financial capital in the nineteenth century to the
present. We’ll consider how urban reformers, boosters, long-time residents, immigrants, tourists, newspaper
reporters, journalists, poets, novelists, artists, and filmmakers have shaped new and often highly contested
meanings of this dynamic and diverse city. We'll also consider how each vision of the city returns us to crucial
questions of perspective, identity, and ownership, and helps us to understand the complexity of metropolitan
experience. Authors may include Walt Whitman, Edith Wharton, Anzia Yezierska, Paule Marshall, Frank
O’Hara, and Colson Whitehead. We’ll look at the art of John Sloan, Georgia O’Keeffe, Helen Levitt, and
Berenice Abbott, and others. Filmmakers may include Vincente Minnelli, Martin Scorsese, and Spike Lee.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Brogan; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST261/ENG261 Title: Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan
Between the breakdown of the studio system and the advent of the blockbuster era, American filmmaking
enjoyed a decade of extraordinary achievement. We'll study a range of great films produced in the late 60s and
70s, such as Bonnie and Clyde, Taxi Driver, The Godfather, Chinatown, Annie Hall, Shampoo, Carrie, and
Apocalypse Now, exploring their distinctive combination of American genre and European art-film style, and
connecting them to the social and political contexts of this turbulent moment in American history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST262/ENG262 Title: American Literature to 1865
This is the greatest, most thrilling and inspiring period in American literary history, and the central theme
represented and explored in it is freedom, and its relationship to power. Power and freedom—the charged and
complex dynamics of these intersecting terms, ideas, and conflicted realities: we will examine this theme in
literature, religion, social reform, sexual and racial liberation, and more. Authors to be studied will include
Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Douglass, Stowe, Henry James. We will enrich our work by studying films
dealing with the period—for example, Edward Zwick’s Glory (1989), about one of the first regiments of
African-American troops, and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012).; and we also will consider the visual arts—
photography and American landscape painting. The literature that we will read and respond to in this course
was written 150 years ago, but the issues that these writers engage are totally relevant to who we are and
where we are today. In important ways this is really a course in contemporary American literature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST264 Title: Histories of Asian American Labor and Immigration
This course offers an introduction to the history of Asian American labor and immigration from the midnineteenth century to the present. Using a range of interdisciplinary frameworks and sources, the course will
focus on the flow and movement of people to the United States, we will nonetheless pay special attention to
the global, transnational and transpacific networks, issues, events and moments that have historically
impacted the movement of peoples around the world. This course also spotlights the ways in which labor
played a central role in shaping these migratory flows and experiences. As much as possible, this course will
aim to look at historical events and moments from the perspective of ordinary people, or “histories from
below,” in order to understand how historical narratives may change when you are not looking at histories
from the perspective of those in power.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Clutario; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST266/ENG266 Title: American Literature from the Civil War to the 1930s
This changing-topics course provides students with an opportunity to pursue special interests in the study of
major American writers and ideas from the Civil War to the 1930s.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes:
This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: AMST268/ENG268 Title: Genres of American Fiction Today
Why are some genres of fiction much more prestigious than others? How do works of fiction get categorized
and valued? What accounts for the difference between “genre fiction” and “literary fiction”? This class will read
literary-critical debates about genre alongside a survey of 21st century U.S. fiction. We will explore genres
ranging from sci-fi to historical fiction to so-called autofiction, and consider how they can help us think about
contemporary issues including climate change and the politics of race and gender. Authors may include
George Saunders, Colson Whitehead, Jeff Vandermeer, Torrey Peters, Elif Batuman, Jonathan Franzen.
Theorists and critics may include Pierre Bourdieu, Seo Young Chu, Theodore Martin, Mark McGurl, and others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Winner; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST274/WGST274 Title: Gender and Race in Westerns: Rainbow Cowboys (and Girls)
Westerns, a complex category that includes not only films but also novels, photographs, paintings, and many
forms of popular culture, have articulated crucial mythologies of American culture from the nineteenth century
to the present. From Theodore Roosevelt to the Lone Ranger, myths of the Trans-Mississippi West have
asserted iconic definitions of American masculinity and rugged individualism. Yet as a flexible, ever-changing
genre, Westerns have challenged, revised, and subverted American concepts of gender and sexuality.
Westerns have also struggled to explain a dynamic and conflictive "borderlands" among Native Americans,
Anglos, Latinos, Blacks, and Asians. This team-taught, interdisciplinary course will investigate Westerns in
multiple forms, studying their representations of the diverse spaces and places of the American West and its
rich, complicated, and debated history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Creef, P. Fisher (American Studies); Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST281/ENG297 Title: Rainbow Republic: American Queer Culture from Walt Whitman to Lady
Gaga
Transgender rights, gay marriage, and Hollywood and sports figures' media advocacy are only the latest
manifestations of the rich queer history of the United States. This course will explore American LGBTQ history
and culture from the late nineteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on consequential developments
in society, politics, and consciousness since Stonewall in 1969. The course will introduce some elements of
gender and queer theory; it will address historical and present-day constructions of sexuality through selected
historical readings but primarily through the vibrant cultural forms produced by queer artists and communities.
The course will survey significant queer literature, art, film, and popular culture, with an emphasis on the
inventive new forms of recent decades. It will also emphasize the rich diversity of queer culture especially
through the intersectionality of gender and sexuality with class, ethnicity and race.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: P. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST290/PEAC290 Title: Afro-Latinas/os in the U.S.
This course examines the experiences and cultures of Afro-Latinas/os, people of both African and Latin
American descent, in the United States. We will consider how blackness intersects with Latina/o identity, using
social movements, politics, popular culture, and literature as the bases of our analysis. This course addresses
these questions transnationally, taking into account not only racial dynamics within the United States, but also
the influence of dominant Latin American understandings of race and national identity. We will consider the
social constructions of blackness and Latinidad; the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the
Latina/o community; immigration and racial politics; representations of Afro-Latinas/os in film, music, and
literature; and African American-Latino relations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rivera-Rideau; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: AMST292/ENG292 Title: Film Noir
A journey through the dark side of the American imagination. Where classic Hollywood filmmaking trades in
uplift and happy endings, Film Noir inhabits a pessimistic, morally compromised universe, populated by
femmes fatales, hard-boiled detectives, criminals and deviants. This course will explore the development of
this alternative vision of the American experience, from its origins in the 1940s, through the revival of the genre
in the 1970s, to its ongoing influence on contemporary cinema. We’ll pay particular attention to noir’s
redefinition of American cinematic style, and to its representations of masculinity and femininity. Films we are
likely to watch include Howard Hawks’s The Big Sleep, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, Roman Polanski’s
Chinatown, Carl Franklin’s Devil in a Blue Dress, and David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. We’ll also read a number
of the gritty detective novels from which several of these films were adapted.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST296/ENG296 Title: Diaspora and Immigration in 21st-Century American Literature
This course explores the exciting new literature produced by writers transplanted to the United States or by
children of recent immigrants. We’ll consider how the perspectives of immigrants redefine what is American by
sustaining linkages across national borders, and we’ll examine issues of hybrid identity and multiple
allegiances, collective memory, traumatic history, nation, home and homeland, and globalization. Our course
materials include novels, essays, memoirs, short fiction, and visual art. We’ll be looking at writers in the United
States with cultural connections to India, Pakistan, Viet Nam, Bosnia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Korea, Japan, and
Mexico. Some authors to be included: André Aciman, Catherine Chung, Sandra Cisneros, Mohsin Hamid,
Aleksandar Hemon, Jumpa Lahiri, Lê Thi Diem Thúy, and Dinaw Mengestu. Artists include Surendra Lawoti,
Priya Kambli, Asma Ahmed Shikoh, and the African American mixed-media artist Radcliffe Bailey. Fulfills the
Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Brogan; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST299/ENG299 Title: American Nightmares: The Horror Film in America
An exploration of the horror film in America, from 1960 to the present, with particular attention to the ways that
imaginary monsters embody real terrors, and the impact of social and technological change on the stories
through which we provoke and assuage our fears. We'll study classics of the genre, such as Psycho,
Rosemary’s Baby, and The Exorcist, as well as contemporary films like Get Out and Midsommar, and read
some of the most important work in the rich tradition of critical and theoretical
writing on horror.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: AMST306 Title: Seminar: Life Narratives: Researching & Writing the Asian American Experience
In this course students will explore the interdisciplinary approaches by which Asian American scholars, artists,
and activists produce work on and in the Asian American diaspora from the 1960s to present day. This survey
of Asian American methodologies will offer students the exciting opportunity to receive hands-on experience in
conducting ethnographic interviews, studying archival materials, analyzing films, reading memoirs and more
that showcase the interdisciplinary nature of Asian American Studies and identity at large.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: At least one of the following courses - AMST 101, AMST 121,
AMST 151, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Remoquillo; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST310 Title: Asian/American Politics of Beauty
This course examines historical and contemporary contexts and processes of defining Asian/American beauty
as well as the ways in which beauty is used to manage bodies, define social hierarchies, and gain or maintain
power. Moreover, this course asks how presentations of beauty, especially “beautiful bodies,” could also be
used as forms of subversion and resistance. Looking at sites such beauty pageants, cosmetic consumer
cultures, drag performances, cosmetic surgery, and the transnational production and consumption of beauty
influencers we will investigate how race, gender, sexuality, and class informs definitions of beauty and how
definitions of beauty inform constructions of race, gender, sexuality, and class.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: AMST 101 or AMST 151, or permission of the instructor. Not open
to First-Year students.; Instructor: Clutario; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST314 Title: Seminar: Food and the Asian American Experience
This seminar will use food as a lens to explore Asian American history and contemporary political, cultural, and
economic issues. We will explore the role of food in histories of immigration; labor in restaurant and service
industries; farming and agriculture; and the politics of consumption and circulation of food. We will trace
contemporary experiences to larger histories through a critical engagement with interdisciplinary scholarship
as well as primary sources like recipe books, food criticism, media, film and television, literature, and memoirs.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One of the following - AMST 151, AMST 121, AMST 232, AMST
264, AMST 101, AMST 116/ENG 116, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Clutario; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: AMST318/REL318 Title: Seminar: Interning the "Enemy Race": Japanese Americans in World War
II
A close examination of the rationale by the U.S. government for the incarceration of American citizens of
Japanese ancestry, and Japanese nationals living in the United States and Latin America, after Japan's attack
in December 1941 of Pearl Harbor. The course also examines the dynamics of overwhelming popular support
for the incarceration, as well as the aftermath of the internment. The topics include Japan's rise as a colonial
power, starting in the late nineteenth century; the place of Asian migrant workers and the "yellow peril"; life in
the camps; the formation of the Japanese American Citizens League; the valor of the Japanese American
soldiers in Europe during World War II; how the United States has since responded to its "enemies," especially
after 9/11; changing immigration laws; race and politics in America.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course in Asian American Studies, or in Asian Religions, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST319/REL319 Title: Seminar: Religion, Law, and Politics in America
A study of the relationships among religion, fundamental law, and political culture in the American experience.
Topics include established religion in the British colonies, religious ideologies in the American Revolution,
religion and rebellion in the Civil War crisis, American civil religion, and the New Religious Right. Special
attention to the separation of church and state and selected Supreme Court cases on the religion clauses of
the First Amendment. In addition, the class will monitor and discuss religious and moral issues in the 2022
elections.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: REL 200 or REL 218, or at least one 200-level unit in American
Studies or in American history, sociology, or politics; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marini;
Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST323 Title: Seminar: Bad Bunny: Race, Gender, and Empire in Reggaeton
Benito Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, has quickly risen through the ranks to become one of the
most significant and impactful global Latin music stars in history. This course explores what analyzing Bad
Bunny can teach us in Latinx Studies. We will explore his role in the 2019 protests in Puerto Rico, and what the
summer of 2019 teaches us about U.S. empire and Puerto Rican politics. We will also pay particular attention
to the politics of race, gender, and queerness in Bad Bunny’s performance. Finally, we will consider Bad
Bunny as a Spanish-language “crossover” star in the United States to understand the place of Latinx artists in
the U.S. mainstream. Overall, this course will explore these topics by closely situating Bad Bunny’s work in
relation to key texts in Latinx Studies regarding race, empire, gender, and queerness.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Previous coursework in Latinx Studies, American Studies, Africana
Studies or Latin American Studies preferred. Not open to First-Year students.; Instructor: Rivera-Rideau;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Priority given to American Studies majors, Latinx Studies minors,
and Latin American Studies majors;
Course ID: AMST325 Title: Puerto Ricans at Home and Beyond: Popular Culture, Race, and Latino/a Identities
in Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States since 1898, and yet it holds a very different view of race
relations. Dominant discourses of Puerto Rican identity represent the island as racially mixed and therefore
devoid of racism; but many scholars argue that this is not the case. We will use popular culture, memoir, and
political histories as lenses through which to examine the construction of race, and blackness in particular, in
Puerto Rico and among Puerto Ricans in the US. We will explore topics such as the role of Puerto Rican
activists in social movements for racial equality, performances of blackness and Puerto Ricanness in hip-hop
and reggaeton, and migration's influence on ideas of blackness and Latinidad in both Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: AMST 101 or permission of the instructor; Instructor: RiveraRideau; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST327 Title: New Directions in Black and Latina Feminisms: Beyoncé, J-Lo, and Other Divas
This course uses Black and Latina feminist theories to critically examine the performances, personas, and
representations of Beyoncé Knowles and Jennifer López. We will begin with an overview of classic Black and
Latina feminist theory texts by authors such as Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Cherríe Moraga.
We will then read more contemporary Black and Latina feminist academic and popular works that expand,
challenge, and complicate these theories. Throughout the course, we will put these texts in conversation with
Beyoncé and Jennifer López, as well as other Black and Latina artists. In addition to the intersections of race,
gender, and sexuality, topics include performance, fashion and beauty, colorism, motherhood, sex and
pleasure, and the politics of representation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Previous experience with feminist or race theory helpful.;
Instructor: Rivera-Rideau; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST344 Title: Seminar: The "Dangerous Classes": US Labor Histories and Culture
This class will look at several pivotal moments in US working class history: slave rebellions, early unionization,
Black radical labor formations of the 1960s and 1970s, neoliberal attacks on labor, and 2022’s “Hot Labor
Summer.” We will use this series of historical studies to think critically about what and who constitutes the
working class in the US, when and how that might change, and about how colonial, racial, and gendered
dynamics drive these histories while too often being written out of them. For each moment, we will also look to
working class cultural artifacts as their own kind of theoretical and historical texts, including music, pamphlets,
poetry, drama, photography, film and video, and memes. Potential authors: Gerald Horne, Charisse BurdenStelly, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, J. Sakai, Philip Foner, James Yaki Sayles, James Boggs, Grace Lee Boggs,
Silvia Frederici, Karl Marx, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Kim Kelly, Joshua Clover, Sarah Jaffe.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 100- or 200-level AMST course (AMST 101 recommended).;
Instructor: Alexander; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST348/SOC348 Title: Conservatism in America
An examination of conservative movements and ideas in terms of class, gender, and race. Historical survey
and social analysis of such major conservative movements and ideas as paleoconservatism, neoconservatism,
and compassionate conservatism. The emergence of conservative stances among women, minorities, and
media figures. The conservative critique of American life and its shaping of contemporary national discourse
on morality, politics, and culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: A 100-level sociology course or permission of the instructor. Open
to juniors and seniors only.; Instructor: Imber; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open by the permission of the director to juniors and seniors.;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: AMST355 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Critiquing American Popular Culture
To what extent do contemporary streaming services include queer people and people of color? How do
contemporary children's books accommodate progressive ideas in the face of conservative backlash? How
have networks like HBO, Netflix, or Amazon promoted or undercut LGBTQ civil rights or racial justice?
American Studies often focuses on the appraisal, interpretation, and critique of historical and contemporary
popular culture. Designed for juniors and seniors, this seminar will explore how American Studies
multidisciplinary perspectives can be adapted to reviews, critiques, opinion pieces, and other forms of
journalistic, literary, and public writing. Students will consider a variety of historical and contemporary
American cultural products, including television, film, books, literature, websites, exhibitions, performances,
and consumer products, in order to enter the public conversation about the cultural meanings, political
implications, and social content of such culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: AMST 101 or another AMST 100- or 200-level course.; Instructor:
P. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST359/ENG359 Title: Literary Celebrity and the Use of Media
This course explores the rise, the stakes, and the ironies of literary celebrity from the mid-20th century to the
present. Beginning with the peculiar case of the Beat author, as exemplified by Jack Kerouac and Allen
Ginsberg, we consider what their uncommon degree of fame meant to literature and vice versa in the postWorld War II era—a time when a rapidly changing media ecology, rising consumerism, and intensifying Cold
War nationalism made for curious marriages: between avant-garde art and pop culture, between
countercultural ambitions and commercial appropriation. We will also examine contemporary texts by authors
including David Foster Wallace and Patricia Lockwood that address technology and its importance to selffashioning. Focusing on celebrity as both a complex sociological process and as a perspective-warping
stimulus we experience daily, this course will help us to demystify the products of celebrity culture while
cultivating a reasonable appreciation for the power of its aesthetic appeal.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One course in literature.; Instructor: Winner; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the director.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first
semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is
made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: AMST367/ENG367 Title: Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashbery, James Merrill: Three Postwar American
Poets
The course will explore the work of three leading postwar American poets: Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashbery,
and James Merrill. We will approach these poets as creators of distinctive poetic styles and voices, as figures
within the poetry world of their time, and as queer artists involved in complex negotiations of concealment and
disclosure. We’ll situate their work within (and outside) some of the major schools of postwar poetry, and look
at the reception of that work by critics in their time and ours. We’ll use letters and other recently available
documents to illuminate the poetry. We’ll examine the role in their careers of different forms and locales of
expatriation (Bishop in Brazil, Ashbery in France, Merrill in Greece). Most of all, we’ll seek to engage with and
understand three compelling bodies of poetic achievement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: AMST 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: AMST383/ENG383 Title: Women in Love: American Literature, Film, Art, and Photography
We will study in depth three great American novels: Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady (1881, rev. 1908);
Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1900); and Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country (1913). We also will
study two film adaptations: The Portrait of a Lady (1996; dir. Jane Campion, starring Nicole Kidman and John
Malkovich); and Carrie (1952; dir. William Wyler; starring Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones). In addition:
portraits of women by the painters John Singer Sargent, Thomas Eakins, and Mary Cassatt, and Alfred
Stieglitz’s photographs of Georgia O’Keefe.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Cain; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST386/ENG386 Title: Willa Cather
Willa Cather, Pulitzer-prize winning American woman novelist of the early twentieth century, is best known for
her novels about settlers on the Great Plains, My Ántonia, O Pioneers! and, set a generation later, The Song of
the Lark. The power of the land and questions about the way humans should best relate to the land are at the
center of her work. Cather lived most of her life with her companion, Edith Lewis, and her alternative views on
heterosexuality, marriage, and transgressive female sexuality emerge in indirect and interesting ways in her
fiction. Other intriguing issues in her work include immigration, inter-racial and inter-ethnic relations, the nature
of the body in health and illness, tensions between rural and urban life, the development of the artist,
especially the woman artist, and the emotional consequences of war.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Meyer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Anthropology
Anthropology is a vibrant discipline that explores the diversity of ways of life, as well as the commonality of the
human condition across the world. Anthropologists work in both far away places and “at home,” analyzing the
contemporary moment as well as the distant past. We study not only cultural practices, but also the dynamics
of power and inequality, change, and global processes.
Attending to these facets of human life, anthropology at Wellesley encompasses socio/cultural studies,
historical work, archeology, and biological analysis of human characteristics and practices. Putting these
methods into conversation, an education in anthropology orients students to understanding and analyzing
human nature and how culture operates in their own everyday lives, as well as the lives of others.
The anthropological perspective is inherently multicultural and multidisciplinary. By studying anthropology,
students are “led out” (educo) of their own personal backgrounds to appreciate the incredible cultural diversity
of humanity, receiving an exceptionally broad liberal arts education.
Particular thematic strengths of our faculty and curriculum include:
Particular thematic strengths of our faculty and curriculum include:
Nationalism and Ethnic Rivalry
Cultures of Health and Medicine
Archaeology and the Reception of Antiquity
Anthropology of Media and Visual/Digital Culture
Forensic Anthropology
Gender and Class
Ethnography of the Built Environment
Politics of Development
Human Origins, Evolution, and Variation
Our faculty carries out field research in places as varied as Wellesley, Massachusetts; Nepal; the Balkans;
Bolivia; Sudan; Iceland; and Central Asia.
Anthropology Major
Goals for the Anthropology Major
Develop an understanding of cultural diversity throughout the world that evaluates cultures on their
own terms
Gain familiarity with the diverse ways in which human cultures vary in their social institutions and
practices across time and space, and in response to changing environments and
social/political/economic structures
Demonstrate knowledge of the basic features of human prehistory as represented through material
cultural and/or fossil remains and their relevance for understanding contemporary patterns of human
variation
Engage directly with methods used in anthropological field research, including the excavation of
paleoanthropological and archaeological sites and the construction of ethnographies based upon
personal participation
Show an awareness for the different theoretical approaches used to understand human variation in its
myriad forms, including the historical development of critical social theory and evolutionary theory.
Requirements for the Anthropology Major
A major in anthropology consists of a minimum of nine units (which may include courses from MIT's
anthropology offerings), of which two introductory units are required (ANTH 101 must be one of them, ANTH
102 or ANTH 103/CLCV 103 may count as the second), in addition to ANTH 205, and ANTH 301. Students are
required to take one additional 300-level offering and to engage in at least one significant academic experience
outside the classroom to be identified in conjunction with the major advisor (e.g. study abroad, independent
research, internships, field schools, or related experiences).
Honors in Anthropology
To graduate with honors in anthropology, a student must write a senior thesis and pass an oral examination.
To be admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in
the department above the 100 level.
Typically conversations between students and advisors about the thesis process will begin no later than the
Spring semester of a student’s junior year. All students are asked to produce a short (~2-page) project
proposal, to be reviewed by the Anthropology faculty, prior to formally beginning the Honors thesis process
(i.e. enrollment in ANTH 360), typically by the end of the junior Spring semester. If a project requires
Institutional Review Board approval, this process should begin as soon as possible.
Beginning with the 2020-2021 academic year, the Anthropology Department will accept two kinds of proposals
for Honors thesis consideration.
HONORS OPTION A:
A student completing Honors Option A will propose, carry out, and complete an independent project. This
project may involve ethnographic, archival, archaeological, or evolutionary approaches to an anthropological
question. Students will work closely with their advisor(s) to establish a timeline for carrying out this work,
reviewing the appropriate literature, writing up their project in the form of a written thesis, and defending their
thesis, as part of the ANTH 360/ANTH 370 sequence. Expectations are that the scope of an Honors thesis
project will be substantively greater than other independent work (e.g. an ANTH 350 course) that a student
may complete.
HONORS OPTION B:
Recognizing that students may not always be in a position to carry out in-person work on their desired subject,
Honors Option B is intended to nevertheless provide students with honors recognition and an independent
project of equivalent academic rigor. An Option B thesis will involve the co-production between student and
advisor of a thorough reading list relevant to the student’s theoretical/subject/regional interest. The student will
be responsible for progressing through this list, culminating in the production of a critical literature review of
this topic. Following the completion of this literature review, the student will produce an NSF/Wenner-Gren
style grant application laying out a formal research proposal. This process should be iterative, involving close
consultation and feedback between student and advisor(s). At the culmination of this process, the literature
review and grant application will be submitted and subject to an oral defense in order to complete the thesis
process.
Anthropology Related Courses
LING 114
Introduction to Linguistics
1.0
LING 238
Sociolinguistics
1.0
LING 244
Language: Form and Meaning
1.0
LING 338
Seminar: African American English
1.0
MUS 209
A History of Jazz
1.0
MUS 210
Music and the Global Metropolis
1.0
Anthropology Minor
Requirements for the Anthropology Minor
For students entering the College prior to Fall 2021, a minor in anthropology consists of five units, including
ANTH 101 or ANTH 102 or ANTH 103, at least one 200-level course, and at least one 300-level course.
For students entering the College in Fall 2021 and beyond, a minor in anthropology consists of five units:
ANTH 101 or ANTH 102 or ANTH 103/CLCV 103, and ANTH 205, and ANTH 301. Students minoring
in anthropology are encouraged to choose at least one ethnographic area course and at least one course
which focuses on a particular theoretical problem.
ANTH Courses
Course ID: ANTH101 Title: Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology
A comparative approach to the concept of culture and an analysis of how culture structures the worlds we live
in. The course examines human societies from their tribal beginnings to the postindustrial age. We will
consider the development of various types of social organization and their significance based on family and
kinship, economics, politics, and religion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken this course as ANTH
104.; Instructor: Staff, Armstrong; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: This course was
formerly offered as ANTH 104.;
Course ID: ANTH102 Title: Introduction to Biological Anthropology
This course will examine the evolutionary foundations of human variability. This theme is approached broadly
from the perspectives of anatomy, paleontology, genetics, primatology, and ecology. For this purpose, the
course will address the principles of human evolution, fossil evidence, behavior, and morphological
characteristics of human and nonhuman primates. Explanation of the interrelationships between biological and
sociobehavioral aspects of human evolution, such as the changing social role of sex, are discussed. In
addition, human inter-population differences and environmental factors that account for these differences will
be evaluated.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: ANTH103/CLCV103 Title: Introduction to Archaeology
A survey of the development of archaeology. The methods and techniques of archaeology are presented
through an analysis of excavations and prehistoric remains. Materials studied range from the Bronze Age and
classical civilizations of the Old World and the Aztec and Inca empires of the New World to the historical
archaeology of New England. Students are introduced to techniques for reconstructing the past from material
remains. The course includes a field trip to a neighboring archaeological site.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Minor; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes:
Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural
and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement. ;
Course ID: ANTH110 Title: The Anthropology of Food
This course will provide an overview of the theoretical ways in which the topic of food can be addressed from
an anthropological perspective. We will examine the role food plays in shaping identity, gender construction,
and the co-evolution of human food practices and society. The seminar will ask students to engage with food
and foodways in their own surroundings and think about the way food is a source of nutrition, a focus of
individual life, and a mechanism of labor. This course will draw upon readings from the various sub-fields of
Anthropology (socio-cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, biological anthropology) and
thus also serve as an introduction to the discipline.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Instructor: Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH205 Title: Anthropology Methods and Project Design
This course is intended to provide a theoretical framework as to how anthropologists construct questions,
design research strategies, and produce anthropological knowledge. Students will discuss and explore major
framing questions for anthropological methods while pursuing an independent project of their choice. Working
with a faculty advisor, students will engage in independent research, while using the class as a workshop and
discussion environment to refine their project. Students will be exposed to issues of positionality, ethical
obligations in research, mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, and writing for specific audiences. This
course is required of all anthropology majors and will provide a bridge between introductory and advanced
courses.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ANTH 101, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff,
Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ANTH207 Title: Introduction to Human Evolution
The hominin fossil record provides direct evidence for the evolution of humans and our ancestors through the
past 5 million to 7 million years. This course will provide an overview of human evolutionary history from the
time of our last common ancestor with the living great apes through the emergence of "modern" humans.
Emphasis is placed on evolutionary mechanisms, and context is provided through hands-on examination of
the hominin fossil record and its history. The human story begins with origins and the appearance of unique
human features such as bipedality, the gradual beginnings of an expanded brain and durable material
technology, increased social complexity, and eventually the emergence of a human-like ecology. The
emergence of contemporary humans is examined through the interaction of environmental, evolutionary,
genetic, fossil, and archaeological evidence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: ANTH209 Title: Forensic Anthropology
The identification of human remains for criminological and political purposes is widespread. This course
explores issues in the identification and interpretation of human bones including methods for determining sex,
age, stature, and ancestry as well as for identifying pathologies and anomalies. The course will pay particular
attention to those anatomical elements, both soft tissue and bones, that aid in the reconstruction of individuals
and their life history. In addition, the course explores search and recovery techniques, crime-scene analysis,
the use of DNA in solving crimes, and the role of forensic anthropology in the investigation of mass fatalities
from both accidents and human rights violations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 42; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Does not fulfill the
laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ANTH210 Title: Political Anthropology
This course explores major themes in the subfield of political anthropology. How do anthropologists locate
“the political” and study it the ethnographically – that is, through the long-term fieldwork they conduct?
Throughout this course, we will delve into anthropological approaches to power, authority, and domination;
statecraft and transnational governance; everyday forms of resistance and collective action; violence and
disorder; and the politics of care and abandonment, among other themes. We will consider the animating
questions that helped consolidate the subfield during the 1940s and 1950s, and trace anthropology’s growing
concern with (post)colonialism and global capitalism. Finally, we will explore questions of labor restructuring,
activism, caregiving, and life itself in an era that is often characterized as “neoliberal.”
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: ANTH214 Title: Race and Human Variation
This is a course about race concepts and human biological variation, viewed from historical and biological
perspectives. This course thus has two intertwined emphases. One is placed on the historical connection
between science and sociopolitical ideologies and policies. The other is on the evolutionary origin of human
biological and cultural diversity. Through lecture and discussion section, topics explored include the role of
polygenism, historically and in current scientific thought; biological determinism and scientific racism; the rise
of eugenics and other examples of “applied biology”; and the role of the race concept in current scientific and
medical debates, such as those over the place of the Neanderthals in human evolution, as well as the
importance of race in clinical practice. The course seeks to guide students through a critical exercise in
studying the evolutionary origins of contemporary human biological variation and its close relationship with
scientific and popular concepts of race.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH215/CLCV215 Title: Bronze Age Greece in its Mediterranean Context
Ancient Greek historians associated the ruins of Bronze Age cities with the legends of the Trojan War, the lost
city of Atlantis, and the labyrinth of the Minotaur. This course takes a more archaeological approach, combing
the ruins for evidence that allow us to reconstruct complex societies that integrated contributions from diverse
participants, including enslaved people and foreigners, as well as heroic adventurers. We will investigate the
role of African and Asian cultures in early Greek state formation and collapse, technologies of art and writing,
and religious traditions featuring a mother goddess. The course requires no background and offers an
introduction to archaeological analysis as well as the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Burns; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ANTH217 Title: Peoples, Histories, and Cultures of the Balkans
The Balkan region has been a major trade and cultural crossroads for millennia and encompasses a variety of
landscapes, peoples, and cultures. We will read authoritative historical studies and ethnographies as well as
short stories, poetry, books of travel, and fiction. We will consider the legacy of the classical world, the impact
of Islam, the emergence of European commercial empires, the impact of the European Enlightenment in
national movements, the emergence of modernization, and the socialist experiments in the hinterlands. The
course offers a critical overview of the politics of historical continuity and the resurgence of Balkan nationalism
during the last decade of the twentieth century.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH219 Title: Balkan Cinematic Representations
In the course of Europe's road to modernity, the southeastern corner of the continent became known as the
Balkans. The Western imagination rendered the peoples and the rich cultures of the area as backward, violent,
and underdeveloped. This course examines the imagery of the area and its people through film. We will
explore the use of history by filmmakers and the use of films in understanding a number of issues in the history
of the Balkans. The course will trace the adoration of ancient Greek antiquity, the legacy of Byzantium and
Orthodox Christianity as well as the Ottoman influence and the appearance of Islam. The historical past is
(re)constructed and (re)presented in film, as are the national awakenings and liberation movements. The list of
films we will watch and the anthropological and historical readings we will do aspire to cover various aspects
of Balkan societies as revealed through visual and cinematic representations. Balkan film is politically, socially,
and historically engaged, and we will use film narratives and stories to understand the area's diverse
landscapes and cultures, religions and identities, love and hatred.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH220/PEAC220 Title: Epidemics and Pandemics: Biopolitics, and disparities in historical and
cultural perspective
The course will examine epidemics and pandemics and how they shape society and culture. It will explore
catastrophic disease events such as the 4th century BC Ancient Greek plague, the Black Death of Medieval
Europe, the European infectious diseases that killed native populations of the Americas, the Spanish flu of
1918, the AIDS/HIV epidemic in the late 20th century, and the present-day coronavirus pandemic. Key
questions that will guide the course are: 1. Who holds the bio-political power to guide the population through
the danger of widespread morbidity, and how is this power used and/or abused? 2. What kind of
socioeconomic, gender, ethnic ,and racial disparities are perpetuated and constructed in times of disease? 3.
How do individual political entities cooperate and coordinate in their efforts to curtail disease? 4. How is the
rhetoric of “war” employed to describe epidemic and pandemic diseases? 5. What are the effects of actual
war, violence, and genocide that often follow epidemics? 6. What are the uses and the limitations of
international public health organizations in addressing pandemics?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ANTH222 Title: Anthropology of Science
This course will introduce students to the anthropology of science and the use of anthropological methodology
to study the making of science and technology. Through the analysis of case studies of biotechnology, energy,
computing, lay and activist science, medicine, genetics, bioethics, the environment and conservation around
the world, this class will investigate the global dynamics of science and technology. We will compare and
contrast the production and use of scientific knowledge around the globe. What happens when science and
technology travel and how do new places emerge as centers of knowledge production? How are culture,
identity, technology, and science linked?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ANTH227 Title: Living in Material Worlds: Archaeological Approaches to Material Culture
Do you ever wonder what your possessions say about you? Our possessions and other things we use lie at
the hearts of our everyday lives. We inadvertently generate material culture during our daily activities and
interactions. In turn, material culture helps us structure negotiations with one another in our cultured worlds.
Archaeology is unique among anthropological endeavors in its reliance on material culture to reconstruct and
understand past human behavior. We will learn methodological and theoretical approaches from archaeology
and ethnography for understanding material culture. Lecture topics will be explored in hands-on labs. Studying
the world of material can help us understand the nature of objects and how humans have interacted with them
across time and space. In addition, material culture indicates how humans mobilize objects in their crosscultural interactions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Minor; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does
not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ANTH231/PEAC231 Title: Anthropology In and Of the City
This course serves as an introduction to urban anthropology. It is organized around four particular places on
the cityscape that stand as symbolic markers for larger anthropological questions we will examine throughout
the course: the market stall, the gated community, the barricade, and the levee. We will explore the rise of
global cities, including the role of labor migration, squatter settlements, and institutions of global capitalism,
and interrogate the aesthetic practices that inscribe social exclusion onto the urban built environment. We will
approach the city as contested space, a stage on which social, economic, and political struggles are waged.
And, we will ask how those experiences shape our understanding of contemporary forms of social, political,
and economic inequality, and how people “made do” and make claims to their right to the city.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH232/CAMS232 Title: Anthropology of Media
This course introduces students to key analytic frameworks through which media and the mediation of culture
have been examined. Using an anthropological approach, students will explore how media as representation
and as cultural practice have been fundamental to the (trans)formation of modern sensibilities and social
relations. We will examine various technologies of mediation-from the Maussian body as “Man's first technical
instrument” to print capitalism, radio and cassette cultures, cinematic and televisual publics, war journalism,
the digital revolution, and the political milieu of spin and public relations. Themes in this course include: media
in the transformation of the senses; media in the production of cultural subjectivities and publics; and the
social worlds and cultural logics of media institutions and sites of production.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: ANTH233/REL233 Title: The Anthropology of Religion
This course offers an introduction to the anthropological study of human religious experience, with particular
emphasis on religious and ritual practice in a comparative perspective. What is the relationship between
religion and society? Can categories such as “religion” and “the sacred” be legitimately applied to all cultures?
Does religion necessarily imply belief in a God or sacred beings? We will concentrate on a range of smallscale, non-Western, cultures for much of the semester, returning to religious experience in the modern
industrial world and the concept of "world religions" at the course’s end.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walters; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH235/MUS245 Title: Introduction to Ethnomusicology: The Anthropology of Music
What happens when we study music and sound from an anthropological framework? Ethnomusicology, or the
cultural study of music and sound, seeks to do just that. Through a hands-on approach to music research, this
course has three aims: 1) to give students the opportunity of doing ethnographic research in a local
community; 2) to explore key concepts pertaining to ethnomusicology and the anthropology of sound; 3) to
work together to create a good working atmosphere in which students can share ongoing research with each
other. Students will gain experience doing fieldwork as participant observers; taking notes and writing up field
journals; recording and transcribing interviews; and conducting secondary research online and in the library.
Each student will conduct regular visits to a local music group or community of their choice. Past projects have
focused on Senegalese drumming, musical healing circles, and hip-hop dance groups. The semester will
culminate in a final presentation and paper (8-10 pages) based on the student’s research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Goldschmitt; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH236/REL236 Title: Divine Madness: Dreams, Visions, Hallucinations
This course explores anthropological, religious, and psychiatric perspectives on mental health and mental
illness, with careful attention to varied constructions of "madness", treatment, and healing across human
cultures. We begin with comparative questions: are there universal standards of positive mental and emotional
functioning? Are there overall commonalities in approaches to psychic and emotional disturbances? What is
the role of spirituality? After considering the history of ‘madness’ in the West, we consider early anthropological
and religious models of "madness" elsewhere. We next turn to ritualized therapeutic interventions in smallscale indigenous societies and consider a range of case studies from around the world. We conclude with a
unit on culture and mental health in the United States and the ‘globalization” of American models of the psyche
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walters; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ANTH237/SAS237 Title: Ethnography in/of South Asia
Anthropology has a fraught and complex history within South Asia. Many of its techniques of knowledge
production were honed within the colonial context. In the postcolonial period, these techniques have been
taken up by scholars within the region and beyond to update and challenge long-standing understandings of
the region. Much historical and recent scholarship grapples with how one ought to understand the unique
nature of the region's forms of culture and social organization, and to place them in relation to modernity and
the West. South Asia proves an insistently fruitful case for assessing the universality or provincial nature of
Western social theory and to consider the connections between knowledge and power. In this course,
students will come to comprehend and assess the history of ethnography and anthropology in India, Pakistan,
and other parts of South Asia. Through contemporary ethnographic texts, they will also gain insight into the
major social and cultural categories and phenomena that have come to define South Asia today such as caste,
kinship and gender, class, nationalism, and popular culture. Throughout, we will consider the politics of
representation and knowledge production that are particularly fraught in this postcolonial context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Walters; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH238 Title: The Vulnerable Body: Anthropological Understandings
This course begins with the assumption that the human body is a unit upon which collective categories are
engraved. These categories can vary from social values, to religious beliefs, to feelings of national belonging,
to standards of sexuality and beauty. Readings in this course will concentrate on the classic and recent
attempts in the social and historical sciences to develop ways of understanding this phenomenon of
"embodiment." We will begin with an overview of what is considered to be the "construction" of the human
body in various societies and investigate how the body has been observed, experienced, classified, modified,
and sacralized in different social formations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH240 Title: Monkeys, Apes, and Humans
This course will provide students with an overview of primatology, with a focus on comparative morphological,
behavioral, and ecological aspects of Anthropoid primates. Students will consider the evolutionary relationship
among humans and non-human primates and how comparative studies can elucidate shared aspects of
social, energetic, and reproductive behaviors, while also pointing to uniquely derived features among these
organisms. Readings for the course will focus on primary research derived from a diverse range of primates in
addition to theoretical pieces that connect the study of non-human primates to evolutionary understandings of
what it means to be human. Students will also be exposed in their assignments to the methods used to
understand the behavioral ecology of humans and non-human primates. Finally, the course will introduce
students to the complex history of primatology as a field of study situated across anthropology, psychology,
and biology, and one in the midst of a shift towards questions of conversation and decolonization.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ANTH 102 or BISC 111, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH243 Title: (De)Constructing Scientific Knowledge in Biological Anthropology
How biological anthropologists have approached their subject of study has changed substantially since the
discipline’s inception. Anthropology has its roots in colonial and racist enterprises of the 19th century. The
construction of informed consent, the development of a global research community, and changing notions of
evolution have all positively reshaped how researchers approach their work. And yet, in spite of these
changes, many practices in scientific anthropology continue to make some narratives visible while silencing
others. In this course, we will focus on examples drawn from human skeletal and genetic analyses, relying
heavily on Indigenous critique of and within the discipline. How do we produce scientific knowledge about
human evolutionary past? Who gets to ask and answer the questions? What role do institutions play in
privileging some voices and approaches over others?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH245/LAST245 Title: Culture, Politics, and Power: Anthropological Perspectives on Latin
America
This course explores contemporary issues in Latin America from an anthropological perspective. We will
discuss legacies of colonialism and Cold War power struggles, as well as the central role social movements
are playing in crafting Latin American futures. We will trace the ways the region is enmeshed in transnational
processes and migrations and analyze the intersection of culture, race, gender, and class in shaping urban
centers, rural hinterlands, and livelihood strategies within them. In particular, we will discuss how ethnographic
research – the long-term fieldwork conducted by anthropologists – can enrich our understanding of hotly
debated issues such as statecraft, borders, and shifting meanings of citizenship; in/security, human rights, and
democratization; and, illicit economies, extractive industries, and critical approaches to development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Instructor: Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ANTH246/MAS246 Title: Digital Anthropology: Cultural Heritage and the Future of Digital
Humanities
How can the complexities of Cultural Heritage be captured in digital form? Can advanced media visualizations,
such as Augmented and Virtual Reality, give new insights on diverse global cultures? Can public dissemination
of research using gamification positively impact our lives in the present? What ethical responsibilities do
scholars have when digitizing material from ancient and contemporary communities? How can we ensure that
our digital cultural achievements last as long as pyramids built in stone? This course will pair readings on the
theory, practice, and ethics of visual and public digital humanities cultural heritage projects. Online archival
resources for cultural heritage are at the forefront of developing public digital humanities. The digital archive
resources used in class will be used to critique current trends in digital data capture and open access
resources. The final project will be the creation of a new digital cultural heritage resource, presenting content
created by students through a digital platform: an interactive archive, augmented or virtual reality, locationbased games, or a combination thereof. Students will be offered a choice of visual and textual cultural heritage
archive data from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, UC Berkeley Hearst Museum of Anthropology, and the
National Museum of Sudan, or can identify their own open-access cultural heritage archival source of interest.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Norton; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ANTH250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ANTH 104 and permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ANTH250GH Title: Research or Group Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ANTH 104 and permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ANTH251 Title: Cultures of Cancer
This course critically examines cancer as a pervasive disease and a metaphor of global modern cultures.
Students will be exposed to the ways cancer is perceived as a somatic and social standard within locally
constructed cognitive frameworks. They will investigate the scientific and emotional responses to the disease
and the ways cancer challenges our faith and spirituality, our ways of life, notions of pollution and cleanliness,
and our healing strategies. This approach to cancer is comparative and interdisciplinary and focuses on how
specialists in different societies have described the disease, how its victims in different cultures have narrated
their experiences, how causality has been perceived, and what interventions (sacred or secular) have been
undertaken as therapy and prevention.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH252 Title: The Archaeology of Wellesley: College Hall Fire Field School
An archaeology field school covering the process of research design, site identification, survey, undertaking
excavation, basics of conservation, and digital documentation. The Wellesley College Hall Archaeology Project
seeks evidence of daily lives of the Wellesley community, circa 1914. The excavation is in areas containing
remnants of the 1914 College Hall Fire, which destroyed the original College building overnight, finding
fragments of student belongings, classroom equipment, and architecture over 100 years later. Students will
identify research questions about experiences of the Wellesley community (daily life, gender, social class), and
build a project addressing issues resonating with students today. Community participatory research includes
involving the community through interviews, social media, and public outreach. Please note: the Fall 2023
season will be a study season primarily focused on artifact research, analysis, and publication. There will be
limited excavation which includes physical exertion, students with disability concerns are encouraged to
contact the instructor and accessible fieldwork tasks will be implemented.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: A 100 or 200 level Anthropology course.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not
satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ANTH254/WGST254 Title: The Biology of Human Difference
How do we account for the many similarities and differences within and between human populations? Axes of
human “difference”– sex, gender, race, class, sexuality, nationality – have profound consequences. These
differences shape not only group affiliation and identity but have been shaped by colonial and national
histories. They shape social structures such as socioeconomic status, professions, work mobility, as well as
stereotypes about personal traits and behaviors. The biological sciences have been very important in the
history of differences. Scientists have contributed to bolster claims that differences are determined by our
biology – such as research on sex and racial differences, notions of the “gay” gene, math abilities, spatial
ability etc. Conversely, scientists have also contributed to critiquing claims of difference – challenging the idea
that sex, gender, race, sexuality are innate, and immutable. How do we weigh these claims and
counterclaims? We will begin with a historical overview of biological studies on “difference” to trace the
differing understandings of the “body” and the relationship of the body with identity, behavior and intellectual
and social capacity. We will then examine contemporary knowledge on differences of sex, gender, race, class,
and sexuality. Using literature from biology, anthropology, feminist studies, history and science studies, we will
examine the biological and cultural contexts for our understanding of “difference.” How do we come to
describe the human body as we do? What is good data? How do we “know” what we know? The course will
give students the tools to analyze scientific studies, to understand the relationship of nature and culture,
science and society, biology and politics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Van Arsdale, Subramaniam; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ANTH262 Title: The Archaeology of Human Sacrifice: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Politics
of Death
This class will use archaeological methods to explore the practice of human sacrifice in a range of cultural
contexts. The act of killing a human has played significant roles in the development and maintenance of sociopolitical power from ancient times and into the present day. The goal of this course is to move away from a
simple model of sacrifice as a ‘barbaric’ act of violence to an understanding of sacrifice as a ritualized political
act within systems of legitimization or social coercion. Case studies will draw from worldwide ancient
examples, often in comparison to contemporary cases.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Minor; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH265/ES265 Title: The Politics of Nature
In this course we will consider the historical, social, and political life of nature in its many guises and from an
anthropological perspective. What is the relationship between resource control and the consolidation of
power? How have social movements and development agencies mobilized ideas of participatory conservation
to achieve their goals, and how have these same concepts been used to exclude or to reproduce inequality?
We will explore themes such as the relationship between race, nature, and security; intellectual property and
bioprospecting; and the lived effects of the many “green,” “sustainable,” and “eco-tourism” projects now
attracting foreign travelers around the world. Additionally, the course will introduce students unfamiliar with
socio-cultural anthropology to ethnographic research methods, ethical dilemmas, and the craft of
ethnographic writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH274/BISC274 Title: Anthropological Genetics
This course will provide an introduction into the core concepts of population genetics, with special focus on
their application to human and nonhuman primate evolution. Population genetics is the branch of evolutionary
biology concerned with how genetic variation is patterned within and between populations and how these
patterns change over time. Though the theory is applicable to all organisms, specific examples drawn from the
human and nonhuman primate literature will be used as case studies. Topics will also include the genetic
basis for disease, pedigree analysis, and personal genomics. The course will be structured around lectures
and discussion with regular computer labs to provide firsthand experience working with anthropological
genetic topics and analyses of genetic data sets.
Note: This course can fulfill the elective course requirement for the BISC major, but does not fulfill the core 200
level course requirement for the major.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH277/WRIT277 Title: True Stories: Ethnographic Writing for the Social Sciences and
Humanities
Do you like to "people watch"? Do you wish you could translate your real-world experiences into narratives that
are readable and relatable, and also intellectually rigorous? If so, you probably have an ethnographic writer
hiding somewhere inside you, and this class will give them the opportunity to emerge. Ethnography, a “written
document of culture,” has long been a key component of a cultural anthropologist’s tool-kit, and scholars in
other fields have recently begun to take up this practice. We will read classic and contemporary ethnographies
to better understand the theoretical and practical significance of these texts. Students will also have the unique
opportunity to be the authors and subjects of original ethnographic accounts, and at various stages in the
semester they will act as anthropologists and as informants. Although this course will emphasize an
anthropological method, it is appropriate for students from various disciplines who are looking to expand their
research skills and develop new ways to engage in scholarly writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the First-Year Writing requirement. Not open to FirstYear students.; Instructor: Armstrong; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ANTH278 Title: Machines for Living and Structures of Feeling: Anthropological Approaches to
Design and Architecture
What can architecture and design tell anthropologists about culture? This seminar addresses this question
using a distinctly anthropological approach that focuses on topics as diverse as the ethnographic analysis of
vernacular architecture in rural Newfoundland, how the Danish notion of hygge (coziness) informs a culturally
distinct design aesthetic, and the ways in which city planning influences cultural identity in Boston. Students
engage in themed discussions and participate in case-based workshops that utilize foundational
anthropological practices including participant-observation, visual anthropology, and ethnographic writing to
form real-world dialogues about the cultural significance of design and architecture. Core anthropological
concepts such as cultural relativity, applied ethnography, globalization, and the anthropology of space and
place serve as the central themes for the course as we apply contemporary anthropological theory to crosscultural understandings of architecture and design.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Armstrong; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course.This course
does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ANTH299 Title: Home and Away: Human Geography and the Cultural Dimensions of Space and
Place
Why are myths often tied to geography and why are particular locations charged with powerful cultural
meaning? This anthropological field course in Iceland explores the diverse ways that humans interact with their
surroundings to create culture. This intensive two-week excursion (followed by two weeks of follow-up
assignments) examines the cultural and geographic significance of Iceland's unique landscape and
settlements. Glacial lakes, bustling cities, remote fishing villages, and eerie lava fields provide the setting for an
introduction to the fascinating field of cultural geography. Students gain hands-on experience with methods of
cultural anthropology, including participant-observation, interviewing, writing field notes, photography, and
critical analysis. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, this course offers students a rare chance to conduct
ethnographic research in one of the most stunning places on Earth!
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 8; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Armstrong; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Notes: Not offered every year. Subject to
Provost's Office approval.;
Course ID: ANTH301 Title: Advanced Theory in Anthropology
This course introduces students to contemporary anthropology by tracing its historical development and its
specific application in ethnographic writing. It examines the social context in which each selected model or
"paradigm" took hold and the extent of cognitive sharing, by either intellectual borrowing or breakthrough. The
development of contemporary theory will be examined both as internal to the discipline and as a response to
changing intellectual climates and social milieu. The course will focus on each theory in action, as the
theoretical principles and methods apply to ethnographic case studies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ANTH 101 and at least one 200 level ANTH course, or permission
of the instructor.; Instructor: Walters (Fall), Ellison (Spring); Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring;
Course ID: ANTH302 Title: Museum Anthropology: Curating Equity and Representation
This seminar will immerse students in current developments in Museum Anthropology through an exploration
of the history of museum development, the role of museums in society, and the ethical considerations of
preservation and education. Under an anthropological lens, the history of development of museums in the
global North can be used to contextualize recent movements to decolonize the collection, curation, and
display of ethnographic and archaeological material. After researching up-to-date international exhibitions,
students will critically assess museum curation practices and then develop their own outreach projects in small
groups. This course will include virtual visits to New England area museums–including the MFA Boston,
Harvard Peabody Museum, and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 100-level or 200-level Anthropology course.; Instructor:
Norton; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: ANTH305/CAMS305 Title: Ethnographic Film
This seminar explores ethnographic film as a genre for representing "reality," anthropological knowledge and
cultural lives. We will examine how ethnographic film emerged in a particular intellectual and political economic
context as well as how subsequent conceptual and formal innovations have shaped the genre. We will also
consider social responses to ethnographic film in terms of the contexts for producing and circulating these
works; the ethical and political concerns raised by cross-cultural representation; and the development of
indigenous media and other practices in conversation with ethnographic film. Throughout the course, we will
situate ethnographic film within the larger project for representing "culture," addressing the status of
ethnographic film in relation to other documentary practices, including written ethnography, museum
exhibitions, and documentary film.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ANTH 301 or two 200-level units in anthropology, cinema and
media studies, economics, history, political science, or sociology or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH310H Title: Wintersession in the Southern Balkans
This course aspires to familiarize students with the subtleties of national Balkan rifts and cultural divisions,
through international study in the Southern Balkans during Wintersession. The overall theme of the course will
center on national majorities and ethnic minorities. The cultural diversity of the area will be examined both as a
historical and as contemporary phenomenon. Students will be exposed to the legacy of the classical world, the
impact of Christianity and Islam, the role of European commercial empires, the impact of the European
Enlightenment in national movements, the emergence of modernization, and the socialist experiments in
Macedonia and Bulgaria. The course will also offer a critical overview of the politics of historical continuity and
the resurgence of Balkan nationalism during the last decade of the twentieth century.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ANTH 217 or ANTH 219, or some familiarity with the area.;
Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Not offered every year. Subject to
Provost's Office approval.;
Course ID: ANTH314 Title: Human Biology and Society: Personal Genomics
Advances in genetic sequencing technology have dramatically reduced the cost of obtaining genomic data. As
a result, personal genomic information is now available and utilized at an ever-increasing pace. As an
anthropologist, the arrival of the “genomic age” raises important questions about how we approach and
understand the topic of what it means to be human. Never before have individuals had such direct access to
the raw data at the core of their own biology. This class will examine personal genomics from a biocultural
anthropology perspective, simultaneously dealing with the question of what personal genomics has to offer
and what consequences arise given the availability of genomic information. The important distinction between
information and knowledge, uncertainty and determinism, and the ethical and legal apparatus around
genomics will be examined through the use of genomic case studies focused on issues of health and ancestry.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ANTH 102 or ANTH 214, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every
three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH319 Title: Nationalism, Politics, and the Use of the Remote Past
This seminar critically examines the use of prehistory and antiquity for the construction of accounts of national
origins, historical claims to specific territories, or the biased assessment of specific peoples. The course
begins with an examination of the phenomenon of nationalism and the historically recent emergence of
contemporary nation-states. It then proceeds comparatively, selectively examining politically motivated
appropriations of the remote past that either were popular earlier in this century or have ongoing relevance for
some of the ethnic conflicts raging throughout the world today. The course will attempt to develop criteria for
distinguishing credible and acceptable reconstructions of the past from those that are unbelievable and/or
dangerous.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 200-level unit in anthropology, economics, political science,
sociology, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ANTH321 Title: Anthropology of the Senses
People’s senses—their capabilities to apprehend the world through touch, smell, taste, feeling, and hearing—
seem to define human experiences, uniting us in one great common condition. At the same time, many have
argued that the senses are understood—and indeed experienced—differently across disparate contexts. What
does it mean to consider that what we take to be among the most foundational and universal aspects of
human engagement with the world might be culturally, historically and socially constituted? This course
introduces students to the scholarship of sensory experience—an interdisciplinary field that we will center on
anthropology, but that also involves performance studies, arts and media studies. It explores the basic
question of how to produce scholarly knowledge about embodied sensory experience that in many ways
seems to defy the descriptive capacities of the written word.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ANTH 101 and two 200-level courses in anthropology or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH333 Title: Seminar: Taking, Keeping, Giving: Anthropologies of Exchange
From giant, immovable stone currency on the Pacific island of Yap to accumulating 'likes' on social media, we
occupy a world of exchange where our everyday lives are mediated through the transfer of objects, ideas, and
various forms of capital. This seminar examines the cross-cultural understanding of exchange from an
anthropological perspective with particular attention paid to gift-giving, social and cultural capital, money, and
the transmission of knowledge across space and time. Drawing on the work of Malinowski, Bourdieu, Marx,
Mauss, Derrida and many other anthropologists and philosophers, we will unpack the hidden dimensions of
taking, keeping and giving as key elements of culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ANTH 101, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Armstrong;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ANTH341 Title: Indigenous Resurgence
This seminar examines the comparative politics and lived experiences of indigeneity and centers the work of
Indigenous scholars, activists, and artists. We cover topics ranging from Spanish reducciones and ideologies
of mestizaje in the Americas to debates over the limits of legal recognition under “neoliberal multiculturalism”
in Australia and Indonesia, and from Indigenous sovereignty in the U.S. to the rise of Bolivia’s President Evo
Morales and his efforts to put a Pro-Pachamama (a vital force often glossed as Mother Earth) platform on the
global stage. Further, we will study Indigenous efforts to decolonize knowledge production, including the
discipline of anthropology itself. In the process, we will address settler colonialism, struggles over authenticity,
political recognition, and citizenship, efforts to decolonize gender and sexuality, and the antecedents of
contemporary language revitalization and political movements.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two 200-level units in anthropology, economics, history, political
science, or sociology, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH345/MUS345 Title: Introduction to Ethnomusicology: The Anthropology of Music
What happens when we study music and sound from an anthropological framework? Ethnomusicology, or the
cultural study of music and sound, seeks to do just that. Through a hands-on approach to music research, this
course has three aims: 1) to give students the opportunity of doing ethnographic research in a local
community; 2) to explore key concepts pertaining to ethnomusicology and the anthropology of sound; 3) to
work together to create a good working atmosphere in which students can share ongoing research with each
other. Students will gain experience doing fieldwork as participant observers; taking notes and writing up field
journals; recording and transcribing interviews; and conducting secondary research online and in the library.
Each student will conduct regular visits to a local music group or community of their choice. Past projects have
focused on Senegalese drumming, musical healing circles, and hip-hop dance groups. The semester will
culminate in a final presentation and paper (15 pages) based on the student’s research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Goldschmitt;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH346 Title: Seminar: Doing Well, Doing Good? The Political Lives of NGOs
From de-mining countries to rehabilitating child soldiers, from channeling donations for AIDS orphans to
coordinating relief efforts in the wake of natural disasters, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are
ubiquitous. They provide essential services once thought to be the purview of the state, and increasingly
champion entrepreneurial approaches to poverty reduction. NGOs are also subject to heated debate and
increased surveillance within the countries where they operate. This seminar brings a critical anthropological
lens to bear on the work of NGOs, connecting global trends, donor platforms, and aid workers to the everyday
experiences of people targeted by NGO projects.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 200-level unit in anthropology, economics, history, political
science, or sociology, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ANTH350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ANTH360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ANTH370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ANTH 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Architecture
An Interdepartmental Major
A major in architecture offers the opportunity for study of architectural history and practice through an
interdisciplinary program. Following the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius’ advice on the education of the
architect, the program encourages students to familiarize themselves with a broad range of subjects in the
humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Students may also elect courses in studio art, mathematics, and
physics that lead to the appreciation of the principles of design and the fundamental techniques of
architecture.
Architecture Major
Goals for the Architecture Major
The goals of the Architecture major are threefold:
To develop skills in design and spatial thinking through the practices of drawing, design, modeling,
and digital media production
To understand architecture and urban form in their historical contexts
To have an appreciation of the roles of client, program, and economic conditions on the practice of
architecture and the shaping of the built environment
Requirements for the Architecture Major
Students considering an Architecture major should choose an advisor in their area of concentration and work
out a program of study.
The Architecture major consists of 11 units, which may be weighted toward architectural history or studio
investigation.
The following courses are required:
ARTH 100 or WRIT 107. There is no exemption from this requirement by Advanced Placement, or by
International Baccalaureate, or by an exemption examination.
ARTS 105 and ARTS 113
ARTH 200 or ARTH 231 or ARTH 228 or ARTS 216
Two additional intermediate courses in architectural history, studio art, or design (200 level)
Two advanced courses in architectural history, studio art, or architectural design (300 level). At least
one of these units must be taken in the Department of Art at Wellesley.
Two additional courses related to architecture
Learning Outcomes
Architecture majors will:
1. acquire knowledge of the historical, political, economic, and cultural contexts that have shaped
architecture and urban form across time and in diverse cultures and geographies.
2. demonstrate an understanding of historically and geographically specific design and construction
methods and building typologies.
3. apply interdisciplinary methodologies, critical theories, and professional ethical codes to interpreting
architecture and urban form.
4. acquire first-hand experience of studio practice in architecture whether or not they intend to specialize
in this aspect of the profession.
5. develop the skills of visual, formal, material, and spatial analysis.
6. conduct research in primary and secondary sources and be able to distinguish between reliable and
unreliable sources.
7. demonstrate mastery of this knowledge and these skills in persuasively argued and clearly written
essays and presentations and in studio investigations.
Notes:
Courses in Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Women’s and Gender Studies may also apply. Consult
your advisor. MIT and Olin College courses may also be applicable to the major. See Department of Art
website for recommended courses at Wellesley, MIT, and Olin.
Honors in Architecture
Departmental honors in Architecture is earned by the demonstration of excellence in both coursework and in a
self-directed thesis. Students have a choice of pursuing a thesis project in history/theory or pursuing a studiobased project. In either case, the student will complete two units of independent study/thesis (ARCH 360/370)
in the Fall and Spring of their senior year. Students interested in pursuing a senior thesis should refer to the
requirements and guidelines posted on the Architecture major page of the Art Department website under
"Thesis & Independent Study."
Transfer Credit in Architecture
Although courses at MIT are not required for the major, the MIT-Wellesley exchange provides a unique
opportunity for students to elect advanced courses in design and construction. Students are also encouraged
to consider travel or international study as important aspects of their education in architecture. Normally, no
more than three units of transfer credit—two units at the 200 level and one unit taken at MIT at the 300 level—
may be applied toward the minimum requirements for the major.
Courses for Credit Toward the Architecture Major
The following courses are recommended to students designing a program of study in architecture. Additional
courses may be applicable and some courses are not offered yearly, so each student should develop her
program of study in active consultation with her advisor.
History of Art
ARTH 200
Architecture and Urban Form
1.0
ARTH 203
Iraq's Antiquities, Then and Now
1.0
ARTH 206
American Art, Architecture, and Design: 1600-1950
1.0
ARTH 209
Art and Architecture of Ancient Nubia
1.0
ARTH 217
Historic Preservation: Theory and Practice
1.0
ARTH 228
Modern Architecture
1.0
ARTH 231
Architecture and Urbanism in North America
1.0
ARTH 238
Chinese Art and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 239 / SAS 239
Art and Architecture of South Asia
1.0
ARTH 240
Asian Art and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 241
Egyptian Art and Archaeology
1.0
ARTH 242
Home by Design: Houses, Villas, and Palaces in the
Roman Empire
1.0
ARTH 245
House and Home: Domestic Architecture, Interiors, and
Material Life in North America, 1600-1900
1.0
ARTH 247
Introduction to Islamic Art and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 249
Japanese Art and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 259
The Art and Architecture of the European Enlightenment
1.0
ARTH 266
New Perspectives on the Global City
1.0
ARTH 267 / ES 267
Art and the Environmental Imagination
1.0
ARTH 289
Nineteenth-Century European Art
1.0
ARTH 304
Seminar: Villas and Country Houses from Antiquity to
Present
1.0
ARTH 309
Seminar: Spiritual Space: Modern Houses of Worship
1.0
ARTH 310
Seminar: The Extraordinary Interior
1.0
ARTH 317
Seminar: Historic Preservation: Theory and Practice
1.0
ARTH 318
Seminar: New England Arts and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 320
Seminar: Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Architecture and
New Ways of Living
1.0
ARTH 321
Seminar. Making Space: Gender, Sexuality and the
Design of Houses
1.0
ARTH 322
Seminar: The Bauhaus
1.0
ARTH 345
House and Home: Domestic Architecture, Interiors, and
Material Life in North America, 1600-1900
1.0
ARTH 376
Seminar: Local Stories: Research in Boston-Area
Museums and Libraries
1.0
ARTS 105
Drawing I
1.0
ARTS 109
Two-Dimensional Design
1.0
ARTS 113
Three-Dimensional Design
1.0
Studio Art
ARTS 205
The Graphic Impulse: Mediated Drawing
1.0
ARTS 207
Sculpture I
1.0
ARTS 216
Spatial Investigations
1.0
ARTS 217
Life Drawing
1.0
ARTS 219
Introductory Print Methods: Lithography/Screenprint
1.0
ARTS 220
Introductory Print Methods: Intaglio/Relief
1.0
ARTS 221 / CAMS 239
Digital Imaging
1.0
ARTS 222
Introductory Print Methods: Typography/Book Arts
1.0
ARTS 255 / CAMS 255
Dynamic Interface Design
1.0
ARTS 307
Advanced Sculptural Practices
1.0
ARTS 314
Advanced Drawing
1.0
ARTS 317H
Advanced Independent Senior Projects
0.5
ARTS 318H
Advanced Independent Senior Projects
0.5
ARTS 321 / CAMS 321
Advanced New Media
1.0
ARTS 322
Advanced Print Concepts
1.0
ARTS 336 / MUS 336
From Mark to Sound, From Sound to Mark: Music,
Drawing, and Architecture
1.0
ARTS 366 / CAMS 366
Advanced Projects in Film and Architecture
1.0
MIT
The following introductory courses (200-level) may be taken for credit toward the major:
4.021* Design Studio: How to Design or 4.02A (an IAP version of the same course)
4.022* Design Studio: Introduction to Design Techniques and Technologies
4.401
Environmental Technologies in Building
4.500
Design Computation: Art, Objects and Space
The following advanced courses (300-level) may be taken for credit toward the major (one unit only):
4.023
Architecture Design Studio I
4.024
Architecture Design Studio II
4.411
D-Lab Schools: Building Technology Laboratory
4.440J Introduction to Structural Design
*Note: courses marked with * are counted “within the Department of Art”; all others are counted as courses
outside the department.
Other MIT Course 4 (Architecture) and Course 11 (Urban Studies & Planning) courses may be approved for
credit in the major. Students should speak with their advisor and petition the Co-Directors of Architecture for
approval.
Olin
ENGR 2141 Engineering for Humanity
Mathematics
MATH 115
Calculus I
1.0
MATH 116
Calculus II
1.0
MATH 120
Calculus IIA
1.0
MATH 205
Multivariable Calculus
1.0
Note: More advanced courses may also be counted toward the major.
Physics
PHYS 104
Fundamentals of Mechanics with Laboratory
1.25
PHYS 107
Principles and Applications of Mechanics with
Laboratory
1.25
Scenic Design
1.0
Theatre Studies
THST 209
ARCH Courses
Course ID: ARCH350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ARCH360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the directors and advisory committee.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in
Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a
faculty member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: ARCH370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ARCH 360 and permission of the directors and the advisory
committee.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes:
Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the
supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370)
in the second semester.;
Art History
Programs of study in the Department of Art are deeply integrated with Wellesley College's overall liberal arts
educational mission. The ability to understand the way visual information and physical space have been
constructed, presented, and construed throughout history is vital in today's world. The Department of Art is
committed to equipping students with the knowledge and skills to navigate, understand, and shape the
increasingly mediated and complex visual and physical environments around us. A critical awareness of visual
culture, a breadth of knowledge of art in its historical and global contexts, and explorations in practice enable
students to make unexpected and transformative connections among images, ideas, materials, and histories.
The Department's close relationship with the Davis Museum is critical to our goals, as are the study trips to
Boston, New York, and elsewhere that we arrange for our students.
Within the Department of Art, students may choose to major in Art History or Studio Art. Students may also
consider pursuing a major in one of the related interdepartmental majors: Architecture, Media Arts and
Sciences, and Cinema and Media Studies.
The study of art is an integral component of a strong liberal arts curriculum. Those majoring in the Department
of Art develop:
A more critical awareness of visual culture as well as enhanced visual literacy
A sophisticated understanding of art, its history, and the philosophical and cultural conditions that
shape it
An understanding of the breadth of knowledge and complexity of art and its global practices
A well-considered, original body of work, written and/or visual, in preparation for advanced study
Art History Major
Learning Goals
Art History majors will:
Acquire knowledge of major art and architectural traditions across the globe and from antiquity to the
present day
Apply interdisciplinary methodologies, critical theories, and professional ethical codes to interpret art
and architecture
Develop the skills of visual, formal, material, and spatial analysis
Conduct research in the field and in primary and secondary textual sources
Demonstrate mastery of this knowledge and these skills in persuasively argued and clearly written
essays and presentations
Requirements for the Art History Major
An Art History major consists of a minimum of ten units. Students considering a major in Art History should
choose an adviser and devise a program of study with them. The minimum major must be constructed
according to the following guidelines:
ARTH 100 or WRIT 107. Advanced Placement or transfer credit will not be accepted in fulfillment of this
requirement.
One of the following courses in Studio Art: ARTS 105, ARTS 108/CAMS 138, ARTS 109, ARTS 112,
ARTS 113, ARTS 165/CAMS 135.
A minimum of eight further units in Art History to make a total of ten units. At least two of the eight units
must be 300-level courses. Students may elect to pursue an ARTH 350, but may not substitute this
course for one of the 300-level courses. Among the eight units must be courses that satisfy the
following requirements:
1. One course in the Americas: ARTH 206, ARTH 225, ARTH 231, ARTH 234, ARTH 236, ARTH 237,
ARTH 245, ARTH 262, ARTH 267/ES 267, AFR 292/ARTH 292, ARTH 303, ARTH 309, ARTH 310,
ARTH 314, ARTH 315, AFR 316/ARTH 316, ARTH 317, ARTH 318, ARTH 320, ARTH 321, ARTH 334,
ARTH 336, ARTH 339, ARTH 345, ARTH 376, ARTH 378
2. One course in Africa, the Middle East, or Europe: ARTH 110Y, ARTH 123, ARTH 203, ARTH 209,
ARTH 212, ARTH 222/MAS 222, ARTH 224, ARTH 226/CAMS 207, ARTH 227, ARTH 228,
ARTH 229, ARTH 235, ARTH 241, ARTH 242, ARTH 243, ARTH 244, ARTH 246, ARTH 247,
ARTH 251, ARTH 256, ARTH 259, AFR 264/ARTH 264, ARTH 289, ARTH 290, AFR 292/ARTH 292,
ARTH 299, ARTH 301, ARTH 303, ARTH 304, ARTH 309, ARTH 310, ARTH 312, ARTH 315,
ARTH 321, ARTH 322, ARTH 323, ARTH 325, ARTH 326, ARTH 328, ARTH 330, ARTH 335,
ARTH 336, ARTH 343, ARTH 347, ARTH 373/CLCV 373, ARTH 397, WRIT 149
3. One course in Asia: ARTH 212, ARTH 229, ARTH 238, ARTH 239/SAS 239, ARTH 240, ARTH 248,
ARTH 249, ARTH 255, ARTH 257, ARTH 337, ARTH 341, ARTH 346, ARTH 347, ARTH 397
4. Three courses in the period before 1800: ARTH 110Y, ARTH 123, ARTH 200, ARTH 203, ARTH 206,
ARTH 209, ARTH 217, ARTH 222/MAS 222, ARTH 227, ARTH 229, ARTH 235, ARTH 236,
ARTH 238, ARTH 239/SAS 239, ARTH 240, ARTH 241, ARTH 242, ARTH 243, ARTH 244,
ARTH 245, ARTH 246, ARTH 247, ARTH 248, ARTH 249, ARTH 251, ARTH 256, ARTH 259,
ARTH 290, ARTH 304, ARTH 323, ARTH 325, ARTH 326, ARTH 328, ARTH 330, ARTH 336,
ARTH 337, ARTH 341, ARTH 343, ARTH 345, ARTH 346, ARTH 347, ARTH 373/CLCV 373, ARTH
378
5. One course in the period after 1800: ARTH 200, ARTH 206, ARTH 212, ARTH 224, ARTH 225,
ARTH 226/CAMS 207, ARTH 228, ARTH 231, ARTH 234, ARTH 237, ARTH 245, ARTH 255,
ARTH 262, ARTH 267/ES 267, ARTH 289, AFR 292/ARTH 292, ARTH 301, ARTH 303, ARTH 304,
ARTH 309, ARTH 310, ARTH 312, ARTH 314, ARTH 315, AFR 316/ARTH 316, ARTH 317,
ARTH 318, ARTH 320, ARTH 321, ARTH 322, ARTH 324/PHIL 324, ARTH 334, ARTH 335,
ARTH 339, ARTH 345, ARTH 376, ARTH 377, ARTH 390, ARTH 391, ARTH 397
ARTH 100, the Studio courses, and both 300-level courses must be taken at Wellesley. However, if approved by the Registrar and
the Department’s Transfer Credit Adviser, a maximum of two courses taken at other institutions may be used to meet other major
requirements.
Although the Department does not encourage over-specialization, by careful choice of related courses a
student may plan a field of concentration emphasizing one period or area. Students interested in such a plan
should consult their advisers as early as possible. Majors are also encouraged to take courses in the
language, culture, and history of the areas associated with their specific fields of interest.
Honors in Art History
A senior thesis in Art History involves substantial, independent, year-long research, normally resulting in a
professional paper of between 50-100 pages in length. For students who have a clear idea of what they want to
investigate, a well-considered plan of research, and a willingness to accept the responsibility of working
independently, a senior thesis can be a rewarding experience. Candidates for departmental honors in Art
History complete a senior thesis in two units of independent study/thesis (ARTH 360/ARTH 370) undertaken in
the fall and spring of the senior year. Admission to the honors program in the Department is by application for
students with a 3.5 GPA in the major and a minimum of five units in Art History above the 100 level. Four of the
five units must be taken in the Department, and one of the five units must be at the 300 level (a 350 does not
count). Further information is available on the Department website.
Graduate Study in Art History
Discuss your interest in graduate study in Art History, and how to prepare for it, with your adviser as early as
possible during your time at Wellesley. Most graduate programs require students to pass foreign language
exams in the language of their concentration within the first year, so you should take additional courses while
at Wellesley to prepare for this.
Students interested in graduate study in conservation should investigate requirements for entrance into
conservation programs. Most programs require college-level chemistry and a strong Studio Art background in
addition to Art History cousrework.
Art History Minor
Requirements for the Minor
An Art History minor consists of a minimum of six units. Students considering a minor in Art History should
choose an adviser and devise a program of study with them. The minimum minor must be constructed
according to the following guidelines:
ARTH 100 or WRIT 107. Advanced Placement or transfer credit will not be accepted in fulfillment of this
requirement.
A minimum of five further units in Art History to make a total of six units. At least two of the five units
must be 300-level courses. Students may elect to pursue an ARTH 350, but may not substitute this
course for one of the 300-level courses. Among the five units must be courses that satisfy the following
requirements:
1. One course in the Americas: ARTH 206, ARTH 225, ARTH 231, ARTH 234, ARTH 236, ARTH 237,
ARTH 245, ARTH 262, ARTH 267/ES 267, AFR 292,ARTH 292, ARTH 303, ARTH 309, ARTH 310,
ARTH 314, ARTH 315, AFR 316/ARTH 316, ARTH 317, ARTH 318, ARTH 320, ARTH 321, ARTH 334,
ARTH 336, ARTH 339, ARTH 345, ARTH 376
2. One course in Africa, the Middle East, or Europe: ARTH 110Y, ARTH 203, ARTH 209, ARTH 212,
ARTH 222/MAS 222, ARTH 224, ARTH 226/CAMS 207, ARTH 227, ARTH 228, ARTH 229,
ARTH 235, ARTH 241, ARTH 242, ARTH 243, ARTH 244, ARTH 246, ARTH 247, ARTH 251,
ARTH 256, ARTH 259, AFR 264/ARTH 264, ARTH 289, ARTH 290, ARTH 292/AFR 292, ARTH 299,
ARTH 301, ARTH 303, ARTH 304, ARTH 309, ARTH 310, ARTH 312, ARTH 315, ARTH 321,
ARTH 322, ARTH 323, ARTH 325, ARTH 326, ARTH 328, ARTH 330, ARTH 335, ARTH 336,
ARTH 343, ARTH 347, ARTH 373/CLCV 373, ARTH 397, WRIT 149
3. One course in Asia: ARTH 212, ARTH 229, ARTH 238, ARTH 239/SAS 239, ARTH 240, ARTH 248,
ARTH 249, ARTH 255, ARTH 257, ARTH 337, ARTH 341, ARTH 346, ARTH 347, ARTH 397
4. One course in the period before 1800: ARTH 110Y, ARTH 200, ARTH 203, ARTH 206, ARTH 209,
ARTH 217, ARTH 222/MAS 222, ARTH 227, ARTH 229, ARTH 235, ARTH 236, ARTH 238,
ARTH 239/SAS 239, ARTH 240, ARTH 241, ARTH 242, ARTH 243, ARTH 244, ARTH 245,
ARTH 246, ARTH 247, ARTH 248, ARTH 249, ARTH 251, ARTH 256, ARTH 259, ARTH 290,
ARTH 304, ARTH 323, ARTH 325, ARTH 326, ARTH 328, ARTH 330, ARTH 336, ARTH 337,
ARTH 341, ARTH 343, ARTH 345, ARTH 346, ARTH 347, ARTH 373/CLCV 373
5. One course in the period after 1800: ARTH 200, ARTH 206, ARTH 212, ARTH 224, ARTH 225,
ARTH 226/CAMS 207, ARTH 228, ARTH 231, ARTH 234, ARTH 237, ARTH 245, ARTH 255,
ARTH 262, ARTH 267/ES 267, ARTH 289, ARTH 292/AFR 292, ARTH 301, ARTH 303, ARTH 304,
ARTH 309, ARTH 310, ARTH 312, ARTH 314, ARTH 315, AFR 316/ARTH 316, ARTH 317,
ARTH 318, ARTH 320, ARTH 321, ARTH 322, ARTH 334, ARTH 335, ARTH 339, ARTH 345,
ARTH 376, ARTH 377, ARTH 390, ARTH 391, ARTH 397
ARTH 100 and both 300-level courses must be taken at Wellesley. However, if pre-approved by the Registrar
and the Department's Transfer Credit Adviser, a maximum of two courses at the 200-level taken at other
institutions may be used to meet the other minor requirements.
The Department does not encourage over-specialization in any one area; requirements for the major and
minor have been designed to encourage breadth and depth and expose students to art from as many times
and places as possible. Students should work with their advisers to plan their curriculum, and expect to revise
it regularly according to the specific courses offered each semester. Under exceptional circ*mstances, and
only by petition to the ARTH program director, we may consider an alternative to a specific requirement, but
there is no guarantee that petition will be successful.
Requirements for the Art History / Studio Art Double Major
A double major in Art History and Studio Art must elect ARTH 100 or WRIT 107, eight additional units in Studio
Art (following the requirements for the Studio major) and eight additional units in Art History, for a total of
seventeen units. A minimum of two courses must be taken at the 300-level in Art History, and a minimum of
two courses must be taken at the 300-level in Studio. The Art History requirements for the double major follow
the requirements of the Art History major with two exceptions: 1) two (instead of three) courses are required
that focus on the period before 1800; 2) two (instead of one) courses are required in nineteenth- to twenty-firstcentury art specifically. Therefore, the requirements are as follows:
1. One course in the Americas
2. One course in Africa, the Middle East, or Europe
3. One course in Asia
4. Two courses in the period before 1800
5. Two courses in nineteenth- to twenty-first-century art: students should consult with their advisers to
determine the courses best suited to fill these two units
Note: For the purposes of meeting the "17 units" requirement (See Academic Program, Other Requirements or
Articles of Legislation, Book II, Article I, Section 8, A), Art History and Studio Art are considered separate
departments. Courses in Studio Art are counted as units "outside the department" for Art History majors and
courses in Art History are counted as courses "outside the department" for Studio Art majors.
ARTH Courses
Course ID: AFR264/ARTH264 Title: African Art: Powers, Passages, Performances
As an introduction to the arts and architecture of Africa, this course explores the meaning and the contexts of
production within a variety of religious and political systems found throughout the continent, from Ethiopia, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mali, to name a few. We will consider important topics such as the ancient
art outside the Nile Valley sphere, symbols of the power of royalty, and the aesthetic and spiritual differences in
masquerade traditions. We will pay special attention to traditional visual representations in relation to
contemporary African artists and art institutions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Greene; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AFR292/ARTH292 Title: African Art and the Diaspora: From Ancient Concepts to Postmodern
Identities
We will investigate the transmission and transformation of African art and culture and their ongoing significant
impact on the continent, in Europe, and in the Americas. This course explores the arts of primarily western and
central Africa, including the communities of the Bakongo, Yoruba, and Mande, among many others. The
influences of early European contact, the Middle Passage, colonialism, and postcolonialism have affected art
production and modes of representation in Africa and the African Diaspora for centuries. Documentary and
commercial films will assist in framing these representations. The study of contemporary art and artists
throughout the African Diaspora will allow for a particularly intriguing examination of postmodern constructions
of African identity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: Greene; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR316/ARTH316 Title: Seminar: The Body: Race and Gender in Contemporary Art
This course charts past and present artistic mediations of racial, ethnic, and gendered experiences throughout
the world, using the rubric of the body. In the struggle to understand the relation between self and other, artists
have critically engaged with the images that define our common sense of belonging, ranging from a rejection
of stereotypes to their appropriations, from the discovery of alternative histories to the rewriting of dominant
narratives, from the concepts of difference to theories of diversity. The ultimate goal of the course is to find
ways of adequately imagining and imaging various identities today. We will discuss socio-political discourses,
including essentialism, structuralism, postmodernism, and post-colonialism and we will question the validity of
such concepts as diaspora, nationalism, transnationalism, and identity in an era of global politics that
celebrates the hybrid self.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 or a 200-level ARTH course or a 200-level AFR course
or a visual culture course.; Instructor: Greene; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes:
Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: ARTH100 Title: The Power of Images: An Introduction to Art and its Histories
Art matters. Because images, buildings, and environments shape our ways of understanding our world and
ourselves, learning how to look closely and analyze what you see is a fundamental life skill. Within a global
frame, this course provides an introduction to art and its histories through a series of case studies from the
ancient world to the present day. Through the case studies, we will explore concepts of gender and race,
cultural appropriation, political propaganda, materials and media, questions of cultural ownership and
repatriation, and other historical issues relevant to our current art world. Site visits and assignments will
engage with the rich art and architectural resources of Wellesley's campus.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Liu, Oles (Fall); Bedell, Greene, Brey (Spring);
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: This course is open to all students; it is
required for all Art History, Architecture, and Studio Majors.;
Course ID: ARTH110Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Michelangelo: Artist and Myth
This first-year seminar examines the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti (1474-1564). Although
he is best known as a sculptor and painter, Michelangelo was also a poet, architect, civil engineer, and
diplomat driven by complex artistic, religious, political, and economic motivations. His long career provides a
framework for understanding the Italian Renaissance, and the mythology surrounding that career provides
insight into changing perceptions of the artist and the individual during that time. We will focus on works of art
and contemporary texts, as well as real or virtual visits to Wellesley’s Special Collections, Papermaking Studio,
and Book Arts Lab, as well as Harvard's Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments and the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Musacchio;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: FYS - First
Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH123 Title: Ancient Jewelry from the Mediterranean to the Museum
Jewelry is art made to adorn the human body, and designs from the ancient Mediterranean have inspired
artists for thousands of years. This introductory course analyzes the creation and use of jewelry from 2,600
BCE to 800 CE. Case studies drawn from the connected Mediterranean world will compare the traditions of
neighboring peoples such as the Egyptians, Assyrians, Romans, and Celts. Readings will introduce these
communities and the meanings they gave to symbols, metals, and gemstones. Lectures will consider how
adornment expressed gender, asserted freedom, and attracted magical protection. Class discussions will
critique the history of excavating, collecting, and exhibiting this portable art now held by museums around the
world. Assignments will develop the skill of conducting research in museum databases.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken ARTH 323.; Instructor:
Cassibry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH200 Title: Architecture and Urban Form
An introduction to the study of architecture and the built environment. This course is limited to majors or
prospective majors in architecture, art history, studio art, or urban studies, or to those students with a serious
interest in theoretical and methodological approaches to those fields.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTH203 Title: Iraq's Antiquities, Then and Now
This course explores the rich libraries, splendid palaces, and innovative public monuments that emerged in
ancient Iraq between 3,300 BCE and 500 BCE. The royal jewels from the cemetery at Ur, the Law Code of
Hammurabi, and the palatial sculptures from Nineveh feature among the case studies. The course also
critiques international claims to these and other Iraqi antiquities, with a focus on their excavation by European
empires and American universities; their acquisition by “encyclopedic” museums; and the digital colonialism of
current replication schemes. We conclude by looking at the work of Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz,
who has recreated many antiquities to protest their varied display and ongoing destruction. Students leave the
course understanding how Iraq's ancient art and architecture have been used to negotiate power from
antiquity to the present day.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Prior coursework in Art History, Classical Civilization, or
Middle Eastern Studies recommended.; Instructor: Cassibry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH206 Title: American Art, Architecture, and Design: 1600-1950
This course will explore artistic expression in America from the time of European contact to the mid-twentieth
century. Proceeding both thematically and chronologically, the course will highlight the range of diverse
practices and media Americans deployed to define, shape, enact, and represent their changing experience.
We will explore mapping and the platting of towns during the 17th and 18th centuries; the role of portraiture in
colonial society; gender and domestic interiors; landscape painting and national identity; print culture,
photography and the industrialized image; utopian societies and reform; World's Fairs, city planning, and
urban culture; moving images, advertising, and mass consumption. As much as possible, the class will include
site visits to area museums and historic landscapes.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: McNamara;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH209 Title: Ancient Nubia
The majestic and powerful Black African empires of Ancient Nubia, located on the Nile to the south of Egypt in
present-day Sudan, have either been ignored by mainstream scholarship or subsumed under Egyptian culture.
Yet, Ancient Nubia produced more pyramids than Egypt, colossal sculpture, magnificent gold jewelry and
monumental architecture that, to date, remains unparalleled. This course will begin with the Nubian Neolithic
Period (ca. 6,000 BCE) with its sensational abstract ceramics and human sculpture and end with art of the
great cosmopolitan city of Meroe in ca. 350 CE. It will touch on aspects of colonialism, feminism and
museology. Conditions permitting, one session will meet at the Museum of Fine Arts, home to the finest
collection of Nubian Art outside Sudan.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or ANTH 103/CLCV 103 recommended.;
Instructor: Freed; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH212 Title: Modernism and Islamic Art
Beginning in the nineteenth century, the practices of artists, craftsmen, and architects throughout Muslimmajority regions were transformed by industrialization, colonialism, and the emergence of the museum as an
institution. Through the study of a variety of visual, spatial, and time-based media, students in this course
investigate the local, national, and transnational concepts that shaped the production and reception of modern
and contemporary visual cultures throughout the Islamic world. While the Middle East, North Africa, and Iran
constitute the geographic focus of the course, case studies may also consider images, objects, and
monuments produced in West Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. Key topics include visual responses to
colonialism, engagements with global centers of modernism, popular visual cultures, articulations of national
and secular identities, and the reuse of prototypes drawn from real or imagined Islamic pasts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: Brey; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH217 Title: Historic Preservation: Theory and Practice
This course will explore the theory and practice of historic preservation. Beginning with a focus on the history
of preservation in the United States, we will trace the development of legal, economic, public policy, and
cultural frameworks that have shaped attitudes and approaches toward preservation of the built environment.
To ground these theoretical discussions, we will use the greater Boston area as a laboratory for understanding
the benefits and challenges of historic preservation. Students will engage in both individual and group projects
that will emphasize field study of buildings and landscapes, archival research, planning, and advocacy. The
course is designed for Architecture and Art History majors, but could also be of interest to students in History,
American Studies, Environmental Studies, and Political Science.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: 200-level course in Architectural History preferred. Not open to
students who have completed ARTH 317.; Instructor: McNamara; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as ARTH 317.;
Course ID: ARTH222/MAS222 Title: Network Analysis for Art History
In the past decade, historians of art have increasingly turned to network analysis as a tool to investigate the
production and reception of visual and material culture. Combining analytical readings with hands-on tutorials,
this course introduces students to the conceptual and technical frameworks of network analysis as they apply
to artifacts, works of art, and popular visual culture, as well as the people who made and experienced these
images, objects, and monuments. Students will learn to model and analyze networks through the lens of art
historical and material culture case studies. Topics may include social networks, geospatial networks, similarity
networks, and dynamic networks. Case studies will range from arts of the Ancient Americas to manuscript
workshops in Mughal India and Medieval France.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: Brey; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ARTH224 Title: Modern Art to 1945
An examination of modern art from the 1880s to World War II, including the major movements of the historical
avant-garde (such as cubism, expressionism, Dada, and surrealism) as well as alternate practices. Painting,
sculpture, photography, cinema, and the functional arts will be discussed. Framing the course are critical
issues, including merging technologies, colonialism, global exchange, the art market and gender, national,
and cultural identities.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: Berman; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: ARTH225 Title: Modern Art Since 1945
An analysis of art since World War II, examining painting, sculpture, photography, performance, video, film,
conceptual practices, social and intermedial practices, and the mass media. Critical issues to be examined
include the art market, feminist art practices, the politics of identity, and artistic freedom and censorship.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: Berman; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH226/CAMS207 Title: History of Photography: From Invention to Media Age
Photography is so much a part of our private and public lives, and it plays such an influential role in our
environment, that we often forget to examine its aesthetics, meanings, and histories. This course provides an
introduction to these analyses by examining the history of photography from the 1830s to the present.
Considering fine arts and mass media practices, the class will examine the works of individual practitioners as
well as the emergence of technologies, aesthetic directions, markets, and meanings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 strongly recommended.; Instructor: Berman;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH227 Title: Art in the Age of Crusades: Visual Cultures of the Mediterranean 1000-1400
This course introduces students to the visual cultures of the Mediterranean in the centuries of the Crusades. It
approaches the distinct local, religious, and imperial visual cultures of the Mediterranean as interlocking units
within a larger regional system. Focusing on the mobile networks of patrons, merchants, objects, and artisans
that connected centers of artistic and architectural production, it covers a geographical territory that includes
Spain, North Africa, the Middle East, Anatolia, and the Italian Peninsula. Readings emphasize the theoretical
frameworks of hybridity, appropriation, hegemony, and exoticism through which Medieval Mediterranean art
and architecture have been understood. Discussions will highlight the significant connections that existed
among the Western Medieval, Byzantine, and Islamic worlds.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended.; Instructor: Brey;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH228 Title: What is Modern Architecture?
This course explores modern architecture from the turn of the 20th-century to the present. What makes
architecture “modern”? We will consider fluid definitions of modernism and modernity when studying the built
environment across cultures and geographic boundaries. Rather than following a linear narrative, we will
approach modern architecture thematically by looking at topics that include urban planning, tall buildings,
domesticity, race, gender, environmentalism and sustainability. A diverse range of architects, designers, and
practitioners will be explored in the context of these themes.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: Horowitz; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ARTH229 Title: Islamic Arts of the Book
This course introduces students to the central role that the book has played (and continues to play) in the
Islamic world. We will study the history of the Islamic book, from manuscripts of the Qur’an, which often feature
refined calligraphy but almost never include illustrations, to historical, astrological, and poetic works – like the
famous Shahnama (Book of Kings) – that contain images of various types and sizes. Students will learn about
the production, collection, and circulation of these books, and ask how and according to which criteria they
were conceived, used, and evaluated. In addition to traditional art-historical methods of close-looking and
socio-historical analysis, students will learn to use digital approaches to produce new knowledge about the
field. Visits to view manuscripts and related materials in local collections will supplement classroom discussion
and assigned readings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended.; Instructor: Brey;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH231 Title: Architecture and Urbanism in North America
This course will present a survey of American architecture and urbanism from prehistory to the late twentieth
century. Lectures and discussions will focus particularly on placing the American-built environment in its
diverse political, economic, and cultural contexts. We will also explore various themes relating to Americans'
shaping of their physical surroundings, including the evolution of domestic architecture, the organization and
planning of cities and towns, the relationships among urban, suburban and rural environments, the impact of
technology, and Americans' ever-changing relationship with nature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: McNamara;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH234 Title: Latin American Art
This introductory survey explores Latin American and Latinx art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Through a
series of case studies we will investigate how these painters, photographers, muralists and others engaged
international currents (from symbolism to conceptual art) while also addressing local themes, such as national
and racial identity, class difference, gender inequality, political struggle, and state violence. We will also cover
the history of collecting and exhibiting Latin American and Latinx art. This course has no prerequisites;
students without an art history background are welcome. Advanced students who enroll in 334 will have
additional assignments, including a research essay.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken ARTH 334.; Instructor:
Oles; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level
as ARTH 334.;
Course ID: ARTH236 Title: The Arts of the Ancient Americas
This course will provide an introduction to the arts of the Ancient Americas from before the Spanish
Conquest. Rather than a survey, we will concentrate on courtly ceremonial life in major cities from the
Teotihuacan, Maya, Moche, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. We will explore specific artistic forms viewed across
time and space, including palace architecture; stone sculpture; luxury arts of gold and feathers; textiles and
costume; and manuscript painting. The course will also examine the history of collecting, with attention to
legal and ethical concerns. We will consider the roles of archaeologists, curators, collectors, and fakers in
creating our image of the Ancient American past. In-class discussion will be combined with the study of
original objects and forms of display at the Davis and area museums.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken ARTH 338.; Instructor:
Oles; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as ARTH 338.;
Course ID: ARTH237 Title: Seminar: Who Was Frida Kahlo?
Frida Kahlo is one of the most famous artists in the world, the subject of a vast bibliography, both academic
and popular, accurate and inaccurate. This seminar will explore how Kahlo moved from the margins to the
center of art history. We will explore her life and work in detail using a wide variety of methodologies, readings,
and assignments, in order to better understand the results of her complex self-invention. We will place her
paintings in their historical context, but we will also study how she has been interpreted by feminists,
filmmakers, and fakers. We will also use Kahlo as a jumping off point to consider broader topics, from selfportraiture to Chicano/a practice. Finally, whether you are new to art history or an advanced student, the class
will help you develop the skills necessary to research, evaluate, and present visual and written information
effectively and professionally.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended.; Instructor: Oles;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300 level as ARTH 339.;
Course ID: ARTH238 Title: Chinese Art and Architecture
This course is a survey of the art and architecture of China from the Neolithic period to the turn of the twentieth
century in two simultaneous approaches: chronologically through time and thematically with art in the tomb, at
court, in the temple, in the life of the élite, and in the marketplace. It is designed to introduce students to the
major monuments and issues of Chinese art and architecture by exploring the interactions of art, religion,
culture, society, and creativity, especially how different artistic styles were tied to different intellectual thoughts,
historical events, and geographical locations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Liu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ARTH239/SAS239 Title: Art and Architecture of South Asia
This course covers the visual culture of India from ancient Indus Valley civilization through Independence. It
follows the stylistic, technological, and iconographical developments of painting, sculpture, architecture, and
textiles as they were created for the subcontinent's major religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam.
We will examine the relationship between works of art and the political, economic, and social conditions that
shaped their production. It will emphasize such themes as religious and cultural diversity, mythology and
tradition, and royal and popular art forms. Attention will also be paid to colonialism and the close relationship
between collecting, patronage, and empire.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended.; Instructor: Oliver;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH240 Title: Asian Art and Architecture
This course is a survey of the major artistic traditions of Asia including India, Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and
Japan from Neolithic times to the turn of the twentieth century. It introduces students to Asian art and
architecture by exploring the interactions of art, religion, culture, and society, especially how different artistic
styles were tied to different intellectual thoughts, political events, and geographical locations. Students are
expected to acquire visual skills in recognizing artistic styles, analytical skills in connecting art with its historical
contexts, and writing skills in expressing ideas about art. Field trips to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,
Harvard's Art Museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and/or the Peabody Essex Museum in
Salem, depending on available exhibitions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Liu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ARTH241 Title: Egyptian and Nubian Art and Archaeology
The greater Nile Valley has yielded some of the world's most ancient and compelling monuments. In this
course we will first survey the art and architecture of ancient Egypt and then ancient Nubia, Egypt's rival to
the south. Two class sessions will meet in the Museum of Fine Arts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended.; Instructor: Freed;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH242 Title: Home by Design: Houses, Villas, and Palaces in the Roman Empire
Romans designed the best houses, full of mosaics and frescoes, fountains and pools, sunlight and air. This
course will teach you how to live in an ancient Roman home: where to put the dining room, what to plant in
your garden, and how to hold a meeting in your office. We will analyze apartments at Italian Ostia, townhouses
at Pompeii, villas around the Bay of Naples, and palaces in Rome. We will consider what mosaics can tell us
about the empire’s networks of cultural exchange, we will compare house plans in the flourishing provinces,
and we will survey the palaces that emperors built in their hometowns.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Prior college-level coursework in Art History, Architecture, or
Classical Studies recommended; Instructor: Cassibry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: ARTH 242 focuses on
domestic architecture, ARTH 243 focuses on public architecture.;
Course ID: ARTH243 Title: Building an Empire: Roman Architecture as Cultural Heritage
This is a course about the Roman Empire’s buildings; the art that once adorned them; and how these
ensembles have been preserved over time. Key themes include the ancient experience of architecture,
Mediterranean traditions of design, and the place of this complex heritage in modern politics and cityscapes.
Case studies will focus not just on Rome, but also on cities across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East,
all lands that were once within the empire’s borders. Students will leave the course knowing how to use the
Roman Empire’s roads, temples, and amphitheaters and understanding why preserving them matters.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Prior college-level coursework in Art History, Architecture, or
Classical Civilization recommended.; Instructor: Cassibry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: ARTH 242 focuses on
domestic architecture, ARTH 243 focuses on public architecture.;
Course ID: ARTH244 Title: Art, Patronage, and Society in Sixteenth-Century Italy
This course will examine the so-called High Renaissance and Mannerist periods in Italy. We will focus in
particular on papal Rome, ducal Florence, and republican Venice, and the work of Leonardo da Vinci,
Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and their followers in relation to the social and cultural currents of the time.
Issues such as private patronage, female artists, contemporary sexuality, and the connections between
monumental and decorative art will be examined in light of recent scholarship in the field.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Musacchio; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH245 Title: House and Home: Domestic Architecture, Interiors, and Material Life in North
America, 1600-1900
Domestic architecture is perceived as both a setting for private life and a means of public self-expression. This
course will explore the duality of "house and home" by paying close attention to the changing nature of
domestic environments in North America from 1600 to 1900. Topics will include the gendering of domestic
space; the role of architects, designers, and prescriptive literature in shaping domestic environments;
technological change; the marketing and mass production of domestic furnishings; the relationship of houses
to their natural environments; and visions for alternative, reform, or utopian housing arrangements. Site visits
and walking tours are a central component of the course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended. Not open to
students who have taken ARTH 345.; Instructor: McNamara; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also
offered at the 300-level as ARTH 345.;
Course ID: ARTH246 Title: Collectors, Saints, and Cheese-Eaters in Baroque Italy
This course surveys a selection of the arts in Italy from circa 1575 to circa 1750. The works of artists such as
the Carracci, Caravaggio, Bernini, Gentileschi, and Longhi will be examined within their political, social,
religious, and economic settings. Particular emphasis will be placed on Rome and the impact of the papacy on
the arts, but Bologna, Florence, and Venice will also play a part, especially in regard to the growing interest in
scientific enquiry and the production of arts in the courts and for the Grand Tour. We will focus on works
of art and contemporary texts, as well as real or virtual visits to Wellesley’s Special Collections, Papermaking
Studio, Book Arts Lab, and Botanic Gardens, Harvard's Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, and
the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Musacchio; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH247 Title: Introduction to Islamic Art and Architecture
What, if anything, makes a work of art or architecture Islamic? Islam has formed an important context for the
production and reception of visual and material culture. This course enables students to develop a critical
vocabulary in analyzing the arts of the Islamic world. Through the study of a broad range of objects and
monuments including mosques, manuscripts, textiles, tiles, and amulets, students learn to hone their formal
analysis of both figural and non-figural works of art, as well as their close reading of historical sources that
reveal how objects and monuments were made and experienced. As students progress through a
chronological and multi-regional overview of works produced from the emergence of Islam in the seventh
century to the Early Modern empires, they also gain familiarity with methods for the study of Islamic art and
ongoing debates within the field. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on the ways in which cultural
frameworks including politics, religion, ethnicity, science, and gender shaped the production and reception of
images, objects, and monuments within the Islamic world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: Brey; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH248 Title: Chinese Painting: Theories, Masters, and Principles
This course examines Chinese painting from early times to the turn of the twentieth century. It serves as an
introduction to theories, masters, and principles in the practice of Chinese painting. Issues of investigation
include major themes, techniques, connoisseurship, and functions of Chinese painting. Special attention is
given to (1) imperial patronage, (2) the triangle relationship between painting, calligraphy, and poetry, (3) the
tension between representation and expression, (4) between professional and literati, (5) between tradition and
creativity, and (6) the impact of the West. Trips to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and other museums.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Liu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH249 Title: Japanese Art and Architecture
This course is a survey of the rich visual arts of Japan from the Neolithic period to the turn of the twentieth
century with emphasis on architecture, sculpture, painting, ceramics, and ukiyoe. It examines Japan's close
ties to India, China, and Korea and explores the development of a distinct Japanese artistic style and national
identity. Special attention is given to the sociopolitical forces, cultural exchanges, religious thoughts,
intellectual discourses, and commercial activities that shaped the representation and expression of these arts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Liu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTH250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ARTH250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 or permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ARTH251 Title: The Arts in Renaissance Italy Before and After the Black Death
This course surveys a selection of the arts in Italy during the period we now call the Renaissance, dating from
circa 1260 to 1500. We will examine the rise of the mendicant orders, the devastation of the Black Death, the
growth of civic and private patronage, and the connection with art and artists in northern Europe, all of which
had a profound impact on the visual arts. The work of major artists and workshops will be examined and
contextualized within their political, social, and economic settings by readings and discussions of
contemporary texts and recent scholarship.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Musacchio; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTH255 Title: Twentieth-Century Chinese Art
This course examines Chinese art in the socially and politically tumultuous twentieth century,which witnessed
the end of imperial China, the founding of the Republic, the rise of the People's Republic, the calamity of Mao's
cultural revolution, the impact of the West, and the ongoing social and economic reforms. Critical issues of
examination include the encounters of East and West, the tensions of tradition and revolution, the burdens of
cultural memory and historical trauma, the interpretations of modernity and modernism, the flowering of avantgarde and experimental art, and the problems of globalization and art markets. The course is designed to
develop an understanding of the diverse threads of art and society in twentieth-century China.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Liu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH256 Title: Celtic Art: Agency, Ethnicity, and Empire
In 2015, the British Museum exhibit “Celts: Art and Identity” shocked the public by suggesting that Celtic
heritage was a modern invention based on ancient stereotypes. Our course follows the exhibit’s lead by first
asking “Who were the Celts?” and exploring competing definitions of this term. We then turn to analyzing the
exquisite artifacts that museums and textbooks typically label “Celtic.” Focusing on the period between 600
BCE and 800 CE, our case studies examine princely tombs from Germany, golden necklaces and coins from
France, mesmerizing mirrors and shields from England, intricate stone monuments from Scotland, and
manuscripts from Ireland. We will use this material to counter ethnic stereotypes developed by the vengeful
Greeks and Romans and to assess how modern notions of Celtic identity map onto the reality of the past.
To learn more about these issues, read this response to the exhibition “Celts: Art and Identity”
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Prior coursework in Art History or Classical Civilization
recommended.; Instructor: Cassibry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH257 Title: Arts of Korea
A survey of Korean arts and architecture from the Neolithic period to the mid-20th century. The first part of the
course discusses the religious and cultural transformation of the peninsula and examines selected examples of
tomb murals, ceramics, and Buddhist art and architecture from early kingdoms. The latter part of the course
will focus on the secular art and material culture of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) and the colonial period
(1910-1945). Topics include Neo-Confucianism as a new state ideology and its influence on the aesthetics and
tastes of the scholarly elite; the development of vernacular themes and styles of painting; the rise of popular
taste; and, the shifting concepts of art and artistic identity during the periods of political transition.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH259 Title: The Art and Architecture of the European Enlightenment
This course will present a thematic survey of 18th-century European art and architecture from the reign of
Louis XIV to the French Revolution (1660-1789). We will examine works of art in relation to the social, political,
and cultural debates of the period, and how artistic practice engaged with new approaches to empiricism,
secularism, and political philosophy spurred by the Enlightenment. Topics include French art in the service of
absolutism, debates between classicism and the Rococo, public and private spaces of social reform, the
Grand Tour and the rediscovery of antiquity, collecting, global trade, and imperialism. We will also consider
Enlightenment and counter-Enlightenment trends in Spain, Austria, and Great Britain.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended.; Instructor: Oliver;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH262 Title: African American Art
This course will study art made by African Americans from early colonial America to the present. We will also
examine images of African Americans by artists of diverse cultural backgrounds. Throughout the course we will
analyze construction(s) of subjectivity of African-American identity (black, Negro, colored) as it relates to visual
worlds. Although the course is outlined chronologically, the readings and class discussions will revolve around
specific themes each week. The course is interdisciplinary, incorporating a variety of social and historical
issues, media, and disciplines, including music, film, and literary sources.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken this course as a topic
of ARTH 316.; Instructor: Greene; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTH267/ES267 Title: Art and the Environmental Imagination
Exploring the relationship between art and the environment, this course will focus on the land of the United
States as it has been shaped into forms ranging from landscape paintings to suburban lawns, national parks,
and our own Wellesley College campus. Among the questions we will consider are: What is “nature”? What do
we value in a landscape and why? How are artists, architects, and landscape designers responding to
environmentalist concerns?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Bedell; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: ARTH289 Title: Nineteenth-Century European Art
This course surveys European art from the French Revolution of 1789 to the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900.
Focusing on such major movements as Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Art
Nouveau, we will examine the relationship of art to tradition, revolution, empire, social change, technology, and
identity. Emphasis is placed on the representation and experience of modern life, in paintings by David, Goya,
Turner, Manet, Seurat, and others, and in venues ranging from political festivals to avant-garde art galleries to
London's Crystal Palace. Topics include the expanded audience for art, Orientalism, gender and
representation, and the aesthetics of leisure.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended.; Instructor: Oliver;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH290 Title: Pompeii
Frozen in time by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 C.E., Pompeii's grand public baths, theatres, and
amphitheater, its seedy bars and businesses, its temples for Roman and foreign gods, and its lavishly
decorated townhomes and villas preserve extremely rich evidence for daily life in the Roman Empire. Lecture
topics include urbanism in ancient Italy; the structure and rituals of the Roman home; the styles and themes of
Pompeian wall paintings and mosaics; and the expression of non-elite identities. We conclude by analyzing
Pompeii's rediscovery in the eighteenth century and the city's current popularity in novels, television episodes,
and traveling exhibits.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Cassibry; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH299 Title: History of the Book from Manuscript to Print
A survey of the evolution of the book, both as a vessel for the transmission of text and image and as evidence
of material culture. Through close examination of rare books in Clapp Library's Special Collections, we will
explore the social and political forces that influenced the dissemination and reception of printed texts. Lectures
will cover the principle techniques and materials of book production from the ancient scroll to the modern
codex, including calligraphy, illumination, format and composition, typography, illustration, papermaking, and
bookbinding. Weekly reading, discussion, and analysis of specimens will provide the skills needed to develop
a critical vocabulary and an investigative model for individual research. Additional sessions on the hand press
in the Book Arts Lab and in the Pendleton paper studio.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Rogers (Curator of Special
Collections); Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH303 Title: Calderwood Seminar for Public Writing: Art in Public Places: Politics and Publics
One of the thornie*st issues facing artists, art historians, curators, critics, theorists, city planners, and others
who have to negotiate art in public places is the question of competing perceptions and meanings. As soon as
a work of art is proposed for or installed in a site in which numerous publics intersect, or a work is destroyed,
the question arises of “whose public” is being addressed. This seminar will bring to the table historical and
contemporary case studies in public art, in part selected by students, as the subjects of several genres of
public writing, among them reviews and Op. Ed. pieces. Students in all areas of art history will have already
confronted, and will confront in the future, the question of who has the right to make the art, install the art, or
destroy the art, in any geography at any time.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any 200 or 300 level course in Art History. Open to Senior Art
History majors only.; Instructor: Berman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH310 Title: The Extraordinary Interior
This course focuses on case studies representing highlights in the history of 20th and 21st-century interior and
furniture design. A variety of building types and uses -- domestic, institutional, entertainment, and mixed-use -will be considered, with an emphasis on the interpretation of style, new and traditional materials, social and
cultural values, historical precedents, and the history of collecting.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 228 or ARTH 231, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Friedman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH312 Title: Seminar: Art and Empire in the Long Nineteenth Century
What were the possibilities and limits of representing foreign lands, cultures, and peoples in the long
nineteenth century? How did discourses of empire, race, and power inform or complicate these
representations? This course examines Europe's imperial and colonial engagements with India, the Pacific,
North Africa, and the West Indies from 1750-1900 and representations of these engagements in the visual
realm. Thematically and methodologically driven, a comparative approach will be taken to theories of travel,
colonialism, and cross-cultural interactions. Such theories include, but are not limited to, Orientalism,
postcolonialism, transnationlism, and their attendant critiques.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 or WRIT 107, or permission of the instructor. Not open
to First-Years.; Instructor: Oliver; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: ARTH314 Title: Seminar: Lorraine O'Grady '55. Writer, Artist, Archivist
In the first course to explore the biography and legacy of a living Wellesley College alumna, students build and
analyze a dynamic monographic study of one of the most important contemporary artist of our time–in real
time–Lorraine O’Grady. Coinciding with the Davis Museum opening of Lorraine O’Grady’s retrospective
exhibition, Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And, students learn directly from the exhibition and work in the College
Archives with O’Grady’s physical and digital archives. Critical topics covered include: art criticism, feminist art,
Black art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, performance art, conceptual art, museum studies, among
others. Students contribute directly to O’Grady’s ongoing scholarship through interviews of scholars and
artists influenced by her writings, artworks, and archival collections. The course is Speaking Intensive.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one 200 level ARTH, or 300 level humanities course.;
Instructor: Greene; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer
'51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: ARTH315 Title: The Object of Performance: From Theory to Practice
This course considers a history of performance art, a genre that features time-based media, technologies, and
the archive. The curriculum covers performance art through a global lens and emphasizes queer artists and
artists of African, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous descent. This seminar prepares students to answer critical
questions necessary for defining the field: What are the ethical, physical, and psychological quandaries that
artists face from theory to practice in performance art? How does using the body as a medium challenge the
“object-ness” of performance, and how does that impact its reception? What roles do artists, museums,
cultural institutions, and their audiences play? What are the institutions' responsibilities for fundraising, staff
support, and conservation of performance art? Students explore these questions along with key topics on
ephemerality, experimentation, documentation, and audience reception to develop performance projects of
their own.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Not open to First-Years.; Instructor:
Greene; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH317 Title: Historic Preservation: Theory and Practice
This course will explore the theory and practice of historic preservation. Beginning with a focus on the history
of preservation in the United States, we will trace the development of legal, economic, public policy, and
cultural frameworks that have shaped attitudes and approaches toward the preservation of our built
environment. Students will engage in both individual and group projects that will emphasize field study of
buildings and landscapes, archival research, planning, and advocacy. The course is designed for Architecture
and Art History majors, but could also be of interest to students in History, American Studies, Environmental
Studies and Political Science.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Prior 200-level coursework in Architecture or permission of the
instructor. Not open to students who have completed ARTH 217.; Instructor: McNamara; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is sometimes offered at the 200-level as ARTH
217.;
Course ID: ARTH318 Title: Seminar: New England Arts and Architecture
This seminar will introduce students to the visual and material culture of New England from the period of
European contact to the end of the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on Boston and environs.
Course readings, lectures, and discussion will address the broad range of artistic expression from decorative
arts to cultural landscapes, placing them in their social, political, and economic contexts as well as in the larger
context of American art and architecture. A major theme of the course will be the question of New England's
development as a distinct cultural region and the validity of regionalism as a category of analysis. The course
will include a number of required field trips to New England museums and cultural institutions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 or WRIT 107, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
McNamara; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH320 Title: Seminar: Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Architecture and New Ways of Living
This seminar will examine the buildings and theories of Frank Lloyd Wright, with a particular focus on two
themes: Wright's designs for progressive and feminist clients across the long span of his career; and his
relationship to the Modern Movement in Europe and the Americas.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 and one 200-level course in Art History or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Friedman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH321 Title: Seminar. Making Space: Gender, Sexuality and the Design of Houses
Focusing on case studies drawn from European and American history and contemporary practice, this
discussion seminar will look at the ways in which normative notions of gender and sexuality have shaped the
conventions of domestic architecture for specific cultures and time periods. The course will also focus on
outliers, anomalies and queer spaces, examining the roles played by unconventional architects, clients, and
users of houses in changing notions of public and private space and creating new ways of living. Readings will
be drawn from feminist theory, queer studies, and architectural history. Weekly oral reports on key concepts,
texts and/or buildings and in-class discussion are required in addition to written research papers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 228 or a 300-level course in architectural history or urban
studies or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Friedman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ARTH322 Title: Seminar: The Bauhaus
This seminar considers Staatliches Bauhaus, the school of architecture, art, and design that was founded in
Weimar Germany at the end of World War I, closed under National Socialism in the mid-30s, reestablished in
Chicago in 1937, and whose practices were transmitted through institutions globally. The class considers
the historical position of the Bauhaus; examines the school's community, philosophy, and practices; studies
contemporaneous developments and contacts in the international art and design world; and examines the
legacies of the Bauhaus in the Americas and Asia. We will also consider how Bauhaus products and
pedagogies came to be synonymous with mid-century modernity and continue to resonate in
contemporary design. The seminar provides an integrative examination of visual arts disciplines, and it
brings together interdisciplinary approaches to the historical movement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Preference will be given to senior Art
History and Architecture majors and minors.; Instructor: Berman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ARTH324/PHIL324 Title: Seminar: Meat: Visuals, Politics, Ethics
The scale of the meat industry and its adverse environmental and climate impacts alongside burgeoning
scientific understandings of non-human intelligence require urgent reevaluation of our relationship to animals
as food: How has visual culture (historical and contemporary), both in advertising and in popular culture,
separated meat as a food from the process of animal slaughter that produces it? How do we negotiate
between our food traditions and ethical obligation to move away from practices rooted in violence? Why do we
value some animals as companions while commodifying others as food? What is speciesism and in what ways
can it shape our understanding of animal oppression? We engage these questions and more using visual
culture and ethical frameworks to critique the prevailing political and cultural norms that desensitize us to the
implications of meat consumption.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One course in either Philosophy or Art History.; Instructor: Oliver
and Walsh; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH325 Title: Seminar: Strong Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy
This seminar will analyze women in Italy from circa 1300 to 1700 through the lens of both art and history. We
will examine a variety of sources to understand women's lives and work; with this evidence we will see that
women had a much stronger presence than previously recognized, as artists, writers, musicians, patrons,
nuns, and a wide range of professions inside and outside their homes. The seminar is linked to an exhibition at
Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and several sessions will be held on site with museum staff. Other sessions
will include visits to Wellesley's Special Collections, Papermaking Studio, and Book Arts Lab.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: Previous courses in European art, history, or literature
recommended.; Instructor: Musacchio; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH326 Title: Art and Plague in Early Modern Europe
This course will examine the art and history of the Second Plague Pandemic in Europe. We will trace plague
from the arrival of the so-called Black Death in port cities in 1347 through the many outbreaks of varying
severity over the next four centuries, focusing on Italy but considering additional case studies across the
continent. We will investigate how plague and the ensuing demographic crisis were represented in art and
material culture, and how those representations helped people understand, and cope with, the world around
them. Readings in primary and secondary sources, interaction with guest speakers, and visits to Wellesley's
Special Collections, Book Arts Lab, Botanic Gardens, and Davis Museum will demonstrate the myriad
reactions to plague and will give us the tools we need to better understand the COVID-19 pandemic.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Previous courses in European art, history, or literature
recommended. Not open to students who have taken ARTH 235/HIST 235.; Instructor: Musacchio; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH328 Title: Dining with Michelangelo: Art and Food in Renaissance Italy
This seminar will analyze the role of food in the art and life of early modern Italy. We will examine the historic
and economic context of food as the basis of our investigation of its representation in paintings, sculptures,
and works on paper from circa 1300 to 1800. This will entail a close look at food as subject and symbol, as
well as the material culture surrounding its production and consumption. The seminar will investigate
illustrated herbals and cookbooks in Special Collections, dining habits and etiquette, and food as sexual
metaphor through a wide range of interdisciplinary sources; Wellesley's Botanic Gardens will grow Italian fruits,
vegetables, and herbs for us to incorporate in Renaissance-era recipes.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Previous courses in European art, history, or literature
recommended but not required.; Instructor: Musacchio; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH330 Title: Seminar: Birth, Marriage, and Death in Renaissance Italy
During the Italian Renaissance, major family events like childbirth, marriage, and death were marked by both
works of art and oftentimes elaborate rituals. In this seminar we will examine childbirth trays, marriage chests,
painted and sculpted portraits, and funerary monuments, as well as a wide range of additional domestic
objects that surrounded people in their everyday life. These objects will be related to contemporary
monumental and public art, literature, account books, and legislation, as well as recent scholarship in art
history, social history, and women's studies, to provide insight into Renaissance art and life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Previous courses in European art, history, or literature
recommended but not required.; Instructor: Musacchio; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51
Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: ARTH331 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Fashion Across Time and Geography
Communicate your art-historical knowledge to the broadest possible public. While focusing on public writing,
we will study the history and politics of fashion. Topics will include gender and class performance, cultural
appropriation, medicine and the body; technology; and law and society. Weekly meetings will include
collaborative editing workshops, guest speakers, and a field trip. Students will build a writing portfolio
including a book review, film review, Smarthistory essay, museum labels, and a one-minute radio text, among
other projects. The Calderwood seminar model demands firm weekly deadlines, allowing classmates time to
reflect and comment on each other’s work. We build a scholarly community that shows the larger world how
the history of art intersects with fashion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Berman; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood
Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Intended for Seniors majoring or minoring in Art History Intended for Seniors majoring or minoring in Art
History;
Course ID: ARTH334 Title: Latin American Art
This introductory survey explores Latin American and Latinx art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Through a
series of case studies we will investigate how these painters, photographers, muralists and others engaged
international currents (from symbolism to conceptual art) while also addressing local themes, such as national
and racial identity, class difference, gender inequality, political struggle, and state violence. We will also cover
the history of collecting and exhibiting Latin American and Latinx art. This course has no prerequisites;
students without an art history background are welcome. Advanced students who enroll in 334 will have
additional assignments, including a research essay.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least two art history courses. Not open to students who have
taken ARTH 234.; Instructor: Oles; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This
course is also offered at the 200-level as ARTH 234.;
Course ID: ARTH335 Title: Seminar: The Arts of Dissent
The visual arts play a critical role in shaping identity and formulating opinion. Recognizing the power of images
and performance, participants in social and political movements enlist the arts in support of their work. In this
case-study based seminar, we will explore ways in which the visual arts have been central features of social
protest movements in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. The class will take a trip to New York. In some
meetings, we will work with Studio Art instructors to create and analyze student production.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Berman; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: ARTH337 Title: Seminar: The Song Imperial Painting Academy
The Imperial Painting Academy of the Song Dynasty China (960-1279), founded in 984, was the first of its kind
in the history of world art. This seminar investigates the nature of imperial patronage and the institution and
achievements of the Painting Academy (comparable to those of the Italian Renaissance art) in relation to the
Song Empire. The seminar attempts to identify how exactly a particular imperial commission was initiated and
carried out through critical reading of primary sources (in translation) that include artists biographies and case
studies. Issues of connoisseurship and the relationship of painting/image and poetry/word are also examined.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to junior and senior students or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Liu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH338 Title: The Arts of the Ancient Americas
This course runs in parallel with ARTH 236. It will provide an introduction to the arts of the Ancient Americas
from before the Spanish Conquest. Rather than a survey, we will concentrate on courtly ceremonial life in
major cities from the Teotihuacan, Maya, Moche, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. We will explore specific artistic
forms viewed across time and space, including palace architecture; stone sculpture; luxury arts of gold and
feathers; textiles and costume; and manuscript painting. The course will also examine the history of collecting,
with attention to legal and ethical concerns. We will consider the roles of archaeologists, curators, collectors,
and fakers in creating our image of the Ancient American past. In-class discussion will be combined with the
study of original objects and forms of display at the Davis and area museums.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two 100- or 200-level art history courses. Not open to students
who have taken ARTH 236.; Instructor: Oles; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the
200-level as ARTH 236.;
Course ID: ARTH339 Title: Seminar: Who Was Frida Kahlo?
Frida Kahlo is one of the most famous artists in the world, the subject of a vast bibliography, both academic
and popular, accurate and inaccurate. This seminar will explore how Kahlo moved from the margins to the
center of art history. We will explore her life and work in detail using a wide variety of methodologies, readings,
and assignments, in order to better understand the results of her complex self-invention. We will place her
paintings in their historical context, but we will also study how she has been interpreted by feminists,
filmmakers, and fakers. We will also use Kahlo as a jumping off point to consider broader topics, from selfportraiture to Chicano/a practice. Finally, whether you are new to art history or an advanced student, the class
will help you develop the skills necessary to research, evaluate, and present visual and written information
effectively and professionally.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two 200 level ARTH courses. Not open to students who have
taken ARTH 237.; Instructor: Oles; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200 level
as ARTH 237.;
Course ID: ARTH341 Title: Seminar: The Landscape Painting of China, Korea, and Japan
Landscape painting, or more accurately, shanshui (literally "mountain-and-water/river"), rose as an
independent and major art form in the tenth century in East Asia as a great tradition in the history of world art.
How did it develop so early? What did it mean? How was it used for? How does its past serve as inspiration for
the present? And why does shanshui remain a major subject of significance in modern and contemporary
East Asian art? Following the development of shanshui from the early periods to the twentieth century, the
course explores such critical issues as shanshui and representation of nature, shanshui and
power, shanshui and national development, shanshui and environment, shanshui as images of the mind,
the tension of tradition and creativity in painting shanshui. Comparisons will be made with Dutch, English,
French, and American landscape painting to provide a global perspective.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Prior coursework in art history or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Liu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH343 Title: Seminar: Roman Monuments: Memory and Metamorphosis
From triumphal arches to souvenirs, and from tombstones to public portraits, ancient Romans excelled in the
art of commemoration. Focusing on a different kind of monument each week, we will explore how Romans
negotiated power through designs and dedications. In light of current debates about contested memorials, we
will analyze ancient precedents for destroying or rewriting dedications to condemned emperors. We will also
ask how modern commissions, such as New York's Washington Square Arch, draw on the authority of
antiquity. Students will leave the course with a deeper understanding of how monuments work and how the
Roman Empire's monuments still shape how we commemorate today.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Prior coursework in Art History or Classical Civilization
recommended.; Instructor: Cassibry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH345 Title: Seminar: House and Home: Domestic Architecture, Interiors, and Material Life in
North America, 1600-1900
Domestic architecture is perceived as both a setting for private life and a means of public self-expression. This
course will explore the duality of "house and home" by paying close attention to the changing nature of
domestic environments in North America from 1600 to 1900. Topics will include the gendering of domestic
space; the role of architects, designers, and prescriptive literature in shaping domestic environments;
technological change; the marketing and mass production of domestic furnishings; the relationship of houses
to their natural environments; and visions for alternative, reform, or utopian housing arrangements. Site visits
and walking tours are a central component of the course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended. Not open to students who
have taken ARTH 245.; Instructor: McNamara; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as ARTH 245.;
Course ID: ARTH346 Title: Seminar: Poetic Painting in China, Korea, and Japan
Poetic painting is a conspicuous visual phenomenon in East Asian art that at its best is technically superlative
and deeply moving. This seminar investigates the development of this lyric mode of painting first in China and
then in Korea and Japan from the eighth century to the twentieth through the practices of scholar-officials,
emperors and empresses, masters in and outside of the Imperial Painting Academy, literati artists, and modern
intellectuals. Literary ideals and artistic skills, tradition and creativity, patronage and identity, censorship and
freedom of expression, and other tensions between paintings and poetry/poetry theories will be examined.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors with prior coursework in art history,
or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Liu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTH347 Title: Seminar. Beyond Iconoclasm: Seeing the Sacred in Islamic Visual Cultures
The production and use of sacred images has provoked a wide variety of responses within the Islamic world.
This class explores how sacred images have been created, viewed, destroyed, and reused within Islamic
cultural contexts ranging from the Arab-Muslim conquests of the seventh century to the present day. Rather
than progressing chronologically, it examines sacred images from thematic and theoretical perspectives.
Topics include iconoclasm and aniconism, depictions of sacred figures and places, talismans and images on
objects imbued with divine agency, and articulations of new attitudes towards images at key historical
moments.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Prior coursework in Art History or Middle Eastern Studies, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Brey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH348 Title: Seminar: The Art of Science in the Islamic World
In the medieval Islamic world, crafting scientific tools wasn't just practical—it was an art form. Artists and
builders used their knowledge of chemistry, metallurgy, geometry, astronomy, and anatomy to produce
objects and monuments that were both beautiful and crucial to the discovery of new phenomena. In this
seminar, we'll dive into the intertwined practices of artistic creation and scientific exploration, spanning the
seventh to the fifteenth centuries. You'll investigate the discoveries behind objects, images, and monuments,
such as astrolabes and zoological manuscripts. We'll cover fascinating topics like the secrets of constructing
robotic automata, the alchemy of turning plants into vibrant textile dyes, and the geometric principles guiding
the design of astronomical observatories and tile patterns. Our field trips to Special Collections and other
exhibits will bring these concepts to life. You'll learn to see the world through both an artist's and a scientist's
eyes, gaining insights into how medieval Islamic innovations continue to influence our modern world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 227, ARTH 229, ARTH 247, or ARTH 347, or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Brey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTH350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 or permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and
seniors.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ARTH350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 or permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ARTH360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in
the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient
progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ARTH370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: ARTH373/CLCV373 Title: Antiquities Today: The Politics of Replication
New technologies that enable the 3D scanning and fabrication of art and architecture have become integral in
attempts to combat the decay, destruction, and disputed ownership of ancient works. Our seminar
contextualizes the development of these current approaches within the longer history of collecting and
replicating artifacts from the ancient Mediterranean. We will think critically about the role that replicated
antiquities play in site and object preservation, college and museum education, and the negotiation of
international political power. Potential case studies include the Bust of Nefertiti, the Parthenon Marbles, the
Venus de Milo, and the Arch of Palmyra, all of which now exist globally in multiple digital and material
iterations. The seminar will culminate in a critique of the digitization and replication of Wellesley’s own
antiquities collections.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Prior college-level coursework in Art History and/or Classical
Civilization.; Instructor: Cassibry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTH376 Title: Seminar: Local Stories: Fieldwork in Museums and Archives
ARTH 376 is designed for students who are intrigued by direct work with historic artifacts and documents as
well as students thinking about pursuing an honors thesis, or those who may need a writing sample for
graduate school and fellowship applications. The course provides students with an opportunity to conduct
directed, independent research in Boston-area museums, libraries, and historical societies on a topic that
appeals to their particular interests. Students’ research will culminate in a project that interprets the material
they analyzed and communicates their findings through a final written or digital project. The course will include
field trips to local museums and libraries in the Boston area to learn about the diverse nature of historical
collections along with hands-on workshops on different types of material and documentary evidence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 200-level course in Art History or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: McNamara; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH377 Title: Methodologies in Art History
This seminar will offer an overview and critical examination of methodologies used in historical research in the
fields of art history and architecture. It will be structured around in-depth examination of case studies and
close readings of key writings, highlighting innovative approaches to works of art and architecture dating from
1500 to the present. In many cases, the authors of assigned readings will present and discuss their work,
providing students with a unique perspective and analysis of methodologies ranging from cultural and
economic histories to material and environmental studies. The course will also examine contemporary
strategies for "decolonization of the curriculum" and anti-racist approaches to the art historical canon through
analysis of the status of works by women, artists of color, and/or in non-traditional media.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: A minimum of two 200-level courses in Art History.; Instructor:
Friedman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH378/LAST378 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Museums Speak:
Communication and Controversy
Art and anthropology museums tell stories about the past and its relevance to the present, but what stories
they tell, who gets to tell them, and which objects should—or should not—be considered are not always selfevident. In this writing-intensive seminar, you will learn how texts—wall labels, press releases, exhibition
reviews—engage audiences within and beyond the museum’s walls. The course consists of writing
assignments related to artworks made in the Americas before Independence, from the ancient Maya to
colonial Peru, many on exhibit at the Davis Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Through these
case studies, we will learn how to convert visual images and academic arguments into appealing, jargon-free
prose. In keeping with the structure of the Calderwood seminar, weekly deadlines in this class are firm so as to
allow classmates time to reflect on such arguments and comment on each other’s ideas. Take on the role of
museum curator and learn how texts help us navigate controversies over the acquisition, provenance, and
display of artworks from distant cultures and places.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least two 100- or 200-level courses in Art History or
Anthropology.; Instructor: Oles; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Every three
years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH390 Title: Decolonial Art History: Theory, Method, and Praxis
Unacknowledged colonial ideologies have for too long promulgated structures and values that reinforce a
white Euro-American privilege within the pedagogy of art history. How does one confront the legacy of
colonialism within art history—a discipline that has historically focused on and promoted Eurocentric cultural
and artistic values? How can we understand artistic movements and institutions relative to colonial legacies?
What do decolonial processes look like as they are practiced at the juncture of art history, art practice, and
critical theory? Building on postcolonial studies, critical race studies, and critical museum studies, among
other theories and methods, this seminar will evaluate the possibilities and limits of decolonizing art history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARTH 100 or WRIT 107, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Oliver; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered:
Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTH391 Title: Persuasive Images
Visual images have always been enlisted to influence individual and collective decision-making, action, and
identity. However, the rise of the mass media in the nineteenth century, the multiplication of technologies in the
twentieth century, and the media spaces of the twenty-first century have created unprecedented opportunities
for the diffusion of propaganda and persuasive images. This seminar enlists case studies to examine the uses
and functions of visual images in advertising and political propaganda. It also considers the historical interplay
between elite and popular arts. The goal of the course is to sharpen our critical understanding and reception of
the visual world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one 200-level course in Art or Media Arts and Sciences,
and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Berman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH397 Title: India and the British
In less than two centuries, the British presence in India transformed from a small company of merchants into a
vast, extractive empire ruled by the Crown. This course will critically examine visual culture relating to British
colonialism in India from the mid-eighteenth century to Independence. We will consider the role of art in British
diplomacy with rival kingdoms and independent territories, photography’s use in colonial surveillance, the
impact of industrialization on Indian crafts, colonial patronage and institutions of art education, and
architecture and monuments designed to naturalize British presence on the subcontinent. We will equally
consider South Asian perspectives such as the role of photography and reproductive prints in the rise of
nationalism, the swadeshi movement, and Indian artists’ engagement with or rejection of modernism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one 200-level Art History course or permission of the
instructor recommended.; Instructor: Oliver; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Astronomy
Astronomy is the study of the universe—from planets and stars to the Milky Way and distant galaxies, from the
instant of the Big Bang to the current era of rapid expansion and beyond to the distant future. Modern
astronomers rely on careful observations of the cosmos and on their understanding of physical laws to make
sense of our often baffling, but always fascinating universe. The astronomy curriculum emphasizes hands-on
observations at the Whitin Observatory, using our small telescopes and historic telescopes in introductory
courses and the new 0.7m research telescope for advanced classes and student research. Our introductory
survey courses are appropriate for both science and nonscience majors: ASTR 100 provides a nonmathematical introduction to life in the universe, with an emphasis on exploring our sense of place in the
cosmos, both scientifically and humanistically. ASTR 107 is a more mathematical and laboratory-based survey
of astronomy, highlighting hands-on discovery-based inquiry and observations with our historic and modern
telescopes, and serving as a gateway to our more advanced 200- and 300-level courses.
Astronomy Major
Requirements for the Astronomy Major
For students intending to pursue a Ph.D. in Astronomy, we offer, jointly with the Department of Physics, a
major in Astrophysics. For students interested in other pursuits, such as a Ph.D. in Planetary Science or
careers in education, data science, scientific and technical computing, and public outreach (e.g., museum
staff, journalism), we offer a major in Astronomy.
The major consists of 11 courses. In astronomy, we require ASTR 107, ASTR 206, and another 200-level
course, and two 300-level courses (one of which may be in an affiliated field). We also require MATH 215, and
PHYS 100, PHYS 107, PHYS 108, PHYS 205, and PHYS 207.
Students should consult with faculty about choosing electives and research opportunities appropriate for their
fields of study. For example, students interested in pursuing graduate study in planetary science should elect
additional courses in geosciences and chemistry. Students working toward teacher certification might add
courses in other sciences and in education, and might coordinate their fieldwork with ASTR 350, while those
planning to enter the technical workforce might elect additional courses in computer science.
Goals for the 100 level curriculum:
1. Develop critical thinking skills to evaluate claims based on scientific standards of evidence
2. Cultivate basic scientific/physical reasoning abilities
3. Explore the constellations, the motions of the sky, and our place in the cosmic neighborhood, using
naked eye and telescopic observations
4. Understand the properties of light as a universal messenger, enabling astronomers to decipher the
physical processes that shape planets, stars, galaxies and the evolution of the universe
5. Apply the physical laws of light and gravity to stars, galaxies, and planetary systems
Goals for the 200-300 level curriculum:
1. Apply an astronomer’s toolkit, based on the properties of light, matter and gravity, to understand the
life stories of planetary worlds, planetary systems, stars, galaxies, and the origin and fate of the
universe.
2. Collaborate with peers on research projects.
3. Plan, design, organize, carry out and document hands-on observations with modern instrumentation.
4. Identify, formulate, and solve tractable scientific and technical problems.
5. Analyze and interpret astronomical and planetary data and observations, using physical and
mathematical models.
6. Read and critically evaluate primary scientific literature.
7. Develop a scientific approach to problem-solving through making observations, applying physical
theories, and iterative testing of hypotheses.
8. Communicate technical knowledge through effective scientific writing and oral presentations.
Accessibility of Astronomy Facilities
Students with disabilities are welcome in all astronomy department courses, including those with laboratories.
The Whitin Observatory has telescopes accessible to students with mobility-related disabilities, including
outdoor telescopes for 100-level courses and the computer-controlled 0.7m telescope used for upper-level
courses and independent research. Other accommodation requests can be made by contacting Disability
Services, or by meeting with the instructor.
Honors in Astronomy
To earn honors in the major, students must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major
field above the 100-level; the department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and
3.5. The student must complete a significant research project culminating in a paper and an oral examination.
The project must be conducted after the junior year and approved in advance by the department, and might
be satisfied by a thesis, a summer internship, or a 350. See Academic Distinctions.
Astronomy Minor
Requirements for the Astronomy Minor
A minor in Astronomy consists of a total of five courses in ASTR, including ASTR 107, ASTR 202 or ASTR 206,
and at least one additional ASTR course above the 100 level. The final course may be in ASTR or in a cognate
field with approval from the minor advisor.
ASTR Courses
Course ID: ASTR100 Title: Life in the Universe
This course investigates the origin of life on the Earth and the prospects for finding life elsewhere in the
cosmos, and begins with an overview of the Earth's place in the solar system and the universe. The course
examines the early history of the Earth and the development of life, changes in the sun that affect the Earth,
characteristics of the other objects in our solar system and their potential for supporting life, the detection of
planets around stars other than the sun, and the search for extraterrestrial life. Our exploration of our place in
the universe will include some nighttime observing at our on-campus observatory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 36; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Watters; Distribution Requirements: NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ASTR107 Title: Exploring the Cosmos: Introductory Astronomy w/Lab
This course provides an overview of the Universe through the lens of the physical principles that help us to
probe it from right here on our puny planetary perch. Topics include stars and their planetary companions, the
lives and deaths of stars, black holes, galaxies, and the origin and fate of the Universe. Class meetings include
a mix of lecture and daytime laboratory activities. Additional required weekly nighttime sessions (scheduled
according to the weather) guide students through their own observations of the sky with both naked eyes and
the historic and modern telescopes of Whitin Observatory. This course serves as a gateway to more advanced
courses in our astronomy curriculum.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores only. Fulfillment of the
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. High
school physics strongly recommended.; Instructor: Mowla; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical
Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ASTR200 Title: Exoplanetary Systems
This course will focus on exoplanets and the stellar systems they inhabit. Topics include exoplanet
demographics, techniques of discovery and characterization, models of formation and evolution, and potential
for future telescopes to uncover signs of atmospheric chemistry and habitability. Students will practice
application of physical principles, build data analysis skills, and be introduced to astronomical literature.
Students will also make exoplanet transit observations with our on-campus telescope and will model the
resulting light curve to ascertain properties of a real exoplanetary system.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ASTR 107; or ASTR 100 with permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: McLeod; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; MM - Mathematical
Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: ASTR202 Title: Hands-on Planetary Exploration with Laboratory
Design your own planetary mission and build your own scientific probe in this project-based course about the
practice of planetary exploration! Students will learn about the science and technology of exploring extreme
environments through studying the development of a historical planetary mission and by building their own
instrumented probe to investigate a challenging environment such as the Earth's lower atmosphere or the
bottom of Lake Waban. Depending on their role in the project, students can gain experience with a wide range
of new skills, such as how to assemble and test electronic circuits, computer programming, and data analysis.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Any 100-level science course (including CS). High school
physics recommended.; Instructor: Watters; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences;
LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ASTR206 Title: Astronomical Techniques with Laboratory
This course provides an introduction to modern methods of astronomical observation. Students will learn to
use the Whitin Observatory's 0.7m research telescope. Topics include: planning observations, modern
instrumentation, and the acquisition and quantitative analysis of astronomical images. This course requires
substantial nighttime telescope use and culminates with an independent observing project.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: ASTR 107; Instructor: McLeod; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ASTR210 Title: Galaxies and Cosmology: 13.7 Billion Years and Counting
The 21st-century Universe is weirder than 20th-century astronomers could imagine: its matter is mostly dark,
the effects of dark energy dominate its evolution, and it is expanding at an accelerating rate. The galaxies in
our Universe come in all shapes, sizes, and colors; they are cocooned in dark matter envelopes and harbor
monster black holes at their centers. This class will explore what we think we know about our Universe's
makeup, history, and fate. We will develop some of the basic laws of physics necessary to understand
theoretical cosmology and galaxy evolution and apply them to the interpretation of modern observations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Either ASTR 107 and MATH 116, or PHYS 107.; Instructor:
McLeod, Mowla; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: ASTR223/GEOS223 Title: Planetary Atmospheres and Climates
Have you wondered what Earth's climate was like 3 billion years ago? What about weather patterns on Titan
and climate change on Mars? In this course, we'll explore the structure and evolution of atmospheres and the
climate on four worlds: the Earth, Mars, Venus, and Saturn's moon Titan. We'll examine the techniques and
tools that geologists use to learn about the history of Earth's climate and that planetary scientists use to learn
about the atmospheres and surface environments on other worlds. Students will also gain experience
simulating the climate system and computing atmospheric properties. Other topics include: the super-rotation
of Venus's atmosphere and its Runaway Greenhouse climate, the destruction of atmospheres on low-gravity
worlds, and the future of Earth's climate as the Sun grows steadily brighter.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: MATH 116 and PHYS 107 and one of the following (ES 101, ASTR
100, ASTR 107, GEOS 101, or GEOS 102), or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Watters; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ASTR225 Title: Seminar: Anomalies in the History of Science
Anomalies are observable phenomena that resist explanation in terms of a prevailing set of scientific beliefs. As
such, anomalies sometimes have the effect of driving upheavals in scientific thought, in some cases
overturning deeply-entrenched paradigms. Examples include: (a) the discovery that rocks fall to earth from
space, and (b) aberrations in the orbit of Mercury that required a new theory of gravity to fully understand.
Observations that at first appear anomalous sometimes turn out to be illusory, such as canal-like features
reported in early 20th century telescopic observations of Mars. This course will explore the role of anomalies in
driving scientific discovery, and in testing our critical thinking faculties, as well as our standards for what kinds
of knowledge and inquiry count as "scientific". We will address case studies from this history of astronomy and
other sciences, as well as relevant epistemological questions and social critiques of the modern scientific
enterprise. We will also examine present-day candidate anomalies from within the scientific mainstream such
as dark matter, as well as from the so-called pseudoscientific fringe, such as paranormal phenomena and
Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level science course taken at Wellesley.; Instructor:
Watters; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every three
years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ASTR250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ASTR250GH Title: Research or Group Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: ASTR250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ASTR303/GEOS313 Title: Advanced Planetary Geology and Geophysics
Spacecraft observations have revealed a breathtaking diversity of geologic features in the solar system, such
as the giant impact basins on Mars, towering thrust fault scarps on Mercury, coronae structures on Venus, and
active volcanoes on Io and Enceladus. From a comparative perspective, this course examines the physical
processes that drive the evolution of the planets and small bodies in the solar system. Topics include:
planetary shape and internal structure, mechanisms of topographic support, tectonics, impacts, volcanism,
and tides. Some class sessions are reserved for seminar-style discussions of journal articles. Students will
produce a final project that involves researching a topic of their choosing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level course in ASTR or GEOS in addition to at least one
of the following - PHYS 107, GEOS 203, GEOS 218, or GEOS 220. An introductory course in mechanics (e.g.,
PHYS 104 or PHYS 107) is not required but is strongly recommended.; Instructor: Watters; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ASTR304/PHYS304 Title: Advanced Experimental Techniques
In this course students will learn advanced techniques for experimental astronomy and planetary science.
Students will carry out term-long projects involving acquisition and analysis of data. In some cases these data
will be derived from observations performed with telescopes or instruments built by the students themselves.
In other cases students will build projects around data from space missions or ground or space-based
telescopes. Techniques may include spectroscopy, photometry, multiwavelength astronomy, remote sensing
of planetary surfaces, particle astrophysics, and gravitational wave astronomy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 8; Prerequisites: ASTR 202, ASTR 206, PHYS 210 or prior experience with
instrumentation with permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Not offered every year.;
Course ID: ASTR311/PHYS311 Title: Advanced Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the application of physics to the study of the Universe. We will use elements of mechanics,
thermodynamics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, special relativity, and nuclear physics to investigate
selected topics such as planetary dynamics, the life stories of stars and galaxies, the interstellar medium, highenergy processes, and large scale structure in the Universe. Our goals will be to develop insight into the
physical underpinnings of the natural world and to construct a "universal toolkit" of practical astrophysical
techniques that can be applied to the entire celestial menagerie.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: PHYS 205; pre or co-requisite PHYS 207.; Instructor: Mowla;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ASTR350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ASTR360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 5; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first
semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member, sometimes in
coordination with an off-site mentor. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis
(370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ASTR370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ASTR 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Astrophysics
An Interdisciplinary Major
The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers an interdisciplinary major in astrophysics, which combines
the physics major with a foundation of course work in astronomy. This major should be considered by
students interested in graduate study in astronomy or astrophysics, and by those who would like a
coordinated astronomy extension to the physics major.
Astrophysics Major
Requirements for the Astrophysics Major
An astrophysics major consists of the courses required for the physics major (with one of the 300-level courses
being ASTR 311/PHYS 311), along with ASTR 107, ASTR 206, and one additional upper-level astronomy
course. All students who wish to consider a major in astrophysics are urged to complete the introductory
physics sequence (PHYS 100, PHYS 107 and PHYS 108), as well as ASTR 107, as soon as possible. In
planning the major, students should note that some of the courses have prerequisites in mathematics.
Goals for the Astrophysics Major
As an Astrophysics major, you will be able to:
1. Identify, discuss, and explain the basic laws of physics within the fields of classical mechanics,
electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, as an
underpinning to understanding astronomical phenomena.
2. Apply an astronomer’s toolkit, based on the properties of light, matter, and gravity, to understand the
life stories of planetary worlds, planetary systems, stars, galaxies, and the origin and fate of the
universe.
3. Identify, formulate, and solve tractable scientific and technical problems by placing them in context,
making appropriate estimates and simplifications, modeling the important physical processes,
quantifying predictions with analytic and computational tools, and testing the correctness of the results.
4. Plan, design, organize, carry out and document hands-on observations with modern instrumentation.
5. Interpret astronomical data and observations, using physical and mathematical models and
computational tools.
6. Read and critically evaluate primary scientific literature.
7. Collaborate with peers on research projects that address scientific and technical problems using
experiments, computer models, and analysis.
8. Propose and test hypotheses from an integrated appreciation of observations and physical theories.
9. Communicate technical knowledge through effective scientific writing and oral presentations.
Honors in Astrophysics
To earn honors in Astrophysics, students must have a minimum grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work
in the major field above the 100 level; the advisory committee may petition on the student's behalf if their GPA
in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. The student must complete a significant research project culminating in a
paper and an oral examination. The project must be conducted after the junior year and approved in advance
by the Astrophysics Advisory Committee, and might be satisfied by a thesis, a summer internship, or a 350.
See Academic Distinctions.
Accessibility of Astrophysics Facilities
Students with disabilities are welcome in all astronomy department courses, including those with laboratories.
The Whitin Observatory has telescopes accessible to students with mobility-related disabilities, including
outdoor telescopes for 100-level courses and the computer-controlled 0.7m telescope used for upper-level
courses and independent research. Other accommodation requests can be made by contacting Disability
Services, or by meeting with the instructor.
ASPH Courses
Course ID: ASPH350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ASPH360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the director.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in
the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member, sometimes in
coordination with an off-site mentor. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis
(370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ASPH370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ASPH 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Biochemistry
An Interdepartmental Major
Biochemistry is an interdisciplinary major offered by the Departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry,
allowing students to explore the chemistry of biological systems. Biochemistry includes fields we call
biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, as well as other molecular aspects of the life sciences. It deals with
the structure, function, and regulation of cellular components and biologically active molecules, such as
proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Expertise in biochemistry is central to breakthroughs in DNA
technology, drug discovery and design, and molecular approaches to disease.
Biochemistry Major
Goals for Biochemistry Majors
Analyze biological systems through the lens of the three unifying themes defined by the American
Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB):
Energy is required and transformed
Macromolecular structure determines function and regulation
Information storage and flow are dynamic and interactive
Formulate biochemical hypotheses and test them utilizing well-designed experiments, critical
evaluation of data, and appropriate statistical analyses
Safely use appropriate instrumentation, laboratory techniques, and computational methods to solve a
given problem
Apply, develop, and critically evaluate qualitative and quantitative models
Synthesize biological, chemical, physical, and mathematical knowledge to solve problems at the
interfaces between these disciplines
Communicate sophisticated biochemical concepts to technical and general audiences orally and in
writing
Retrieve, examine, analyze, interpret, and critique the primary biochemical literature
Work effectively as a member and leader of diverse groups to solve scientific problems
Articulate the centrality of biochemistry in addressing societal issues, evaluate ethical and public policy
issues of biochemical significance, and engage in respectful discourse
Practice high standards of professional conduct, including data integrity, proper attribution of work, and
reproducibility
Requirements for the Biochemistry Major
100 Level Requirements:
CHEM: Either CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, CHEM 116, or CHEM 120.
BISC: Either BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116.
PHYS: Either PHYS 100, PHYS 104, PHYS 106, PHYS 107, PHYS 108, PHYS 109 or equivalent. This
requirement may be satisfied by students passing the physics exemption exam for one of these courses.
Students planning to take PHYS 100 should consult with the program chair and their advisor, preferably
prior to registration, to ensure their major plan includes sufficient laboratory contact courses.
MATH: Either MATH 116, MATH 120 or equivalent. This requirement can be satisfied by earning
Wellesley credit from the AP Calculus BC exam or placement into MATH 205 or a higher level course by
the Department of Mathematics.
200 Level Requirements:
CHEM: CHEM 205 (if CHEM 120 was not taken) and CHEM 211.
BIOC: BIOC 219, BIOC 220, and BIOC 223.
300 Level Requirements:
BISC: two 300-level courses from among the following: BISC 303; BISC 311; BISC 314; BISC 316; BISC
318; BISC 328;
BISC 329; BISC 330; BISC 333; BISC 334; BISC 335; BISC 336; BISC 337;
NEUR 332 or other course if relevant to the major and approved by the director.
BIOC: BIOC 331 and one course from among BIOC 320, BIOC 323, BIOC 324 or BIOC 325.
Lab/Research Requirement: The BIOC major requires sufficient laboratory work at the 300-level or sufficient
independent research experience. To fulfill this requirement:
(i) Any two 300-level courses counting toward the major must have a laboratory component OR
(ii) Any one of the 300-level courses counting toward the major must have a laboratory component AND
the student must also carry out an independent research experience and write a paper based on it. The
independent research experience can be fulfilled in any of the following ways:
- One unit in total of BIOC 250,BIOC 350, BIOC 250H, or BIOC 350H
- Completion of at least one semester of a senior thesis (BIOC 355 of BIOC 360)
- Completion of an approved, off campus or on campus research experience with a minimum of
130 hours, including pair experiences such as the Wellesley Summer Research Program or the
Sophom*ore Early Research Program. Any such experience must be approved by a BIOC Program
faculty member.
In all cases for option (ii), the student must complete a paper (of at least 8-10 pages in length) on the
research. The paper must contain substantial literature references, and a copy of the paper must be
submitted to the Biochemistry Program Director as partial fulfillment of this requirement. A student who
completes a thesis does not need to write an additional paper.
Other Notes: Students should be sure to satisfy the prerequisites for 300-level courses. Students planning
graduate work in biochemistry should consider taking additional courses in chemistry, such as analytical,
inorganic, or the second semester of organic. Students planning graduate work in molecular or cell biology
should consider taking additional advanced courses in these areas. Independent research (BIOC 250, BIOC
250H, BIOC 350, BIOC 350H, BIOC 355 & BIOC 365, BIOC 360 & BIOC 370) is highly recommended,
especially for those considering graduate studies.
The following BIOC courses are cross-listed in either BISC or CHEM: BIOC 219; BIOC 220; BIOC 223, BIOC
227; BIOC 320; BIOC 323; BIOC 324; BIOC 325, BIOC 331.
One potential sequence of required courses could be as follows:
Year 1: Fall: Either (1) CHEM 105, CHEM 105P or CHEM 120 and Math or Physics, or (2) BISC 116 and
CHEM116; Spring: CHEM 205 or CHEM 211 and either BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112 or BISC 112Y (if BISC
116 not taken in the Fall), Math or Physics (if neither taken in the Fall).
Year 2: Fall: BIOC 219 and either CHEM 205 or CHEM 211; Spring: BIOC 223 and BIOC 220; Math and/or
Physics taken either semester as needed.
In Years 3 and 4, students may elect to complete the following requirements in whatever order suits them:
(a) BIOC 331;
(b) BIOC 320, BIOC 323, BIOC 324 or BIOC 325;
(c) two approved 300-level BISC courses (and independent study if needed for lab requirement).
For additional examples of current and previous Biochemistry majors’ four year schedules, please see the
BIOC Major Course Planning Guide on the Biochemistry website.
Please discuss your program with the director or another member of the advisory committee as early as
possible, especially if you are planning on international study.
Independent Research in Biochemistry
BIOC 250, BIOC 250H, BIOC 350, BIOC 350H, BIOC 355/BIOC 365 are open to any student. The research
should focus on some aspect of the molecular biosciences and may be advised by any member of the
Biochemistry Advisory Committee, or by another member of the faculty upon approval by the Advisory
Committee. BIOC 360 and BIOC 370 are open only to Biochemistry majors (see "Honors," below).
Honors in Biochemistry
Honors work may be advised by any member of the Biochemistry Advisory Committee or by another member
of the faculty upon approval by the Advisory Committee. To be admitted to the Honors thesis program, a
student must have a GPA of at least 3.5 in approved (non-independent study) work in the major field above the
100 level. Students will be initially enrolled in BIOC 360 after approval by the advisory committee. Upon
completion of BIOC 360, students will be enrolled in BIOC 370 contingent on evidence of satisfactory research
progress, GPA, and approval by the advisory committee.
Students with a GPA in the major below 3.5 should consult the thesis director and will be registered for BIOC
355. Upon completion of BIOC 355, the department may petition on the student's behalf to register for BIOC
370 contingent on evidence of satisfactory research progress, approved GPA, and approval by the advisory
committee.
Double-Counted Courses in Biochemistry
The College does not allow a course to double-count toward two majors or toward both a major and a minor.
Therefore, if a student wishes to count a course that could count toward the BIOC major toward another major
or a minor, the student must take an additional course toward their BIOC major that has been approved by
their advisor.
Requirements for the Biochemistry Minor
A minor in Biochemistry includes:
CHEM: Either CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, CHEM 116, or CHEM 120.
BISC: Either BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116.
CHEM 205 (if CHEM 120 was not taken) and CHEM 211.
BIOC 219 or BIOC 220
BIOC 223
One 300-level unit from the following courses: BIOC 320, BIOC 323, BIOC 324, BIOC 325, BIOC 331,
BISC 303, BISC 311, BISC 314, BISC 316, BISC 318, BISC 328, BISC 329, BISC 330, BISC 333, BISC
334, BISC 335, BISC 336, BIOC 337, NEUR 332 or other 300-level courses if relevant to the major and
approved by the director.
The minor in biochemistry is not open to students with a major in Biological Sciences or Chemistry.
The College does not allow a course to double-count toward both a major and a minor. Therefore, if a student
wishes to count a course that could count toward the BIOC minor toward their major, the student must take an
additional course toward their BIOC minor that has been approved by their minor advisor.
BIOC Courses
Course ID: BIOC219/BISC219 Title: Genetics with Laboratory
The goal of the course is to develop an understanding of the fundamental principles of genetics at the
molecular, cellular, organismal, and population levels. The course establishes a link between the generation of
genetic variants through mutation and recombination, their patterns of inheritance, interactions between genes
to produce complex phenotypes, and the maintenance of such genetic variation in natural populations. The
course also explores principles of genome organization and the mechanisms that regulate gene expression.
Other topics include: DNA sequencing and the use of genomic data to address questions in genetics,
comparing and contrasting genetic regulation strategies across the three domains of life, and exploring
experimental approaches for addressing genetic questions. Laboratory investigation will expose students to
the fundamentals of genetics including transmission, molecular, and computational techniques for genetic
analysis. Students must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the course. During certain
weeks, students are required to come in outside of scheduled lab time for approximately one hour 3-4 days
after the scheduled lab. Please plan your schedule accordingly.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory: BIOC 219L/BISC 219L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 60; Prerequisites: BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y or BISC 116. One
unit of college chemistry is recommended. Not open to First-Year students.; Instructor: Beers, Biller, Carmell,
Okumura, Sequeira; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences;
Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Fall;
Course ID: BIOC219L/BISC219L Title: Laboratory: Genetics
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for BIOC 219/BISC 219.
The grading option chosen for the lecture (BIOC 219/BISC 219) - either Letter Grade or Credit/Non Credit - will
apply to the lab as well; the final grade is a single unified grade for both lecture and lab and is based on the
grading option you choose for the lecture section.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 12; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Fall;
Course ID: BIOC220/BISC220 Title: Cell Biology with Laboratory
Examines structure-function relationships in eukaryotic cells. We will explore the operation and regulation of
molecular mechanisms that carry out processes central to life. Considerable emphasis is placed on
experimental approaches for investigating the following topics: protein structure and function, biological
membranes and transport, cytoskeletal assembly and function, protein biogenesis and trafficking, cell
communication and signaling, the cell cycle, and intercellular interactions. Laboratory investigations will
provide students with experience in classical and modern approaches to examine and quantify cellular
processes. Students must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the course.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 48; Prerequisites: One of the following (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, or BISC
112Y) and two units of college chemistry; or BISC 116 and CHEM 116 and one unit of college chemistry. Not
open to First-Year students.; Instructor: Darling, Okumura, Roden; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BIOC223/CHEM223 Title: Fundamentals of Biochemistry with Laboratory
This course brings together the fundamental multidisciplinary concepts governing life at the molecular level
and opens a gateway to advanced biochemistry offerings. Grounded in an understanding of aqueous
equilibria, thermodynamic, kinetic, and spectroscopic principles, the course will emphasize the structure and
function of proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids. The laboratory introduces modern laboratory
techniques for the study of biomolecules and develops experimental design and critical data analysis skills.
The laboratory component can be of particular value to students planning or engaged in independent research
and those considering graduate level work related to biochemistry. This course counts toward Chemistry or
Biochemistry major requirements.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: (CHEM 205 or CHEM 120) and CHEM 211 and one of the
following (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, BISC 116, CHEM 212), and permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Elmore, Hall, Tantama; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: BIOC227/CHEM227 Title: Principles of Biochemistry
A survey of the chemical foundations of life processes, with focus on theory and applications relevant to
medicine. Topics include bioenergetics, metabolism, and macromolecular structure. Essential skills such as
data analysis and understanding of the primary literature will be approached through in-class discussions and
application to current biomedical problems. This course is suitable for students wanting an overview of
biochemistry, but it will not contain the experimental introduction to biochemical methods and laboratory
instrumentation required for the Chemistry and Biochemistry majors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: (CHEM 205 or CHEM 120) and CHEM 211 and one of the following
(BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, BISC 116). Not open to students who have completed BIOC
223/CHEM 223.; Instructor: Kress; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Does not count
toward the minimum major in Chemistry.;
Course ID: BIOC250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BIOC250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Winter; Spring;
Course ID: BIOC320/CHEM320 Title: Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory
An intensive laboratory course offering a multiweek independent team research project and training in
experimental applications of physical chemistry and biochemistry. Topics will include spectroscopy and
chemical thermodynamics of biomolecules. This course will emphasize independent hypothesis development
and experimental design skills as well as public presentation of results. Students will read primary literature,
construct a research proposal, develop their own laboratory protocols manual, conduct experiments using a
variety of instrumentation, and present their research. One class period per week plus one lab and mandatory
weekly meetings with instructor.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: BIOC 223/CHEM 223; Instructor: Oakes; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking
Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BIOC323/CHEM323 Title: Seminar: Chemical Biology
Many critical research advances result from applying basic chemical principles and tools to biological systems.
This approach has opened up exciting new areas of study, such as the development of bio-orthogonal
reactions, the engineering of cells to incorporate “unnatural” biomolecules, selective modifications to cellular
surfaces, and the synthesis of peptidomimetics and other bio-inspired materials. These approaches have
allowed for important advances in developing novel therapeutics, engineering modern materials, and the
studying biological processes in vivo. In this course, students will explore contemporary research
breakthroughs in chemical biology through reading, analysis and discussion of the primary literature. Students
will also propose novel research directions through the preparation of independent research proposals.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BIOC 223/CHEM 223 or BIOC 227/CHEM 227, or permission of
instructor.; Instructor: Elmore, Woodford; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BIOC324/CHEM324 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Can Biochemistry Help Address
Societal Problems?
Researchers increasingly attempt to harness biochemical approaches as a way to address pressing societal
problems. For example, recent work has focused on topics including the effective production of biofuels,
remediation of environmental pollutants and developing new treatments for antibiotic resistant pathogens. In
this course, juniors and seniors will explore contemporary research aimed at solving these problems through
readings in the primary literature, invited lectures, interviewing researchers and developing independent
research proposals. Students will analyze and interpret research findings through weekly writing assignments
targeted towards broad audiences, such as research summaries for the scientific press, textbook sections,
executive summaries and proposals accessible to non-specialists. Class sessions will be structured as
workshops to analyze core chemical and biological concepts and provide structured critiques of writing
assignments.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BIOC/CHEM 223 or BIOC/CHEM 227 or BIOC/BISC 220 or (CHEM
205 and CHEM 211 and (BISC 110 or BISC 112 or BISC 116)), or permission of the instructor. ; Instructor:
Elmore; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BIOC325/CHEM325 Title: Seminar: Biosensors & Optogenetics
Biosensors and optogenetics are important tools used to understand the physiology of living systems across
the molecular, cellular, tissue, and organismal levels. Luminescent biosensors emit light during a
measurement while optogenetics are activated by light to control and manipulate signaling and metabolism in
living cells. In this course, students will explore the chemistry and biology of these tools, focusing on the
principles of their design, strategies for their construction, and their applications in the life and physical
sciences. Students will engage the subject matter with group work, peer-to-peer editing, and individual
assignments through a combination of active-learning lectures, current literature analysis, and oral
presentations. The course will culminate in the writing and presentation of an NIH-style original research
proposal. This course will provide foundations for thinking about protein engineering as well as hypothesisdriven biological questions, and it is appropriate for students across the spectrum of chemical, physical, and
biological interests.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BIOC/CHEM 223 or BIOC/CHEM 227 or BIOC/BISC 220 or (CHEM
205 and CHEM 212 and (BISC 110 or BISC 112 or BISC 116)); Instructor: Tantama; Distribution Requirements:
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: BIOC331/CHEM331 Title: Physical Chemistry of Biological Systems: The Fundamental Models of
Biological Molecules and Processes
Provides a survey of fundamental principles in physical chemistry and how they relate specifically to the
study of biological molecules and processes. Emphasis is placed on empowering students to understand,
evaluate, and use models as approximations for the biomolecular world. Models are mathematically
represented and provide both qualitative and quantitative insight into biologically relevant systems.
Commonly used experimental techniques such as spectroscopy and calorimetry are explained from first
principles with quantum mechanical and statistical mechanical models, and computational applications such
as protein structure prediction and molecular design are explained through physical models such as
molecular mechanics and dynamics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: BIOC 223/CHEM 223 and MATH 116 or equivalent.; Instructor: M.
Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
Does not count toward the chemistry major but counts toward the biochemistry major and the chemistry
minor. Students are strongly encouraged to complete one course in physics in addition to the stated
prerequisites before enrolling; ;
Course ID: BIOC350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BIOC350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Winter; Spring;
Course ID: BIOC355 Title: Biochemistry Thesis Research
The first course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research problem, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Biochemistry program.
Students will discuss their research progress informally with faculty and student colleagues and gain familiarity
with contemporary research through presentations by outside seminar speakers. This route does not lead to
departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open only to Seniors with permission of the instructor.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BIOC360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: BIOC365 Title: Thesis
The second course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research problem, in the preparation of a
thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Biochemistry program. Students will
discuss their research progress informally with faculty and student colleagues and gain familiarity with
contemporary research through presentations by outside seminar speakers. This route does not lead to
departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: BIOC 355 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: BIOC370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: BIOC 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Biological Sciences
Biology, the study of life, is a dynamic science that interfaces with many other disciplines. Biologists examine
life at all levels of organization: from molecules to ecosystems. The patterns and processes of evolution
provide a unifying theme for our knowledge and investigation of the astounding variety of living organisms,
past and present. Biological Sciences majors will develop the problem-solving skills and intellectual flexibility
to contribute to and participate in a rapidly changing world.
Biological Sciences Major
As a Biological Sciences major you will be able to:
Articulate the relevance of biology in your life and the lives of others and evaluate ethical and public
policy issues of biological significance.
Collaborate successfully to solve problems in an interdisciplinary team.
Identify, discuss and explain the fundamental principles and concepts of biology from molecules to
ecosystems.
Recognize and explain the evolutionary basis of biology and the dynamic nature of life.
Summarize and assess new biological problems and use critical thinking and problem-solving skills to
arrive at defensible conclusions within the framework of current knowledge.
Frame focused biological questions, to formulate hypotheses and test them through well-designed
experiments, to quantitatively analyze and interpret data, and to model, simulate, and statistically
evaluate data.
Effectively communicate both orally and in writing about biological topics with the general public and
with discipline specific audiences.
Examine, analyze, interpret and critique the primary biological literature.
Implement and safely apply a broad array of experimental research skills.
Requirements for the Biological Sciences Major
Overview The Biological Sciences Major includes nine Biological Sciences courses (at least seven of which
must be taken at Wellesley) and two Chemistry courses. Below is detailed information about the
requirements.
Nine Biological Sciences Courses
1. Two Introductory Courses
One course in Cellular and Molecular Biology (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, BISC
116);
One course in Organismal Biology (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, BISC 113Y)
2. Four 200-Level Courses* (Note the 200-level courses are grouped.)
At least one course in Group I Cell Biology (BISC 219, BISC 220);
At least one course in Group II Systems Biology (BISC 203, BISC 207, BISC 216);
At least one course in Group III Community Biology (BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 204, BISC 209, BISC
210, BISC 214, BISC 247/ES 247);
Another 200-level BISC course (any listed above).
3. Two 300-Level Courses* (At least one course must include a laboratory and this course must be taken at
Wellesley College.)
4. One Elective Course* This ninth course can be any level BISC course; with additional course options EXTD
225, EXTD 226.
*Please note Independent Research for credit is encouraged, but is not counted towards the major
requirements (BISC 250, BISC 250H, BISC 350, BISC 350H, BISC 355, BISC 360, BISC 365, BISC 370).
Two Chemistry Courses
A first course is typically CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, CHEM 116, or CHEM 120.
A second CHEM course typically at the 200-level
(Additional chemistry beyond the two required units is strongly recommended or required for certain 300level BISC courses.)
Other Notes
Several courses can be counted towards the major requirement and fulfill the College distribution
requirements: BISC 104, BISC 106, BISC 107, BISC 108, BISC 109, BISC 198, ANTH 274/BISC 274,
BISC/PHIL 232. (BISC 107, BISC 108, and BISC 109 as laboratory science courses; all other electives
in the list, as non-laboratory science courses.)
The following courses can be counted towards the major requirement and fulfill the Data Literacy
component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement (formerly referred to as the QR
overlay). Data literacy courses are: BISC 107, BISC 109, BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, BISC 113Y,
BISC 198, BISC 201.
Independent Research and Honors in Biological Sciences
The Biological Sciences Department strongly encourages students to get involved in independent research.
Such opportunities can serve to improve skills in conducting laboratory or field based studies. Data analysis,
scientific writing, and oral communication are likely components of independent research projects. For details
on non-credit research opportunities, please see the Research tab on the Biological Sciences Department
website. Research opportunities for credit in the biological sciences major can be fulfilled in the following
ways:
1. Independent Study in Biological Sciences (BISC 250, BISC 250H or BISC 350, BISC 350H): Independent
research projects may be supervised by a member of the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences or
an off-campus director. Please note that off-campus independent research experiences require active
participation of a department faculty member throughout the research period. Advisor approval is required for
acceptance into a research program. Students are expected to devote 10-12 hours to their projects per week
for BISC 250 and BISC 350 and 5-6 hours per week for BISC 250H and BISC 350H. (Note: Paid internships
are not eligible for BISC 250, BISC 250H, BISC 350, BISC 350H.)
2. Thesis in the Biological Sciences (BISC 355, BISC 365): The thesis program is a two-semester investigation
of a significant research problem, culminating in the preparation of a written thesis and defense of that thesis
before a faculty committee. The primary goals of the thesis project are the development of independent
research capabilities, the improvement of scientific writing skills, and oral communication of scientific data.
Independent research projects may be supervised by a member of the faculty of the Department of Biological
Sciences or an off-campus director. Please note that off-campus independent research experiences require
active participation of a department faculty member throughout the research period. Advisor approval is
required for acceptance into the thesis program.
3. Honors thesis in the Biological Sciences (BISC 360, BISC 370): Honors in the Biological Sciences is earned
by the demonstration of excellence in both course work and a thesis research project. All junior majors are
invited to apply for the honors program. Advisor approval is required for acceptance into the thesis program
and final acceptance is contingent upon a vote of the department faculty and a grade point average of 3.5 or
higher in courses in the major above the 100 level. The primary goals of the thesis program are the
development of independent research capabilities, the improvement of scientific writing skills, and oral
communication of scientific data. Honors candidates prepare a written thesis and defend their thesis before an
examination committee. After the oral examination, the thesis committee evaluates the candidate's
performance and may recommend approval of the degree with honors in the major.
For more information regarding any of the above options, please see the Department's "Guide to Independent
Research."
Graduate Study in Biological Sciences
Students planning graduate work are advised to take calculus, statistics, organic chemistry, and two units of
physics. They should consult the catalogs of the graduate schools of their choice for specific requirements.
Advanced Placement Policy in Biological Sciences
AP credit does not replace any course offered in the Department of Biological Sciences and does not count
toward a major or minor. No exemption exams are given. With the exception of BISC 110P, all courses require
the fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning requirement as a prerequisite.
Transfer Credit and International Study in Biological Sciences
In order to obtain Wellesley credit for any biology course taken at another institution during the summer or the
academic year, approval must be obtained from the chair of the department. After a student has enrolled at
Wellesley, courses from two-year colleges will not be accepted at any level. Transfer students wishing to
obtain credit for biology courses taken prior to enrollment at Wellesley should consult the chair of the
department. Students wishing to apply courses taken overseas toward their major at Wellesley should also
consult the chair.
Double-Counted Biological Sciences Course
The College requires that no course is double-counted between two majors or between a major and a minor.
When any Biological Sciences course is counted toward a non-Biological Sciences minor, the students need
to make up for the course by taking an additional Biological Sciences course towards their Biological Sciences
major. The elective course must be approved by the advisor.
Interdepartmental Majors
Students interested in an interdepartmental major in Biochemistry can refer to the sections of the course
catalog where those programs are described. They should consult with the director of the appropriate
program.
Courses for Credit Toward the Biological Sciences Major
EXTD 225
Biology of Fishes
1.0
EXTD 226
Biology of Whales
1.0
Biological Sciences Related Courses - Attention Called
CS 112
Computation for the Sciences
1.0
ES 212 / GEOS 212 /
RAST 212
Lake Baikal: The Soul of Siberia
1.0
EXTD 128
Coastal Zone Management
1.0
GEOS 200
Evolution of Earth Systems through Time with
Laboratory
1.25
PE 205
Sports Medicine-Lower Extremity
1.0
PHIL 249
Medical Ethics
1.0
Biological Sciences Minor
Requirements for the Biological Sciences Minor
A minor in Biological Sciences (five courses) consists of the following:
1. Two Introductory Courses
One course in Cellular and Molecular Biology (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, BISC 116)
One course in Organismal Biology (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, BISC 113Y)
2. Two 200-level courses, each of which must be in a different group as described in the first paragraph above
under major requirements
3. One 300-level course, excluding BISC 350, BISC 350H, BISC 355, BISC 360, BISC 365, and BISC 370
Four of the five courses for a minor must be taken at Wellesley. Chemistry is recommended.
Double-Counted Biological Sciences Course
The College requires that no course is double-counted between two majors or between a major and a minor.
When any Biological Sciences course is counted toward a non-Biological Sciences major, the students need
to make up for the course by taking an additional Biological Sciences course towards their Biological Sciences
minor. The elective course must be approved by the advisor.
BISC Courses
Course ID: ANTH274/BISC274 Title: Anthropological Genetics
This course will provide an introduction into the core concepts of population genetics, with special focus on
their application to human and nonhuman primate evolution. Population genetics is the branch of evolutionary
biology concerned with how genetic variation is patterned within and between populations and how these
patterns change over time. Though the theory is applicable to all organisms, specific examples drawn from the
human and nonhuman primate literature will be used as case studies. Topics will also include the genetic
basis for disease, pedigree analysis, and personal genomics. The course will be structured around lectures
and discussion with regular computer labs to provide firsthand experience working with anthropological
genetic topics and analyses of genetic data sets.
Note: This course can fulfill the elective course requirement for the BISC major, but does not fulfill the core 200
level course requirement for the major.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Van Arsdale; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BIOC219/BISC219 Title: Genetics with Laboratory
The goal of the course is to develop an understanding of the fundamental principles of genetics at the
molecular, cellular, organismal, and population levels. The course establishes a link between the generation of
genetic variants through mutation and recombination, their patterns of inheritance, interactions between genes
to produce complex phenotypes, and the maintenance of such genetic variation in natural populations. The
course also explores principles of genome organization and the mechanisms that regulate gene expression.
Other topics include: DNA sequencing and the use of genomic data to address questions in genetics,
comparing and contrasting genetic regulation strategies across the three domains of life, and exploring
experimental approaches for addressing genetic questions. Laboratory investigation will expose students to
the fundamentals of genetics including transmission, molecular, and computational techniques for genetic
analysis. Students must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the course. During certain
weeks, students are required to come in outside of scheduled lab time for approximately one hour 3-4 days
after the scheduled lab. Please plan your schedule accordingly.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory: BIOC 219L/BISC 219L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 60; Prerequisites: BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y or BISC 116. One
unit of college chemistry is recommended. Not open to First-Year students.; Instructor: Beers, Biller, Carmell,
Okumura, Sequeira; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences;
Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Fall;
Course ID: BIOC219L/BISC219L Title: Laboratory: Genetics
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for BIOC 219/BISC 219.
The grading option chosen for the lecture (BIOC 219/BISC 219) - either Letter Grade or Credit/Non Credit - will
apply to the lab as well; the final grade is a single unified grade for both lecture and lab and is based on the
grading option you choose for the lecture section.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 12; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Fall;
Course ID: BIOC220/BISC220 Title: Cell Biology with Laboratory
Examines structure-function relationships in eukaryotic cells. We will explore the operation and regulation of
molecular mechanisms that carry out processes central to life. Considerable emphasis is placed on
experimental approaches for investigating the following topics: protein structure and function, biological
membranes and transport, cytoskeletal assembly and function, protein biogenesis and trafficking, cell
communication and signaling, the cell cycle, and intercellular interactions. Laboratory investigations will
provide students with experience in classical and modern approaches to examine and quantify cellular
processes. Students must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the course.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 48; Prerequisites: One of the following (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, or BISC
112Y) and two units of college chemistry; or BISC 116 and CHEM 116 and one unit of college chemistry. Not
open to First-Year students.; Instructor: Darling, Okumura, Roden; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC104 Title: Science or Science Fiction?
This course will examine the scientific facts behind phenomena portrayed in a variety of Hollywood and foreign
movies. We will cover topics ranging from the definition and recreation of life, genetics and behavior to
evolution and environmental issues. The course will include weekly screenings of movies outside of class time
as well as lectures, assigned readings and discussions. While obtaining an introduction to key concepts in
biology, students will also explore misconceptions about science and scientists that are perpetuated by these
movies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Königer; Distribution Requirements: NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: BISC107 Title: Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine with Laboratory
In this course we will focus on the cellular, evolutionary, and developmental biology of stem cells, how these
cells contribute to development, regeneration, and aging in animals and plants, and how stem cells have been
harnessed as novel patient therapies. Questions to be addressed include: How were stem cells discovered?
Where do stem cells come from, and how can they be used to study and cure human diseases? What are the
similarities and differences between embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem
cells? How does the capacity to regenerate vary across the plant and animal kingdom and why? We will also
discuss the scientific, bioethical and political controversies associated with regenerative medicine and recent
stem cell research. Students will be able to explain how translational research, basic research, science policy,
and the layman's perspective all impact how that science is done and where it could lead. In the lab, students
will observe and track stem cells in developing embryos, visualize stem cells in a variety of organisms, and
design experiments to test the limits of regeneration.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Beers, Laslo; Distribution Requirements:
LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC108 Title: Environmental Horticulture with Laboratory
What can we learn from plants and ecosystems to sustainably grow food, source energy, and support people
in a changing climate? This course will deepen your appreciation of plants and explore how plants grow,
respond to change, and create resilient biological communities. We will apply an ecological lens toward
understanding how humans can cultivate plants responsibly, whether caring for a houseplant, growing
vegetables, or managing forests. Students will learn from diverse plants in the campus greenhouses and
gardens, building scientific and horticultural skills through observation, experimentation and collaborative
projects.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 32; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Jones, Nickles; Distribution Requirements:
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC109 Title: Human Biology with Laboratory
This course focuses on human anatomy, physiology, and evolution. Lecture topics will include: human origins
and evolution; the structure and function of the major physiological systems; exercise physiology; and human
genetics. Laboratories explore human physiology, focusing on the development and application of skills in
experimental design, statistical analysis, and scientific writing.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 28; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Skow; Distribution Requirements: LAB Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC110 Title: Introductory Cellular and Molecular Biology with Laboratory
A foundation course that focuses on the study of life at the cellular and molecular level, including eukaryotic
and prokaryotic cell structure, function of biological macromolecules, molecular genetics, cellular metabolism,
and key topics in cell biology. This course will provide the fundamental tools for exploration of cellular and
molecular biology with the aim of enhancing conceptual understanding. Laboratories focus on experimental
approaches to these topics and are shared with BISC 112. One year of high school chemistry or equivalent is
strongly recommended. Either BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116; or BISC 111, BISC
111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y may be taken first. Students must attend lab during the first week in order to
continue in the course.
When considering swapping labs, please be aware that there is no guarantee you will receive a seat offer in
another lab section even if you are already registered for a different section. Therefore, we encourage you to
make initial registration choices carefully and wisely.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 32; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken BISC 112, BISC
112Y, or BISC 116.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BISC110P Title: Introductory Cellular and Molecular Biology with Laboratory
A foundation course that focuses on the study of life at the cellular and molecular level, including eukaryotic
and prokaryotic cell structure, function of biological macromolecules, molecular genetics, cellular metabolism,
and key topics in cell biology. This course will provide the fundamental tools for exploration of cellular and
molecular biology with the aim of enhancing conceptual understanding. Laboratories focus on experimental
approaches to these topics. This course is intended for students who, because of their previous biology,
chemistry or math preparation, would benefit from additional academic support for the study of introductory
biology, or who do not meet the prerequisites to enroll in BISC 110. Includes two additional class meetings per
week. Students in BISC 110P must enroll in BISC 110P lab. Students must attend lab during the first week in
order to continue in the course.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open by permission of the instructor to students regardless of
high school background or of whether they have already completed the Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken
(BISC 110, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116).; Instructor: Okumura, Roden; Distribution Requirements: NPS
- Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC111 Title: Introductory Organismal Biology with Laboratory
A study of life, ranging from the physiology of organisms to the structure of ecosystems. The main themes of
the course are evolution and biodiversity, form and function in plants and animals, and ecological interactions
among organisms. The course provides the fundamental tools for exploration of organismal biology with the
aim of enhancing conceptual understanding. Laboratories focus on experimental approaches to these topics
and are shared with BISC 113 and BISC 113Y. Either BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC
116; or BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y may be taken first. Students must attend lab during the
first week in order to continue in the course.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory: BISC 111L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 32; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken BISC 111T,
BISC 113, or BISC 113Y.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: BISC111L Title: Laboratory: Introductory Organismal Biology
BISC 111L is the co-requisite laboratory course for BISC 111.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 16; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Spring; Notes: BISC 111L is the laboratory course for BISC 111. Students must register for a lab section
of BISC 111L when registering for a lecture section of BISC 111.;
Course ID: BISC111T Title: Introductory Organismal Biology with Laboratory (Tropical Island)
Introduction to the central questions, concepts, and methods of experimental analysis in selected areas of
organismal biology with a focus on tropical island biology. Topics include evolution, ecology, and plant and
animal structure and physiology. Lectures and discussions during the Spring semester will prepare students
for the field laboratory taught at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute in Little Cayman. Laboratory work will
be carried out primarily in the field and includes introductions to the flora and fauna of the island and the coral
reefs, as well as group projects. The nine-day field portion of the class will take place in mid-May.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken BISC 111, BISC
113, or BISC 113Y. Contact instructor for the application in early October.; Instructor: Königer, Sequeira;
Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC112 Title: Exploration of Cellular and Molecular Biology with Laboratory
Seminar-style introduction to life at the cellular and molecular level, designed as an alternative to BISC 110 for
students with strong high school preparation (such as AP, IB, or other). The course will include eukaryotic and
prokaryotic cell structure, function of biological macromolecules, molecular genetics, cellular metabolism,
molecular genetics, and mechanisms of growth and differentiation, with an emphasis on experimental
approaches to investigating these topics. This course will aim to develop students' skills in data analysis and
scientific writing along with building foundational knowledge in the field. Lab sections are shared with BISC
110. This course differs from BISC 110 in its small class size and discussion-based format; it meets for one
discussion and one lab session per week. One year of high school chemistry or equivalent is strongly
recommended. BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116; or BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113,
or BISC 113Y may be taken first. Students must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the
course.
When considering swapping labs, please be aware that there is no guarantee you will receive a seat offer in
another lab section even if you are already registered for a different section. Therefore, we encourage you to
make initial registration choices carefully and wisely.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Biology AP score of 4 or 5, or IB HL Biology score of 6 or 7, or
permission of the instructor. Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative
Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC
112Y or BISC 116.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BISC112Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Exploration of Cellular and Molecular Biology with Laboratory
Seminar-style introduction to life at the cellular and molecular level, designed as an alternative to BISC 110 for
students with strong high school preparation (such as AP, IB, or other). The course will include eukaryotic and
prokaryotic cell structure, function of biological macromolecules, molecular genetics, cellular metabolism,
molecular genetics, and mechanisms of growth and differentiation, with an emphasis on experimental
approaches to investigating these topics. This course will aim to develop students' skills in data analysis and
scientific writing along with building foundational knowledge in the field. Lab sections are shared with BISC
110. This course differs from BISC 110 in its small class size and discussion-based format; it meets for one
discussion and one lab session per week. One year of high school chemistry or equivalent is strongly
recommended. BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116; or BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113,
or BISC 113Y may be taken first. Students must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the
course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open to First-Year students only. Biology AP score of 4 or 5/IB HL
Biology score of 6 or 7, or permission of the instructor. Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken
BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112 or BISC 116.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Other Categories: FYS - First Year
Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC113 Title: Exploration of Organismal Biology with Laboratory
An exploration of the central questions, concepts, and methods of experimental analysis in selected areas of
organismal biology, designed as an alternative to BISC 111 for students with strong high school preparation
(such as AP, IB, or other). Topics include: the evolution and diversification of life, the form and function of
plants and animals, and ecological interactions among organisms, with an emphasis on laboratory methods,
data analysis, and science writing. Lab sections are shared with BISC 111. This course differs from BISC 111 in
its smaller class size, a seminar-style format, and a focus on discussion of landmark scientific studies that
shape this field; it meets for one discussion and one lab session per week. Either BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC
112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116 or BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y may be taken first. Students
must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the course.
This course has a required co-requisite lab - BISC 113L.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Biology AP score of 4 or 5, or IB HL Biology score of 6 or 7, or
permission of the instructor. Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative
Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken BISC 111, BISC 111T, or BISC
113Y.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course, Fall sections only.;
Course ID: BISC113L Title: Laboratory: Exploration of Organismal Biology
BISC 113L is the co-requisite laboratory course for BISC 113.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 16; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: BISC113Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Exploration of Organismal Biology with Laboratory
An exploration of the central questions, concepts, and methods of experimental analysis in selected areas of
organismal biology, designed as an alternative to BISC 111 for students with strong high school preparation
(such as AP, IB, or other). Topics include: the evolution and diversification of life, the form and function of
plants and animals, and ecological interactions among organisms, with an emphasis on laboratory methods,
data analysis, and science writing. Lab sections are shared with BISC 111. This course differs from BISC 111 in
its smaller class size, a seminar-style format, and a focus on discussion of landmark scientific studies that
shape this field; it meets for one discussion and one lab session per week. Either BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC
112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116; or BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y may be taken first. Students
must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open to First-Year students only. Biology AP score of 4 or 5, or IB
HL Biology score of 6 or 7, or permission of the instructor. Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken
BISC 111, BISC 111T, or BISC 113.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC116 Title: Fundamentals of Chemistry and Molecular/Cellular Biology with Lab: An Integrated
Approach
A foundation course that provides an integrated introduction to the application of chemical principles to
understand biological systems and covers the content of both (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, or BISC 112Y)
and CHEM 105. It is designed for students whose interests lie at the interface of chemistry and biology and
must be taken concurrently with CHEM 116. Students will learn how structure and function of biological
systems are shaped by principles of atomic properties and chemical bonding. Cellular metabolism and
molecular genetics are integrated with quantitative introductions to thermodynamics, equilibrium, and kinetics.
Other topics motivated by the application of chemistry to biology include nuclear chemistry and cellular growth
and differentiation. The laboratory is a hands-on introduction to spectroscopy, microscopy, and other
experimental techniques, as well as quantitative analysis, experimental design, and scientific writing.
Successful completion of this course enables a student to take any course for which either CHEM105 or (BISC
110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, or BISC 112Y) is a prerequisite.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 32; Prerequisites: One year of high school chemistry, math equivalent to two
years of high school algebra, and fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative
Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken BISC 110 , BISC 110P, BISC
112, BISC 112Y, CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, or CHEM 120. Students must attend lab during the first week to
continue in the course.; Instructor: A. Matthews (Biological Sciences), J. Woodford (Chemistry); Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Notes: CHEM 116-01 and BISC 116-01 are co-requisite courses and students must register for both
sections at the same time. Students must also register simultaneously for a lab section (either BISC 116 L01 or
BISC 116 L02). Students must attend the first lab session in order to continue in the course. Students with AP
or IB credit in chemistry who elect this course forfeit the AP or IB credit.;
Course ID: BISC198 Title: Applied Statistics and Data Science in Biology
This course applies statistical theory to problems in ecology and experimental biology to illustrate some of
the more common techniques of experimental design and data analysis. Students will learn how to plan an
experiment and consider the observations, measurements, and potential statistical tests before data are
collected and analyzed. The course will enable students to work with complex datasets and distill them into
meaningful information from which they can draw reasoned conclusions and communicate their
findings. Specific topics include best practices in data visualization, probability distributions and their
applications, one- and two-way ANOVA and t-tests, regression and correlation, goodness-of-fit tests, and
nonparametric alternatives. The course will be run as a studio with combined lecture and hands-on data
analysis using the open-source computing software R.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement and one course in biology, chemistry, ES 100 or ES 101.;
Instructor: Selden; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC201 Title: Ecology with Laboratory
An introduction to the scientific study of the interrelationships among organisms and their interactions with the
environment. Topics include evolutionary adaptation in dynamic environments, behavioral ecology and lifehistory strategies, population dynamics, interactions among organisms, and the structure and function of
biological communities and ecosystems. Emphasis is placed on the development of quantitative skills and
reading the primary scientific literature to address issues such as the stability and resilience of ecosystems
with climate change, conservation of endangered species, and the dynamics of infectious disease.
Laboratory will focus on applying ecological concepts to observational and experimental field data collection,
data organization, and statistical analysis.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 28; Prerequisites: BISC 108 or (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y) or
ES 100 or ES 101 or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural
and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC202 Title: Evolution with Laboratory
Examination of evolution, the central paradigm of biology, at the level of populations, species, and lineages.
Topics include the genetics of populations, the definition of species, the roles of natural selection and chance
in evolution, the reconstruction of phylogeny, the evolution of sex, the impact of sexual selection, the
importance of evolutionary thinking in medicine, and patterns in the origination of diversity, and extinction of
species over time. Class work emphasizes collaborative work and reading and interpreting primary literature.
Labs include hands-on assessments of genetic variation in populations using DNA and protein based
analyses; exploration of computer simulations to understand the effects of genetic drift and student-designed
experiments to assess the effects of natural selection in populations.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y) or by
permission of the instructor. (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, or BISC 112Y is strongly recommended.);
Instructor: Sequeira, Okumura; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory;
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: BISC203 Title: Comparative Physiology and Anatomy of Vertebrates with Laboratory
How do animals work? This course addresses the structure, systems of physiology, and energetics of
vertebrate animals, with comparisons of the adaptations of animals of different thermal regime, body size,
lifestyle, and environment. The laboratories include projects in diversity, respirometry, digestion, muscle
energetics, study of comparative anatomy through dissections of vertebrate specimens, and the use of
statistics and graphing.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: BISC 109 or (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y) or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences;
LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC204 Title: Biological Modeling with Laboratory
Can we anticipate the effects that genetic variation will have on the future of a species? How can we predict the
spread of an impending epidemic? How many fish will be in the ocean next year? Mathematical models
liberate biologists from only being able to draw inferences from what we can directly observe, and these
models allow us to develop a deeper understanding of complex systems. In this course students will develop
skills in conceptualizing, writing, programming, and interpreting results from biological models through
theoretical examples and laboratory exercises.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116) or
(BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y) and MATH 116 (or equivalent); or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving;
LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC207 Title: The Biology of Plants with Laboratory
An overview of the physiology and development of land plants from the cell/molecular level to the whole
organism. Topics include photosynthesis, transport systems, patterns and regulation of growth and
development, and interactions with the environment – both biotic (pathogens, animals, other plants) and
abiotic (light, water, temperature). Applied aspects including medicinal plants and the potential for
biotechnology to increase food production in the face of climate change will be addressed. The investigative,
exploratory laboratory sessions will provide an introduction to techniques currently employed in answering
research questions ranging from the cellular to the organismal level.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116) or
(BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y) or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Peterman, Beers;
Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC209 Title: Microbiology with Laboratory
Comprehensive overview of the microbial world, with emphasis on bacteria. Topics include microbial cell
structure and function, diversity, metabolism, evolution, genetics, and ecology. Also covered are applied
aspects of microbiology with a focus on the food industry, biotechnology, human health, and the role microbes
play in environmental processes. Labs encompass inquiry-based projects exploring microbial ecology,
metabolism and interactions between microbes, production of antibiotics, and sequence-based identification
of microbes and microbial communities. Students will have the opportunity to design and conduct an
experiment on microbes. Students must attend both lecture and lab during the first week in order to continue
in the course.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: ((BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, or BISC 112Y) and one unit
of college chemistry) or BISC 116.; Instructor: Klepac-Ceraj, Roden; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC210 Title: Marine Biology with Laboratory
Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and are our planet’s primary life support system.
This course examines adaptations and interactions of plants and animals in a variety of marine habitats. Focal
habitats include the photic zone of the open ocean, the deep-sea, subtidal and intertidal zones, estuaries, and
coral reefs. Emphasis is placed on the dominant organisms, food webs, and experimental studies conducted
within each habitat. Laboratories will emphasize diversity of species in marine habitats and will highlight local
coastal ecosystems. Partnerships with other marine scientists around the country and globe will be leveraged
for comparative study. The course will include projects on phase shifts and alternative stable states, harmful
algae blooms, coral reef resilience, seabird foraging, deep sea biodiversity, sea level rise, and local seafood
markets.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - BISC 210L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, BISC
113Y) or ES 101; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Nickels, Selden; Distribution Requirements: NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC210L Title: Laboratory: Marine Biology
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for BISC 210.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, BISC 113Y)
or ES 101; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Nickles; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC214 Title: Animal Behavior with Laboratory
In meeting the challenges of survival and reproduction, animals have evolved behaviors that can be
spectacular and sometimes unpleasant. With the goal of understanding how behaviors ultimately shape an
animal's fitness, we will explore the aspects of life that make each animal's strategy unique, including
communication, finding mates, parental care, and sociality. Laboratories will expose students to the challenges
of experimental design and collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting data on animal behavior.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: BISC 109 or (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y) or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Mattila, Skow; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC216 Title: Developmental Biology with Laboratory
In this course, we will explore animal development beginning with the process of fertilization. We will consider
how a single cell gives rise to the many specialized cell types of the adult and how the development of tissues
is coordinated. The mechanisms that determine cell fate during embryonic development will be discussed.
Topics will include: embryonic induction, pattern formation, organ development, regeneration, stem cells, and
aging. Laboratory sessions will focus on experimental approaches to development. This course does not have
a waitlist, we know enrollments shift and spaces open up, so check back regularly for spots.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: One of (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC
116) and one of (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y) or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Suzuki, Beers; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC232/PHIL232 Title: Agency, Ethics, and Biology
This is a team-taught Babson-Olin-Wellesley course. This course investigates the ethics of biological science,
technology, and innovation. Topics include: the costs and benefits of scientific progress, recombinant DNA
and DNA sequencing, the ethics of clinical trials, trust relationships between scientists and their communities,
and the intersections between science and non-human animals/the environment. We will examine these topics
through both biological and philosophical lenses, develop an understanding of core principles of biology in
context, and use the concepts of agency, trust, and progress to shape our discussions. Our guiding questions
include: What is the relationship between a scientific innovation being technically feasible and morally
permissible? What if anything do scientists owe the public? Is a person’s tissue still theirs even if it has been
removed from their body? How much modification of our genetic code is morally permissible? Is the suffering
and death of non-human animals an acceptable cost of doing scientific research? What are the moral
responsibilities of the scientists and engineers who develop and build new technologies?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walsh, Jean Huang (Olin, Biology); Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course can
fulfill the elective course requirement for the BISC major, but does not fulfill the core 200 level course
requirement for the major.;
Course ID: BISC247/ES247 Title: Plant Diversity and Ecology with Laboratory
This course is a combination of “What's that wildflower?” and “Why does it grow over there and not here?” We
begin by examining large-scale patterns of plant diversity from an evolutionary and phylogenetic perspective
and then shift to an ecological perspective. Along the way, we zoom in to specific concepts and processes that
help us understand overall patterns. Laboratories will primarily be taught in the field and greenhouses and will
include plant identification, observational and experimental studies, and long-term study of forest communities
on the Wellesley campus. Laboratories will also include aspects of experimental design and data analysis. The
goal of the course is not only to train students in botany and plant ecology, but to engage them in the world of
plants every time they step outside.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following - ES 100, ES 101, BISC 108, BISC 111,
BISC 111T, BISC 113, BISC 113Y; or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken BISC
347/ES 347.; Instructor: Griffith; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory;
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: The course
is offered at the 300-level as BISC 347/ES 347.;
Course ID: BISC250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BISC250G Title: Research or Group Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BISC250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: BISC302 Title: Human Physiology with Laboratory
This course takes an integrated approach to the study of organ system function in humans. We will examine
control mechanisms that allow the body to maintain a constant balance in the face of environmental
challenges, such as exercise, temperature change, and high altitude. Our particular focus will be recent
findings in the areas of neural, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, and muscle physiology. In the laboratory,
students gain experience with the tools of modern physiological research at both the cellular and organismal
levels.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, BISC 113Y or NEUR 100) and
(BISC 203 or NEUR 200).; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC303 Title: Seminar in Reproductive Medicine: From Bench to Bedside
In some countries, 3-5% of births are achieved with assisted reproductive technologies, and this number is
projected to grow as societies become increasingly interested in beating the biological clock. This class will
introduce the basic biology behind fertility and explore the etiology and diagnosis of infertility. We will cover the
latest developments in reproductive science and consider the clinical challenges of translating research
findings into medical treatments. We will discuss gonadal stem cells and their use for rejuvenation of fertility,
oocyte and embryo cryopreservation, and mouse models with abnormal reproductive phenotypes. This class
will highlight open questions in reproductive biology, familiarize students with both tried-and-true and
emerging reproductive technologies, and explore the advantages and pitfalls of each. A major goal of the class
is to teach students to read and critically evaluate the primary research literature. Student participation in
discussions will be emphasized.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y,
BISC 116) and two of the following three courses (BISC 219/BIOC 219, BIOC 220/BISC 220, BISC 216), or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Carmell; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC307/ES307 Title: Ecosystem Ecology with Laboratory
The emergent structure and function of ecosystems are regulated by feedbacks between biological and
physical systems from the microscopic to the global scale. We will study how ecosystems cycle carbon and
nutrients and how the energy balance of ecosystems influences climate. We will also examine the role that
humans play in managing, creating, and using services from ecosystems in our current era of rapid global
change. Synthesizing these concepts, we consider the role of protected areas in preserving ecosystem
functioning. Students will develop statistical skills working with authentic long-term ecosystem ecology
datasets. Students in this course will develop independent data analysis projects that include scientific
communication through presentations, writing, and visual displays of data.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: One of the following - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 209, BISC 210,
BISC 247/ES 247, ES 220; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.
Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course.;
Course ID: BISC308 Title: Tropical Ecology with Laboratory
Tropical forests and coral reefs are among the most fascinating and diverse ecosystems, but unfortunately
face an ever increasing number of threats. In this discussion based class, students present and analyze
papers that illustrate how these ecosystems function, why they are struggling and what can be done to prevent
further decline and to hopefully restore them. We will pay attention to the observational, experimental and
analytical approaches that are used in this field of study. The week-long laboratory part takes place at the
Central Caribbean Marine Institute in Little Cayman in mid-May. Students will have the opportunity to carry out
their own research projects that they designed during the semester. To receive more information including the
application form, please reach out to Prof. Königer.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following courses - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 207,
BISC 210, BISC 214, or permission of the instructors.; Instructor: Königer, Sequeira; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC309/ES309 Title: Seminar: Tropical Ecology
Tropical forests and coral reefs are among the most fascinating and diverse ecosystems, but unfortunately
face multiple threats. In this seminar, brief lectures will provide a baseline understanding of these ecosystems
and the key processes that shape them. However, the main focus will be the discussion of important papers in
the field. Students will present papers from the primary literature that illustrate how these ecosystems function,
why they are struggling and what can be done to preserve and restore them. We will pay particular attention to
the observational, experimental and analytical approaches that are used in this field of study, and how the
science informs conservation decisions. The final project involves writing a research proposal.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 207, BISC 210, BISC 214.; Instructor:
Koniger; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC310/ES310 Title: Seminar: Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems
This course will focus on the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. As greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere have increased, the oceans have absorbed more than 93% of the excess heat and roughly ¼ of
the carbon dioxide. The triple threat of warming temperatures, depletions in oxygen, and drops in ocean pH
have led to dramatic effects on ocean ecosystems. Students will analyze the primary literature to examine 1)
how these stressors are affecting physiology, demography, phenology, and distributions of marine species
separately and when acting together, 2) the potential for adaptation/evolution, 3) what lessons can be learned
from the paleorecord, and 4) the impacts on coastal communities and nations. The course incorporates
student-led seminar-style discussions, and a final synthetic project where teams will present evidence for the
impacts of climate change on a particular marine ecosystem.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following courses - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 209,
BISC 210, BISC 214, BIOC 219/BISC 219, ES 201, ES 220, EXTD 225, EXTD 226 or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Selden; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking
Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BISC311 Title: Evolutionary Developmental Biology with Laboratory
The diversity of organismal forms has fascinated human beings for centuries. How did butterflies get
eyespots? What is the evolutionary origin of bird feathers? How did snakes get to be so long? How did
humans evolve? The field of evolutionary developmental biology, or evo-devo, integrates the long-separate
fields of evolutionary biology and developmental biology to answer these questions. In this course, we will
explore topics such as the evolution of novelties, body plan evolution, developmental constraints, convergent
evolution, and the role of environmental changes in evolution. Through reading of original papers, we will
examine recent advances made in evo-devo and critically analyze the role of evo-devo in biology and the
implications beyond biology. Students will have the opportunity to design and conduct an independent
research project using molecular tools in arthropods.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BISC 202, or BISC 216, or BISC 219/BIOC 219, or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Suzuki; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory;
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: BISC312 Title: Evolutionary Medicine
Evolution is the foundation for all biology. We have long been able to recognize its contributions to
understanding infectious disease and genetics, but we are yet far from realizing its full potential in the medicine
field. We often think of the human body as an efficient machine. We view disease as a defect arising in an
otherwise perfect device. An evolutionary perspective offers a more realistic view of the body as a product of
natural selection: functional and remarkable in many ways, but also flawed in many ways, for good
evolutionary reasons. In this course we will explore the premise that the human body and its pathogens are not
perfectly designed machines but evolving biological systems shaped by selection under the constraints of
tradeoffs that produce specific compromises and vulnerabilities. Through primary literature analysis, group
presentations, student designed activities, and collaborative work, we will explore fundamental evolutionary
principles such as arms races, maladaptation, evolutionary mismatch, and evolutionary theories of
senescence, and their connections to medicine.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following (BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, BISC 113Y)
and either (BISC 202 or BISC 219/BIOC 219), or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Sequeira; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC313 Title: Advances in Human Microbiome Research
This course delves into the rapidly evolving field of human microbiome research, an area significantly
transformed by the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies. We will learn about microorganisms
and microbial ecosystems within the human body and their impact on human health. Key topics include an
overview of the human microbiome, advances in technologies, microbial diversity and function and its role in
health and disease, the gut-brain axis and microbiome’s impact on neurocognitive development and mental
health, microbiome and metabolic disorders, and other topics. Through a combination of lectures, critical
analysis of recent research papers, and discussions, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the
human microbiome's complexity and its significance in health and disease. This course aims to equip students
with the knowledge to critically evaluate current research and contemplate the future direction of this exciting
field, with an emphasis on ethical and responsible scientific practice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CHEM 105 and any of the following - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC
209, BISC 210, BISC 219/BIOC 219 or BISC 220/ BIOC 220, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Klepac-
Ceraj; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC314 Title: Environmental Microbiology with Laboratory
The availability of next generation sequencing in the last two decades has revolutionized the field of
environmental microbiology. Although most of the microbial world remains to be discovered and explored, we
are now starting to find answers to some central ecological questions such as: What microbes are present in
various ecosystems? What is the distribution of each type of organism? What are their roles (functions)? How
does each role relate to the magnitude of microbial activity? What factors influence microbial activity and
interactions? We will explore the questions in the context of the human and fermented foods microbiomes. The
topics will include microbial diversity, microbial evolution, phylogeny, physiology, metabolism, community
ecology, genomics, metagenomics and proteomics. Through reading of original papers on the human
microbiome, we will examine recent advances made in microbial ecology and critically analyze the role of
microorganisms on human health and beyond. Students will have the opportunity to design and conduct an
independent research project to explore the cheese microbiome.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CHEM 211 and any of the following - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC
209, BISC 210, BISC 219/BIOC 219 or BISC 220/ BIOC 220, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: KlepacCeraj; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E.
Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BISC315/NEUR315 Title: Neuroendocrinology
Hormones act throughout the body to coordinate basic biological functions such as development,
differentiation, and reproduction. This course will investigate how hormones act in the brain to regulate
physiology and behavior. We will study how the major neuroendocrine axes regulate a variety of functions,
including brain development, reproductive physiology and behavior, homeostasis, and stress. The regulation
of these functions by hormones will be investigated at the molecular, cellular, and behavioral levels.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: NEUR 200; or one of the following (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC
112, or BISC 112Y) and BISC 203; or BISC 116, CHEM 116 and BISC 203; or permission of the instructor.
Open to Juniors and Seniors only.; Instructor: Tetel; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and
Cognition; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC316 Title: Molecular Genetics with Laboratory
Molecular genetic techniques, which allow us to identify, analyze and manipulate genes, have revolutionized
our understanding of how organisms develop and function. This course focuses on the use of molecular
genetic and genomic approaches to dissect and manipulate complex biological systems. In this semester-long
project-based course, students will use these approaches to pursue an original research question in a genetic
model organism. Seminar-style class sessions will focus on critical analysis, presentation and discussion of the
primary literature relevant to the research project. In the laboratory, students will gain experience with a variety
of current molecular genetic methods (e.g. DNA cloning and sequencing, PCR, genomic analysis, RNAi, gene
knock-outs, mutagenesis, bioinformatics) with an emphasis on experimental design and data analysis.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BIOC 219/BISC 219 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Peterman; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and
Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes:
Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BISC317 Title: Seminar: Environmental Physiology
Animals are found in nearly every habitat on Earth, but not all environments are suitable or hospitable to
humans. Unlike people, some animals can live without liquid water, endure being frozen, withstand immense
pressure, and even live months in the complete absence of oxygen. Our goal for this course is to address a
singular question: What adaptations do animals possess that enable them to survive under conditions lethal to
humans? By comparing and contrasting the different ways animals overcome stressors in their biotic and
abiotic environment, we will both broaden and deepen our understanding of how animals survive. We will
consider the physiology of vertebrate and invertebrate animals, with an emphasis on the basic principles of
physiology, and explore how adaptations to extreme environments are conserved or have diverged among
phylogenetically diverse groups. The goal of this course is to introduce students to current topical questions in
environmental physiology, through a combination of lectures, invited seminars, review of the primary literature,
class discussions, individual projects, and oral presentations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 203, BIOC
219/BISC 219; or permission of the instructor. Not open to First-Year students.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC318 Title: Seminar: CRISPR Gene Editing – A New Revolution in Biology
CRISPR gene editing is at the center of an ongoing revolution in biology. This system for precise and efficient
gene editing has led to numerous applications in medicine, agriculture and the environment. This course will
examine the molecular genetic, cellular and biochemical principles that govern CRISPR and its myriad uses.
Topics will include the microbial adaptive immune system and its modification for use as a gene editing tool,
applications of CRISPR to the study and treatment of cancer and human diseases — both genetic and
infectious, the use of CRISPR to engineer food crops that thrive in the face of climate change, CRISPR gene
drives as tools to control disease-spreading insects and invasive species in wild populations, and CRISPR as a
powerful tool to study model organisms and probe biological functions. We will also evaluate ethical and legal
issues surrounding this revolutionary genome engineering system.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BISC 219/BIOC 219 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Peterman; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BISC327/ES327 Title: Seminar: Current Topics in Ecology
Topic for 2023-2024: Biodiversity in the Built Environment
How do other species interact with landscapes and habitats that people have modified or even completely
restructured? Which species live in human-dominated environments, and how does the diversity of species in
these habitats affect the function and health of these ecosystems? In this course we will build our scientific
understanding of biodiversity and its consequences, and explore how this understanding can inform the
design and management of spaces we occupy. We will consider habitats from agricultural landscapes to
suburban parks to buildings, with special attention to the opportunities afforded by Wellesley’s remarkable
campus, including the Global Flora greenhouse.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Two courses from the following - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 204,
BISC 207, BISC 209, BISC 210, BISC 214, ES 201, ES 220, or ES 247/BISC 247; or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Jones; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for
credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: BISC327H/ES327H Title: Seminar: Current Topics in Ecology
Topic for 2021-22: Biodiversity in the Built Environment
How do other species interact with landscapes and habitats that people have modified or even completely
restructured? How does biodiversity in human-dominated habitats affect the function and health of these
ecosystems, and resilience with respect to climate change? In this course we will build our understanding of
biodiversity and its consequences, and explore how this understanding can inform the design and
management of spaces we occupy. We will consider habitats from agricultural landscapes to suburban parks
to buildings.
Not open to students who have taken BISC 327/ES 327 with the same topic.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Two of the following course - BISC 201, BISC 207, BISC 209,
BISC 210, ES 220, BISC 247/ES 247; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Jones; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long
as the topic is different each time. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. Students taking BISC 327H/ES 327H in the
academic year 2021-2022 may combine with BISC 150H/ES 150H, BISC 350H or BISC 350 taken any year to
fulfill either the 300-level course without lab requirement or the elective course requirement for the BISC major.;
Course ID: BISC328 Title: Seminar: Modern Biological Imaging
This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to examine how scientists address physiologically
significant questions in cell and molecular biology using imaging-based techniques and modalities. We will
examine the development and utilization of both qualitative and quantitative optical microscopy techniques,
focusing on fluorescent microscopy. Student exploration and analysis of review and primary literature will be
integral to this course along with a hands-on fluorescence microscopy project. The course incorporates a
combination of introductory lectures, seminar-style discussions, practical experience, and student
presentations throughout the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Two 200-level BISC or BIOC courses, one of which should be
BISC 219/BIOC 219 or BISC 220/BIOC 220, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: L. Darling; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC329 Title: Biological Microscopy with Laboratory
Cell biology was born in the microscope, which now allows us to visualize the dynamic processes of life inside
cells. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine how scientists address physiologically
significant questions using microscopy and imaging approaches. The course’s main goal is to empower
students to explore and evaluate the use of microscopy in cell and molecular biology. We study the
development and utilization of qualitative and quantitative optical microscopy techniques, focusing on
fluorescence microscopy. Theoretical and practical fundamentals are discussed, and student analysis of
review and primary literature is integral to this course. Class meetings may include a combination of
introductory lectures, literature discussions, student presentations throughout the semester, and hands-on
experience in the laboratory where students work with research-grade microscopes. Student-designed
investigations will incorporate the expression and assessment of fluorescent protein tags in mammalian cell
model systems with an emphasis on experimental design and image analysis. Assignments and activities are
designed to help students learn to collaborate successfully to solve problems in an interdisciplinary team.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Two 200-level BISC or BIOC courses, one of which is BISC
219/BIOC 219 or BISC 220/BIOC 220, or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
BISC 328.; Instructor: L. Darling; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC329L Title: Laboratory: Biological Microscopy
This course is a required co-requisite laboratory for BISC 329.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Two 200-level BISC or BIOC courses, one of which is BISC
219/BIOC 219 or BISC 220/BIOC 220, or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
BISC 328.; Instructor: L. Darling; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC330 Title: Seminar: Mechanisms of Emerging Therapeutics in Neurodegeneration
Neurodegeneration affects millions of people in the U.S. Both domestically and internationally,
neurodegeneration is increasingly burdening healthcare systems as life expectancies are increasing and
populations in many nations are aging. Fortunately, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of several
neurodegenerative diseases is improving. In this course, we will explore the current understanding of several
neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease, ALS, and Parkinson’s Disease as well as a few
rare diseases. We will also explore the molecular mechanisms of emerging therapeutics in these diseases
including deep brain stimulation, small molecules, and biologics. We will consider both approved drugs and
drugs in the clinical pipeline. All course content will be supported by primary literature. Class sessions will
include mini-lectures, student discussions, and group work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Two 200-level BISC/BIOC courses. At least one of these must be
BISC 219/BIOC 219 or BISC 220/BIOC 220.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and
Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC333 Title: Genomics and Bioinformatics with Laboratory
Computational analyses of large-scale datasets have become central to modern biology. In this class, students
will learn how 'omics' techniques such as genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics can help to answer
questions in diverse fields ranging from cell biology to ecology and evolution. Lectures and discussions of
primary literature will utilize examples from microbiology to introduce students to the design, analysis, and
interpretation of 'omics'-based studies. We will explore the theory behind key bioinformatic algorithms and gain
hands-on experience applying these tools to real datasets. The laboratory will culminate in an original research
project utilizing genomic data to study microbial ecosystems. Topics covered include genome sequencing,
assembly and interpretation; comparative genomics; metagenomics; transcriptomics; metabolic models;
network analysis; and machine learning.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: BISC 219/BIOC 219 or BISC 209; or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Biller; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BISC334 Title: Seminar: The Biology of Stem Cells
In this course, we will study stem cells in terms of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. We will focus
on different types of stem cells, particularly embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, and induced pluripotent
stem cells. More specifically, we will explore how stem cells develop, the criteria by which stem cells are
defined, and stem cell characteristics under investigation. Current research in the areas of disease, potential
stem cell therapies, and regenerative medicine will also be discussed. Bioethical issues related to stem cell
biology will be described. Students will present and discuss original literature throughout the course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BISC 216 or BISC 219/BIOC 219 or BISC 220/BIOC 220.;
Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC335 Title: Seminar: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Disease
This course will explore the underlying mechanisms of a variety of human diseases whose causes have been
heavily studied at the cellular and molecular level. We will take a research-oriented approach to the material
through critical reading and analysis of primary literature on each topic and we will explore how this knowledge
informs the design, development and implementation of treatments. Topics of study may include diseases
related to: metabolism, genetics, protein folding, cytoskeleton, membrane trafficking, inflammation, and/or
pathogenic infection. This course will utilize a combination of lectures to introduce general concepts, seminarstyle discussions of primary literature articles, and student presentations throughout the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BIOC 220/BISC 220; Instructor: Goss; Distribution Requirements:
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BISC336 Title: Seminar: Immunology
In this course, we will analyze the molecular, cellular, and biochemical mechanisms involved in the
development and function of the immune system. We will also explore the immunological basis of infectious
diseases (e.g. influenza and tuberculosis), allergic disorders, autoimmune diseases (e.g. multiple sclerosis and
rheumatoid arthritis), immunodeficiency syndromes (e.g. AIDS), transplantation, and cancer. This course will
utilize a combination of lectures to introduce new material, seminar-style discussions of primary research
articles, and student presentations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Two 200-level BISC/BIOC courses. At least one of these 200-level
courses must be either BISC 219/ BIOC 219 or BISC 220/ BIOC 220.; Instructor: Matthews; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BISC337 Title: Seminar: Cellular Stress Response
Maintaining cellular homeostasis in the face of environmental stress is paramount to cell survival. In this course
we will examine the cellular and molecular responses of eukaryotic cells to stress at the levels of DNA, RNA,
and protein, with consideration of organelle-specific responses. Topics will include heat shock, osmotic stress,
hypoxia, starvation, and oxidative stress. This course focuses primarily on conserved and mammalian
mechanisms activated in response to macromolecular strain, rather than stress responses unique to
organisms adapted to environmental extremes. Throughout the course, we will discuss the evolution and
conservation of the cellular stress response, connections to disease, as well as the challenges and future
directions of the field. This course will consist of lectures, invited seminars from researchers in the field, and
discussion of scientific reviews and primary articles. Articles will showcase classic stress response research as
well as new findings and methods in the field.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Two 200-level BISC/BIOC courses. At least one of these must be
BISC 219/BIOC 219 or BISC 220/BIOC 220.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and
Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BISC338 Title: Seminar: The Biology of Social Insects
Warfare, communication, agriculture, and caring for family are phenomena that are typically attributed to
human societies, but social insects do these same things. In this course, we will explore the weird and
wonderful world of social insects to discover why sociality is the most successful animal strategy on the planet.
We will learn about how conflict and selfishness have shaped the cooperative effort that characterizes these
seemingly utopian communities, and why human survival depends on their ecosystem services. Using social
insects as a lens for major themes in biology, we will discuss biodiversity, invasions, animal communication
and cognition, self-organized systems and the evolution of biological oddities. The course will focus on
discussion of classic literature, groundbreaking research, and topical writing for the sciences and general
public. Group activities will also include excursions outdoors and a book club.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BISC 201, BISC 202, or BISC 214 or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Mattila; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC340 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Biology in the News
Scientists have made great progress revealing intricate details of many biological processes. They understand
the importance of their work like the back of their hands. The scientific literacy of the general public, however,
has not kept pace. This seminar aims to equip students with the writing skills necessary to communicate
important ideas from a breadth of biological disciplines in an exciting, clear and relevant manner to a range of
audiences. The body of work created in this class will include short pieces on articles from the primary
literature, reviews of presentations and magazine articles by experts, as well as op-eds on scientific issues of
interest and a profile of a scientist of choice. Peer editing and writing workshops play a large part, aiding
students as they write multiple drafts of each assignment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any two BISC 200-level courses or permission of the instructor.
Open to Juniors and Seniors only.; Instructor: Königer; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC347/ES347 Title: Advanced Plant Diversity and Ecology with Laboratory
This course meets along with BISC 247/ES 247 and offers an opportunity for students to engage more deeply
with the material and perform independent research. Students will be expected to more thoroughly review and
reference peer-reviewed literature and assist in leading in-class discussions. Additionally, each student will
develop and conduct an experiment (or observational study) over the course of the semester that examines
mechanisms of plant diversity and coexistence.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following - BISC 201, ES 220, BISC 207, or
permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken BISC 247/ES 247.; Instructor: Griffith;
Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200level as BISC 247/ES 247.;
Course ID: BISC350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Independent research supervised by a member of the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences or an
off-campus director. Off-campus projects require an on-campus advisor from the department. Students will be
expected to devote 10-12 hours per week to their research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. ; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BISC350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Independent research supervised by a member of the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences or an
off-campus director. Off-campus projects require an on-campus advisor from the department. Students will be
expected to devote 5-6 hours per week to their research.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BISC355 Title: Biological Sciences Thesis Research
The first course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research problem, in the preparation of a thesis
and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Department of Biological Sciences. This route
does not lead to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open only to Seniors with permission of the instructor.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: BISC360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the
supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370)
in the second semester. This route can lead to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: BISC365 Title: Thesis
The second course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research problem, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Department of
Biological Sciences. This route does not lead to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: BISC 355 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: BISC370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: BISC 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Calderwood Seminars in Public Writing
Calderwood Seminars in Public Writing are typically advanced-level, writing-intensive courses that engage
students in a review of their majors or areas of special interest. These seminars challenge students to integrate
what they have learned in other courses and to communicate this knowledge to a broad audience.
Calderwood Seminars rotate among departments and programs. Class sizes are small and enrollment,
ordinarily, will be limited to juniors and seniors. The Seminars may fulfill major requirements.
The Calderwood Seminars in Public Writing are named after Stanford Calderwood, a patron of the arts and
benefactor of Wellesley College. Throughout his career, Mr. Calderwood realized the value of written
communication. To improve the capabilities of Wellesley College students as public writers, the Calderwood
Charitable Foundation has endowed this program.
Key elements for the Calderwood Seminars in Public Writing:
Seminars typically targeted at juniors and seniors that draw on skills learned in prior courses and that
empower a student’s “voice” in her major field or area of study
Seminars that offer a reflective overview of a major or area by covering topics central to the field or that
explore a defining theme
Seminars that emphasize public writing, rather than writing for a specialized and professional audience.
Public writing—the ability to translate complex arguments and professional jargon to a broad audience
—is a central feature of a liberal arts education
Seminars that encourage a collaborative experience, with students writing frequently and rewriting their
work in response to comments from classmates and professors
CSPW Courses
Course ID: AFR330 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Black Diaspora, Political Experiences in
Pandemics
The ongoing global pandemic and elections have revived conversations on race and the marginalization of the
Black Diaspora. In this course, we will engage with the various ways in which black people practice politics in
Africa and elsewhere in the diaspora. We will pay special attention to the ongoing impact of national politics on
the global pandemic. Scholars taking the course will each week respond to a reading by writing public facing
work such as blogs, editorials and/or opinion pieces, and other forms of public writing. A primary goal in this
course is to learn how to bring academic arguments to the general public.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least one Africana Studies or Political Science course.;
Instructor: Dendere; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories:
CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AMST355 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Critiquing American Popular Culture
To what extent do contemporary streaming services include queer people and people of color? How do
contemporary children's books accommodate progressive ideas in the face of conservative backlash? How
have networks like HBO, Netflix, or Amazon promoted or undercut LGBTQ civil rights or racial justice?
American Studies often focuses on the appraisal, interpretation, and critique of historical and contemporary
popular culture. Designed for juniors and seniors, this seminar will explore how American Studies
multidisciplinary perspectives can be adapted to reviews, critiques, opinion pieces, and other forms of
journalistic, literary, and public writing. Students will consider a variety of historical and contemporary
American cultural products, including television, film, books, literature, websites, exhibitions, performances,
and consumer products, in order to enter the public conversation about the cultural meanings, political
implications, and social content of such culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: AMST 101 or another AMST 100- or 200-level course.; Instructor:
P. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH303 Title: Calderwood Seminar for Public Writing: Art in Public Places: Politics and Publics
One of the thornie*st issues facing artists, art historians, curators, critics, theorists, city planners, and others
who have to negotiate art in public places is the question of competing perceptions and meanings. As soon as
a work of art is proposed for or installed in a site in which numerous publics intersect, or a work is destroyed,
the question arises of “whose public” is being addressed. This seminar will bring to the table historical and
contemporary case studies in public art, in part selected by students, as the subjects of several genres of
public writing, among them reviews and Op. Ed. pieces. Students in all areas of art history will have already
confronted, and will confront in the future, the question of who has the right to make the art, install the art, or
destroy the art, in any geography at any time.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any 200 or 300 level course in Art History. Open to Senior Art
History majors only.; Instructor: Berman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH331 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Fashion Across Time and Geography
Communicate your art-historical knowledge to the broadest possible public. While focusing on public writing,
we will study the history and politics of fashion. Topics will include gender and class performance, cultural
appropriation, medicine and the body; technology; and law and society. Weekly meetings will include
collaborative editing workshops, guest speakers, and a field trip. Students will build a writing portfolio
including a book review, film review, Smarthistory essay, museum labels, and a one-minute radio text, among
other projects. The Calderwood seminar model demands firm weekly deadlines, allowing classmates time to
reflect and comment on each other’s work. We build a scholarly community that shows the larger world how
the history of art intersects with fashion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Berman; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood
Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Intended for Seniors majoring or minoring in Art History Intended for Seniors majoring or minoring in Art
History;
Course ID: ARTH378/LAST378 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Museums Speak:
Communication and Controversy
Art and anthropology museums tell stories about the past and its relevance to the present, but what stories
they tell, who gets to tell them, and which objects should—or should not—be considered are not always selfevident. In this writing-intensive seminar, you will learn how texts—wall labels, press releases, exhibition
reviews—engage audiences within and beyond the museum’s walls. The course consists of writing
assignments related to artworks made in the Americas before Independence, from the ancient Maya to
colonial Peru, many on exhibit at the Davis Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Through these
case studies, we will learn how to convert visual images and academic arguments into appealing, jargon-free
prose. In keeping with the structure of the Calderwood seminar, weekly deadlines in this class are firm so as to
allow classmates time to reflect on such arguments and comment on each other’s ideas. Take on the role of
museum curator and learn how texts help us navigate controversies over the acquisition, provenance, and
display of artworks from distant cultures and places.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least two 100- or 200-level courses in Art History or
Anthropology.; Instructor: Oles; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Every three
years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BIOC324/CHEM324 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Can Biochemistry Help Address
Societal Problems?
Researchers increasingly attempt to harness biochemical approaches as a way to address pressing societal
problems. For example, recent work has focused on topics including the effective production of biofuels,
remediation of environmental pollutants and developing new treatments for antibiotic resistant pathogens. In
this course, juniors and seniors will explore contemporary research aimed at solving these problems through
readings in the primary literature, invited lectures, interviewing researchers and developing independent
research proposals. Students will analyze and interpret research findings through weekly writing assignments
targeted towards broad audiences, such as research summaries for the scientific press, textbook sections,
executive summaries and proposals accessible to non-specialists. Class sessions will be structured as
workshops to analyze core chemical and biological concepts and provide structured critiques of writing
assignments.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BIOC/CHEM 223 or BIOC/CHEM 227 or BIOC/BISC 220 or (CHEM
205 and CHEM 211 and (BISC 110 or BISC 112 or BISC 116)), or permission of the instructor. ; Instructor:
Elmore; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Other Categories: CSPW -
Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC340 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Biology in the News
Scientists have made great progress revealing intricate details of many biological processes. They understand
the importance of their work like the back of their hands. The scientific literacy of the general public, however,
has not kept pace. This seminar aims to equip students with the writing skills necessary to communicate
important ideas from a breadth of biological disciplines in an exciting, clear and relevant manner to a range of
audiences. The body of work created in this class will include short pieces on articles from the primary
literature, reviews of presentations and magazine articles by experts, as well as op-eds on scientific issues of
interest and a profile of a scientist of choice. Peer editing and writing workshops play a large part, aiding
students as they write multiple drafts of each assignment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any two BISC 200-level courses or permission of the instructor.
Open to Juniors and Seniors only.; Instructor: Königer; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CAMS327 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Public Writing on Film and TV
This course will explore a wide range of writing on current film and television, thinking about the forms of
contemporary discourse on the moving image and ways our own writing can join the conversation. We will
read and write reviews, trend pieces, and star studies, bringing our specialized knowledge as moving image
enthusiasts to bear on pieces intended to speak to and engage a broad reading public. Students will develop
and present their writing in workshop discussions, and serve as editors to their peers. Readings from classic
and contemporary writers on film and television will help us refine our sense of what makes writing on media
illuminating, accessible, and compelling.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CAMS 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Shetley;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT362/ES362 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: From Farm to Table to Print
When we talk about food, we think about personal passions, individual diets and eating behaviors, but we
might also think about cultural traditions, consumption disparities and food insecurities, about public health
and sustainability, animal rights, deforestation, and genome edited crops. Clearly, the topic challenges us to
address difficult questions of intersectionality (of the personal and the political, the local and the global, the
human and the non-human). In this seminar we will learn to translate academic discourses into public writing
formats that might include op-eds, social media posts, (cook) book reviews, Wikipedia entries, restaurant
reviews, and portraits of food activists.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors, or by permission of the instructor.
Not open to students who have taken GER 362.; Instructor: Nolden; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course meets with GER
362.;
Course ID: ECON335 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Economic Journalism
Students will combine their knowledge of economics, including macro, micro, and econometrics, with their
skills at exposition, in order to address current economic issues in a journalistic format. Students will conduct
independent research to produce bi-weekly articles. Assignments may include coverage of economic lectures
by well-known economists, book reviews, economic data releases, and recent journal articles. Students also
may write an op-ed and a blog post. Class sessions will be organized as workshops devoted to critiquing the
economic content of student work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: All of the following - ECON 201, ECON 202, ECON 203.; Instructor:
Sichel; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: EDUC324/PSYC324 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Adolescent Sexual Health
Communication in the Real World
Thoughtful communication about adolescents’ sexual health is a complex and often fraught issue. Many
people have strong feelings and deeply held beliefs about what is right and wrong, what should be taught, and
why. In this Calderwood Seminar, we will utilize small groups and collaborative editing to tackle how to
communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences. We will explore ways to translate evidence-based
research for a general population. All course assignments will consist of writing for public audiences, such as
an op-ed, newspaper article, a blog for a teen or parent magazine, and an interview profile of a professional in
the field. Students will learn about psychological research and evidence-based practice in health-promoting
and developmentally appropriate communication with adolescents about sex and relationships.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: This course is limited to juniors and seniors. Students must have
completed at least two 200-level courses in Psychology, Education, or Women's and Gender Studies.;
Instructor: Grossman; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories:
CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC328/PSYC322 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Social Technologies &
Adolescent Development
Adolescents are developing socially, cognitively, and civically in their online and offline worlds, transforming
how formal and informal learning takes place. Students in this course will digest research findings and reflect
on their own experiences about how social technologies (e.g., Instagram, gaming, mobile phones) can
influence wellbeing during the tween and teen years. Harnessing personal narratives that appeal to different
stakeholders, we will develop timely and accessible strategies to inform adolescents, educators, families,
youth workers, and policymakers about the implications of these findings. This interdisciplinary course
spanning education, psychology, media studies, and health communication fields involves transforming
research into digestible, brief, non-academic pieces intended for the general public and provides opportunities
for students to explore their own interests. Sample assignments include a policy brief, op-ed, e-newsletter, 2
minute podcast, social media messaging campaign, and strategic writing for UX design. Each week, fellow
classmates critique each other’s work in a friendly, constructive environment while guest writing coaches and
industry professionals provide useful tips to hone each piece to its creative potential.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors and Seniors.; Instructor:
Charmaraman; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in
Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Fall;
Course ID: ENG316 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Dead Poetry Society
This Calderwood seminar in public writing will show that there is no such thing as dead poetry. In a series of
weekly writing and editing exercises ranging from movie reviews to op-eds, we will explore the many ways that
the great poetry of centuries past speaks directly to modern experience. We will be taught both by the poets
themselves (whose eloquence will rub off on us) and each other, as each student will pick a poet whose
writing she will become expert at relaying to a lay audience. By the end of the semester, not only will you be
able to persuade a newspaper reader that blank verse matters as much as Twitter; you will also learn how to
articulate the value of your English major to a prospective employer--and how to transmit your excitement
about the latest discoveries in your field to friends and parents.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken at least two literature courses
in the department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Lynch; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW
- Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG389 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: How We Write When We Write about
Literature
While literary criticism might seem like an esoteric or unworldly pursuit, it has relevance and consequence
beyond the narrow world of academic journals. It shapes reading lists at the high school, college, and
graduate level and contributes to cultural conversations about expanding the canon. It also has the potential to
create connections between academic scholarship and the larger world it inhabits. In this Calderwood
seminar, we will read selected works of contemporary literary criticism (and a few short stories) and consider
the place of published criticism in the wider culture. Over the course of the semester, students will produce
several short pieces exploring criticism’s significance and present their work to the class as part of our weekly
writing workshops. Assignments -- including op-eds, reviews of public talks, memoranda, podcasts, and blog
posts -- will target a non-specialist reading audience. This course will give students the opportunity to build
on their own experiences as readers of literature and writers of literary criticism as they engage with the
questions and controversies that criticism raises.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Rodensky;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in
Public Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES399 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Environmental Synthesis and Communication
Tax carbon? Label genetically modified crops? Ban endocrine disruptors? In this course, an interdisciplinary
capstone experience for the ES major, we will engage with such questions and related environmental
sustainability issues as public writers. Students will choose one environmental issue, which will be the focus of
their environmental “beat” during the semester. They will draw on an interdisciplinary toolset from
environmental studies to analyze and communicate the scientific, economic, political, and ethical dimensions
of pressing policy issues. Students will conduct independent research to produce weekly articles, such as opeds, blog posts, press releases, book reviews, policy memos, and interviews with environmental professionals.
Class sessions will be organized as writing workshops focused on the interdisciplinary analysis and content of
student work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: A declared major in environmental studies and completion of six
courses that count toward the ES major, or permission of the instructor. Open to Juniors and Seniors only.;
Instructor: Turner; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: FREN336/WGST336 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Feminisms in the Wake of the
Global #MeToo Movement (in English)
From Hollywood’s casting couches, to the Copenhagen City Hall and the highest echelons of the French
media establishment, to the feminists in Mexico and Argentina and the demands of those in Japan, Iran, and
Egypt, the #MeToo movement has raised a global wave of protests against sexual abuse. The expression of
women’s voices has been undeniably transformed since the hashtag's emergence, but the aims and results of
the movement, and the consequences faced by those accused, have varied from place to place. Students will
consider #MeToo from a comparative and multilingual perspective, analyzing texts and media from around the
globe, in a collective effort to grasp how culture, language, and nation condition the international struggle for
women’s rights.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least one Language & Literature course at the 200-level in any
modern language department or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bilis; Distribution Requirements:
LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical
Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH340 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Explaining Mathematics
In this course, students will leverage their prior mathematical knowledge to communicate complex
mathematical ideas to audiences ranging from the general public to other mathematicians. Each week,
students will research a new topic and produce a piece of writing explaining this topic in a specific context.
Assignments may include research abstracts, book reviews, interviews with mathematicians, newspaper
articles, and technical documentation. Class time will be devoted to discussing the mathematical content
behind each assignment as well as workshopping students' writing. This course will give students the
opportunity to ground (and expand on) the mathematics they have learned and make connections across the
discipline. Moreover, this course's unique format will help students develop their research and independent
learning skills.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: MATH 302 and MATH 305, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Lange; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other
Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MUS301 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: The Power of Music
This course challenges students to think critically about music, and writing about music, in the public sphere.
Students explore the relationship between their specialized academic knowledge and their experiences as
day-to-day consumers of music. The core material of the course consists of a series of writing and editing
exercises for an imagined audience of non-specialists—including reviews of recordings and lectures, program
notes for concerts, an interview with a prominent musician—and discussions of controversial issues in
academic music. This course addresses a variety of issues, such as how to write about the experience of live
performance or how to assess music as a kind of social activism. By translating the technical vocabulary of
academic music into a language accessible to the public, students find that they listen and think musically in
new and unanticipated ways.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: MUS 100. Open to Juniors and Seniors.; Instructor: Fontijn;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHIL331 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Philosophy in the First Person
Philosophical writing is often thought to be impersonal and abstract, focused on rigorous argument and high
theory to the exclusion of personal narrative, voice, humor, and literary style. But not all philosophy takes that
form. This seminar explores the alternative mode of more personal philosophical writing, as it appears in
contemporary personal essays on philosophical themes and pieces of public philosophy with a personal slant
philosophy (in, e.g., The New York Times, The Point, Aeon, and The New Yorker.) The course is structured as
a writing workshop, and centrally aims to develop students’ confidence and skill in writing their own pieces of
autobiographical philosophy. Students will create a portfolio of writing and workshop it closely with their peers
and professor throughout the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Intended for Philosophy
majors and minors, but students with at least two courses in Philosophy will be considered.; Instructor: de
Bres; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL1333 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Perspectives on American Politics
This course will teach students to effectively communicate to the public political science research on American
politics. This will require students to step back from the details of their coursework to examine how political
science has shaped their understandings of political phenomena. How are the perspectives of political
scientists different from those of practitioners and the public? How can these perspectives contribute to public
debates on politics? Through a series of writing assignments--for example Op/eds, book reviews and
interviews--students will learn how to translate expert knowledge and perspectives into everyday language, but
perhaps even more importantly, how to draw on that knowledge to address the concerns of citizens about the
political world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least one POL1 course or by permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Burke; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC343 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Psychology in the Public Interest
Take a step back from your psychology major and learn how to transfer your expertise to the public. This
Calderwood Seminar challenges upper-class students in an intimate workshop setting to grow as
psychologists and writers. Throughout the semester, students will build a writing portfolio that might include
op-eds, book reviews, journal article reviews, coverage of public talks, Wikipedia entries, articles for middle
school STEM magazines, and interviews with research psychologists. Classes will include collaborative editing
workshops, guest lectures from experts, and activities to build a strong writing foundation. In keeping with the
structure of the Calderwood seminar, students choose areas of psychology to study in depth, and weekly
deadlines are firm so as to allow classmates time to reflect and comment on each others' work. You have
learned how to write for college, now learn how to write for life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to Junior and Senior Psychology majors who have taken two
200-level courses, excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Gleason; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WRIT346 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Data for Humans
The growing field of data humanism recognizes data as foundational to our economic, political, and social
systems, while also seeking to recenter people in the process of its curation. In this course, we will explore the
use of data through a humanistic lens, not only to better understand the critical role data plays in our lives, but
also to discover how we can use data to become more humane. We will ask: if the word data comes from the
Latin root for “the thing given,” by and to whom is it given? When exactly did data get “big”? What do we mean
when we identify projects as “data-driven”? How can data intersect with social justice activism? And with art
and storytelling? Students will engage these questions by drawing on the work of historians, cultural critics,
journalists, social scientists, data analysts and designers, performing their own data tracking, and using their
research to craft opinion pieces, reviews, reports, and other forms of public writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors, or by permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Brubaker; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories:
CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: WRIT391 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: A Word After a Word After a Word is Power:
Women Writing the 21st Century
Margaret Atwood professes that, “A word after a word after a word is power.” Propelled by the #MeToo
movement, LeanIn, and the women’s march, women are baring their truths, beliefs, and experiences in an
explosion of public words. In this seminar students will become immersed in the dynamic contemporary
landscape of women’s writing, spanning memoir, poetry, journalism, and political commentary. Within an
intimate workshop setting, students will develop their own voices through assignments that will include book
reviews, op-eds, social media analyses, and interviews. By taking turns as writers and editors, students will
become skilled in evaluating and fostering their own writing as well as the writing of others. This course takes
as its premise the intensive Calderwood format of having students regularly produce, critique, and revise their
and their peers' writing by alternating being writers and editors throughout the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: This course is open only to juniors and seniors; all students must
have taken at least one 200-level course in the study of literature.; Instructor: H. Bryant; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Chemical Physics
An Interdisciplinary Area of Scholarship, Research, and Employment
The Departments of Chemistry and Physics offer an interdepartmental major in Chemical Physics, an
interdisciplinary field of study at the intersection of chemistry and physics. The major incorporates the core
elements of the Chemistry and Physics degrees that relate to the structure and properties of atoms, molecules,
and materials. It offers a richer foundation in physics than the standard Chemistry major and significantly more
experience in experimental and theoretical chemistry than the usual Physics major.
Chemical physics is an interdisciplinary field at the crossroads of chemistry and physics that applies the
quantitative methods usually associated with physics to systems of chemical interest. While these systems
range in size and complexity, from atomic nuclei to nano-materials and biological molecules, the unifying
theme of chemical physics is the development of a quantitative understanding of a system’s structural and
dynamical properties. Core elements of both chemistry and physics inform experimental, theoretical, and
modeling work in the discipline. The interdisciplinary nature of Chemical Physics makes it appropriate that this
major should not reside in just one department.
Chemical Physics Major
Goals for the Chemical Physics Major
Develop solid foundations in, and reliable facility with, the principles of chemistry and physics.
Recognize the physical situations each field is suited to address, and the interconnections between the
two fields.
Develop the ability to integrate concepts and techniques from chemistry and physics in the context of
interdisciplinary problems associated with systems ranging from atomic nuclei to biological molecules.
Develop strong quantitative skills and facility with the mathematical and computational techniques at
the center of modern science. Learn to apply those skills in problem-solving contexts in chemistry and
physics.
Gain experience with laboratory practices throughout the curriculum with an emphasis on applying the
scientific method, learning the skills of thoughtful experimental design, and exploring independent
experimentation.
Be prepared for postgraduate study and/or public/private sector employment in fields informed by the
principles and methods of chemistry and physics.
Requirements for the Chemical Physics Major
A major in Chemical Physics includes:
CHEM 105/CHEM 105P/CHEM 116 and CHEM 205, or CHEM 120
PHYS 107 and PHYS 108 (1.0 unit)
PHYS 205 (Introduction to Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics with Computation, with
Laboratory)
MATH 215 (MATH 205 is a prerequisite for PHYS 208)
PHYS 207 (Classical Dynamics) (includes wave phenomena)
PHYS 208 (Intermediate Electromagnetism)
PHYS 210 (Experimental Techniques) or CHEM 361
CHEM 211 and CHEM 341
CHEM 330 and CHEM 335
One from among PHYS 302 (Quantum Mechanics), PHYS 305 (Statistical Mechanics and
Thermodynamics), PHYS 308 (Electromagnetic Theory), PHYS 310 (Experimental Physics), PHYS
323H (Adv. Topics in Quant. Mech) (0.5 units), PHYS 331 (Modern Materials).
Students are encouraged to participate in research projects via CHPH 250 or CHPH 350 or CHPH 355/CHPH
365 or CHPH 360/CHPH 370.
Students planning to take the Chemistry GRE in their senior year should consider taking CHEM 212 and
CHEM 361 in their junior year.
Students planning to take the Physics GRE in their senior year should consider taking PHYS 308 and PHYS
305 in their junior year.
If a student is considering pursuing graduate-level chemical theory/modeling, she is encouraged to take
CHEM 309 in addition to the standard requirements.
Honors in Chemical Physics
To be admitted to the Honors Program, a student must have a minimum grade point average of 3.5 in all work
in the major field above the 100 level not counting grades in independent research courses; students with a
GPA below the cut-off should register for CHPH 355. If that course is completed successfully, a petition may be
made on the student's behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.3 and 3.5. The student must complete a
significant research project culminating in an honors thesis and an oral examination (CHPH 370). See
Academic Distinctions.
CHPH Courses
Course ID: CHPH250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHPH350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHPH355 Title: Thesis Research
The first course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research problem, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Departments of
Chemistry and Physics. This route does not lead to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Seniors only. Permission of the instructor required.;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHPH360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: CHPH365 Title: Thesis
The second course in a two-semester investigation of a significant chemistry/physics research problem,
culminating in the preparation of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the
chemistry and physics departments. This route does not lead to honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHPH 355 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHPH370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHPH 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Chemistry
Chemistry has often been referred to as “The Central Science.” Knowledge of the properties and behavior of
atoms and molecules is crucial to our understanding of medicine, biological systems, neuroscience,
nanotechnology, environmental science, and myriad other areas. All of the traditional subfields of chemistry —
analytical chemistry, biochemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and physical chemistry, as well as
environmental chemistry, computational chemistry, astrochemistry, and nanochemistry — are represented in
the course offerings and opportunities for student-faculty collaborative research.
Learning Goals for Chemistry Students
Our learning goals for chemistry students are focused on six major areas:
Knowledge
Predict the properties of atoms, molecules, and materials from information about their structure.
Characterize (quantitatively and qualitatively) interactions of light with matter.
Predict and explain the outcome of chemical reactions by applying kinetic and thermodynamic
principles.
Problem Solving
Develop testable hypotheses, design and execute experiments, analyze data, and draw appropriate
conclusions.
Evaluate and report data using appropriate visual and statistical methods.
Utilize appropriate instrumentation to solve chemical problems.
Apply, develop, and critically evaluate the validity of models (computational, mathematical, and
abstract) to make predictions.
Integrate theory and experiments to explain chemical phenomena.
Scientific Literacy
Retrieve, critically evaluate, and properly cite technical articles from the chemical literature.
Communicate effectively through formal and informal means to chemists and to the broader
population.
Connect chemical principles to contemporary issues.
Safety
Understand, and practice safe laboratory techniques to minimize risk in the lab.
Critically evaluate safety protocols and suggest improvements.
Ethics
Demonstrate high standards of professional conduct, including data integrity, proper attribution of
work, and reproducibility.
Appreciate the impact of chemists in contributing to and addressing societal problems.
Engage in respectful discourse regarding controversial topics related to science.
Teamwork
Work effectively in diverse groups to solve scientific problems.
Gain proficiency in serving as a leader and as an effective team member.
Chemistry Major
Requirements for the Chemistry Major
We invite any student who plans to take chemistry courses to consult one or more members of the Chemistry
Department faculty. The department website (www.wellesley.edu/chemistry) contains specific suggestions
about how to structure academic programs and deals with a variety of topics including preparation in
mathematics and physics, graduate programs, and careers of former majors.
The major consists of the following courses:
CHEM 105 or CHEM 105P or CHEM 116 and CHEM 205, or CHEM 120
CHEM 211 and CHEM 212
CHEM 330
Three from among CHEM 223; CHEM 334; CHEM 335; CHEM 341; CHEM 361
Completion of the independent research in chemistry requirement as described below.
One additional chemistry course at the 300 level, excluding research courses, thesis courses, and
CHEM 331.
Additionally, the following courses outside of the Chemistry Department are required for the major:
MATH 215 or MATH 205 or equivalent
PHYS 104 or PHYS 107 or equivalent
PHYS 106 or PHYS 108 or equivalent
We recommend that students consult with their major advisors about whether additional coursework in
chemistry or other related areas would be useful to support particular career or graduate study plans. More
information on careers in chemistry and graduate school requirements can be found on the Chemistry
Department website.
In particular, students planning to go to graduate school in chemistry are encouraged to take MATH 215,
BIOC/CHEM 223, CHEM 335, CHEM 341 and CHEM 361 to obtain a wide breadth in chemistry. Students
planning to study physical chemistry in graduate school should consider taking CHEM 335 in their junior year
and PHYS 320 in their senior year, and consult with faculty about potential additional math courses.
Early completion of the mathematics and physics requirements is strongly encouraged. Students may satisfy
the physics requirements by passing the exemption exam given by the Physics Department for the relevant
course(s). Students planning a major or minor in physics or mathematics should consult with those
departments to understand how course requirements for those majors are impacted by the chemistry
requirements in math and physics.
Normally no more than three courses of chemistry taken at another institution may be counted toward the
major.
Students interested in the interdepartmental major in Biochemistry are referred to the section of the catalog
where that major is described. They should also consult with the director of the Biochemistry program.
Students interested in the interdepartmental major in Chemical Physics are referred to the section of the
catalog where that major is described. They should also consult with a faculty member involved in that
program.
Independent Research in Chemistry
The chemistry major requires one semester or summer of research. As Chemistry is a very multidisciplinary
field, a wide range of research can fulfill this requirement, including work with faculty members in many
science departments at Wellesley. Students should ask their major advisor or the department chair if they
have any questions about whether a particular research project is appropriate to fulfill this requirement. The
research requirement for the chemistry major can be fulfilled in any of the following ways. Paid research
experiences or internships can count for this requirement.
1. Research at Wellesley: On-campus research projects can be supervised by a member of the Wellesley
College Chemistry Department or other Wellesley faculty performing research that considers systems on the
molecular level or builds in some manner upon coursework in the major. This on-campus research could
involve one of the following:
a. Independent Study in Chemistry, equivalent of 1.0 units total of CHEM 250, CHEM 250H, CHEM 350 or
CHEM 350H.
b. Thesis in Chemistry, CHEM 355 & CHEM 365 or CHEM 360 & CHEM 370. Off-campus theses require
active involvement by a Wellesley faculty member throughout the research period.
c. Participation in the Wellesley Summer Research Program.
d. Other research equivalent to at least 10 hours per week for one semester, including experiences such
as the Sophom*ore Early Research Program.
2. Research off-campus: A student may participate in an approved off-campus research program during the
academic year (at least 10 hours per week minimum for one semester) or an approved summer research
program (normally eight weeks minimum length). Students electing to use an off-campus research experience
to fulfill the research requirement must have the research project approved, ideally in advance, by a faculty
member in the Chemistry Department. Off-campus research may be performed at an academic institution, a
government lab, or in the private sector.
In all cases, in order to fulfill the research requirement for the major, the student must complete a paper of at
least 8-10 pages on the research and give an approved presentation on campus. The paper must contain
substantial literature references, demonstrating a familiarity with searching the chemical literature. A copy of
the paper must be submitted to the chair of the Chemistry Department.
Honors in Chemistry
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination (CHEM 360 and
CHEM 370). To be admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in
all work in the major field above the 100 level. Students with a GPA below the cut-off should register for CHEM
355. If that course is completed successfully, the department may petition on the student's behalf if her GPA in
the major is between 3.3 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Placement
Students typically begin their study of chemistry in CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, CHEM 116 (BISC 116), or CHEM
120, according to their previous preparation. Students who have taken one year of high school chemistry
should elect CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, or CHEM 116 followed by either CHEM 205 or CHEM 211. Students with
a 4 or 5 on the Chemistry AP exam (or C or better on the A-level or 5 or higher on the higher level IB exam)
typically elect CHEM 120. They may elect CHEM 211 if they demonstrate sufficient mastery of material from
CHEM 120. Additional information on choosing a first chemistry course can be found on our departmental
website: https://www.wellesley.edu/chemistry/choosing-a-first-chemistry-course
Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate Credit in Chemistry
Students who score a 5 on the AP exam or 5 or higher on the IB higher level examination who complete CHEM
120 may count one unit of AP or IB course credit toward graduation.
Transfer Credit in Chemistry
Transfer students wishing to obtain credit for chemistry courses taken prior to enrollment at Wellesley should
consult the chair of the department as soon as possible.
All other enrolled Wellesley students must obtain prior approval from the chair of the department via the
Wellesley College Registrar’s Office in order to obtain Wellesley credit for any chemistry course taken at
another institution during the summer or the academic year. Students, especially those taking chemistry
courses abroad, may be required to contact the course professor to obtain specific details about the course
because the online course description may be insufficient to make an informed decision. In general, courses
from two-year colleges taken as part of a high school program or after enrollment at Wellesley will not be
accepted.
Withdrawal from Courses with Laboratory in Chemistry
Students who withdraw from a course that includes laboratory and then elect that course in another semester
must complete both the lecture and laboratory portions of the course the second time.
American Chemical Society Accreditation
The American Chemical Society has established a set of requirements in various areas that it considers
essential for providing breadth and depth in the training of undergraduate chemists. Students who complete
CHEM 211, CHEM 212, BIOC/CHEM 223, CHEM 330, CHEM 341, CHEM 361 and at least three
additional courses at the 200 or 300 level (one of which can be independent study research), will fulfill the
chemistry requirements for an ACS certified degree.
Teacher Certification in Chemistry
The Chemistry Department strongly supports our students who are interested in obtaining certification to teach
chemistry in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or elsewhere. We encourage students to consult jointly with
us and the chair of the education department to determine the best undergraduate preparation for that goal.
Chemistry Minor
Requirements for the Chemistry Minor
A minor in chemistry includes:
CHEM 105 or CHEM 105P or CHEM 116 and CHEM 205, or CHEM 120
CHEM 211
Two courses from the following: BIOC 223/CHEM 223, CHEM 330, BIOC/CHEM 331, CHEM 341, or
CHEM 361. Note that students cannot complete both CHEM 330 and BIOC/CHEM 331 for minor
requirements.
One additional 200- or 300- level course, excluding research courses (CHEM 250, CHEM 350, CHEM
355, CHEM 365)
Normally no more than one unit in chemistry from another institution may be counted toward the minor.
CHEM Courses
Course ID: BIOC223/CHEM223 Title: Fundamentals of Biochemistry with Laboratory
This course brings together the fundamental multidisciplinary concepts governing life at the molecular level
and opens a gateway to advanced biochemistry offerings. Grounded in an understanding of aqueous
equilibria, thermodynamic, kinetic, and spectroscopic principles, the course will emphasize the structure and
function of proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids. The laboratory introduces modern laboratory
techniques for the study of biomolecules and develops experimental design and critical data analysis skills.
The laboratory component can be of particular value to students planning or engaged in independent research
and those considering graduate level work related to biochemistry. This course counts toward Chemistry or
Biochemistry major requirements.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: (CHEM 205 or CHEM 120) and CHEM 211 and one of the
following (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, BISC 116, CHEM 212), and permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Elmore, Hall, Tantama; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: BIOC227/CHEM227 Title: Principles of Biochemistry
A survey of the chemical foundations of life processes, with focus on theory and applications relevant to
medicine. Topics include bioenergetics, metabolism, and macromolecular structure. Essential skills such as
data analysis and understanding of the primary literature will be approached through in-class discussions and
application to current biomedical problems. This course is suitable for students wanting an overview of
biochemistry, but it will not contain the experimental introduction to biochemical methods and laboratory
instrumentation required for the Chemistry and Biochemistry majors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: (CHEM 205 or CHEM 120) and CHEM 211 and one of the following
(BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, BISC 116). Not open to students who have completed BIOC
223/CHEM 223.; Instructor: Kress; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Does not count
toward the minimum major in Chemistry.;
Course ID: BIOC320/CHEM320 Title: Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory
An intensive laboratory course offering a multiweek independent team research project and training in
experimental applications of physical chemistry and biochemistry. Topics will include spectroscopy and
chemical thermodynamics of biomolecules. This course will emphasize independent hypothesis development
and experimental design skills as well as public presentation of results. Students will read primary literature,
construct a research proposal, develop their own laboratory protocols manual, conduct experiments using a
variety of instrumentation, and present their research. One class period per week plus one lab and mandatory
weekly meetings with instructor.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: BIOC 223/CHEM 223; Instructor: Oakes; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking
Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BIOC323/CHEM323 Title: Seminar: Chemical Biology
Many critical research advances result from applying basic chemical principles and tools to biological systems.
This approach has opened up exciting new areas of study, such as the development of bio-orthogonal
reactions, the engineering of cells to incorporate “unnatural” biomolecules, selective modifications to cellular
surfaces, and the synthesis of peptidomimetics and other bio-inspired materials. These approaches have
allowed for important advances in developing novel therapeutics, engineering modern materials, and the
studying biological processes in vivo. In this course, students will explore contemporary research
breakthroughs in chemical biology through reading, analysis and discussion of the primary literature. Students
will also propose novel research directions through the preparation of independent research proposals.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BIOC 223/CHEM 223 or BIOC 227/CHEM 227, or permission of
instructor.; Instructor: Elmore, Woodford; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: BIOC324/CHEM324 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Can Biochemistry Help Address
Societal Problems?
Researchers increasingly attempt to harness biochemical approaches as a way to address pressing societal
problems. For example, recent work has focused on topics including the effective production of biofuels,
remediation of environmental pollutants and developing new treatments for antibiotic resistant pathogens. In
this course, juniors and seniors will explore contemporary research aimed at solving these problems through
readings in the primary literature, invited lectures, interviewing researchers and developing independent
research proposals. Students will analyze and interpret research findings through weekly writing assignments
targeted towards broad audiences, such as research summaries for the scientific press, textbook sections,
executive summaries and proposals accessible to non-specialists. Class sessions will be structured as
workshops to analyze core chemical and biological concepts and provide structured critiques of writing
assignments.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BIOC/CHEM 223 or BIOC/CHEM 227 or BIOC/BISC 220 or (CHEM
205 and CHEM 211 and (BISC 110 or BISC 112 or BISC 116)), or permission of the instructor. ; Instructor:
Elmore; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BIOC325/CHEM325 Title: Seminar: Biosensors & Optogenetics
Biosensors and optogenetics are important tools used to understand the physiology of living systems across
the molecular, cellular, tissue, and organismal levels. Luminescent biosensors emit light during a
measurement while optogenetics are activated by light to control and manipulate signaling and metabolism in
living cells. In this course, students will explore the chemistry and biology of these tools, focusing on the
principles of their design, strategies for their construction, and their applications in the life and physical
sciences. Students will engage the subject matter with group work, peer-to-peer editing, and individual
assignments through a combination of active-learning lectures, current literature analysis, and oral
presentations. The course will culminate in the writing and presentation of an NIH-style original research
proposal. This course will provide foundations for thinking about protein engineering as well as hypothesisdriven biological questions, and it is appropriate for students across the spectrum of chemical, physical, and
biological interests.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BIOC/CHEM 223 or BIOC/CHEM 227 or BIOC/BISC 220 or (CHEM
205 and CHEM 212 and (BISC 110 or BISC 112 or BISC 116)); Instructor: Tantama; Distribution Requirements:
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: BIOC331/CHEM331 Title: Physical Chemistry of Biological Systems: The Fundamental Models of
Biological Molecules and Processes
Provides a survey of fundamental principles in physical chemistry and how they relate specifically to the
study of biological molecules and processes. Emphasis is placed on empowering students to understand,
evaluate, and use models as approximations for the biomolecular world. Models are mathematically
represented and provide both qualitative and quantitative insight into biologically relevant systems.
Commonly used experimental techniques such as spectroscopy and calorimetry are explained from first
principles with quantum mechanical and statistical mechanical models, and computational applications such
as protein structure prediction and molecular design are explained through physical models such as
molecular mechanics and dynamics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: BIOC 223/CHEM 223 and MATH 116 or equivalent.; Instructor: M.
Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
Does not count toward the chemistry major but counts toward the biochemistry major and the chemistry
minor. Students are strongly encouraged to complete one course in physics in addition to the stated
prerequisites before enrolling; ;
Course ID: CHEM100H Title: Chemistry in Context
This course is designed to deepen students' understanding of the skills and topics taught in introductory
chemistry. Enrollment is by invitation only and will draw from students concurrently enrolled in CHEM 105. The
class will link the skills and concepts covered in CHEM 105 to topics of current interest including food science,
environmental pollution and remediation, nuclear power, and alternative fuels. Students will gain a better
understanding of the ways the tools they are learning in introductory chemistry can be applied to real world
situations.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Students must be simultaneously
enrolled in CHEM 105.; Instructor: Miwa; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: CHEM103/ES103 Title: Elements and the Environment
Elements and molecules interact with the environment producing global challenges such as climate change,
ozone depletion, and heavy metal pollution. This course is a general introduction to the chemistry of such
environmental problems, focusing on the chemical principles that regulate the effect, fate, and transport of
chemicals in the environment. It explores how the structure of a chemical relates to its environmental impact
and how interactions can be predicted through chemistry. Assignments will include working with real data-sets
of elements in the environment, such as records of carbon in forests, oxygen in the ocean, and heavy metals in
soils. Chem 103 is intended for students with very little prior chemistry experience. This course does not count
towards the chemistry major or minor.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Stanley; Distribution Requirements: NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHEM105 Title: Fundamentals of Chemistry with Laboratory
This course is designed for students majoring in the physical and biological sciences as well as those wishing
an introduction to modern molecular science. Core principles and applications of chemistry are combined to
provide students with a conceptual understanding of chemistry that will help them in both their professional
and everyday lives. Topics include principles of nuclear chemistry, atomic and molecular structure, molecular
energetics, chemical equilibrium, and chemical kinetics. The laboratory work introduces students to synthesis
and structural determination by infrared and other spectroscopic techniques, periodic properties,
computational chemistry, statistical analysis, and various quantitative methods of analysis. This course is
intended for students who have taken one year of high school chemistry and have a math background
equivalent to two years of high school algebra. Students who have AP or IB credit in chemistry, and who elect
CHEM 105, forfeit the AP or IB credit.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - CHEM 105L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 28; Prerequisites: One year of high school chemistry. Fulfillment of the
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open
to students who have taken CHEM 105P, CHEM 116, or CHEM 120.; Instructor: Oakes, Tantama, Verschoor,
Doe, Mavros; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; MM - Mathematical
Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM105L Title: Laboratory: Fundamentals of Chemistry
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for CHEM 105.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One year of high school chemistry. Fulfillment of the Quantitative
Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students
who have taken CHEM 105P, CHEM 116, or CHEM 120.; Instructor: Oakes, Tantama, Verschoor, Doe, Mavros;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM105P Title: Fundamentals of Chemistry with Laboratory
This course is designed for students interested in pursuing further study in the physical and biological
sciences, as well as those wishing an introduction to modern molecular science. Core principles and
applications of chemistry are combined to provide students with a conceptual understanding of chemistry that
will help them in both their professional and everyday lives. Topics include principles of nuclear chemistry,
atomic and molecular structure, thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium, and chemical kinetics. The laboratory
work introduces students to synthesis and structural determination by infrared and other spectroscopic
techniques, periodic properties, computational chemistry, statistical analysis, and various quantitative methods
of analysis. This course is intended for students who do not meet the prerequisites for CHEM 105 or for
students who, because of their previous chemistry and math experiences, would appreciate additional
academic support for the study of introductory chemistry. Includes two additional class meetings each week.
Students in CHEM 105P must enroll in CHEM 105P lab.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open by permission of the instructor to students regardless of
high school background or whether the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative
Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement has been fulfilled. Not open to students who have taken CHEM 105,
CHEM 116, or CHEM 120; Instructor: Miwa, McCarthy; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical
Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHEM116 Title: Fundamentals of Chemistry and Molecular/Cellular Biology with Lab: An
Integrated Approach
This gateway course provides an integrated introduction to the application of chemical principles to
understand biological systems and covers the content of both BISC 110/BISC 110P/BISC 112/BISC 112Y and
CHEM 105. It is designed for students whose interests lie at the interface of chemistry and biology and must be
taken concurrently with BISC 116. Students will learn how structure and function of biological systems are
shaped by principles of atomic properties and chemical bonding. Cellular metabolism and molecular genetics
are integrated with quantitative introductions to thermodynamics, equilibrium, and kinetics. Other topics
motivated by the application of chemistry to biology include nuclear chemistry and cellular growth and
differentiation. The laboratory is a hands-on introduction to spectroscopy, microscopy, and other experimental
techniques, as well as quantitative analysis, experimental design, and scientific writing. Successful completion
of this course enables a student to take any course for which either CHEM105 or BISC 110/BISC 110P/BISC
112/BISC 112Y is a prerequisite.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 32; Prerequisites: One year of high school chemistry, math equivalent to two
years of high school algebra, and fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative
Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken BISC 110/BISC 110P, BISC
112/BISC 112Y, CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, or CHEM 120. Students must attend lab during the first week to
continue in the course.; Instructor: Woodford, Matthews (Biological Sciences); Distribution Requirements: MM
- Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes:
CHEM 116-01 and BISC 116-01 are co-requisite courses and students must register for both sections at the
same time. Students must also register simultaneously for a lab section (either BISC 116 L01 or BISC 116 L02).
Students must attend the first lab session in order to continue in the course. Students with AP or IB credit in
chemistry who elect this course forfeit the AP or IB credit.;
Course ID: CHEM120 Title: Intensive Introductory Chemistry with Laboratory
A one-semester course for students who have completed more than one year of high school chemistry,
replacing CHEM 105 and CHEM 205 as a prerequisite for more advanced chemistry courses. It presents the
topics of nuclear chemistry, atomic structure and bonding, periodicity, kinetics, thermodynamics,
electrochemistry, equilibrium, acid/base chemistry, solubility, and transition metal chemistry. All of these topics
are presented in the context of both historical and contemporary applications. The laboratory includes
experiments directly related to topics covered in lecture, an introduction of statistical analysis of data,
molecular modeling and computational chemistry, instrumental and classical methods of analysis,
thermochemistry, and solution equilibria. The course meets for four periods of lecture/discussion and one 3.5hour laboratory.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 32; Prerequisites: Open to students who have a score of 4 or 5 on the Chemistry
AP exam or an IB Chemistry higher level score of 5 or above. Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have
completed CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, CHEM 116 and/or CHEM 205.; Instructor: Arumainayagam, McCarthy;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHEM205 Title: Chemical Analysis and Equilibrium with Laboratory
This course builds on the principles introduced in CHEM 105, with an emphasis on chemical equilibrium and
analysis, and their role in the chemistry of the environment. Topics include chemical reactions in aqueous
solution with particular emphasis on acids and bases; solubility and complexation; electrochemistry; modeling
of complex equilibrium and kinetic systems; statistical analysis of data; and solid state chemistry. The
laboratory work includes additional experience with instrumental and noninstrumental methods of analysis,
sampling, and solution equilibria.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - CHEM 205L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 28; Prerequisites: CHEM 105 or CHEM 105P or CHEM 116 and fulfillment of the
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement (formerly
QR-Basic Skills). Not open to students who have taken CHEM 120; Instructor: Flynn, M. Hall, Oakes, Stanley,
Tantama, Wax; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; MM - Mathematical Modeling
and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM205L Title: Laboratory: Chemical Analysis and Equilibrium
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for CHEM 205.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: CHEM 105 or CHEM 105P or CHEM 116 and fulfillment of the
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement (formerly
QR-Basic Skills). Not open to students who have taken CHEM 120.; Instructor: Flynn, M. Hall, Oakes, Stanley,
Tantama, Wax; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM211 Title: Organic Chemistry I with Laboratory
Topics covered include: stereochemistry, synthesis and reactions of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, alkyl halides,
alcohols and ethers, nomenclature of organic functional groups, polarimetry, IR, C-NMR, and GC/MS.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - CHEM 211L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, CHEM 116, or CHEM 120.; Instructor:
Miwa, Woodford, Doe, McCarthy, Wenny; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Spring; Spring; Fall;
Course ID: CHEM211L Title: Laboratory: Organic Chemistry I
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for CHEM 211.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, CHEM 116, or CHEM 120.; Instructor:
Miwa, Woodford, Doe, McCarthy, Wenny; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM212 Title: Organic Chemistry II with Laboratory
A continuation of CHEM 211. Includes NMR spectroscopy, synthesis, reactions of aromatic and carbonyl
compounds, amines, and carbohydrates. In addition, students are expected to study the chemical literature
and write a short chemistry review paper.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - CHEM 212L
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CHEM 211.; Instructor: McCarthy, Miwa, Vellucci, Woodford,
Doe; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM212L Title: Laboratory: Organic Chemistry II
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for CHEM 212.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CHEM 211.; Instructor: McCarthy, Miwa, Vellucci, Woodford, Doe;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Research is supervised by a member of the Wellesley College chemistry department. Off-campus research
requires active participation of a Wellesley faculty member throughout the research period. Course fulfills the
research requirement for the major only upon completion of a paper of 8-10 pages on the research and a
presentation to the chemistry department during one of the two research seminar presentation periods. A copy
of the paper must be submitted to the chair of the department.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open by permission to students who have taken at least one
chemistry course and are not eligible for CHEM 350.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Research is supervised by a member of the Wellesley College Chemistry Department. Students will be
expected to devote 10-12 hours per week for CHEM 250 and five to six hours for CHEM 250H.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open by permission to students who have taken at least one
chemistry course and are not eligible for CHEM 350 or 350H.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM302/EDUC317 Title: Seminar: Communicating and Teaching Chemistry
Making scientific discoveries is clearly important, but it is also vital to be able to communicate science
effectively to non-expert audiences. How do people learn? And in particular, how do inquiry-based learning
techniques improve the learning experience? This course provides students the opportunities to explore and
apply current research on learning and instructional strategies by developing a series of hands-on in-class
chemistry activities. Students will read primary literature on pedagogical approaches from a range of sources,
including chemical education journals. Students will synthesize and apply numerous chemical concepts that
they have learned in-depth in previous chemistry classes in order to design and teach a chemistry lesson at a
local elementary school. Additionally, students will communicate and teach chemistry to non-expert audiences
at a museum or science cafe. This class will be useful to students considering careers in the medical
profession, so that they can clearly explain science to their patients; careers in research science, so they can
inform the public of their discoveries; and careers in education, so they can teach science in an exciting and
meaningful fashion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CHEM 205 or CHEM 120.; Instructor: Stanley; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHEM303 Title: Seminar: Aquatic Chemistry
Chemical reactions govern the interactions of molecules in oceans, lakes and rivers and regulate the
biogeochemical cycles of many elements including carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and trace metals. This course will
enable students to predict and understand chemical reactions occurring in aquatic systems and the fate of
environmental pollutants and natural compounds. Topics include the environmental applications of
thermodynamics and kinetics, acid-base reactions in natural waters, precipitation-dissolution reactions, and
photochemical reactions of organic and inorganic compounds. The course has a heavy emphasis on reading
and interpreting primary literature, including both classic and recent papers, and students will write a research
proposal on an aquatic chemical topic of their choosing. Additionally, we will interact with current researchers
in aquatic chemistry and participate in a field trip to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One of the following - CHEM 120, CHEM 205, CHEM 211, GEOS
203; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Stanley; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every four years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHEM304 Title: Seminar. Photochemistry: Lights, Camera, Action!
Photochemistry involves reactions of electronically-excited species that are produced by the absorption of
non-ionizing photons. Photochemistry is of tremendous importance in natural processes (e.g., vision,
photosynthesis, atmospheric chemistry, synthesis of prebiotic molecules in space) and a myriad of
technologies (photography, photolithography to fabricate miniature transistors that are central to cell phones,
and photopolymerization). In this course, we will see that gas-phase photochemistry experimental techniques
(e.g., velocity map imaging and table-top based attosecond laser sources) may be used to extract exquisite
details with unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution across the entire reaction path. However, such
detailed information cannot be obtained for condensed-phase photochemistry, which involves greater
complexity, including the production of excitons, excimers, and exciplexes. Students will be provided with a
qualitative understanding of quantum mechanical principles (e.g., Franck-Condon principle and the BornOppenheimer approximation) critical to the molecular-level understanding of photochemistry. The seminar will
include guest lectures by experts, group discussions, readings from the primary and review literature, field
trip(s), movies, weekly writing assignments, and a final paper.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: One of the following - CHEM 105, CHEM 116, CHEM 120; or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Arumainayagam; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and
Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: CHEM305/PHYS331 Title: Modern Materials
Optical and electronic materials, ranging from solar cells to superconductors, are central to our modern lives
and will be crucial in solving the technological challenges of our future. For students interested in engineering
applications of fundamental physics phenomena, this interdisciplinary course will introduce the science behind
the development of modern materials and devices. Through hands-on projects, students will explore the
development of optical and electronic materials from their atomic origins, to their implementation in
semiconductor devices, and finally their long term environmental impact. This course connects topics often
covered in separate physics, chemistry, and engineering courses. Previous experience with concepts from
introductory physics is strongly recommended.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PHYS 108 and either PHYS 210 or CHEM 361, or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Belisle; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHEM307 Title: Nanoscience
“Why cannot we write the entire 24 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica on the head of a pin?” When the
physicist Richard Feynman first asked that question a half century ago, the word nanoscience had yet to be
used. Today, nanoscience and nanotechnology have created a great deal of interest from scientists and
engineers and also from the general public. Questions we will address include: What is the nature of
nanoscience and nanotechnology? What are the principles that enable us to predict behavior over nanometer
length scales? How are nanomaterials made and organized? How is nanotechnology likely to impact our lives?
We will use the primary literature, popular portrayals, and interactions with researchers in nanoscience as
avenues to explore the field.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHEM 205 or CHEM 120, and CHEM 211.; Instructor: Flynn;
Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Every three
years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHEM309 Title: Computational Chemistry
Computational chemistry now plays a crucial role in both the design and the analysis of molecules and
systems across industries including pharmaceuticals, materials, and manufacturing. This course will provide
students with a conceptual understanding of computational modeling techniques pertinent to chemistry along
with practical experience applying these methods. Specific techniques considered in the course may include
quantum mechanical ab initio and semiempirical models, molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics
simulations, optimization and sampling frameworks, and machine learning, with case studies coming from
current literature. Emphasis will be placed on the trade-offs between model accuracy and efficiency, and
fundamental principles in computer programming, numerical methods, hardware, and software will be
introduced as they relate to this trade-off. Application of these methods to solve problems in diverse areas,
such as protein structure, drug design, organic reactivity, and inorganic systems, will also be emphasized. In
addition to regular computer-based exercises, the course will culminate in an independent project utilizing
techniques presented in the course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: (CHEM 105 and CHEM 205) or (CHEM 116 and CHEM 205) or
CHEM 120, and CHEM 211 and MATH 116, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Mavros; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHEM310 Title: Seminar: Chemistry of the Heavens
The course will cover the foundations of astrochemistry, a young field at the intersection between chemistry
and astronomy. Topics to be discussed include the interstellar medium, atomic and molecular physics,
interstellar chemistry, molecular astronomy, and unresolved enigmas in the field, such as the hom*ochirality of
amino acids. The seminar will involve guest lectures by experts, group discussions, readings from the primary
and review literature, field trip(s), movies (including a science fiction movie), weekly writing assignments,
telescopic observations, and one day in a laboratory on earth.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CHEM 105 or CHEM 120.; Instructor: Arumainayagam; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHEM312 Title: Seminar: Design and Synthesis of Antiviral Medicines
Why are there so many antibiotics and so few medicines to treat viral infections? In this course, students will
learn how antiviral drugs are created. We will learn how viral targets are selected, the strategies used to design
or discover drug candidates, and the process of optimizing these candidates to produce effective medications.
Areas of focus will include HIV, which has been successfully controlled through antiviral medications, as well
as Covid-19 and influenza, for which there are few effective drugs. Students will work individually and in teams
to read/analyze primary literature and prepare oral presentations and infographics to demonstrate and
enhance understanding. The course will culminate in the preparation and presentation of an original research
proposal.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CHEM 212.; Instructor: Miwa; Distribution Requirements: NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHEM318 Title: Advanced Organic Chemistry: Reactions, Mechanisms, and Modern Synthetic
Methods
This course will cover strategies and tactics for assembling complex organic molecules. Considerable
emphasis will be placed on stereoselective synthesis, including the stereoselective construction of ring
systems, acyclic stereocontrol, and asymmetric catalysis. Reaction mechanisms will also be emphasized
throughout the semester. Lecture topics will be accompanied by case studies drawn from the current chemical
literature. The course will culminate in an independent project involving pharmaceuticals and other molecules
of medicinal importance.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CHEM 212; Instructor: Carrico-Moniz, Miwa; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHEM330 Title: Physical Chemistry I with Laboratory
Molecular basis of chemistry; intensive overview of theories, models, and techniques of physical chemistry;
extensive coverage of quantum mechanics; applications of quantum mechanics to atomic and molecular
structure, and spectroscopy; introductory statistical mechanics, with an emphasis on connections to
thermodynamics; intermediate topics in chemical kinetics and introduction to reaction dynamics. The
laboratory work involves learning elementary programming to quantitatively model data collected with various
spectroscopies (UV-VIS, IR, NMR, fluorescence) using quantum theory.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - CHEM 330L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: (CHEM 205 or CHEM 120) and (PHYS 104 or PHYS 107) and
(MATH 215 (strongly recommended) or MATH 205). Not open to students who have taken CHEM 331.;
Instructor: Radhakrishnan, Wax; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHEM330L Title: Laboratory: Physical Chemistry I
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for CHEM 330.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 9; Prerequisites: (CHEM 205 or CHEM 120) and (PHYS 104 or PHYS 107) and
(MATH 215 (strongly recommended) or MATH 205). Not open to students who have taken CHEM 331.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHEM330X Title: Introduction to Physical Chemistry
Molecular basis of chemistry; intensive overview of theories, models, and techniques of physical chemistry;
extensive coverage of quantum mechanics; applications of quantum mechanics to atomic and molecular
structure, and spectroscopy; classical thermodynamics of gases and solutions; intermediate topics in chemical
kinetics and introduction to reaction dynamics; basic statistical mechanics to calculate thermodynamic
variables and equilibrium constants. This course does not count towards the major requirements in chemistry.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: (CHEM 205 or CHEM 120) and (PHYS 104 or PHYS 107) and
(MATH 215 (strongly recommended) or MATH 205). Not open to students who have taken CHEM 331.;
Instructor: M. Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHEM334 Title: Physical Chemistry II
This course provides an in-depth study of the physical models used in the study of chemical systems,
including both first-principle derivations and cutting-edge applications of such models. Topics include
statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, computational chemistry, molecular mechanics and dynamics,
philosophical foundations of quantum mechanics, time-dependent quantum mechanics, and kinetics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHEM 330 (or CHEM 331 by permission of the instructor) and
either (PHYS 106 or PHYS 108) and MATH 215. Not open to students who have taken CHEM 335.; Instructor:
Mavros; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and
Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHEM335 Title: Physical Chemistry II with Laboratory
This course provides an in-depth study of the physical models used in the study of chemical systems,
including both first-principle derivations and cutting-edge applications of such models. Topics include
probability theory, classical thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, computational chemistry, philosophical
foundations of quantum mechanics, time-dependent quantum mechanics, and kinetics. Additionally, there is
an emphasis on implementing statistical and numerical models via computer programing, culminating in an
independent project.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CHEM 330 and (PHYS 106 or PHYS 108) and MATH 215. Not
open to students who have taken CHEM 334.; Instructor: Mavros and Arumainayagam; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHEM341 Title: Inorganic Chemistry with Laboratory
This course provides an in depth look at inorganic chemistry concentrating on chemical applications of group
theory, molecular orbital theory, the chemistry of ionic compounds, transition metal complexes, organometallic
chemistry, catalysis, and bioinorganic chemistry. Students will learn theories and models to analyze the
structure and bonding of inorganic compounds and to predict and explain reactions of those compounds. The
laboratory introduces a number of experimental and computational techniques used in inorganic chemistry.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Required CHEM 205 or CHEM 120, and CHEM 211; Strongly
recommended CHEM 212.; Instructor: Stanley, Verschoor, Wenny; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHEM350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Research is supervised by a member of the Wellesley College chemistry department. Students will be
expected to devote (per week) 10-12 hours for CHEM 350 and five to six hours for CHEM 350H. Student
projects will be planned accordingly. Off-campus research requires active participation of a Wellesley faculty
member throughout the research period. Course fulfills the research requirement for the major only upon the
completion of a paper of 8-10 pages on the research and a presentation to the chemistry department during
one of the two research seminar presentation periods. A copy of the paper must be submitted to the chair of
the department. (Note: Paid internships are not eligible for CHEM 350.)
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open by permission to students who have taken at least three
chemistry courses.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Research is supervised by a member of the Wellesley College chemistry department. Students will be
expected to devote (per week) 10-12 hours for CHEM 350 and five to six hours for CHEM 350H.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: CHEM355 Title: Chemistry Thesis Research
The first course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research problem, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the chemistry department.
Students will participate in a regular weekly seminar program, in which they will discuss their research
progress informally with faculty and student colleagues and gain familiarity with contemporary research
through presentations by outside seminar speakers. This route does not lead to departmental honors. If the
first semester of thesis is used to fulfill the research requirement, the student must complete a paper of 8-10
pages on the research and give a presentation to the chemistry department during one of the two research
seminar presentation periods. A copy of the paper must be submitted to the chair of the department. (Note:
Paid internships are not eligible for CHEM 355.)
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open only to Seniors with permission of the instructor.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: CHEM360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
CHEM 360 is the first course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research problem, culminating in
departmental honors upon the completion in the second semester of a thesis and defense of that thesis before
a committee of faculty from the chemistry department. Students in 360 and 370 will be expected to attend the
weekly departmental honors seminar, listed in the schedule of classes. The seminar provides a forum for
students conducting independent research to present their work to fellow students and faculty. (See Academic
Distinctions.) If the first semester of thesis is used to fulfill the research requirement, the student must complete
a paper of 8-10 pages on the research and give a presentation to the chemistry department during one of the
two research seminar presentation periods. A copy of the paper must be submitted to the chair of the
department. (Note: Paid internships are not eligible for CHEM 360.)
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM361 Title: Analytical Chemistry with Laboratory
Instrumental methods of chemical analysis. Topics include statistical analysis, electronics and circuitry,
electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and separations science with special attention to instrument design and
function. The course work emphasizes the practical applications of chemical instrumentation and methods to
address questions in areas ranging from art history to biochemistry to materials science. The laboratory work
focuses on the design, construction, and use of chemical instrumentation along with the interfacing of
instruments with computers.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 8; Prerequisites: Either (CHEM 205 and CHEM 211) or (CHEM 120 and CHEM
211). Suggested - PHYS 106 or PHYS 108.; Instructor: Flynn; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHEM365 Title: Thesis
The second course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research problem, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the chemistry department.
Students will participate in a regular weekly seminar program, in which they will discuss their research
progress informally with faculty and student colleagues and gain familiarity with contemporary research
through presentations by outside seminar speakers. This route does not lead to departmental honors. Course
counts toward the research requirement if the student completes the thesis and the thesis presentation. (Note:
Paid internships are not eligible for CHEM 365.)
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHEM 355 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHEM370 Title: Senior Thesis
CHEM 370 is the second course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research problem, culminating
in departmental honors upon the completion of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of
faculty from the chemistry department. Students will participate in a regular weekly seminar program, in which
they will discuss their research progress informally with faculty and student colleagues and gain familiarity with
contemporary research through presentations by outside seminar speakers. Course counts toward the
research requirement if the student completes the thesis and the thesis presentation. See Academic
Distinctions. (Note: Paid internships are not eligible for CHEM 370.)
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: CHEM 360 and permission of department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Cinema and Media Studies
An Interdepartmental Major and Minor
The Cinema and Media Studies Program (CAMS) empowers students to explore the ways that modern
audiovisual media have both shaped and been shaped by the cultures from which they emerged. With an
emphasis on the aesthetic, political, and social impact of cinema, photography, television and digital media,
our students pursue an interdisciplinary course of study to investigate the most pressing issues in
contemporary media cultures: surveillance, misinformation and political control; the emergence and operation
of global media industries; and the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and class with the production and
consumption of modern media. To this end, the CAMS courses focus on the global workings of media cultures
and industries, from Hollywood and Silicon Valley, to Asia, Africa and the Global South. As an
interdepartmental program, CAMS blends comparative media studies with creative opportunities in
photography, video production, digital imaging, and screenwriting. This innovative feature of the program
pedagogically bridges the theory-praxis divide, bringing the Wellesley method into the 21st century.
Cinema and Media Studies Major
Goals for the Cinema and Media Studies Major
Students in the CAMS major will acquire knowledge of cinema and media as 1) technological objects, with an
emphasis on the relationship between technological affordances and modes of cultural expression; and 2) as
aesthetic objects, with an emphasis on the relationship between aesthetic form and questions of
representation, intersectionality, and globalization.
By completing the two courses at the core of our major, CAMS 201 “Technologies of Cinema and Media,” and
CAMS 202 “Aesthetics of Cinema and Media,” students will be equipped with the tools for a rigorous critical
understanding of the history and theory of the diverse media that structure modern life. These two courses
serve as stepping stones for all majors and minors and will guide students’ scholarly and creative pursuits and
create a community of shared knowledge. Our core courses and seminars likewise follow an approach that
privileges comparative media studies and examines different audiovisual practices as participating forces in a
media ecology. Course goals for students who complete the CAMS major. In conjunction with CAMS 201, 202,
an interdepartmental offering of elective courses, and production-focused courses, CAMS majors and minors
will develop a set of skills for the critical analysis of cinema and media which reflect the program’s core values.
Skills:
Cultivate a set of critical and analytical tools for the study of cinema and media, from formal analysis to
research methods.
Acquire a broad-based contemporary and historical knowledge of global media cultures, including an
awareness of the cultural, political, and economic role of cinema and media in modern societies.
Engage in creative practice and critical making through projects in photography, video, digital imaging,
or screenwriting.
Develop a critical awareness of the historical developments of film and media, their emergence and
uses, their social, economic, and environmental impact.
Values:
Social justice. CAMS courses address the history and legacy of colonialism and imperialism at work in
the aesthetic, technological, and industrial genealogies of cinema, telegraphy, television, and digital
media.
Environmental justice. Students critically assess the carbon print of media technologies and industries
on our societies at a global scale, from hardware to digital waste.
Active agency in the fight against censorship, misinformation, and surveillance that affect media
production and consumption.
A shared sense of community, enhanced by a common curriculum, critical peer assessment and
collective projects.
Requirements for the Cinema and Media Studies Major
The major in Cinema and Media Studies requires 10 units. Students can develop their expertise in the major by
exploring topics from a combination of courses in Cinema/Media Studies, Screen writing and writing for
television, Video/Media Production, as well as selected courses on film and media offered in other
departments on campus. CAMS majors are encouraged to consult with their major advisor regarding transfer
of credit from pre-approved study abroad programs.
For students who entered Wellesley College in Fall 2020 or prior, students are required to take the following:
1. CAMS 101 Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies
2. CAMS 201 Technologies of Cinema and Media
3. CAMS 202 Aesthetics of Cinema and Media
4. One production course, to be chosen among:
ARTS 108/CAMS 138 Photography I
ARTS 110 4D Design Intro to New Media
ARTS 165/CAMS 135 Introduction to Video Production
CAMS 234/ENG 204 The Art of Screenwriting
CAMS 208/ENG 208 Writing for Television
5. Four core courses, to be chosen from this list:
AMST 245/CAMS 245 Speculative Media in the US since 1973
AMST 254/CAMS 254 Carceral Cinema in the US
ARTH 226/CAMS 207 History of Photography
ARTS 208/CAMS 238 Photo II: The Digital/Analog Rift
ARTS 255/CAMS 255 Dynamic Interface Design
ARTS 260/CAMS 230 Moving Image Studio
ARTS 221/CAMS 239 Digital Imaging
ARTS 265/CAMS 235 Intermediate Film/Video Production
CAMS 100 Introduction to Media and Screen Cultures
CAMS 106Y Ghostly Media
CAMS 107Y Is Technology Evil?
CAMS 203 Chinese Cinema
CAMS 208/ENG 208 Writing for Television
CAMS 210 Critical Histories of Computing: from Cybernetics to Social Media
CAMS 218 Theories of Media from Photography to Internet
CAMS 219 Ecological Approaches to Cinema and Media Studies
CAMS 220 Decolonizing Film History
CAMS 221 21st Century Documentary
CAMS 222 Documentary Film and Media
CAMS 225 From the Fairground to Netflix: Cinema in the Public Sphere
CAMS 227 Television
CAMS 233/JWST 233 American Jews and the Media
CAMS 234/ENG 204 The Art of Screenwriting
CAMS 246 Global Cinema in the 21st Century
CAMS 261 African Cinema
CAMS 286/GER 286 Fantasy Factories: Film and Propaganda in Nazi Germany and Beyond
CAMS 277 Film Noir (formerly CAMS 292)
MUS 275 Computer Music: Synthesis Techniques and Compositional Practice
6. At least two courses at the 300-level in CAMS (or as approved by the program director). All 300-level work
must be taken at Wellesley. CAMS 360 and CAMS 370 do not count toward the 300-level requirement, but are
honors-level courses taken in addition to the 10 courses required for the major.
ARTS 308/CAMS 338 Photo III
ARTS 313/CAMS 313 Virtual Form
ARTS 365/CAMS 335 Advanced Projects in Lens-Based Media
ARTS 366/CAMS 366 Advanced Projects in Film and Architecture
CAMS 301 Surveillance Media
CAMS 302 Media Archaeology
CAMS 304 Being (Post)Human: Representing Subjectivity in the Digital Age
CAMS 310 Film Festivals
CAMS 314 Virtual Realities: Realism and Reality in the Digital Age
CAMS 320 Sound as a Medium
CAMS 324 Film Genres, Genre Films
CAMS 327 CSPW Pub Writing Film & TV
Beginning with students who entered Wellesley College in Fall 2021, students are required to take the
following:
1. CAMS 201 Technologies of Cinema and Media
2. CAMS 202 Aesthetics of Cinema and Media
3. One production course, to be chosen among:
ARTS 108/CAMS 138 Photography I
ARTS 110 4D Design Intro to New Media
ARTS 165/CAMS 135 Introduction to Video Production
CAMS 234/ENG 204 The Art of Screenwriting
CAMS 208/ENG 208 Writing for Television
4. Four core courses, to be chosen from this list:
AMST 245/CAMS 245 Speculative Media in the US since 1973
AMST 254/CAMS 254 Carceral Cinema in the US
ARTH 226/CAMS 207 History of Photography
ARTS 208/CAMS 238 Photo II: The Digital/Analog Rift
ARTS 221/CAMS 239 Digital Imaging
ARTS 255/CAMS 255 Dynamic Interface Design
ARTS 260/CAMS 230 Moving Image Studio
ARTS 265/CAMS 235 Intermediate Video Production
CAMS 100 Introduction to Media and Screen Cultures
CAMS 101 Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies
CAMS 106Y Ghostly Media
CAMS 107Y Is Technology Evil?
CAMS 203 Chinese Cinema
CAMS 208/ENG 208 Writing for Television
CAMS 210 Critical Histories of Computing: from Cybernetics to Social Media
CAMS 218 Theories of Media from Photography to Internet
CAMS 219 Ecological Approaches to Cinema and Media Studies
CAMS 220 Decolonizing Film History
CAMS 221 21st Century Documentary
CAMS 222 Documentary Film and Media
CAMS 225 From the Fairground to Netflix: Cinema in the Public Sphere
CAMS 227 Television
CAMS 233/JWST 233 American Jews and the Media
CAMS 234/ENG 204 The Art of Screenwriting
CAMS 246 Global Cinema in the 2st Century
CAMS 261 African Cinema
CAMS 286/GER 286 Fantasy Factories: Film and Propaganda in Nazi Germany and Beyond
CAMS 277 Film Noir (formerly CAMS 292)
MUS 275 Computer Music: Synthesis Techniques and Compositional Practice
5. At least two courses at the 300-level in CAMS (or as approved by the program director). All 300-level work
must be taken at Wellesley. CAMS-350 counts for credit towards the major, but does not fulfill the 300-level
requirement. CAMS 360 and CAMS 370 do not count toward the 300-level requirement, but are honors-level
courses taken in addition to the 10 courses required for the major.
ARTS 308/CAMS 338 Photo III
ARTS 313/CAMS 313 Virtual Form
ARTS 365/CAMS 335 Advanced Projects in Lens-Based Media
ARTS 366/CAMS 366 Advanced Projects in Film and Architecture
CAMS 301 Surveillance Media
CAMS 302 Media Archaeology
CAMS 304 Being (Post)Human: Representing Subjectivity in the Digital Age
CAMS 310 Film Festivals
CAMS 314 Virtual Realities: Realism and Reality in the Digital Age
CAMS 320 Sound as a Medium
CAMS 324 Film Genres, Genre Films
CAMS 327 CSPW Pub Writing Film & TV
6. One additional CAMS course, which may be chosen from the list of core courses, the courses at the 300level, as well as among the CAMS cross-listed and related courses.
Honors
Candidates for Departmental Honors in CAMS complete a senior thesis in two units of independent
study/thesis (CAMS 360, CAMS 370) undertaken in the fall and spring of the senior year. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above
the 100 level; the program may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See
Academic Distinctions.
CAMS majors can earn honors by demonstrating excellence in a production thesis project, a script or a thesis
paper. A senior thesis engages a topic involving year-long research resulting in a polished paper of 50-100
pages in length. For a student who has a clear idea of what they want to investigate, a well-considered plan of
research, and a willingness to accept the responsibility of working independently, a senior thesis can be a
rewarding experience. A Production thesis consists of an extended piece or body of visual work produced over
two semesters; this work normally involves research, script-writing, and pre-production, production, and postproduction phases. The final work is accompanied by a paper of 15-20 pages documenting the development
of the project, and is exhibited at a public showing at the end of the semester.
Related Courses
For the following courses to count toward the major, CAMS majors are advised to request approval from the
Program Director before registering.
AMST 274 / WGST 274
Rainbow Cowboys (and Girls): Gender, Race, Class, and
Sexuality in Westerns
1.0
ITAS 261
Italian Cinema (in English)
1.0
MUS 277
Interactive Sound Art with Electronics
1.0
RAST 222
Firebird! The Russian Arts Under Tsars and Commissars
1.0
THST 209
Scenic Design
1.0
Cinema and Media Studies Minor
The CAMS minor consists of 6 units, as detailed below.
Students are required to take the following:
1. CAMS 201 Technologies of Cinema and Media
2. CAMS 202 Aesthetics of Cinema and Media
3. Three courses from this list:
AMST 245/CAMS 245 Speculative Media in the US since 1973
AMST 254/CAMS 254 Carceral Cinema in the US
ARTS 108/CAMS 138 Photography I
ARTS 110 4D Design Intro to New Media
ARTS 165/CAMS 135 Introduction to Video Production
ARTS 208/CAMS 238 Photo II
ARTS 221/CAMS 239 Digital Imaging
ARTS 255/CAMS 255 Dynamic Interface Design
ARTS 260/CAMS 230 Moving Image Studio
ARTS 265/CAMS 235 Intermediate Video Production
CAMS 100 Introduction to Media and Screen Cultures
CAMS 101 Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies
CAMS 203 Chinese Cinema
CAMS 208/ENG 208 Writing for Television
CAMS 212 Global Hollywood and World Cinema
CAMS 216 Creative Media Manipulation
CAMS 217 Viral Media
CAMS 218 Theories of Media from Photography to Internet
CAMS 219 Ecological Approaches to Cinema and Media Studies
CAMS 221 21st Century Documentary
CAMS 222 Documentary Film and Media
CAMS 225 From the Fairground to Netflix: Cinema in the Public Sphere
CAMS 227 Television
CAMS 228 Avant-Garde and Experimental Film
CAMS 233/JWST 233 American Jews and the Media
CAMS 234/ENG 204, The Art of Screenwriting
CAMS 234/ENG 204 The Art of Screenwriting
CAMS 246 Global Cinema in the 21st Century
CAMS 261 African Cinema
CAMS 270 Dark and Light of the Internet
CAMS 272 The Ludic Imagination: Histories and Theories of Games and Play
CAMS 286/GER 286 Fantasy Factories: Film and Propaganda in Nazi Germany and Beyond
CAMS 277 Film Noir (formerly CAMS 292)
MUS 275 Computer Music: Synthesis Techniques and Compositional Practice
4. One course at the 300-level to be selected from this list:
ARTS 308/CAMS 338 Photo III
ARTS 313/CAMS 313 Virtual Form
ARTS 365/CAMS 335 Advanced Projects in Lens-Based Media
ARTS 366/CAMS 366 Advanced Projects in Film and Architecture
CAMS 300/FREN 300 Apocalyptic Cinema
CAMS 301 Surveillance Media
CAMS 310 Film Festivals
CAMS 312 Media and Social Movements
CAMS 314 Virtual Realities: Realism and Reality in the Digital Age
CAMS 320 Sound as a Medium
CAMS 324 Film Genre, Genre Films
CAMS 327 CSPW Pub Writing Film & TV
CAMS Courses
Course ID: AFR271/CAMS271 Title: Understanding American Slavery Through Film
This course will examine the history of cinema through the lens of American slavery. Outside of the classroom
much of what we know, or think about slavery derives often from popular media-particularly through film and
television. Can Hollywood do the work of historians? Does historical interpretation through film serve as useful,
beneficial, or detrimental? Can we make an argument for the historical efficacy of films? What is the difference
between historical accuracy and historical authenticity? In examining these films, we will take into account the
time period, location, and the political and social context in which they were created. We will see how much
film tells us about slavery and, most importantly, what film might tell us about ourselves. Through a critical
reading of a range of historical works, cultural critiques and primary sources, students will have a better
comprehension of how historians and filmmakers both differ or find mutual agreement in their understanding of
the past.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Jackson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: AMST223/CAMS223 Title: Gendering the Bronze Screen: Representations of Chicanas/Latinas in
Film
The history of Chicanxs and Latinnes on the big screen is a long and complicated one. To understand the
changes that have occurred in the representation of the Chicanx/Latine community, this course proposes an
analysis of films that traces various stereotypes to examine how those images have been perpetuated, altered,
and ultimately resisted. From the Anglicizing of names to the erasure of racial backgrounds, the ways in which
Chicanxs and Latines are represented has been contingent on ideologies of race, gender, class, and sexuality.
We will examine how films have typecast Chicanas/Latinas as criminals or as "exotic" based on their status as
women of color, and how filmmakers continue the practice of casting Chicanas/Latinas solely as supporting
characters to male protagonists.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Mata; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST245/CAMS245 Title: Speculative Media in the U.S.
This will be a course about the future and how it is made. We will look at multiple modes of speculation,
including financial speculation, speculative storytelling through fiction and cinema, and speculative political
claims on new futures. Each of these modes of speculation will imagine and predict radically different futures,
and each mode will tell us something crucial about economic, cultural, and political life in the US. We will study
the rise of futures trading and money as a speculative media technology; read some of Octavia Butler’s fiction
and watch sci-fi movies; and look at contemporary movements for debt cancellation, prison abolition, and
climate justice. Readings will draw from film and media studies, Black feminism, queer theory, anti-colonialist
thought, and Marxism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Alexander; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: AMST254/CAMS254 Title: Carceral Cinema in the US
This course will look at representations of prisons, policing, and criminality across US cinema history. We will
watch a wide range of movies, from Thomas Edison’s 1901 recreation of Leon Czolgosz’s execution to classic
noir, cop procedurals, crime thrillers, horror, and science fiction. Readings will draw from abolitionist, feminist,
Marxist, and Black Radical traditions to guide our attention to the ideologies of crime, punishment, policing
and incarceration that circulate in and spill out of US cinema. Readings will occasionally invite us to step back
and think about the role of cinema in the production of what Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Jordan T. Camp have
called “carceral commonsense.” In addition to Gilmore and Camp, authors will include Angela Y. Davis, Khalil
Gibran Muhammed, Dylan Rodriguez, W.E.B Du Bois, Assata Shakur, Stuart Hall, Mariame Kaba, Jonathon
Finn, Eric A. Stanley, Gina Dent, Simone Browne, and Erin Gray.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Alexander; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH232/CAMS232 Title: Anthropology of Media
This course introduces students to key analytic frameworks through which media and the mediation of culture
have been examined. Using an anthropological approach, students will explore how media as representation
and as cultural practice have been fundamental to the (trans)formation of modern sensibilities and social
relations. We will examine various technologies of mediation-from the Maussian body as “Man's first technical
instrument” to print capitalism, radio and cassette cultures, cinematic and televisual publics, war journalism,
the digital revolution, and the political milieu of spin and public relations. Themes in this course include: media
in the transformation of the senses; media in the production of cultural subjectivities and publics; and the
social worlds and cultural logics of media institutions and sites of production.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: ANTH305/CAMS305 Title: Ethnographic Film
This seminar explores ethnographic film as a genre for representing "reality," anthropological knowledge and
cultural lives. We will examine how ethnographic film emerged in a particular intellectual and political economic
context as well as how subsequent conceptual and formal innovations have shaped the genre. We will also
consider social responses to ethnographic film in terms of the contexts for producing and circulating these
works; the ethical and political concerns raised by cross-cultural representation; and the development of
indigenous media and other practices in conversation with ethnographic film. Throughout the course, we will
situate ethnographic film within the larger project for representing "culture," addressing the status of
ethnographic film in relation to other documentary practices, including written ethnography, museum
exhibitions, and documentary film.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ANTH 301 or two 200-level units in anthropology, cinema and
media studies, economics, history, political science, or sociology or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH226/CAMS207 Title: History of Photography: From Invention to Media Age
Photography is so much a part of our private and public lives, and it plays such an influential role in our
environment, that we often forget to examine its aesthetics, meanings, and histories. This course provides an
introduction to these analyses by examining the history of photography from the 1830s to the present.
Considering fine arts and mass media practices, the class will examine the works of individual practitioners as
well as the emergence of technologies, aesthetic directions, markets, and meanings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 strongly recommended.; Instructor: Berman;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTS108/CAMS138 Title: Photography I
Photo I is a foundational studio course exploring key methods and concepts in photography and visual media.
Technical skills will be addressed through camera and darkroom work, lighting, and the discussion of
photographic images. Studio assignments, readings, discussions, lectures, gallery visits, and critiques will help
students understand photography's broader role in contemporary art, history, and society. Aimed for first year
and sophom*ore students, and those pursuing majors in Studio Art, MAS, or CAMS.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. Juniors and Seniors
by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Landeros; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: Meets Production requirement for CAMS major.;
Course ID: ARTS165/CAMS135 Title: Introduction to the Moving Image
This introductory course explores video as an art form. Organized around a series of assignments designed to
survey a range of production strategies, the course is a primer to the technical and conceptual aspects of
video production and to its historical, critical, and technical discourse. Relationships between video and
television, film, installation, and performance art are investigated emphasizing video as a critical intervention in
social and visual arts contexts. Weekly readings, screenings, discussions and critique, explore contemporary
issues in video and help students develop individual aesthetic and critical skills. Practical knowledge is
integrated through lighting, video/sound production and editing workshops.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores, and Juniors. Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Joskowicz; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Fall; Notes: Meets the Production requirement for CAMS majors. Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive
Course.;
Course ID: ARTS208/CAMS238 Title: Photography II: The Digital/Analog Rift
Photo II focuses on digital photography, photographic color theory, studio and location lighting, digital
retouching, inkjet printing, and Adobe software. Assignments address contemporary and historic theories of
photography as contemporary art and the aesthetic and cultural implications of the ubiquity of digital
photography. Studio assignments, readings, discussions, lectures, gallery visits, and critiques will help
students prepare for project-based work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Landeros; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTS221/CAMS239 Title: Digital Imaging
Introduction to artistic production through electronic imaging, manipulation, and output. Emphasis on
expression, continuity, and sequential structuring of visuals through the integration of image, text, and motion.
Image output for print, screen, and adaptive surfaces are explored in conjunction with production techniques
of image capture, lighting, and processing. Lectures and screenings of historic and contemporary uses of
technology for artistic and social application of electronic imaging.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course.; Instructor: Olsen; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTS255/CAMS255 Title: Dynamic Interface Design
Critical examination of the expanding field of information and interface design for interactive media. Emphasis
will be on effective visual communication, information design, and creative content creation for online and
digital platforms. Hands-on production will focus on design methods, theory, limitations leading to
innovative approaches. Screenings and discussions on contemporary practices, theoretical, artistic, and
cultural issues.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course and either CS 110 or CS 111.;
Instructor: Olsen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTS260/CAMS230 Title: Moving Image Studio
Creative exploration of the moving image as it relates to digital methods of animation, video, and motion
graphics. Hands-on production of audio, image, text, and time-based media synthesis, with a conceptual
emphasis on nonlinear narrative, communication design, and visual expression. Screenings and lectures on
historical and contemporary practices, coupled with readings and discussions of the theoretical, artistic, and
cultural issues in the moving image.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course, or ARTS 221/CAMS 239.; Instructor:
Olsen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69
Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ARTS265/CAMS235 Title: Intermediate Film/Video Production
An intermediate level studio that guides students through different approaches to film/video production while
challenging linear narrative and documentary conventions. Students experiment with non-narrative
approaches to content, structure, and technique. Investigations of space and performance are informed by
poetry, literature, sound, color, fragmentation, and abstraction. Building upon the historical legacy of the
moving image, students incorporate self-exploration, social critique, and manipulation of raw experience into
an aesthetic form. Students develop independent or collaborative moving image and/or performance projects
and articulate their artistic process through a series of presentations and critiques.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course and either CAMS 101 or CAMS 201, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Joskowicz; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes:
Meets the Production requirement for CAMS majors. CAMS majors who have taken CAMS 201 are encouraged
to register for this class instead of ARTS 165/CAMS 135.;
Course ID: ARTS308/CAMS338 Title: Photography III
Advanced explorations of aesthetic and content issues through the use of both traditional light-sensitive and
digital methodologies. Advanced photographic techniques and equipment will be presented in response to
each student's work. Continued emphasis is placed on research into the content and context of the
photographic image in contemporary practice through visiting artist events as well as gallery and museum
visits.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following - ARTS 108/CAMS 138, ARTS 208/CAMS 238,
ARTS 221/CAMS 239; or permission of the instructor required.; Instructor: Nhamo; Distribution Requirements:
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTS313/CAMS313 Title: Virtual Form
Introduction to the design and production of three-dimensional objects and spaces using industry-standard
modeling software. Overview of basic modeling, surface design, and camera techniques. Emphasis on
creative application of the media, in relation to architectural, experimental, and time-based forms. Screenings
and lectures on traditional and contemporary practices, coupled with readings and discussions of the
theoretical, artistic, and cultural issues in the virtual world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any ARTS course. Strong computer familiarity needed.; Instructor:
Olsen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTS321/CAMS321 Title: Advanced New Media
Various topics in New Media are explored through research, creative activity, and theoretical discussion.
Topics address historical as well as contemporary issues that bridge art and technology. This is an advanced
level New Media course giving students the opportunity to focus on personal projects, explore contemporary
and historical new media concepts as well as receive critiques from other students. Topics covered will focus
on media history and research, contemporary intermedia artists, designers, thinkers and scientists, along with
readings and discussions. Collaboration will be encouraged between Studio Art, Architecture, Music, CAMS,
Media Arts, Theater and Computer Science. This course may be used to fulfill the capstone requirement for
MAS.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two 200-level courses in ARTS, CAMS, or MAS.; Instructor: Olsen;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course may be repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: ARTS365/CAMS335 Title: Advanced Projects in Lens-Based Media
This advanced-level projects class centers on the production and critique of individual lens-based media,
including film/video, photography, and digital time-based media. Students will develop semester-long projects
and will articulate their artistic process through a series of presentations and critiques over the semester
structured alongside screenings, readings, invited lectures, and discussions that investigate various positions
from artists and directors on the dynamics of space on screen. This is a project-based rather than an
assignment-based class, and students will be encouraged to try new techniques and exercises as their work
progresses over the semester. Students work individually and in groups and will participate in their peers'
production exercises.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following - ARTS 165/CAMS 135, ARTS 208/CAMS 238,
ARTS 265/CAMS 235, ARTS 308/CAMS 338, ARTS 221/CAMS 239, ARTS 255/CAMS 255, ARTS 260/CAMS
230, ARTS 313/CAMS 313, ARTS 321/CAMS 321, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Joswkowicz;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Meets the Capstone requirement for MAS majors.;
Course ID: ARTS366/CAMS366 Title: Advanced Projects in Film and Architecture
This advanced-level studio class is for students interested in exploring the relationship between architecture,
narrative and digital space. The class will begin with research into filmic environments that utilize place,
architecture and objects as narrative tools. We will look at the use of interiors and exteriors, circulation between
spaces, and the use of props and/or computer generated imagery to create space. Our focus will be on the
construction of cinematic space as a formal and conceptual component of storytelling. Using architecture,
installation, performance, film, and literature as guides to navigating both constructed and conceptual
landscapes, students projects will explore advanced strategies of image and sound manipulation, both
technical and conceptual. Students will develop semester-long projects and will articulate their artistic process
through a series of presentations and critiques over the semester focusing on a project that integrates digital
and physical narrative spaces.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following - CAMS 101, ARTS165/ CAMS 135, ARTS 265/
CAMS 235, ARTS 216, an MIT Architecture Studio, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Joskowicz;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS100 Title: Introduction to Media and Screen Cultures
What makes an informed and engaged citizen of media, culture, and society in the second quarter of the 21st
century? This course will equip students with crucial skills for navigating contemporary media environments:
how to engage in formal and visual analysis across media, how to be discerning consumers of information,
and how to think critically about the political and economic systems that structure our heavily mediated lives.
Critical terms for the study of media, such as industry, information, infrastructure, interactivity, networks,
publics, screens, will be examined through the analysis of various media artifacts from photography, cinema,
broadcast TV and digital platforms.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores, Juniors by
permission of instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CAMS101 Title: Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies
This course introduces students to the study of audio-visual media, including oral, print, photographic,
cinematic, broadcast, and digital media forms and practices. Using a case study approach, we will explore the
nature of audio-visual communication/representation in historical, cultural, disciplinary, and media-specific
contexts, and examine different theoretical and critical perspectives on the role and power of media to
influence our social values, political beliefs, identities, and behaviors. We'll also consider how consumers of
media representations can and do contest and unsettle their embedded messages. Our emphasis will be on
developing the research and analytical tools, modes of reading, and forms of critical practice that can help us
to negotiate the increasingly mediated world in which we live.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: Required weekly film screening.;
Course ID: CAMS107Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Is Technology Evil? Social Value and New Media Design
In an age of algorithmic automation, mass surveillance, and the commodification of social relations, this course
asks the question: is technology evil? Using that provocation as a means to investigate the design, use, and
economics of social media and other digital objects, we will read a mix of academic and popular texts that treat
new media as a problem—not as an unqualified ill, but as something to be carefully considered in all of its
immense power and pervasiveness in everyday life. Through an introduction to the methodologies of visual
analysis, and close reading, we will think critically about the role of mass media in the production of
consuming subjects, of the representations of race, gender and sexuality in new media, and the nature and
role of aesthetics and design in contemporary life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: N. Gutierrez;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: FYS - First
Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS201 Title: Technologies of Cinema and Media
This course investigates the technological, economic, and cultural determinants behind forms of media from
the last 150 years, including the telephone, the telegraph, photography, and film, as well as new media like
virtual reality and interactive media. If photography realized the desire to transcend mortality and early cinema
fulfilled the dream to depict the world, their missions have been extended by technologies that seek to invent
new worlds as well as material and virtual realities. Relying on a material theory of film and audio-visual media,
the course examines both technologies of making and of circulation, exploring the commercial potential of the
entertainment industry. The course will employ relevant texts, films, and other audio-visual artifacts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One of the following - CAMS 100, CAMS 101, CAMS 105, ARTS
165/CAMS 135, ARTS 108/CAMS 138, ARTH 100, WRIT 107, any CAMS 200-level course, or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CAMS202 Title: Aesthetics of Cinema and Media
Examining cinematic forms and styles, this course retraces film's emergence and development as an art and
its relations to other artistic, cultural, technological, and socio-economic practices. Analysis of representative
films will help understand cinema's relationship to reality, including its reproduction and construction of the
"real," the changing terms of spectatorship, and the ways in which film aesthetics have been employed to build
ideology and interrogate it. Understanding form as inextricably bound to content, we will appreciate the
aesthetic significance of formal choices and innovations within particular films, directorial oeuvres, periods and
movements, from classical Hollywood cinema to European New Waves of the 60s and 70s, to the
contemporary cinemas of Asia and Latin America.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One of the following - CAMS 101, CAMS 105, ARTS 165/CAMS
135, ARTS 108/CAMS 138, ARTH 100, WRIT 107; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Morari;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CAMS203/CHIN243 Title: Chinese Cinema (in English)
This course explores the cinematic conventions and experiments employed by Chinese filmmakers over the
past hundred years. Unique Chinese film genres such as left-wing melodrama, martial arts films and model
play adaptations, as well as the three "new waves" in China's recent avant-garde cinema, will be examined and
discussed. Individual filmic visions and techniques experimented with by important directors such as Fei Mu,
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Zhang Yimou, and Jia Zhangke will be closely analyzed. Class discussions will aim to help
students understand the history, politics, and aesthetics of Chinese cinema. Theoretical aspects of film studies
will also be incorporated into class readings and discussions. No prior knowledge of China or film studies is
required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: M. Song; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CAMS208/ENG208 Title: Writing for Television
An introduction to writing for television. We’ll read, watch, and discuss pilot episodes of network and cable
comedies and dramas. We'll study and practice the basics: script format, episode structure, story and
character development, visual description. Each student will develop and write their own original TV pilot, and
students will give and receive feedback through the workshop process.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lu; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. This
course may be repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: CAMS210 Title: Social Histories of Computing: from Cybernetics to Social Media
The standard narrative of digital technologies is that they change the world for the better: they facilitate access
to information and create new efficiencies in labor and entertainment. But does this story accurately reflect the
impact of technology on global society? In this course, we will undertake a critical investigation of the seminal
moments and objects in the history of computing, from cybernetics to social media. Along the way, we will
work to focus on perspectives that have too often remained invisible in this history, for instance the gendered
role of labor in computer programming and production and the prevalence of social bias in the design and
function of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: N. Gutierrez; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS214 Title: Queer Cinema, Queer Media
This course explores the history and theory of queer cinema through the lens of contemporary media studies.
Rather than separating film from other media, we will study the ways in which queer cinema has always
trafficked with the broader landscape of queer cultural production, including literature, television, art, and
activist speech. The course will thus ultimately examine queerness as a question of aesthetic form: How is
queerness be rendered through experiments in filmic color? Or sound and sonics? Does transgender cinema
represent a distinct genre of film or has it been part of queer cinema from the beginning?
To better understand these questions, we will situate our study of queer cinema and media within the history of
LGBTQIA + political struggle, both in the United States and globally. We will study, for example, film and video
production during the American AIDS crisis and examine its relationship to queer activism. We’ll also ask after
the political promise of platforms like TikTok and Instagram: Do they have the potential to build queer utopia?
Has social media inherited or betrayed the radical political vision of older queer cinemas?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Gyenge; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS218 Title: Theories of Media: Individuals, Algorithms, and the Mass in Popular Culture
In this course we will investigate the relationship between the individual, the mass, and the medium from the
early twentieth century to today. We will begin with the phenomenon of mass media and the idea of popular
culture as it has historically been constituted by the film, television, and radio industries. We will then turn our
attention to contemporary algorithmic media, from streaming platforms like Netflix and Spotify to social media
platforms like Instagram and Twitter. Through an engagement with major theoretical works in media studies
and the formal analysis of media objects including films, TV shows, and video games, we will consider the
ways that popular media across a range of historical and cultural contexts have been theorized in terms of
identity, social control, and spectacle.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Gutierrez; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS219/ES219 Title: Ecological Approaches to Cinema and Media Studies
This course examines ecology’s intersection with cinema and media studies. Amidst climate change,
ecological theorists have complicated boundaries between nature and technology and between humans and
nonhumans. We will focus on the intersection of these ecological conversations with cinema and media
studies. This course will consider a range of media, from mushrooms to cyborgs; explore cinematic
innovations aimed at depicting nonhuman actors; discuss how media create their own environments; and
cover topics like digital waste. Course readings will include a range of contemporary ecological perspectives,
including texts from Feminist Science and Technology Studies, Black Studies, and Indigenous Critical Theory.
We will apply these ideas in discussions of recent films.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: ; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS220 Title: Decolonizing Film History
Why is it that only a limited number of filmmakers and national cinemas figure prominently in histories of
cinema? Why do film scholars tend to prioritize artistic direction and ignore the labor of technicians or seasonal
employees? Why is Alice Guy-Blaché overshadowed by the “great men” who, it is claimed, “invented” cinema?
With such questions in mind, we will re-scan conventional film historiography and claim places for previously
overlooked individuals and practices. We seek to create an inclusive canon that acknowledges the work of
women, minor cinemas, and indigenous communities. In an endeavor to decolonize film history, this course
will take a global approach to cinema’s rich and vastly unsurveyed legacy of more than a century.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Morari; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: CAMS221 Title: 21st Century Documentary
This course will consider how documentary film and media have responded to the expansion of digital
technology, the birth of social media, and a rapidly evolving media environment to engage with contemporary
global concerns like climate change, migration, and rising authoritarian politics. Students will gain a familiarity
with issues central to documentary studies like voice, authority, authenticity, and evidence and analyze a
variety of non-fiction texts from the past twenty years, in media forms ranging from theatrical film and
broadcast television to podcasts and documentary games. Assignments will include response papers, an
analytical essay, and a class presentation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS222 Title: "Being There": Documentary Film and Media
This course surveys the history, theory, and practice of documentary film, considering the ways its forms and
ethics have changed since the beginning of cinema. We study the major modes of the documentary, including
cinema verité, direct cinema, investigative documentary, ethnographic film, agit-prop and activist media, and
the personal essay, as well as recent forms such as the docudrama, the archival film, “mockumentary,” and
Web-based forms. We will examine the “reality effects” of these works, focusing on the ways in which they
create their authority. We will ask: How do these films shape notions of truth, reality, and point of view? What
are the ethics and politics of representation and who speaks for whom when we watch a documentary? What
do documentaries make visible or conceal?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Gyenge; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS224/ITAS212 Title: Italian Women Film Directors: The Female Authorial Voice in Italian
Cinema (in English)
This course examines the films of a number of major Italian women directors across two artistic generations:
Cavani and Wertmüller from the 1960s to the 1970s; Archibugi, Comencini, and others from the 1990s to the
2010s. Neither fascist cinema nor neorealism fostered female talents, so it was only with the emergence of
feminism and the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s that a space for female voices in Italian cinema
was created. The course will explore how women directors give form to their directorial signatures in film,
focusing on their films' formal features and narrative themes in the light of their socio-historical context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Laviosa; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS225 Title: From the Fairground to Netflix: Cinema in the Public Sphere
How did cinema, originally hailed as a popular entertainment, achieve the social legitimacy that elevated it to
the rank of an art form and an industrial force? This course examines the development of cinema as an
institution from its origins to its present digital extensions, with a particular focus on the United States and its
dominance in the domestic and global markets. Relying on academic scholarship, film criticism, and a
selection of films, we will examine the historical, social, and aesthetic conditions that led to the creation of the
movie theater, art houses, and multiplexes, as well as cinema's relationship to television and online streaming.
The study of the screening technologies and physical spaces will be accompanied by an analysis of how race,
gender, and class played in drawing in or keeping out moviegoers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Morari; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS233/JWST233 Title: American Jews and the Media
This course examines Jews’ roles in the development of the American mass media and popular culture, as well
as representations of Jewishness in a range of media from the turn of the 20th century to the present. We will
focus on print, recorded, and broadcast media—including magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, record
albums, radio, film, and television—and study some of the crucial figures in the histories of these cultural
forms, while considering how Jewishness has been packaged for and presented to American audiences.
Cultural productions studied will include Abie the Agent, The Jazz Singer, The Goldbergs, MAD Magazine,
Annie Hall, Seinfeld, the New Yorker, and This American Life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS234/ENG204 Title: The Art of Screenwriting
A creative writing course in a workshop setting for those interested in the theory and practice of writing for film.
This course focuses on the full-length feature film, both original screenplays and screen adaptations of literary
work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Cezair-Thompson; Distribution Requirements:
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. This course may be
repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: CAMS241/WGST249 Title: Asian/American Women in Film
This course will serve as an introduction to representations of Asian/American women in film beginning with
silent classics and ending with contemporary social media. In the first half of the course, we examine the
legacy of Orientalism, the politics of interracial romance, the phenomenon of "yellow face", and the different
constructions of Asian American femininity, masculinity, and sexuality. In the second half of the course, we
look at "Asian American cinema" where our focus will be on contemporary works, drawing upon critical
materials from film theory, feminist studies, Asian American studies, history, and cultural studies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Creef; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CAMS243/REL223/SAS243 Title: Shades of Love in Indian Cinema
This course explores the treatment of various types of love – for the beloved, the family, the community, the
motherland or the divine – in Indian cinema, the largest film industry in the world. We examine
Indian cinema's early phase in the colonial milieu, its flourishing in popular and art films since the 1950s, and
contributions of diaspora Indians. We will watch films by prominent directors of the postcolonial era who
articulated India’s national identity as well as the socio-religious and political aspirations of its common people
integrating indigenous sacred symbolism. We will consider how several films reflect a religious sensitivity in
portraying the motherland almost as a divine entity worthy of worship. Paying particular attention to the
distinctive grammar of song, dance and intense drama, we will analyze the ways in which the film-makers
reworked long-prevailing South Asian conventions of narration and performance in a medium imported from
Europe.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS246 Title: Global Cinema in the 21st Century
Defying repeated prophecies of the “death of cinema,” 21st century filmmaking has shown extraordinary
vitality across the globe. In this course, we will explore some of the remarkable cinema produced since the
turn of the millennium, from both long-prominent filmmaking nations, such as the United States, Japan, and
France, and cinematic domains new to international audiences, such as Romania, Taiwan, and Greece. We will
study the complex interplay between aesthetic, ideological, economic, and technological concerns in a range
of recent films, exploring how contemporary filmmakers combine traditional cinematic forms and emerging
new media technologies, and the ways they are broadening and transforming the possibilities of filmmaking.
We will aim to deepen both our appreciation and our understanding of some of the most compelling films
made in recent decades, and of the cinematic medium itself.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and director of Cinema and Media
Studies required.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CAMS250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and director of Cinema and Media
Studies required.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CAMS261 Title: African Cinema: Aesthetics and Politics of Contemporary Film
This course focuses on cinematic productions made by African filmmakers and shot in Africa. We will critically
examine the stakes of a "pan-African" approach to the study of African cinema. We will focus on the way
contemporary African filmmakers use innovative experiments in the cinematic medium to create a dynamic
and provocative dialogue with important aspects of African reality: on one hand, urbanization, migration,
religious extremism, economic disparity, patriarchy; on the other, strong collectivities, indigenous solutions,
gender fluidity, traditional and modern environmental awareness. We will follow how the video boom of the 80s
and 90s that established Nollywood of Nigeria and Gollywood of Ghana consolidated a robust and faithful
spectatorship in Africa and amongst the vast African diaspora. Through the study of specific techniques, we
will track the ambition of contemporary African filmmakers to create and expand African cinematic aesthetics,
target world audiences, and sustain a local spectatorship.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Prabhu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS277 Title: Film Noir
A journey through the dark side of the American cinematic imagination. Emerging during World War II and its
aftermath, Film Noir presents a pessimistic, morally ambiguous inversion of Hollywood uplift, delivered in
glamorous visual style. This course will explore Film Noir from its origins, through the revival of the genre in the
early 1970s, to its ongoing influence in contemporary cinema, as noir has expanded beyond Hollywood to
become a global form. We'll pay particular attention to noir's transformation of cinematic style, and to its
representations of masculinity and femininity. Films that may be studied include Howard Hawks's The Big
Sleep, Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, Roman Polanski's Chinatown, and
David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS286/GER286 Title: Fantasy Factories: Film and Propaganda in Nazi Germany and Beyond
(in English)
This course examines the cinematic output of Nazi Germany as a test case for the development of film as
propaganda. We consider the cinematic medium as entertainment and as a cultural event with the potential to
influence a population. We trace the forebears of Nazi film, including WWI propaganda produced in Britain,
France and Germany and Soviet films made to serve the revolutionary agenda. We examine the ways in which
Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda deployed both overtly propagandist films and films that couched Nazi ideals
in narratives from melodrama to fantasy, and examine whether films could exceed their official aims and
become subversive. And we consider post-WWII developments: the continuing careers of producers of
propaganda and the ways that modern media shapes new forms of propaganda.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hans; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Every three
years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CAMS301 Title: Seminar: Surveillance Media: Technology, Ideology, Ethics
In 1895, the first movie camera filmed workers leaving a factory. That movie camera has been replaced by a
security camera that both protects and monitors those workers. From the early cameras to the latest
technologies, the history of cinema and media can be understood as a recurrent series of surveillance
techniques. This course examines surveillance technologies and monitoring practices to explore how
technology and ideology came to play together in audio-visual forms. We will examine the politics and ethics
of security and surveillance, stretching from the first manifestations of voyeuristic photography to such
modern forms as drones, GPS and user security on social media. Course materials will include readings as
well as features, documentaries and video installations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: CAMS 201 or CAMS 202, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Morari; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS302 Title: Seminar: Media Archaeology
This course will familiarize students with media archaeology as an alternative methodology to the study of film
and media. Three major events occurred in 21st-century media that make classical methodologies obsolete:
the proliferation of digital technologies; the emergence of new media industries in Asia, Latin America, and
Africa; and the loss of cachet of European art film. Instead of insisting on cinema’s uniqueness as an art form,
media archaeology examines how cinema’s past has been embedded in other media practices, other
technologies and social uses. By foregrounding a media archaeology approach, this course will examine
cinema history in interaction and competition with other forms of entertainment, scientific pursuits, practical
applications and military uses.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CAMS 201 or CAMS 202.; Instructor: Morari; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS304 Title: Seminar: Being (Post)Human: Representing Subjectivity in the Digital Age
What does it mean to be human in the digital age? Where do modern Western ideas of humanity or subjectivity
come from, and how are they changing in an age of global commerce and digital technology? In this course,
we will explore these questions under the broad rubric of posthumanism, a multi-disciplinary body of literature
which is concerned with the ways that the concepts of humanism and identity are manifest with and through
modern technology. We will investigate posthumanism and related concepts from multiple perspectives:
cultural, historical, philosophical, and aesthetic, with a particular emphasis on representations of identity and
labor in popular culture, from film and television to digital media.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CAMS 201 or CAMS 202, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: N. Gutierrez; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS308/ENG308 Title: Advanced Writing for Television
In Advanced Writing for Television, we’ll pick up where Writing for Television left off. Students will continue to
practice the skills of writing teleplays—character and story development; structure and arc; tension and
conflict; audience, premise, and tone; scenes, description, action, and dialogue; and voice and clarity. We’ll
start by studying a range of TV shows: comedies, dramas, web series, and others. Through reading scripts,
watching shows, and discussing both in class, students will develop a more advanced and specific
understanding of what makes a show work. Through their own writing, students will practice applying the
lessons they’ve learned. In the workshop process, we’ll discuss everything that comes up in students’ scripts
—what’s working, what’s not, and what we can all learn about TV writing from each example.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CAMS 208/ENG 208; Instructor: Holmes; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: CAMS310 Title: Film Festivals: Art House Aesthetics and Alternative Distribution
This course examines how the over 4,000 annual film festivals impact the economics, circulation, and
aesthetics of cinema. Events like Cannes, Berlin, and Venice may be known for glitzy red carpet premieres but
are also important nodes in the global film market; less well-known, local, or niche festivals bring communities
together and raise awareness about social issues. Students will learn the history of major A-level festivals and
examine their global geopolitical implications. Furthermore, academic texts from the new and burgeoning
subfield of festival studies will help us consider film’s role in conversations about human rights,
environmentalism, and LGBTQ+ identity. Students will compare festival histories, objectives, and
programming to construct arguments about how festivals have impacted global film circulation. Students will
also plan a hypothetical festival to think through the practical concerns of programming.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Either CAMS 201 or CAMS 202, and an additional 200-level CAMS
course.; Instructor: Morari; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CAMS314 Title: Seminar: Virtual Realities: Realism and Reality in the Digital Age
What is “real” and what is “reality” in an age of artificial intelligence, photorealistic (but fake) images, and
immersive simulations like VR? In this course we will investigate these questions from a historical, theoretical,
and aesthetic perspective. We will examine a range of media, from 19th century immersive technologies like
the stereoscope to contemporary digital media like video games to VR, in order to situate them both within and
against traditions of aesthetic realism, in both Western and Non-Western countries. Through an examination of
these and other objects, our goal will be to develop a set of tools for interpreting reality and realism as
historical concepts that change over time with and through the evolution of media technologies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CAMS 201 or CAMS 202 or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Gutierrez; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS324 Title: Film Genre, Genre Films
We constantly describe films with labels like action, horror, rom-com, sci-fi, musical, western, but where do
those categories come from, and how do we decide what belongs within them? This course will explore the
concept of film genre in terms both theoretical and practical. We’ll examine the antecedents of cinema’s genre
system in literary criticism, read key works of film genre theory, and watch films in a wide range of genres.
Among the questions we’ll address are: How do ideas about genre help us understand the cinematic
experience? How do genre categories influence the production and marketing of films, and the discourse
around them? How do ideas about genre connect to social identities, such as race and gender, to create
categories like “chick flick” or “Blaxploitation”? What criteria differentiate the genres we value from those we
don’t?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Either CAMS 201 or CAMS 202, and an additional 200-level CAMS
course.; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CAMS327 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Public Writing on Film and TV
This course will explore a wide range of writing on current film and television, thinking about the forms of
contemporary discourse on the moving image and ways our own writing can join the conversation. We will
read and write reviews, trend pieces, and star studies, bringing our specialized knowledge as moving image
enthusiasts to bear on pieces intended to speak to and engage a broad reading public. Students will develop
and present their writing in workshop discussions, and serve as editors to their peers. Readings from classic
and contemporary writers on film and television will help us refine our sense of what makes writing on media
illuminating, accessible, and compelling.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CAMS 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Shetley;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: CAMS350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CAMS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the director.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in
the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient
progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: CAMS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: CAMS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Classics
Classical Studies explores ancient Greek and Roman culture across the Mediterranean basin, from the second
millennium B.C.E. to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. The organizing idea of the field is not a single
method or a discipline, but the study of Greco-Roman antiquity (and its influence up to the present day) in all
its richness and diversity, its familiarity and its strangeness. Classical Studies encompasses languages and
literatures, archaeology, history, art history, politics, law, science, philosophy, religion, and mythology. In this
respect, it is the original and most wide-ranging of interdisciplinary fields. It can thus stand alone as a dynamic
and challenging field of study or can complement almost any other major in a liberal arts program.
The Department of Classical Studies offers two major programs: Classics and Classical Civilization. The
Classics major combines work in both Greek and Latin with course work in English on the history, literature,
society, and material culture of the ancient world. The Classical Civilization major requires the study of either
Greek or Latin, together with course work in English on different aspects of the ancient world. Classes in Greek
and Latin are conducted in English and encourage close analysis of the ancient texts, with emphasis on their
literary and historical values. Students interested in studying classical archaeology can do so within either the
Classics or Classical Civilization majors. Students wishing to pursue graduate work in Classics should ideally
take course work in both Greek and Latin at the 300 level and begin the study of German, French, or Italian.
The Classical Studies Department offers students the opportunity to explore the ancient world through an
integrated, cohesive program of courses worked out by the student and faculty advisor. Individual programs
are tailored to meet students’ specific interests, such as classical literature, archaeology, ancient theatre,
ancient philosophy, law, political theory, ancient religion, material culture, and the classical tradition.
Major in Classics
Goals for the Major in Classics
Students will have the ability to read and interpret major texts in Greek and/or Latin and in English
translation, such as those written by Plato, Euripides, Herodotus, Cicero, Vergil and Catullus.
Students will be critical readers of primary and secondary sources and will communicate ideas clearly
and effectively in oral and written form.
Students will learn disciplinary methods to analyze primary texts and artifacts.
Students will work with a range of texts (history, philosophy, poetry) and types of artifacts (art,
architecture, and other material remains) to develop an interdisciplinary understanding of the historical
context in which they were produced.
Students will understand the diversity of cultures in the ancient Mediterranean and their interactions.
Requirements for the Major in Classics
Ten units are required for the major in Classics, in two groups. Group 1: Language: Students majoring in
Classics must do work in both Greek and Latin, totaling six units. At least two of these units must be at the 300
level, and no more than two 100 level courses will count toward the language requirement of the major. Group
2: Courses in Classical Civilization: In addition, Classics majors must complete four courses in Classical
Civilization (or approved courses from related departments), chosen in consultation with and with the approval
of their faculty Major Advisor to create a coherent but broad program of study; at least two of those four
courses in Group 2 must be in Classical Civilization and no more than one can be at the 100-level.
Honors in Classics
The Department of Classical Studies offers an honors program in Classics. The only route to honors in the
major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the thesis program, a student
must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100-level; the
department may petition on behalf of a student with GPA in the major between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic
Distinctions. Honors thesis units (360 and 370) do not count towards the minimum number of courses
required for the major.
Teacher Certification
Students interested in obtaining certification to teach Latin and classical humanities in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts should consult the department chair and the chair of the Department of Education.
Advanced Placement Policies and Language Requirement in Classical Studies
Advanced placement courses will not be counted toward either major offered by the Department of Classical
Studies. All students who wish to elect a 200-level or higher Latin course must fill out Wellesley’s Latin
placement questionnaire.The department reserves the right to place new students in the language course for
which they seem best prepared regardless of AP score or the number of units offered for admission.
International Study and Special Opportunities
Qualified students are encouraged to spend a semester, usually in the junior year, on international study.
Excellent programs are available in Rome and Athens. Limited departmental funds are available to support
special opportunities for Classics-related research and travel.
Courses for Credit Toward the Classics Major
Students may count any two courses from the list below toward the Classics Major. (Starts Fall 2020)
ANTH 103 / CLCV 103
Introduction to Archaeology
1.0
ARTH 203
Iraq's Antiquities, Then and Now
1.0
ARTH 241
Egyptian Art and Archaeology
1.0
ARTH 243
Rome: Building an Empire
1.0
ARTH 290
Pompeii
1.0
ARTH 343
Seminar: Roman Monuments: Memory and
Metamorphosis
1.0
ARTH 373
Seminar. Antiquities Today
1.0
HEBR 201
Intermediate Hebrew
1.0
HIST 200
Roots of the Western Tradition
1.0
HIST 228
Swords and Scandals: Ancient History in Films,
Documentaries, and Online
1.0
HIST 229
Alexander the Great: Psychopath or Philosopher King
1.0
HIST 230
Greek History from the Bronze Age to the Death of
Philip II of Macedon
1.0
HIST 231
History of Rome
1.0
HIST 325
"Veni; Vidi; Vici": The Life and Times of C. Iulius
Caesar
1.0
PHIL 201
Ancient Greek Philosophy
1.0
PHIL 305
Plato's Republic
1.0
PHIL 310
Seminar. Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
1.0
REL 104
Study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
1.0
REL 105
Study of the New Testament
1.0
REL 243
Women in the Biblical World
1.0
REL 244
Jerusalem: The Holy City
1.0
Major in Classical Civilization
Goals for the Major in Classical Civilization
Students will have the ability to read and interpret major texts in Greek and/or Latin and in English
translation, such as those written by Plato, Euripides, Herodotus, Cicero, Vergil and Catullus.
Students will be critical readers of primary and secondary sources and will communicate ideas clearly
and effectively in oral and written form.
Students will learn disciplinary methods to analyze primary texts and artifacts.
Students will work with a range of texts (history, philosophy, poetry) and types of artifacts (art,
architecture, and other material remains) to develop an interdisciplinary understanding of the historical
context in which they were produced.
Students will understand the diversity of cultures in the ancient Mediterranean and their interactions.
Requirements for the Major in Classical Civilization
Nine units are required for the major in Classical Civilization, in two groups. Group 1: Language: Students
majoring in Classical Civilization must complete four units in either Greek or Latin (or two 300-level units).
Group 2: Courses in Classical Civilization or further courses in Greek or Latin (or approved courses from
related departments), including one unit each in at least two of the following three areas: literature; material
culture; history and society. At least two of the nine units must be at the 300 level, one of which must be in
CLCV or Greek or Latin. Courses in ancient history, ancient art, ancient philosophy, and classical civilization
are recommended as valuable related work.
Honors in Classical Civilization
The Department of Classical Studies offers an honors program in Classical Civilization.The only route to
honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the thesis program,
a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100-level; the
department may petition on behalf of a student with GPA in the major between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic
Distinctions. Honors thesis units (360 and 370) do not count towards the minimum number of courses
required for the major.
Teacher Certification
Students interested in obtaining certification to teach Latin and classical humanities in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts should consult the department chair and the chair of the Department of Education.
Advanced Placement Policies and Language Requirement in Classical Studies
Advanced placement courses will not be counted toward either major offered by the Department of Classical
Studies. All students who wish to elect a 200-level or higher Latin course must fill out Wellesley’s Latin
placement questionnaire. The department reserves the right to place new students in the language course for
which they seem best prepared regardless of AP score or the number of units offered for admission.
International Study and Special Opportunities
Qualified students are encouraged to spend a semester, usually in the junior year, on international study.
Excellent programs are available in Rome and Athens. Limited departmental funds are available to support
special opportunities for Classics-related research and travel.
Courses for Credit Toward the Classical Civilization Major
Students may count any two courses from the list below toward the Classical Civilization Major. (Starts Fall
2020)
ANTH 103 / CLCV 103
Introduction to Archaeology
1.0
ARTH 203
Iraq's Antiquities, Then and Now
1.0
ARTH 241
Egyptian Art and Archaeology
1.0
ARTH 290
Pompeii
1.0
ARTH 243
Rome's Global Empire and it's Legacy
1.0
ARTH 343
Seminar: Roman Monuments: Memory and
Metamorphosis
1.0
ARTH 373
Seminar. Antiquities Today
1.0
HEBR 201
Intermediate Hebrew
1.0
HIST 200
Roots of the Western Tradition
1.0
HIST 228
Swords and Scandals: Ancient History in Films,
Documentaries, and Online
1.0
HIST 229
Alexander the Great: Psychopath or Philosopher King
1.0
HIST 230
Greek History from the Bronze Age to the Death of
Philip II of Macedon
1.0
HIST 231
History of Rome
1.0
HIST 325
"Veni; Vidi; Vici": The Life and Times of C. Iulius Caesar
1.0
PHIL 201
Ancient Greek Philosophy
1.0
PHIL 305
Plato's Republic
1.0
PHIL 310
Seminar. Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
1.0
REL 104
Study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
1.0
REL 105
Study of the New Testament
1.0
REL 243
Women in the Biblical World
1.0
REL 244
Jerusalem: The Holy City
1.0
CLCV Courses
Course ID: ANTH103/CLCV103 Title: Introduction to Archaeology
A survey of the development of archaeology. The methods and techniques of archaeology are presented
through an analysis of excavations and prehistoric remains. Materials studied range from the Bronze Age and
classical civilizations of the Old World and the Aztec and Inca empires of the New World to the historical
archaeology of New England. Students are introduced to techniques for reconstructing the past from material
remains. The course includes a field trip to a neighboring archaeological site.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Minor; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes:
Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural
and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement. ;
Course ID: ANTH215/CLCV215 Title: Bronze Age Greece in its Mediterranean Context
Ancient Greek historians associated the ruins of Bronze Age cities with the legends of the Trojan War, the lost
city of Atlantis, and the labyrinth of the Minotaur. This course takes a more archaeological approach, combing
the ruins for evidence that allow us to reconstruct complex societies that integrated contributions from diverse
participants, including enslaved people and foreigners, as well as heroic adventurers. We will investigate the
role of African and Asian cultures in early Greek state formation and collapse, technologies of art and writing,
and religious traditions featuring a mother goddess. The course requires no background and offers an
introduction to archaeological analysis as well as the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Burns; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTH373/CLCV373 Title: Antiquities Today: The Politics of Replication
New technologies that enable the 3D scanning and fabrication of art and architecture have become integral in
attempts to combat the decay, destruction, and disputed ownership of ancient works. Our seminar
contextualizes the development of these current approaches within the longer history of collecting and
replicating artifacts from the ancient Mediterranean. We will think critically about the role that replicated
antiquities play in site and object preservation, college and museum education, and the negotiation of
international political power. Potential case studies include the Bust of Nefertiti, the Parthenon Marbles, the
Venus de Milo, and the Arch of Palmyra, all of which now exist globally in multiple digital and material
iterations. The seminar will culminate in a critique of the digitization and replication of Wellesley’s own
antiquities collections.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Prior college-level coursework in Art History and/or Classical
Civilization.; Instructor: Cassibry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CLCV104 Title: Greek and Roman Mythology
Achilles' heel, the Trojan Horse, Pandora's Box, an Oedipal complex, a Herculean task-themes and figures
from classical mythology continue to play an important role in our everyday life. We will read the original tales
of classical heroes and heroines as depicted by Homer, the Greek tragedians, Vergil, Ovid, and others. Why
do these stories continue to engage, entertain, and even shock us? What is the nature and power of myth?
Readings from ancient sources in English translation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Visiting Lecturer (Fall); Burns (Spring);
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical
Periods Offered: Summer; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: CLCV110Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Archaeology and Artifacts: Greek and Roman Cultures on
Display
This first-year seminar examines the past through direct engagement with objects from ancient Greek and
Roman cultures. Working with a diverse collection of artifacts—including pottery, coins, and figurines—
students will learn about the societies of the ancient Mediterranean as well as methods of artifact analysis and
theories of material culture studies. We will explore the history of the objects now at Wellesley, with attention to
ethical and legal aspects of collecting antiquities. We will also consider the presentation of ancient objects as
art and artifact in various local museum settings. Students will work collaboratively to design an exhibition of
select pieces.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Burns; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; HS - Historical Studies; Other Categories: FYS - First
Year Seminar; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV200 Title: Political Archaeology: The City-States of Ancient Greece
Ancient Athens is celebrated as the birthplace of democracy, but participation was limited to a small selection
of the city's population: property-holding males. How did the city engage female members of the citizen class,
foreign residents, and enslaved people? And how do the political dynamics of this single city compare to those
of neighbors such as Sparta, Corinth, and Thebes? This course examines status and identity within and
among city-states, including the ancient definitions of ethnicity that informed alliances and rivalries across the
Greek world. Our study of material culture and images, alongside written sources, will enable us to understand
a broader spectrum of difference and diversity within ancient Greek societies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CLCV 300.; Instructor:
Burns; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as CLCV 300.;
Course ID: CLCV202 Title: Culture and Politics of Ancient Athens
In the fifth century B.C.E., Athens was home to great intellectual ferment as well as political growth and crisis.
This cultural revolution resulted in significant artistic and intellectual accomplishments: Pericles oversaw the
building of the Acropolis; citizens saw productions of Oedipus Tyrannos, Medea, and Lysistrata; and
Herodotus and Thucydides invented the genre of history as we know it. On the political front, Athens defended
itself against the Persian empire, developed into the most powerful city-state in the Mediterranean, and then
dramatically fell as the result of failed imperial policy. In the early fourth century, Plato engaged with the
political and intellectual conflicts of this period in The Apology and The Symposium. In this course, students
will consider works of philosophy, history, tragedy, comedy, rhetoric, and political theory in their cultural and
political context. We will examine and interrogate Athenian democracy, its conflicts, and its stunning and
influential cultural achievements.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 40; Instructor: Gilhuly; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV205 Title: Ancient Greek and Roman Spectacle
Roman chariot races and gladiatorial combat were not just entertainment for the masses, just as the ancient
Olympic games were much more than sporting events. Athletic competitions, theatrical performances, and
militaristic parades were all public enactments of political and religious ideology. This course examines the
spectacle of competitive performances and rituals of power that helped shape ancient Greek and Roman
society. Students will investigate ancient writings alongside art-historical and archaeological evidence to
consider how social values and identities were constructed through these shared experiences. We will also
consider how the modern performances of ancient texts, the Olympic Games, and cinematic representations
have emphasized the splendor, drama, and gore of antiquity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CLCV 305.; Instructor:
Burns; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes:
Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course. This course is also offered at the 300-level as CLCV 305.;
Course ID: CLCV206 Title: Gods and Heroes
The mythic tales of gods and heroes featured in the epic poems, sacred hymns, and tragic theatre of Greece
and Rome were also present in material form as votive statues, on painted vessels, and in architectural
decoration. This course will focus on the interplay between textual and visual representations of Olympian
deities like Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon; legendary figures such as Heracles, Theseus, and the heroes of the
Trojan War; and the infamous women of myth: Helen, Clytemnestra, and Medea. We will analyze how visions
of the heroic age-replete with legendary battles, divine seductions, and exotic monsters-provided ancient
societies with new opportunities to create a shared history, foster ethnic and civic identity, and transmit
ideological values about age and gender.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Burns; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV210/CPLT211 Title: Ancient Greek Drama
The Athenian playwrights of the Classical period, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes,
produced brilliant tragedies and comedies that continue to engage us today and to define our notion of drama.
At the same time, the Athenian people forged the principles that form the basis for our own political institutions.
The element of performance, common to both drama and democracy, provides an important key to
understanding this interesting confluence of theater and politics, and this class will combine the close reading
(in English) of ancient Greek drama with a consideration of the plays in their original context. We will also
address the interplay between Greek tragedy and comedy, assessing each genre's capacity for social and
political criticism as well as the subversion of Athenian values and norms.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CLCV 310.; Instructor:
Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL - Language and
Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as
CLCV 310.;
Course ID: CLCV212/CPLT212 Title: Reading Travel
Every story is a travel story, and this class introduces students to the theme of travel as it appears in a range of
literary texts from Homer's Odyssey to Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Toni Morrison's novel Home. We will
focus on the ways that mobility, transience, and unsettledness function in these works both to confirm and
challenge our ideas of home, identity (both personal and cultural), and the possibilities of return.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV213 Title: Sex and Gender in Ancient Greece
Do notions of gender change over time? In this course, we will explore how gender was constructed in
antiquity and how it functioned as an organizational principle. Through close readings of selections from Greek
and Roman epics, lyric poetry and drama, as well as philosophical and historical texts, we will analyze
representations of sex and gender exploring how power was shaped through these depictions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CLCV 313.; Instructor:
Gilhuly; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as CLCV 313.;
Course ID: CLCV221/CPLT221 Title: Epic Conversations: Homer and Contemporary Lyric Poetry
We tend to place epic and lyric poetry at opposite ends of the spectrum: epic poetry is musty, monumental,
and masculine while lyric poems are fresh, exquisite, and feminine. This class will read and discuss the works
of those contemporary lyric poets who reach across this divide to embrace Homeric epic -- revising these
ancient poems for modern times, for different audiences, in new forms. The class will read the Iliad and
Odyssey together with the works of contemporary poets (e.g., Anne Carson, Louise Gluck, Alice Oswald,
Adrienne Rich, Derek Walcott) to explore the nature of this contrapuntal conversation about poetic form across
time and genre. All readings will be in English.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV230 Title: War: From Troy to Baghdad
War is undoubtedly bad. But human beings have always practiced war. Indeed, war preceded history itself by
tens of thousands of years-if by history we mean the written inquiry into the past. But what causes wars? How
have wars been justified historically? How are wars won and lost? What are their effects? In this class, we
examine a series of case studies in warfare, including the Trojan War, the Peloponnesian War, and the Roman
Punic Wars. We will read classic accounts of warfare and theoretical literature about tactics, strategy, and
logistics, and also will analyze how war is represented in other media, such as art and film.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to student who have taken CLCV 330.; Instructor:
Rogers; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level
as CLCV 330.;
Course ID: CLCV236 Title: Greek and Roman Religion
The founders of Western civilization were not monotheists. Rather, from 1750 B.C.E. until 500 C.E., the ancient
Greeks and Romans sacrificed daily to a pantheon of immortal gods and goddesses who were expected to
help mortals achieve their earthly goals. How did this system of belief develop? Why did it capture the
imaginations of so many millions for more than 2,000 years? What impact did the religion of the Greeks and
Romans have upon the other religions of the Mediterranean, including Judaism and Christianity? Why did the
religion of the Greeks and Romans ultimately disappear?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CLCV 336.; Instructor:
Rogers; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as
CLCV 336.;
Course ID: CLCV240/REL240 Title: Romans, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire
At the birth of the Roman Empire virtually all of its inhabitants were practicing polytheists. Three centuries later,
the Roman Emperor Constantine was baptized as a Christian and his successors eventually banned public
sacrifices to the gods and goddesses who had been traditionally worshipped around the Mediterranean. This
course will examine Roman-era Judaism, Graeco-Roman polytheism, and the growth of the Jesus movement
into the dominant religion of the late antique world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Geller; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV241 Title: Running a Business in Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome’s economy was pre-industrial but highly developed and sophisticated. We will study
fundamental large-scale questions such as the labor force with both free and slave labor, raw materials
acquisition, start-up capital, transportation by land and sea, state involvement in the economy, banking,
production methods, marketing, and retail trade. We will also study how individual businesses and trades
operated, such as restaurants, furniture making, agriculture, pottery production, construction, stonework,
lodging, sex work, handcrafts, textile and clothing production, dry-cleaning, and professional services (e.g.,
education). What modern models and approaches, including behavioral economics, help us understand
ancient Roman businesses? Possible projects include case studies, consultations with modern craftspeople,
and development of business plans.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Starr; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CLCV243 Title: Roman Law
Ancient Roman civil law; its early development, codification, and continuing alteration; its historical and social
context (property, family, enslavement); its influence on other legal systems. Extensive use of actual cases
from antiquity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Starr; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: CLCV250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: CLCV305 Title: Ancient Greek and Roman Spectacle
Roman chariot races and gladiatorial combat were not just entertainment for the masses, just as the ancient
Olympic games were much more than sporting events. Athletic competitions, theatrical performances, and
militaristic parades were all public enactments of political and religious ideology. This course examines the
spectacle of competitive performances and rituals of power that helped shape ancient Greek and Roman
society. Students will investigate ancient writings alongside art-historical and archaeological evidence to
consider how social values and identities were constructed through these shared experiences. We will also
consider how the modern performances of ancient texts, the Olympic Games, and cinematic representations
have emphasized the splendor, drama, and gore of antiquity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Not open to students who
have taken CLCV 205.; Instructor: Burns; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course. This course is
also offered at the 200-level as CLCV 205.;
Course ID: CLCV310 Title: Ancient Greek Drama
The Athenian playwrights of the Classical period, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes,
produced brilliant tragedies and comedies that continue to engage us today and to define our notion of drama.
At the same time, the Athenian people forged the principles that form the basis for our own political institutions.
The element of performance, common to both drama and democracy, provides an important key to
understanding this interesting confluence of theater and politics, and this class will combine the close reading
(in English) of ancient Greek drama with a consideration of the plays in their original context. We will also
address the interplay between Greek tragedy and comedy, assessing each genre's capacity for social and
political criticism as well as the subversion of Athenian values and norms.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Not open to students who
have taken CLCV 210.; Instructor: Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This
course is also offered at the 200-level as CLCV 210.;
Course ID: CLCV313 Title: Sex and Gender in Ancient Greece
Do notions of gender change over time? In this course, we will explore how gender was constructed in
antiquity and how it functioned as an organizational principle. Through close readings of selections from Greek
and Roman epics, lyric poetry and drama, as well as philosophical and historical texts, we will analyze
representations of sex and gender exploring how power was shaped through these depictions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: 200 level course in CLCV, GRK, or LAT; or permission of the
instructor. Not open to students who have taken CLCV 313.; Instructor: Gilhuly; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as CLCV 213.;
Course ID: CLCV330 Title: War: From Troy to Baghdad
War is undoubtedly bad. But human beings have always practiced war. Indeed, war preceded history itself by
tens of thousands of years-if by history we mean the written inquiry into the past. But what causes wars? How
have wars been justified historically? How are wars won and lost? What are their effects? In this class, we
examine a series of case studies in warfare, including the Trojan War, the Peloponnesian War, and the Roman
Punic Wars. We will read classic accounts of warfare, theoretical literature about tactics, strategy, and logistics,
and also will analyze how war is represented in other media, such as art and film.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Not open to students who
have taken CLCV 230.; Instructor: Rogers; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This
course is also offered at the 200-level as CLCV 230.;
Course ID: CLCV336 Title: Greek and Roman Religion
The founders of Western civilization were not monotheists. Rather, from 1750 B.C.E. until 500 C.E., the ancient
Greeks and Romans sacrificed daily to a pantheon of immortal gods and goddesses who were expected to
help mortals to achieve their earthly goals. How did this system of belief develop? Why did it capture the
imaginations of so many millions for over 2,000 years? What impact did the religion of the Greeks and Romans
have upon the other religions of the Mediterranean, including Judaism and Christianity? Why did the religion of
the Greeks and Romans ultimately disappear?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Not open to students who
have taken CLCV 236.; Instructor: Rogers; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or
Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This
course is also offered at the 200-level as CLCV 236.;
Course ID: CLCV350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CLCV350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CLCV360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department. Does not count toward the
minimum major in Classics or Classical Civilization. ; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester
and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is made,
students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: CLCV370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: CLCV 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
CLST Courses
Course ID: CLST350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CLST350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CLST360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.Does not
count toward the minimum major in Classics or Classical Civilization. ;
Course ID: CLST370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CLST 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. Does not count toward the minimum major in Classics or Classical Civilization.;
GRK Courses
Course ID: GRK101 Title: Beginning Greek 1
Greek 101 and 102 will teach you all you need to know to learn to read Plato, Sappho, Sophocles, and
Herodotus in their original language, with no previous knowledge required. While learning Greek, you will also
learn another amazing language at the same time: English. Students who study Greek also learn English
grammar and vocabulary with a level of detail and clarity that you must experience to believe. Students
interested in math and the sciences will excel at Greek and benefit enormously from the vocabulary you learn,
since 90% of scientific vocabulary comes from classical languages. In Greek 101, you will learn how to
pronounce ancient Greek, and we will cover more than half of Greek grammar, so by the end of the year, you
will be reading Attic Greek.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to students who do not present Greek for admission.;
Instructor: Dougherty; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: GRK102 Title: Beginning Greek 2
Greek 102 builds on what you learned in Greek 101 in the fall (see the description of Greek 101 for details) and
completes your introduction to the ancient Greek language. In the last month or so, we’ll turn from the
textbook to reading excerpts from actual Greek authors like Lysias, Euripides and Sappho. Steady review
throughout the term will reinforce what you learned in the fall at the same time you’re learning new material. A
single year can take you from knowing no Greek at all to being able to read texts that shaped the western
literary, philosophical, and political traditions. Studying Greek will also strengthen your English vocabulary,
improve your command of English grammar, and enhance your writing skills.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 22; Prerequisites: GRK 101 or equivalent.; Instructor: Gilhuly; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: GRK201 Title: Intermediate Greek 1: Athenian Literature
Study of a selected work from Classical Athenian literature, such as a dialogue of Plato or a tragedy of
Euripides. Supplementary reading in English translation from other Greek works to illuminate the text in its
literary and cultural context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: GRK 101 and GRK 102 or two admission units in Greek, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: GRK202 Title: Intermediate Greek 2: Homer
Study of selected books in Greek from Homer's Iliad or Odyssey with emphasis on the oral style of early epic;
further reading in Homer in translation; the historical background of the period.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: GRK 201; Instructor: Gilhuly; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: GRK203 Title: Euripides
Close reading and discussion of a play (or plays) from the extant works of the Athenian playwright Euripides.
Translation and discussion of the Greek text will be supplemented with additional reading of Greek dramas in
translation as well as secondary readings on issues relating to the plays and their broader literary, social,
political, and cultural contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: GRK 202 or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who
have taken GRK 303.; Instructor: Gilhuly; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at
the 300-level as GRK 303.;
Course ID: GRK250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: GRK250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: GRK302 Title: Advanced Greek: Homer
Study of selected books in Greek from Homer's Iliad or Odyssey with emphasis on the oral style of early epic.
Translation and discussion of the Greek text will be supplemented with additional reading of the Homeric
poems in translation as well as secondary readings on issues relating to the epics and their broader literary,
social, political, and cultural contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: GRK 202; Instructor: Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GRK303 Title: Euripides
Close reading and discussion of a play (or plays) from the extant works of the Athenian playwright Euripides.
Translation and discussion of the Greek text will be supplemented with additional reading of Greek dramas in
translation as well as secondary readings on issues relating to the plays and their broader literary, social,
political, and cultural contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any 200 level GRK course, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Burns; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as GRK 203.;
Course ID: GRK304 Title: Sophocles
Close reading and discussion of a play (or plays) from the extant works of the Athenian playwright, Sophocles.
Translation and discussion of the Greek text will be supplemented with additional readings of Greek dramas in
translation as well as secondary readings on issues relating to the plays and their broader literary, social,
political, and cultural contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: GRK 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Dougherty;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course;
Course ID: GRK305 Title: Greek Comedy
With its emphasis on politics, ritual, and marriage, early Greek comedy revels in bodily humor and exults in
taking down the political and social elite, thus giving us access to perspectives including those of women and
enslaved people that are not usually depicted in other genres. Close readings of Aristophanes’ Greek plays
combined with analysis of both primary and secondary sources. Texts will be considered in their broader
social, political, and literary contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: GRK 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Gilhuly;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GRK306 Title: Herodotus
In this course students will read selections from Herodotus' Histories. We will consider the text in light of the
historiographical and literary traditions, with a view toward understanding Herodotus' innovations and
inheritance.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GRK 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Dougherty;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GRK307 Title: Archaic Greek Poetry: Homeric Hymns
In this course, students will study the Homeric Hymns in the context of important Greek poets of the archaic
period, such as works by Homer, Hesiod, Archilochus, Sappho, and Pindar. We will consider the poetry in light
of the historical, cultural and literary context of the archaic period, focusing in particular on issues of genre and
performance.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Burns; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GRK308 Title: Aeschylus
Close reading and discussion of a play (or plays) from the extant works of the Athenian playwright Aeschylus.
Translation and discussion of the Greek text will be supplemented with additional readings of Greek dramas in
translation as well as secondary readings on issues relating to the plays and their broader literary, social,
political, and cultural contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GRK309 Title: Plato's Symposium
Plato's best-known dialogue provides an opportunity to consider the construction of desire in Greek antiquity.
Close reading of the text will allow for the analysis of language and rhetoric, as well as the characterization of
each speaker. Broader study of the symposium as a social institution will enrich the significance of the text's
narrative structure and immediate relevance within classical Athens.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: GRK 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Gilhuly;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GRK311 Title: Longus' Daphnis and Chloe
In this advanced ancient Greek reading course, students will read Longus' Daphnis and Chloe. Study of
historical and literary background. Further reading in primary sources in translation and secondary readings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Gilhuly; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GRK350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: GRK350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: GRK360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester. Does not
count toward the minimum major in Classics or Classical Civilization.;
Course ID: GRK370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GRK 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. Does not count toward the minimum major in Classics or Classical Civilization.;
LAT Courses
Course ID: LAT101 Title: Beginning Latin 1
In a single year that assumes you have not studied Latin before, Latin 101 and 102 will teach you how to read
major Latin works in their original language, substantially increase your English vocabulary (thousands of
English words come ultimately from Latin), improve your writing skills in English, enhance your command of
English grammar, and either build on your knowledge of Spanish, French, or Italian if you’ve already studied
one of them or help you learn them if you haven’t (they are called “Romance” languages because they come
from Latin, the language of the Romans). You’ll learn how to pronounce Latin out loud so you know how it
sounds and you’ll acquire a reading knowledge, but we will not converse in Latin. Latin 101 covers roughly
half of the year’s material, and by the end of the semester you’ll be able to read simple stories.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to students who do not present Latin for admission or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Starr; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: LAT102 Title: Beginning Latin 2
Latin 102 builds on what you learned in Latin 101 in the fall (see the description of Latin 101 for details) and
covers the rest of Latin. In the last month or so, we’ll turn from the textbook to reading actual ancient and
medieval Latin texts, such as love poems, letters, and myths. Steady review throughout the term will reinforce
what you learned in the fall at the same time you’re learning new material. A single year can take you from
knowing no Latin at all to being able to read texts that shaped the western literary, philosophical, and political
traditions. Studying Latin will also strengthen your English vocabulary, improve your command of English
grammar, and enhance your writing skills.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 42; Prerequisites: LAT 101; Instructor: Freas; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: LAT201 Title: Intermediate Latin 1: Introduction to Roman Literature and Culture
In conjunction with a thorough review of Latin grammar, we will make the transition to Latin literature and
Roman culture. Selections in Latin may include Catullus (poetry), Ovid and the other love elegists, the emperor
Augustus' The Deeds of the Divine Augustus, Perpetua (one of the earliest known women Latin authors) and
the anonymous novella, The Story of Apollonius King of Tyre. Topics to be studied might include social status
and identity (What defined you? Might your status/identity change, whether for better or worse?); Rome's
relation to Greece, which Rome conquered but which long dominated Roman culture; or the nature and
function of literature in Roman life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LAT 102 or Wellesley's placement questionnaire and permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Freas; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: LAT202 Title: Intermediate Latin 2: Vergil and Augustus
Vergil wrote his epic poem the Aeneid as the origin story for Rome, as Aeneas escapes the fall of Troy and
eventually reaches Italy, where he establishes what will lead to Rome. Vergil wrote this foundational story of
Rome at a time of political upheaval and new beginnings, at the start of the reign of Augustus, the first Roman
emperor, who won the civil wars that ended the Roman Republic. The epic responds to
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, but also to Augustus and his new vision of Rome. We'll study the Aeneid as
what became the Roman national epic and as an exploration of Roman values and what it meant to be
Roman. Class sessions will focus on understanding both the Latin and broader questions of duty, love,
patriotism, and responsibility though discussion, writing, recitation, Roman coins from Wellesley's collections,
and even drawing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LAT 201 (formerly LAT 200) or Wellesley's placement questionnaire
and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Starr; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: LAT250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: LAT250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: LAT301 Title: How to Read Latin Literature Like A Roman
Romans read Latin as quickly and with as much pleasure as we read English. They looked forward to a new
book just as eagerly as we might pre-order a new novel by our favorite novelist. In this non-traditional Latin
course you will read a variety of authors (many chosen by the class members), and you will learn to read Latin
more like a Roman. Double or triple your reading speed, improve your comprehension, appreciate the
language more richly, and simply enjoy it more. This course focuses not on reviewing grammar and forms but
on learning concrete, practical reading techniques that go far beyond just looking up every word online or
hunting for a verb. The specific interests of the members of the class will help determine what we’ll read, which
might include some famous classics but also little-known but fascinating works like Perpetua’s
autobiographical account of her own martyrdom (recently transformed into a graphic novel), Sallust’s portrait
of scandals, Egeria’s record of her pilgrimmage, the wild adventure/romance novel Apollonius, King of Tyre,
or medieval Latin texts. Homework assignments, some of them analogous to problem sets or labs, will help
you develop specific reading techniques.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LAT 202 or a 300-level Latin course, or Wellesley's placement
exam and permission of the instructor.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAT302 Title: Roman Poems and Poetry Books
How can we read Roman poetry the way a Roman would have read it, knowing what to expect in a poem and
a poetry book? An exploration of features common to many Roman poems and books of poetry, with focused
attention to the dramatic nature of Roman poetry (speaker, addressee, scene, monologue, dialogue), diction
and poetic language, simile and metaphor, point of view, intertextuality (the relationship of one poem to
another), ekphrasis, genre and generic composition (e.g., the song before the lover's closed door, the drinking
song, the letter), the structure of a poetry book (opening poem, sphragis-or closing-poem, internal balancing),
and the resonances of the various popular meters. Readings from major Latin poems in Latin and from various
Roman works in translation; focused exercises to build the skills necessary for reading Latin poetry. Course
includes hands-on sessions for learning to make papyrus sheets and ancient ink and to practice writing on
papyrus with tools like those used in the ancient world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course or Wellesley's
placement questionnaire and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Starr; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAT304 Title: Women in Latin Literature
In this course, we will study three literary genres—Roman comedy, historiography, and elegy—each with its
own characteristic view of women, from comedy’s scolding wives and young lovers, to history’s villains and
heroines, to elegy’s mistresses. Taking into account authorial perspective, context, language, and style, we
will identify how male authors in different genres construct woman as the imagined “other” in society. From
Plautus to Ovid, we examine the ways a literary genre reflects cultural perceptions of women and gender in
Roman society from Republic to Empire.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) - or a 300-level Latin course, or Wellesley's
placement exam and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: LAT308 Title: Imperial Latin Literature
Latin literature flourished in the Imperial period, even though it is referred to as "Silver" instead of "Golden" Latin
Literature. We'll explore various authors and genres, including such authors as Seneca (philosophy and
drama), Lucan (epic), Tacitus (history), Pliny (letters), Juvenal (satire), and Martial (epigrams). We'll also
examine the impact of rhetoric on the writing of Latin prose and poetry.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course or Wellesley's
placement questionnaire and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Freas; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAT310 Title: Roman Historical Myths
Romans based their history in myth and made their history into myths. This course includes reading from
major authors such as Livy, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Propertius, and Tacitus, focusing on historical myths such as
Romulus and Remus, the Rape of the Sabine Women, Tarquinius Superbus, and Hercules and Cacus. We will
then examine how later Romans reworked those myths to serve current political purposes and how they
transformed historical events into powerful myths.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course or Wellesley's
placement questionnaire or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Starr; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: LAT311 Title: The Roman Novel: Petronius and Apuleius
Petronius' Satyricon and Apuleius' The Golden Ass are two novels from ancient Rome, filled with characters
from all walks of life, from aristocrats to professors to poets to former slaves to robbers to ghosts and
werewolves and even a human in a donkey's body who returns to his original form and becomes a priest of the
Egyptian goddess Isis. Their wild and sometimes preposterous plots range from magic spells and love
triangles to an outlandish dinner party to the tale of Cupid and Psyche, the ancestor of the Beauty and the
Beast. We'll look at the novel as a literary genre and its relationship to satire, epic, and comedy; its potential
audiences in the ancient world; the language of the characters; the real life behind the narratives; and the
reception of the Roman novel in modern literature and film, such as Fellini Satyricon.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course, or Wellesley's
Latin placement questionnaire.; Instructor: Freas; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAT315 Title: Ovid
Ovid is among the most notorious and playful Roman poets, a figure who enjoyed literary success at a young
age only to be later exiled by the emperor Augustus before finishing his epic poem The Metamorphoses. In
this advanced Latin course, students will study Ovid in his cultural and literary context by reading selections
from his works such as the Ars Amatoria, Amores, Met., and Fasti. Students will also learn about the metric
conventions and stylistic features of Ovid's poetry. Possible course themes may include gender and sexuality,
Roman and Greek myth, or Ovid’s Rome.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course, or Wellesley's
placement questionnaire and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Freas; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAT350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: LAT350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: LAT360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester. Does not
count toward the minimum major in Classics or Classical Civilization. ;
Course ID: LAT370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LAT 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. Does not count toward the minimum major in Classics or Classical Civilization.;
Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences
An Interdepartmental Major
A major in cognitive and linguistic sciences is the interdisciplinary study of language and mind.
Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Major
Goals for the Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Major
The major is designed with two goals in mind:
Provide students with a broad intellectual grounding in an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the
mind. This goal is met by a group of required core courses which introduce students to techniques for
studying language and cognition as well as background in the philosophical underpinnings of the
cognitive and linguistic sciences
Supply substantive training in one of the component disciplines (psychology, linguistics, computer
science, or philosophy) through course work within a concentration area chosen by the student. The
concentration will enable the student to strengthen and deepen their understanding of the mind within
a single domain
Student Outcomes
Upon completing the major, students will be able to
Read and analyze cognitive science literature across disciplines
Recognize and evaluate important ways in which the mind has been perceived by philosophers,
scientists and others over time.
Solve problems in cognitive and linguistic sciences using formal symbolic systems
Recognize and describe the different research methodologies of various disciplines
Apply the research methodologies employed in their concentration discipline
Requirements for the Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Major
Students majoring in cognitive and linguistic sciences must take a minimum of nine units for the major,
including four core units, one from each of the categories below, and a minimum of four electives in a
concentration. It is recommended, but not required, that the ninth course be in a different concentration. In
addition to the courses eligible for the major, which are listed below, NEUR 100 can count as a ninth course in
the major. Students may consult the MIT catalog for additional offerings in the major, but students are
encouraged to take courses for the major at Wellesley College.
Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Core Requirements
Students must fulfill the following four core requirements:
1. One course in Linguistics: Consult individual concentrations for requirement
2. One course in Formal Systems: Consult individual concentrations for requirement
3. PHIL 215
4. CLSC 300/PSYC 300
Honors in Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above
the 100 level; the department may petition on their behalf if their GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See
Academic Distinctions.
Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Concentrations
In designing a concentration, students need to demonstrate the intellectual coherence of their choices.
Therefore, concentrations must be designed in close collaboration with the director. In cases where the
student’s chosen concentration is in a discipline other than that of the director, a second advisor in the
student’s field of concentration must also be arranged. Students must take at least one 300-level course in
their concentration. Courses numbered 350/360/370 do not count toward this 300-level requirement.
Linguistics Concentration
Students concentrating in linguistics must elect at least four courses beyond the formal systems requirement
and these must be from the following list. Three of these courses must be linguistics (LING) courses, including
one 300-level LING course: LING 238, LING 240, LING 244, LING 246, LING 248, LING 312, LING 315 or LING
338. CS 235, EDUC 310, FREN 211 or FREN 308; PHIL 207, PHIL 216, or PHIL 333; CLSC 216/PSYC 216 or
CLSC 316/PSYC 316. KOR 206 or KOR 256.
Students planning to do graduate work in sociolinguistics or experimental linguistics should take at least one
course in statistics, preferably PSYC 105. Students are also encouraged to do research, for example, through
an independent study or thesis or an MIT UROP. However, MIT UROP courses can only be used for elective
credit within the major with prior approval of the major advisor. They do not count as LING courses or as 300level units.
Linguistics Requirement: LING 114 or MIT 24.9
Formal System Requirement for Linguistics: LING 240 or LING 244 or appropriate equivalent MIT course
Students will also be expected to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language above the College’s foreign
language requirement (at an intermediate level or above).
Psychology Concentration
Students concentrating in psychology must take PSYC 105 and PSYC 315R. PSYC 207R may be taken when
approved by the student's advisor. In addition, students must elect at least two courses from the following list:
CLSC 214, PSYC 215, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PSYC 219, PSYC 301, CLSC 316/PSYC 316, PSYC 318, PSYC
319, PSYC 328, PSYC 345.
Linguistics Requirement: CLSC 216/PSYC 216 or CLSC 316/PSYC 316.
Formal System Requirement for Psychology: One of CS 111, LING 240, LING 244, or PHIL 216.
Philosophy Concentration
Students concentrating in philosophy must elect at least four of any of the following courses: PHIL 207, PHIL
216, PHIL 218, PHIL 221, PHIL 245, PHIL 311, PHIL 323, PHIL 333 or PHIL 345.
Linguistics Requirement: LING 114 or CLSC 216/PSYC 216
Formal System Requirement for Philosophy: PHIL 216
Computer Science Concentration
Students concentrating in computer science must take CS 230 and CS 232. In addition, students must elect at
least two courses from the following list: CS 220, CS 231, CS 234, CS 235, CS 251, CS 305, CS 315, CS 320,
CS 323, CS 333. Students may also choose LING 246 as an elective.
Linguistics Requirement: LING 114 or CLSC 216/PSYC 216
Formal System Requirement for Computer Science: CS 111
Students planning to do graduate work in an interdisciplinary field that integrates computation and cognition
should take at least one course in statistics. Students are also encouraged to do research, for example,
through an independent study, thesis, MIT UROP, or summer internship. MIT UROP courses can only be used
for elective credit within the major with prior approval of the major advisor. They do not count as CS courses or
for 300-level credit.
CLSC Courses
Course ID: CLSC110/PSYC110 Title: Introduction to Cognitive Science
How do our brains give rise to conscious thought, action, and experience? This is a key question that
motivates cognitive science, the interdisciplinary study of the mind. Cognitive scientists integrate approaches
from psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and more, to study this issue. This course will survey
the major theories, debates, and findings from cognitive science. Topics covered include perception, memory,
decision-making, language, consciousness, and more. We will also consider cognitive science from a
historical perspective to understand how the study of the mind has evolved in the past century, and what
approaches we can take into the future.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Bushong; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CLSC216/PSYC216 Title: Psychology of Language
Language is central to the human experience. It arises in all cultures and can be learned effortlessly by any
child. In fact, children can’t resist it—deprive them of language, and they will invent their own. The
organizational power of the human mind and the critical role of human interaction in culture shape the
structure of languages and the way they are learned, perceived, and produced. In this class we will apply
scientific research methods from cognitive psychology to understand how humans build, use, and acquire
language. Throughout, we will view the psychological processes of language through the lenses of crosslinguistic variation, multilingualism, and individual differences.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101 or NEUR 100, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam,
or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Pyers;
Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CLSC250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CLSC250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to Fiirst-Years and Sophom*ores, by permission of the
instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CLSC300/PSYC300 Title: Seminar. Topics in Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences
Topic for 2024-25: From Perceptrons to ChatGPT: How Computational Models Help Us Understand the Mind
Cognitive scientists have used mathematical and computational methods to understand human cognition
since at least the 1940s. Similarly, the study of human neuroscience and cognition has influenced the
development of artificial intelligence systems. Beginning in the early 2010s, massive increases in
computational power and the accessibility of large databases have resulted in the rapid rise of human-like
artificial intelligence systems, culminating in well-known public AI tools like ChatGPT. To what degree are these
models a reflection of human intelligence, and can they help us understand human cognition? Are human-like
cognitive biases also present in these models, and does this present ethical issues with their use? This course
will cover the history of computational modeling in cognitive science, from early debates about modularity,
interactivity, and the nature of representation; to the modern development of deep neural networks not only as
practical systems, but as models of human cognition.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken one of the following PSYC 215, CLSC 216/PSYC 216, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PSYC 219, LING 114, PHIL 215, or CS 111; or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bushong; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and
Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as
the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: CLSC316/PSYC316 Title: Seminar: Language Acquisition
Children around the world acquire their first language, spoken or signed, with seemingly little effort. By the end
of their first year, they are saying their first words, and a mere two years later they are speaking in full
sentences. What are the biological, cognitive, and environmental factors that play into children’s rapid
language learning? What do special cases of language acquisition, such as bilingualism, disordered language
development (e.g., autism, dyslexia), and sign language tell us about the human capacity to learn language?
We will consider all of these questions and more. In addition, we will spend time observing children of different
ages to witness language acquisition in action.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two 200-level courses in PSYC (excluding PSYC 205) or LING, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Pyers; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition;
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLSC348/PSYC348 Title: Seminar: Cognitive Neuroscience of Communication
No other species can communicate complex meanings as flexibly and efficiently as humans can. This course
examines the cognitive and neural basis of our communication system, providing a comprehensive overview of
what we do and don’t know about it. We will cover topics such as gesture, turn-taking in conversation,
miscommunication, language and the role of prediction in communication. The course will introduce core
concepts, terminology and skills through reading research papers that probe the architecture of our
communication system from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, with a focus on ecological validity in
communication research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken one of the following CLSC 216/PSYC 216, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PSYC 219, LING 114, PHIL 215, or permission of instructor.;
Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLSC350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CLSC360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the director.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in
the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient
progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: CLSC370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: CLSC 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
LING Courses
Course ID: AFR338/LING338 Title: Seminar: African American English
This course will examine the history, linguistic structure, and sociocultural patterns of use of English as spoken
by African Americans in the United States. We will focus on the phonology and morphosyntax that is
considered unique to AAE, and discuss lexical and discursive features as well. We will cover the major debates
that continue to rage within AAE scholarship, including the debates surrounding its origins and its use in
education. Additional topics include AAE and hip hop, appropriation, and crossing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Either LING 114 or CLSC 216/PSYC 216 and related coursework at
the 200 level or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: S. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: EALC123Y/LING123Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Kaleidoscope of East Asian Languages: Exploring
voices, values, and cultures
This seminar explores linguistic tapestry of East Asia, focusing on the distinct features, structures, and
variations that characterize Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Through lively discussions and hands-on
projects, we will examine the unique linguistic and cultural heritages of these languages. From their intricate
writing systems and complex grammar to the diverse range of sociolinguistic patterns and dialects, we will
uncover the layers that make each language unique. Central to our exploration will be the role of Confucian
ideology, the vibrant influence of pop culture, and the transformative impact of AI technology on
communication. Through this exploration, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how language
profoundly influences and mirrors the rich diversity of life and thought in East Asia.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Sun-Hee Lee;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: KOR246/LING246 Title: Digital Language: Corpus Linguistics and its Applications
Advances in computer technology have revolutionized the ways linguists can approach their data. By
accessing large digital bodies of text (corpora) and searching for phenomena of interest, we can uncover
complexities in naturally-occurring data and explore broader issues utilizing linguistic patterns and frequency
information. This course presents a practical introduction to corpus linguistics, an extremely versatile
methodology of language analysis using computers.
Some of the fundamental questions to explore include; what is a corpus, and what corpora exist? How are
corpora constructed and linguistic annotation added? What tools are available for search, annotation, and
analysis? Students will also learn how corpora are used in diverse areas such as sociolinguistics, discourse
analysis, child language acquisition, and language change as well as language learning and teaching and
develop their own research ideas. Students who register for KOR 246 will be expected to do their coursework
using Korean language texts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LING 114 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Sun-Hee Lee;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LING114 Title: Introduction to Linguistics
Designed to familiarize students with some of the essential concepts of linguistic analysis. Suitable problem
sets in English and in other languages will provide opportunities to study the basic systems of language
organization-phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Additional topics include introductions to
language organization in the brain, child language acquisition, language change, and language in society.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: S. Fisher, Y. Kim; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Fall;
Course ID: LING238 Title: Sociolinguistics
The application of linguistics to the analysis of sociocultural variation in language. We will examine the way
information about age, gender, social class, region, and ethnicity is conveyed by variations in the structural
and semantic organization of language. We will also examine language attitude and language planning in
multilingual societies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: LING 114 or CLSC 216/PSYC 216, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: S. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: LING240 Title: The Sounds of Language
What are all the possible linguistically relevant sounds of the human vocal tract? How does each language
organize a subset of those sounds into a coherent system? Examination of the sounds of language from the
perspective of phonetics and of phonology. Each student will choose a foreign language for intensive study of
its phonetic, phonologic, and prosodic characteristics. Includes extensive use of speech analysis and
phonetics software.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: LING 114 or CLSC 216/PSYC 216, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Carpenter; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: LING244 Title: Language: Form and Meaning
This course will consider some basic questions about language: What do we actually know when we know a
language? How is the structure of language best described? Are there properties which all languages share,
and what do those properties tell us about language itself? We will look at specific problems in morphology,
syntax, and semantics, and the strengths and weaknesses of different linguistic theories will be considered.
While many of the problems considered in this class will involve English, we will also be looking at other
languages, both European and non-European.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LING 114.; Instructor: S. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: LING248 Title: Introduction to Historical Linguistics
An examination of all forms of language change, including sound change, analogical change, semantic and
lexical change, and syntactic change. Students will learn and apply the techniques of the comparative method
in order to reconstruct earlier stages of various languages and to understand how linguists determine the
genetic relationships among languages. Several theories of linguistic change will be explored. Students will
also be introduced to the history of the discipline of linguistics, which largely began with the development of
the techniques for historical reconstruction.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: LING 114 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Carpenter;
Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: LING270/SPAN270 Title: Language, Sociopolitics, and Identity: Spanish in the United States
This course provides a sociolinguistic overview of Spanish in the US by examining concepts such as language
ideologies, language identity, language attitudes, language maintenance and shift, the politics of language,
language contact, bilingualism, the relationship of language to Latinx identities, and how language ideologies
and policies reflect and shape societal views of Spanish and its speakers, race, identity, and education. This
course will provide a descriptive, historical and linguistic overview of the different Spanish-English bilingual
communities in the US. For instance, we will examine the use and representation of Spanish and
misconceptions about Spanish varieties and Latinx communities in a wide array of contexts, including
everyday speech, contemporary culture, media and the portrayal in the media, education, and policy. Reading
selections will be in Spanish (for the most part) and English. Homework, projects, exams and class
discussions will be strictly in Spanish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or SPAN 242 or
equivalent (AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bassa Vanrell; Distribution Requirements: SBA
- Social and Behavioral Analysis; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: LING312 Title: Bilingualism: An Exploration of Language, Mind, and Culture
Exploration of the relationship of language to mind and culture through the study of bilingualism. The bilingual
individual will be the focus for questions concerning language and mind: The detection of "foreign" accent, the
relationship of words to concepts, the organization of the mental lexicon, language specialization of the brain,
and the effects of early bilingualism on cognitive functioning. The bilingual nation will be the focus for
questions dealing with language and culture: societal conventions governing use of one language over
another, effects of extended bilingualism on language development and change, and political and educational
impact of a government's establishing official bilingualism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken a related 200-level
course in linguistics, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: A.
Carpenter; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: LING315 Title: Invented Languages: From Wilkins' Real Character to Avatar's Na'vi
Over the centuries, invented, or artificial, languages have been devised for many reasons, including a desire to
improve existing languages, an effort to unite the world, or a need to explore how languages are learned. The
vast majority have failed, but why? Is there a place for invented language? What do invented languages teach
us about natural language? We will look at invented languages from a variety of points of view: linguistic,
historical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological. We will explore the linguistic underpinnings of
various languages, from seventeenth century Real Character to Na'vi, with a look at a successful "reinvented"
language, Modern Hebrew. Students will design their own miniature artificial language.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken LING 114 or
CLSC/PSYC 216 and a related 200-level course in linguistics, psychology, anthropology, or philosophy, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Y. Kim; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: LING319 Title: The Spoken and Written Word: Effects on Cognition and Culture
For thousands of years, humans communicated via the ephemeral spoken word, and then writing was
invented. How has the advent of writing affected us, both as individuals and members of cultural groups? To
answer this question, we will explore the cognitive, linguistic, and cultural implications of spoken and written
forms of communication. We start with an overview of the field of orality and literacy studies, followed by an
examination of theories of the origin of human language and the history of the development of writing. We then
move to an analysis of how the brain processes the spoken and written word and how these modes of
communication affect memory and reasoning. From a cultural perspective, we examine the ways in which
certain ancient and current societies differ as a function of their use of oral versus written forms of
communication.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; EC Epistemology and Cognition;
Course ID: LING350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Comparative Literary Studies
An Interdepartmental Major
The Comparative Literary Studies Major introduces students to fundamental questions about the nature,
function, and value of literature in an expansive and broadly comparative context – outside national and
linguistic boundaries and in conversation with other texts, cultures, media, or technologies. CPLT majors
become adept in multiple cultures and disciplines; they develop habits of mind as well as skills in close
reading, critical analysis, and written communication that will serve them throughout their lives as citizens and
in any career they might choose.
The program brings together faculty from Classics, East Asian Studies, English, French, German Studies,
Italian Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Spanish, and Russian to showcase the exciting breadth and diversity
of literary study at Wellesley. Students draw from coursework offered in a variety of departments and programs
to construct a program of study that reflects their intellectual goals and areas of interest. Students and faculty
in CPLT are vitally engaged with not only language and literature departments but also with interdisciplinary
programs such as American Studies, Peace and Justice Studies, Africana Studies, Women’s and Gender
Studies, and Environmental Studies, to name just a few.
All students planning to major in Comparative Literary Studies should work with the director of the program or
a major advisor who will help them develop a coherent, well-focused sequence of courses suited to their
individual interests. A student in CPLT might study topics that link literature, defined expansively, with visual
media, gender and sexuality, literary history, philosophy, linguistics, environmental studies, colonialism,
human rights and global censorship, postcolonial and diaspora studies, literary theory, film, and translation.
Majors in CPLT often pursue double majors, because of the flexibility of the major, which allows them to
combine their interests in multiple fields, including STEM fields, and to structure their degrees around them. A
major in Comparative Literary Studies will add value to any resume, and our graduates pursue careers in
media, law, public service, the non-profit sector, publishing, international business, and academia, among
other areas.
Comparative Literary Studies Major
Goals for the Comparative Literary Studies Major
Practice and refine skills in the analysis of literary texts, genres and literary movements across
departmental, national, and linguistic boundaries as well as in relationship to other texts, cultures,
media, or technologies.
Learn to recognize and apply key concepts of theoretical approaches to cultural and textual studies.
Acquire an overview of the history and disciplines of comparative literature and world literature,
especially as they evolve in the current global literary moment.
Acquire a thorough understanding of the dynamics presented by a literary text in translation and
adaptation.
Requirements for the Comparative Literary Studies Major
The requirements for the major are as follows: Nine units of course work is required for the major, at least five
of which should be from the CPLT curriculum and must include CPLT 180, which should be taken early on in a
student’s studies and CPLT 375, the capstone course in translation. In addition, students take at least one
course outside the modern period (before 1900) and three courses in an area of concentration to be
developed in consultation with the advisor and director, and at least one of these classes must be at the 300
level. Students may choose to concentrate in the literature of a nation or a region or in a specific field of
inquiry (e.g. literature & religion, translation, literature & politics, philosophical or theoretical inquires into
literature, visual arts & literature, etc.).
Students are encouraged to explore the diversity of literary studies offered in other departments at the college
or if they choose to study abroad. Most courses that deal significantly with literature broadly defined will count
for the major, but students are encouraged to consult the program director or major advisor to confirm that a
course outside CPLT will count toward the major. All units must count toward the major in the departments in
which they are offered (unless they are language courses, of which no more than one 200-level course may be
counted toward the major).
Honors in Comparative Literary Studies
There are two routes to honors in the major: Plan A entails writing a thesis. Plan B entails a dossier of essays
written for several courses with a statement of connections among them and critical questions raised by them.
Both Plan A and Plan B require a student to pass an oral exam.
To be admitted to the honors program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in
the major field above the 100 level; the department may petition on the student's behalf if the student's GPA in
the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Students who are interested in honors need to contact the director of the program at the end of their junior
year to learn about expectations, formats, and deadlines. Decisions about admittance to either one of the
routes are made by the advisory board of the program.
CPLT Courses
Course ID: AFR256/CPLT256/PORT256 Title: Cultures of the Portuguese-Speaking World through Film, Music
and Fiction (In English)
This course is conducted in English and will introduce students to the cultures of the Portuguese-speaking
world through selected films, music and readings. In this interdisciplinary course, we will explore how
filmmakers, musicians and writers respond to social and political changes in Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde,
Mozambique and Portugal. Topics covered include colonialism; postcolonialism; wars of independence in
Africa; Brazil’s military dictatorship; Portugal´s New State dictatorship; evolving national identities; and
representations of trauma and memory. Readings are in English and films have subtitles.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Igrejas; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHIN236/CPLT237 Title: China on the Silver Screen
This course introduces students to the Chinese cultural and literary tradition through the lens of modern
reception and cinematic representation. Beginning with Confucius and ending with the last emperor of the
imperial period (221 BCE–1911 CE), we will explore key historical turning points, influential philosophical
works, and major literary genres. By pairing historical writings (in English translation) with iconic blockbusters
and arthouse films, students will analyze in what ways and to what ends film adaptations transform their source
materials. We will also delve into the complex and often fraught relationships between the past and present in
contemporary Sinophone contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Du; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHIN382/CPLT382 Title: Seminar: Science Fiction and the Future of China (In English)
This seminar guides students to explore the political, cultural, and epistemological changes represented in
Chinese science fiction. It contextualizes the genre’s evolution in the intellectual history of modern China,
where imagining the future of China is often the focus of contending ideologies and intellectual trends. The
course introduces students to three booms of Chinese science fiction, which all happened when China went
through drastic changes. The contemporary new wave of science fiction particularly presents a subversive
vision of China’s pursuit of power and wealth, a dystopian counterpart to the government-promoted “Chinese
dream.” This course examines the cutting-edge literary experiments that characterize the new wave, and
studies the transgression of gender, class, and nation in science fiction that evokes sensations ranging from
the uncanny to the sublime, from the corporeal to the virtual, and from the apocalyptic to the transcendent.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course at the 200 or 300 level on Chinese literature, history or
culture, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: O'Krent; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: CLCV210/CPLT211 Title: Ancient Greek Drama
The Athenian playwrights of the Classical period, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes,
produced brilliant tragedies and comedies that continue to engage us today and to define our notion of drama.
At the same time, the Athenian people forged the principles that form the basis for our own political institutions.
The element of performance, common to both drama and democracy, provides an important key to
understanding this interesting confluence of theater and politics, and this class will combine the close reading
(in English) of ancient Greek drama with a consideration of the plays in their original context. We will also
address the interplay between Greek tragedy and comedy, assessing each genre's capacity for social and
political criticism as well as the subversion of Athenian values and norms.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CLCV 310.; Instructor:
Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL - Language and
Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as
CLCV 310.;
Course ID: CLCV212/CPLT212 Title: Reading Travel
Every story is a travel story, and this class introduces students to the theme of travel as it appears in a range of
literary texts from Homer's Odyssey to Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Toni Morrison's novel Home. We will
focus on the ways that mobility, transience, and unsettledness function in these works both to confirm and
challenge our ideas of home, identity (both personal and cultural), and the possibilities of return.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV221/CPLT221 Title: Epic Conversations: Homer and Contemporary Lyric Poetry
We tend to place epic and lyric poetry at opposite ends of the spectrum: epic poetry is musty, monumental,
and masculine while lyric poems are fresh, exquisite, and feminine. This class will read and discuss the works
of those contemporary lyric poets who reach across this divide to embrace Homeric epic -- revising these
ancient poems for modern times, for different audiences, in new forms. The class will read the Iliad and
Odyssey together with the works of contemporary poets (e.g., Anne Carson, Louise Gluck, Alice Oswald,
Adrienne Rich, Derek Walcott) to explore the nature of this contrapuntal conversation about poetic form across
time and genre. All readings will be in English.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT112Y/REL112Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Monsters
An introduction to the history and concepts of monsters and monstrosity. We will apply readings in literary and
cultural theory to case studies drawn from biblical literature and iconography from the ancient Middle East and
Mediterranean myths and cosmologies, Victorian-era gothic novels, and contemporary popular culture to
study monstrous beings from the earliest examples until the present. We will center questions concerning the
human creation (and fear) of monstrous beings, the cultural specificity of terror, the social significance of
monsters, and how the history of monsters informs, and has been informed by, the ancient world. No previous
knowledge of the Bible, literature, or monsters is required or presumed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories:
FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Every four years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: CPLT119/ENG119 Title: Women* Write Weird Fiction
From the mid-20th century to 2021, women writers have been major players globally in the upsurge of what is
now referred to as speculative fiction--a literary supergenre or umbrella term for a spectrum of “what if” fictions:
fairy tale, science fiction, horror, dystopian, magic realism, surrealism, fantasy. We will explore together short
stories and novels written in the last four decades. Class discussions will aim at interpretation and appreciation
of these peculiar and powerful literary texts as well as reflection on their particular historical and cultural
context.
In particular, we will be curious about how these authors play with a spectrum of gender - in their own lives and
in their writing. The texts include fiction written in English and fiction translated into English; we will address the
issue of reading works in translation. Speakers and students of languages other than English, are encouraged
to offer their insights into the necessary friction between an original text and its English translation.
Among the authors to be read: Octavia Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, N.K. Jemisin, Samanta Schweblin, Ursula Le
Guin, Basma Abdel Aziz, Eden Robinson, Vandana Singh. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English
requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 40; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Sides; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CPLT180 Title: What is World Literature?
"World Literature” views a literary work as the product of local culture, then of regional or national culture, and
finally of global culture. Critics of world literature argue that a text's richness may be lost in translation, that too
often a privileged Western literary tradition forces “other” literatures into a relationship of belatedness and
inferiority, and that world literature leads to the globalization of culture-and as the global language becomes
predominantly English, the world of literature will be known through that single language alone. This course
offers an opportunity to not only read rich and exciting literary texts from ancient eras to the contemporary
moment but also after reading key critical essays that defend and critique “World Literature” to reflect on the
cultural politics that directly or indirectly determines who reads what. Range of texts from contemporary Arabic
short fiction, science fiction from China and Africa, global gothic fiction, and poetic forms across time and
cultures. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Dougherty; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CPLT222/FREN236 Title: Understanding Colonialism and Its Legacies: Immigrant Experience in
Paris
This course begins with a brief history of European colonization and includes a unit on French expansion as it
relates to immigrant communities in Paris. Next, the class will cultivate a broad sense of the period of
independences, decolonization, and the formation of new nations as a period in world history, once again
contextualizing the different waves of immigration to the city of Paris. Students will use Parisian sites and a
variety of materials available locally to study immigration patterns and the recent development of the Parisian
cityscape while privileging immigrant perspective. Weekly assignments, which can be done flexibly, will involve
visits to museums, monuments, neighborhoods, markets, and cafés. A number of local scholars, artists, and
activists will provide guest lectures to guide our study. Each student will devise a project that will involve
exploring the city from a viewpoint that falls within their interest, defined through discipline or theme. The latter
part of the course will consist of independent work involving exploration of the city through the prism of the
student’s project and it will be done in close consultation with the instructor. Interviews and shadowing of
individuals (with prior permission) who are living the immigrant experience will inform the final project, which
will take the form of a multimedia journal.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: A special hybrid course offered for Wellesley students studying
abroad at American University in Paris.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT236/EALC236 Title: The Girl in Modern East Asian Culture (In English)
In East Asia, the rise of the girl in literary and popular culture coincides with the appearance of modernity itself.
Beginning with the ‘modern girl,' we move chronologically, exploring coming-of-age tropes in East Asian
fiction, manga, anime, and film. How does the objectification of the adolescent girl illuminate issues around
ethnicity, national identity, sexuality, even globalization? What national anxieties hover around girls' bodies?
We read texts in English translation and explore models of female development that might aid us in our
exploration of this cultural phenomenon. Secondary readings include works by Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva,
Marianne Hirsch, Carol Gilligan, Elizabeth Grosz, among others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Zimmerman; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT238/ES238 Title: The Color of Green Literature: Writing in the Face of Environmental
Collapse
This course discusses the narrative challenges posed by the Anthropocene, the current era in history in which
the impact of humans on the environment imperils the very future of our planet. Reading fictional and critical
texts that have emerged in different parts of the world over the course of the last three decades, we will identify
the fictional tools and aesthetic strategies that writers are exploring to address the climate catastrophe. We
will discuss what the traditions of writing about biocide are to which contemporary authors can turn when
creating new narratives adequate to capture the environmental crisis. We will analyze the most prominent
genres involved in “green writing” and will pay close attention to the ways authors deal with the tensions
between the local and the global in their narratives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken GER 338.; Instructor:
Nolden; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course meets with GER 338, which is
intended for advanced German students and which has a third class meeting conducted in German.;
Course ID: CPLT247/ENG247/MER247 Title: Arthurian Legends
The legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, with their themes of chivalry, magic, friendship,
war, adventure, corruption, and nostalgia, as well as romantic love and betrayal, make up one of the most
influential and enduring mythologies in our culture. This course will examine literary interpretations of the
Arthurian legend, in history, epic, romance, and fiction, from the sixth century through the sixteenth, following
the characters and motifs through their evolution. We will also consider some later examples of Arthuriana, in
novels, comics, TV and movies, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Wall-Randell; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT275 Title: Translation and the Multilingual World
A study of translation in theory and in practice, in its literal and many metaphorical senses, and of the vast
multilingual world in which translation takes place. Among the possible topics: translation of literary texts,
translation of sacred texts, the history and politics of translation, the lives of translators, translation and gender,
translation and colonialism, machine translation and Google Translate, endangered languages, the
representation of translation in literature and film, invented languages. Students taking the course at the 300
level will do a substantial independent project: a translation, a scholarly inquiry, or a combination of the two.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: One course in literature (in any language) or permission of the
instructor. Competence in a language or languages other than English is useful but not necessary.; Instructor:
Aadnani, Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as CPLT 375.
This course can count towards the English major/minor in consultation with the instructor.;
Course ID: CPLT283/ENG283 Title: The History of 'Cabaret'
Christopher Isherwood’s autofictional Berlin Stories (1945)—featuring Sally Bowles, immortalized by Liza
Minelli—inspired John Van Druten’s play I Am a Camera and, later, the film adaptation (1951, 1952). These, in
turn, inspired the musical Cabaret (1966). The legendary Bob Fosse directed and
choreographed Cabaret for the screen (1972); the rest is cinematic history. On stage or
screen, Cabaret departs from novel and play. The famed musical transforms the ‘original,’ taking
the Cabaret as motif and theme, a seedy nightclub run by a sinister Master of Ceremonies. Joel Grey was
the original Emcee, while Alan Cumming reinterpreted the role in Sam Mendes’ West End and Broadway
productions (1998, 2014). Amid these adaptations and revivals, Isherwood published Christopher and His
Kind, shedding further light on his nocturnal Berlin years (1976). This memoir was dramatized for the screen,
which at last reveals the ‘real’ Sally Bowles, Jean Ross (2011). An intertextual mesh of media, stories, genres,
authors, characters, and agendas, the history of Cabaret is an exciting story in itself. In this course, we will
analyze most of the works mentioned, while tracing the intertextuality and history of Cabaret. That history
includes the ‘divine decadence’ of the Weimar Republic, the rise of Nazism, and the beginnings of the
Second World War. But the lives and afterlives of Cabaret also trace a complex queer genealogy, before and
after Stonewall, which continues to this day. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: González; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: CPLT284 Title: Magical Realism
This course examines fictions whose basic reality would be familiar if not for the introduction of a magical
element that undermines commonplace notions about what constitutes reality in the first place. The magical
element can be a demon, talisman, physical transformation, miraculous transition in space or time,
appearance of a second plane of existence, revelation of the unreality of the primary plane of existence, etc.
Students will read Kafka's Metamorphosis, Queneau's The Blue Flowers, Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita,
Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Pynchon's The Crying of
Lot 49, Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and Sokolov's School for Fools, and
short stories by Borges, Cortazar, and Nabokov.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 40; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Weiner; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CPLT285/ENG284 Title: Ghost Stories and How We Read Them
Everyone loves ghost stories, but why? Do we believe in their truth? Do we see ghosts as something that
people from other cultures or other times believe? How might the presence of ghosts be linked to historical
developments, including European colonialism? In this course, we will read stories featuring ghosts from
across the world and through modern history. We’ll also explore various kinds of literary criticism to see how
they can help us become more aware of what we’re doing when we read ghost stories. Stories and novels will
include well-known works such as Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Leslie
Maron Silko’s Ceremony, Amos Tutuola’s The Palm-Wine Drinkard, and South Korean novelist Hwang SokYong’s The Guest. The goal is to become more aware of the assumptions behind how we read and interpret
these stories. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT287/ENG287 Title: Capitalism and Literature
How is literature related to capitalism? How can one help us to understand the power of the other? This course
examines their shared forms and overlapping histories. We will read literary works, accounts of capitalism as a
social system and historical epoch, and criticism focused on the material basis of literature. Fiction will range
from Balzac to Ling Ma. That trajectory shows the development of capitalism from the period of the industrial
revolution in England to the complex supply chains of global capitalism in the present. Theorists will include
Marx, Adorno, Brecht, Eric Williams, and Althusser. Issues will include the commodity form, the role of slavery
and empire in the development of capitalism, class consciousness, structuralism, and neo-liberalism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Y. Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT290/ENG290/JWST290 Title: Jews, African-Americans, and Other Minorities in U.S. Comics
and Graphic Novel
Comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels have throughout their history in the United States had a
complex relationship with members of minority groups, who have often been represented in racist and
dehumanizing ways. Meanwhile, though, American Jews played influential roles in the development of the
medium, and African-American, Latinx, Asian-American, and LGBTQ artists have more recently found
innovative ways to use this medium to tell their stories. In this course, we will survey the history of comics in
the U.S., focusing on the problems and opportunities they present for the representation of racial, ethnic, and
sexual difference. Comics we may read include Abie the Agent, Krazy Kat, Torchy Brown, Superman, and Love
& Rockets, as well as Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, Alison Bechdel’s
Fun Home, and Mira Jacob’s Good Talk.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT294 Title: Utopia and Dystopia in Literature
In his Republic Plato described his utopia as a land where people are divided into four classes depending on
their intelligence, where a philosopher-king rules over all, and a guardian class spies and protects, where
private property is forbidden and where children are taken from their parents to be raised for the state and
taught only things that will increase their loyalty to the state. Eugenics is practiced, literature banished. Plato's
vision has inspired socialist utopian fantasies and dystopian warnings alike. Students will read Nikolai
Chernyshevsky's What's to Be Done?, H.G. Wells' Time Machine and A Modern Utopia, Evgeny Zamyatin's We,
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwell's 1984, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. We will examine the
ideas and plans of Plato, Charles Fourier, Jeremy Bentham, Charles Darwin, Cecil Rhodes and others as they
take shape on the pages of the novels we read. And we will consider the extent to which the utopias we read
are prophesy or proscription.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Weiner; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT319/ENG319 Title: Contemporary Anglophone Speculative Fiction
The term “speculative fiction” has emerged as an inclusive gesture towards the most exciting fiction being
written right now. Under its umbrella thrive fiction categories like Gothic, horror, science fiction, fantasy,
magical realism, dystopian, and environmental fiction (plus heady blends of all these).
Writers of color, Indigenous writers, LGBTQIA+ writers have figured prominently in the contemporary (post
2000) explosion of speculative fiction—writing about “what if” in the future or in the past has proved liberating
as a critique of colonial legacies, an exploration of transcultural and transnational experiences in the lives of
immigrants, and a re-imagining of gender.
Entering the world of Anglophone speculative fiction requires, too, reflecting on the particular historical and
cultural contexts of these texts and exploring the speculative fiction genre through scholarly essays and online
literary magazines. Among the authors: Helen Oyeyemi, Vandana Singh, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi,
Larissa Lai, and Claire Colman.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: A 200-level ENG course, or CPLT 180, or ENG 119, or permission
of the instructor.; Instructor: Sides; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CPLT328/EALC328 Title: Seminar: The Posthuman in Contemporary East Asian Culture
The posthuman points to a deep crisis of humanism. Its most powerful critique targets the fundamental
malfunction of the existing social order, epistemological paradigm, and modes of governance, production,
trade, and culture that have menaced the human conditions and harmed the planetary ecological system. The
posthuman thinking in an East Asian context motivates a reevaluation of various modernity projects and
reconsiders the position and potentials of humanity in terms of planetary consciousness. In contemporary East
Asian culture, posthuman images are particularly applied to reflections concerning the deteriorating ecological
system, evolution or devolution enabled by mutations of the political economy, and above all, an awareness of
multiplicity that replaces the human-centric singular form of globalization. This seminar guides students to
rethink about concepts like gender, sex, class, race, and species in the emerging cultural contexts of the
Chthulucene, the Neo-Baroque, virtual reality, digital consciousness, and the metaverse. The course integrates
theoretical studies to case analyses of literary works, films, TV dramas, video games, and digital artworks from
Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and the Asian diaspora across the Pacific.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One course at the 200 or 300 level on East Asian literature, history,
or culture, or CPLT 180 or another CPLT course at the 200 or 300 level.; Instructor: M. Song; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT346/EALC346 Title: Seminar: The Chinese Script - A History of Writing in East Asia and
Beyond
This course narrates three thousand years of writing practices, with the Chinese script—the shared writing
system in premodern East Asian—as a through line. We will focus on the social implications of writing,
investigating questions such as how writing transformed political systems and interacted with ordinary people.
Units and topics of this course include: mechanics of writing systems, empire formation and writing
standardization, reading and writing practices in East Asia, evolving relationships between writings and (local,
vernacular, and national) languages, writing as a technology, cross-cultural interactions and receptions, and
finally, writing and gender. For the past two millennia, East Asia has been a source of media innovation. As we
migrate with the Chinese script from bamboo slips onto paper, from printed books onto computer screens, we
will tackle the theoretical toolkit and historical precedents for examining our current age of media disruption.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course at the 200 or 300 level on East Asian literature, history
or culture; or in Comparative Literature; or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Du; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the director. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CPLT360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the director.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in
the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient
progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: CPLT362/ES362 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: From Farm to Table to Print
When we talk about food, we think about personal passions, individual diets and eating behaviors, but we
might also think about cultural traditions, consumption disparities and food insecurities, about public health
and sustainability, animal rights, deforestation, and genome edited crops. Clearly, the topic challenges us to
address difficult questions of intersectionality (of the personal and the political, the local and the global, the
human and the non-human). In this seminar we will learn to translate academic discourses into public writing
formats that might include op-eds, social media posts, (cook) book reviews, Wikipedia entries, restaurant
reviews, and portraits of food activists.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors, or by permission of the instructor.
Not open to students who have taken GER 362.; Instructor: Nolden; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course meets with GER
362.;
Course ID: CPLT364/HIST364/MES364 Title: Seminar: Film and Narratives of Social Change in the Modern
Middle East and North Africa
Filmmakers in the modern Middle East and North Africa have been at the forefront of intellectual engagement
with their societies’ major challenges. By narrating the lives of individuals caught in historical circ*mstances
not of their choosing, they have addressed issues such as incomplete decolonization and economic
exploitation, cultural and political dogmatisms, the politicization and policing of religious, gender and sexual
identities, foreign intervention and occupation, and dictatorship, civil war, and displacement. We will engage
with the form, content, and historical contexts of a range of films and analyze how they leverage aesthetic,
affective, and effective image, speech, and sound to persuade their audiences.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructors. At least one course in Middle Eastern
Studies (apart from Arabic language) will be required and preference will be given to Seniors and Juniors.;
Instructor: Aadnani (Middle Eastern Studies), Kapteijns (History); Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: CPLT 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: CPLT375 Title: Translation and the Multilingual World
A study of translation in theory and in practice, in its literal and metaphorical senses alike, and of the
multilingual world in which translation takes place. Topics: translation of literary texts, translation of sacred
texts, the history and politics of translation, the lives of translators, translation and gender, machine translation,
adaptation as translation. Students taking the course at the 300 level will do a substantial independent project:
a translation, a scholarly inquiry, or a combination of the two.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: One course in literature (in any language) or permission of the
instructor. Competence in a language or languages other than English is useful but not necessary.; Instructor:
Aadnani, Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as CPLT 275.
This course can count towards the English major/minor in consultation with the instructor.;
Computer Science
Computer Science encompasses the systematic study of computing systems and computation. It is continually
evolving and expanding, making it an exciting field of study. All of the traditional areas in computer science, as
well as newer directions, are represented in our faculty's expertise (including algorithms, programming
languages, data structures, artificial intelligence, machine learning, human-computer interaction, databases,
computer architecture, networks, security, graphics, parallel computing, natural language processing,
bioinformatics, Web information retrieval, multimedia, games), allowing us to offer a large variety of courses
and substantial research opportunities for students.
For advice on making a choice about an introductory Computer Science course,
consult www.wellesley.edu/cs/curriculum/introductory.
Computer Science Major
Goals for the Computer Science Major
The aim of our program for the major is to enable students to engage in a world shaped by computation and
data, including a solid preparation for graduate work and successful career in computer science or a related
discipline. To achieve this success, computer science majors upon graduation will be able to:
Demonstrate competency in foundational areas of computer science, encompassing its theoretical
basis, software methodologies, computer hardware, and applications
Formulate, analyze, and solve computational problems
Apply computational thinking to new problems and adapt to new technologies
Communicate technical material, orally and in writing, including operating in a team-based setting and
solving problems collaboratively
Evaluate the role of computer science in society and draw connections between computer science and
other disciplines
Requirements for the Computer Science Major
Students majoring in computer science must complete CS 111 or CS112, CS 230, CS 231, CS 235, CS 240,
two 300-level CS courses, and at least two additional CS courses at the 200 or 300 level. Independent study
courses (CS 250, CS 250H, CS 350, CS 350H) and honors courses (CS 360, CS 370) do not count toward the
required courses for the major. Students who do not take CS 111 must replace this requirement with an
additional one-unit CS course at the 200 or 300 level. Computer science courses at other institutions used to
meet the nine-course requirement must be approved in advance by the department chair on an individual
basis. In addition, all majors in computer science are expected to complete MATH 225 (Combinatorics and
Graph Theory). Students may use CS 230 as their prerequisite for MATH 225. Students are encouraged
though not required to take additional MATH courses. Particularly relevant mathematics courses are MATH 206
(Linear Algebra), STAT 218 (Introductory Statistics and Data Analysis), MATH 220/STAT 220 (Probability),
STAT 221 (Statistical Inference), MATH 223 (Number Theory), MATH 305 (Abstract Algebra), MATH 309
(Foundations of Mathematics), and MATH 325 (Graph Theory). The MATH and STAT courses are considered
prerequisites for the CS degree and could be counted toward another major. Students should consult a
computer science faculty member for advice in choosing mathematics courses best suited to their interests.
Students are encouraged to consult the department's website (www.wellesley.edu/cs) for suggestions of
possible course schedules for completing the major. Students considering a junior year abroad should consult
a faculty member in the department as soon as possible in their sophom*ore year to plan a schedule of courses
to complete the major. Computer science majors should consult with a computer science faculty advisor
before electing to take a computer science course as credit/non-credit.
All computer science majors are required to participate in the Computer Science Senior Poster Fair in the
spring of their senior year, in which students present posters on a topic of interest related to computer science
(see https://www.wellesley.edu/cs/curriculum/senior for past topics). Students who are graduating early should
contact the department chair about alternative ways to satisfy this requirement.
Beginning with students who entered Wellesley College in Fall 2024, students are required to take all 200-level
core courses (CS 230, CS 231, CS 235, and CS 240) at Wellesley.
Honors in Computer Science
Students can earn honors in computer science by successfully completing an honors-quality senior thesis. A
detailed description of the senior thesis project in computer science can be found at the department's website
(www.wellesley.edu/cs/research/thesis). Majors who are interested in undertaking a senior thesis project are
urged to discuss their plans with either their advisor or the department chair as early as possible in their junior
year.
Graduate Study in Computer Science
Students who plan to pursue graduate work in computer science are strongly encouraged to develop their
background in mathematics, particularly in the areas of linear algebra, logic, probability and statistics, number
theory, and graph theory. In addition, students who are planning either graduate work or advanced technical
research or development work are strongly encouraged to pursue at least one independent study or research
project before graduating, in the form of a Wellesley course (CS 250, CS 350, CS 360), an MIT UROP, or a
summer internship. Consult www.wellesley.edu/cs/research for more details.
Advanced Placement Policy in Computer Science
Students may receive a maximum of one unit of college credit for a score of 5 on the Computer Science
Advanced Placement exam. This unit does not count toward the computer science major or minor. Students
receiving AP credit for computer science should consult with the department regarding enrollment in CS 230.
Computer Engineering
Students interested in computer engineering should consult the course listings in Extradepartmental and enroll
in ENGR 111, ENGR 120, or ENGR 160. These courses are intended to be a gateway experience for possible
subsequent engineering studies, such as the engineering certificates from the Olin College of Engineering.
The Special Academic Programs section contains a description of these certificates that represent groups of
engineering courses at Olin designed to complement a major at Wellesley. More information can be found
at www.wellesley.edu/engineering.
Interdepartmental Majors
Students interested in an interdepartmental major in Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Data Science, Media
Arts and Sciences, or Neuroscience are referred to these listings in the catalog.
Computer Science Minor
Requirements for the Computer Science Minor
The computer science five-course minimum minor is recommended for students whose primary interests lie
elsewhere, but who wish to obtain a fundamental understanding of computer science. The minor consists of
CS 111, CS 230, one of CS 231, CS 235, or CS 240, at least one CS course above the 100 level, and at least
one 300-level CS course. Independent study courses (CS 250, CS 250H, CS 350, CS 350H) do not count
toward the required courses for the minor. Students who do not take CS 111 must replace this requirement
with one additional one-unit CS course at the 200 or 300 level. Computer science minors should consult with a
computer science faculty advisor before electing to take a computer science course as credit/non-credit.
CS Courses
Course ID: CS110/MAS110 Title: Sociotechnical Dimensions of Computing in the Age of AI
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way we work, interact, and make
decisions. AI is integrated into applications and devices that are woven into our daily lives. How does AI work?
What impact will AI have on individuals, communities, and our global society?
This course aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to become informed digital citizens in the
age of AI, ready to navigate the digital landscape. Students will gain fundamental technical understanding of
how computers, the Web, and AI work, and will study three programming languages: HTML5, CSS, and
JavaScript. Students will also examine and discuss societal and ethical issues related to the Web and AI
technologies, and consider responsible and future use of these technologies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 40; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. No prior background with computers is expected.;
Instructor: Shaer; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: CS110L/MAS110L Title: Laboratory: Sociotechnical Dimensions of Computing in the Age of AI
CS 110L/MAS 110L is a required co-requisite lab for CS 110/MAS 110.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. No prior background with computers is expected.;
Instructor: Melnick; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS111 Title: Computer Programming and Problem Solving
An introduction to problem-solving through computer programming. Students learn how to read, modify,
design, debug, and test algorithms that solve problems. Programming concepts include control structures,
data structures, abstraction, recursion, and modularity. Students explore these concepts in the context of
interactive programs, data processing, and graphics or audio, using the Python programming language.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - CS 111L.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. No prior background with computers is expected.;
Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Does not fulfill the
laboratory requirement. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: CS111L Title: Laboratory: Computer Programming and Problem Solving
Accompanying required laboratory for CS 111.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: CS111X Title: Computer Programming and Problem Solving
An introduction to problem-solving through computer programming. Students learn how to read, modify,
design, debug, and test algorithms that solve problems. Programming concepts include control structures,
data structures, abstraction, recursion, and modularity. Students explore these concepts in the context of
interactive programs, data processing, and graphics or audio, using the Python programming language.
Students in this section will complete self-directed weekly labs. This section is intended for students who have
some previous programming experience, but would benefit from more before taking CS 230. Students unsure
about whether to take CS 111, CS 111X, or CS 230 as their first Wellesley CS course should complete the CS
placement questionnaire.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 36; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Turbak; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: CS112 Title: Introduction to Computing for the Sciences
An introduction to problem-solving through computer programming with special focus on application to
problems relevant to physics, chemistry, and biology. Students learn how to read, modify, design, debug, and
test algorithms that solve problems. Programming concepts include control structures, problem solving
strategies, abstraction, recursion, and modularity. Students explore these concepts in the context of interactive
programs, data processing, and graphical and numerical analysis, using the Python programming language.
Students are required to attend a 2.5-hour lab where they will apply concepts learned in lecture to study topics
at the intersection of chemistry and physics. Topics might include: chemical kinetics, numerical integration,
molecular dynamics, computational biology, Monte Carlo techniques, and basic statistical analysis.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 115 and fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning portion of
the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy requirement. Prerequisites or Co-requisites - one of the
following; ASTR 107, CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, CHEM 116 / BISC 116, CHEM 120, BISC 110, BISC111, BISC
112, BISC 113, GEOS 101, GEOS 102, NEUR 100, PHYS 100, PHYS 104, PHYS 106, PHYS 107, PHYS 108.;
Instructor: Sandu, Teich; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS121/MAS121 Title: Intro to Game Design
Video games are a popular form of interactive media that engage players in dynamic experiences through
unprecedented combinations of storytelling, visualization, interactivity, and multi-sensory immersion. This
course will introduce students to video game production and concepts. We will develop a framework for
critically analyzing this medium, learn to identify effective strategies for creating games and describe what
elements of design impact the final experience of a game. We’ll also identify the function of user agency in this
medium to better understand how players are affected by representation in video games. Throughout the
course, students will be asked to apply these concepts while building their own games and become familiar
with the fundamentals of video game design.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. Juniors and Seniors
by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Tynes; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling
and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring;
Course ID: CS200 Title: OO Programming Studio in Java
CS200 introduces students to Java, and the Object Oriented Model of programming with hands-on instruction
and experience, using active learning pedagogical approaches. Students will gain knowledge and
reinforcement in fundamental programming and programming-related skills, including problem decomposition
into smaller and more manageable sub-problems, designing in the Object Oriented Model, programming in
Java, practicing fundamental constructs like conditionals, looping, usage of basic Data Structures, as well as
debugging and testing techniques. In addition, attention will be paid in developing skills around project
management, pair and team work, and identifying and evaluating reliable resources for the task at hand. With
successful completion of this course, students are expected to be independent programmers and learners,
and effective team members.
CS 200 is for students who earned credit in CS 111, and who did not receive a recommendation to continue
with CS 230.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Prior background with computers is expected - CS111 or
CS112, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Kakavouli, Delcourt; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS204 Title: Introduction to Front-End Web Development
This course introduces modern web development using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. JavaScript is explored in
detail, including scoping, closures, objects, classes, object-oriented programming, and modules. The jQuery
library is also introduced, and the course covers event handling and Ajax interactions. Students will build web
pages that manage data structures using menus and forms, and that save/restore that data from local storage
resulting in a persistent, dynamic web application. Designed web pages will be modern, responsive, and
accessible. The course also covers Bootstrap and the jQuery UI (User Interface) library.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 111 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Anderson;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall
and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS220 Title: Human-Computer Interaction
Human-Computer Interaction is one of the areas that have transformed the way we use computers in the last
30 years. Topics include methodology for designing and testing user interfaces, interaction styles (command
line, menus, graphical user interfaces, virtual reality, tangible user interfaces), interaction techniques (including
use of voice, gesture, eye movements), design guidelines, and user interface software tools. Students will
design a user interface, program a prototype, and test the results for usability.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One of the following courses - CS 111, CS 115/MAS 115.;
Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CS221/MAS221 Title: Digital Worlds for Gaming
Digital games visualize compelling worlds that can resemble real-life environments and imagine other-worldly
spaces. These virtual realms frame our experience of games and their design dramatically impacts our
interpretation of their narratives and mechanics. Designers code environments to shape player agency and
weave complex relationships between game characters. This course will teach students to create digital worlds
and critically assess them as politically rich spaces that convey meaning. Students will build both 2D and 3D
digital environments, coding elements such as interactivity and non-player entities, crafting game experiences
that tell meaningful stories. CS221 continues to explore the Unity Game Engine and topics introduced by
CS121, but enrollment is suitable for any student with 100-level coding experience and an interest in game
design.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Any 100-level CS course.; Instructor: Tynes; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS230 Title: Data Structures
An introduction to techniques and building blocks for organizing large programs. Topics include: modules,
abstract data types, recursion, algorithmic efficiency, and the use and implementation of standard data
structures and algorithms, such as lists, trees, graphs, stacks, queues, priority queues, tables, sorting, and
searching. Students become familiar with these concepts through weekly programming assignments using the
Java programming language.
This course has a required co-requisite lab - CS 230L.
A student is required to have confirmation of authorization from the CS 111 faculty that is based on the mastery
of the CS 111 concepts in order to enroll in CS 230. Students who did not take CS 111 at Wellesley and who
wish to enroll in CS 230 should contact the CS department to take a placement questionnaire.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 111 or permission of the instructor; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Does not fulfill the laboratory
requirement.;
Course ID: CS230L Title: Laboratory: Data Structures
Accompanying required laboratory for CS 230.
The grading option chosen for the lecture (CS 230) - either Letter Grade or Credit/Non Credit - will apply to the
lab as well; the final grade is a single unified grade for both lecture and lab and is based on the grading option
you choose for the lecture.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS230P Title: Data Structures
An introduction to techniques and building blocks for organizing large programs. Topics include: modules,
abstract data types, recursion, algorithmic efficiency, and the use and implementation of standard data
structures and algorithms, such as lists, trees, graphs, stacks, queues, priority queues, tables, sorting, and
searching. Students become familiar with these concepts through *additional self-driven weekly programming
practice using the Java programming language.
Students are required to attend an additional two-hour laboratory section each week. CS 230P is open to all
students who did not meet the prerequisites for CS 230, or for students who took CS 111 before the last
semester, or students who would appreciate additional academic support because of their prior MATH and CS
experience. Class meetings are followed by a 30-minutes practice session to provide for extra time to work
with the instructor after class.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - CS 230PL.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 36; Prerequisites: CS 111 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Metaxas;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall
and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS230PL Title: Laboratory: Data Structures
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for CS 230P.
The grading option chosen for the lecture (CS 230P) - either Letter Grade or Credit/Non Credit - will apply to
the lab as well; the final grade is a single unified grade for both lecture and lab and is based on the grading
option you choose for the lecture.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CS 111 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Metaxas;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS230X Title: Data Structures
An introduction to techniques and building blocks for organizing large programs. Topics include: modules,
abstract data types, recursion, algorithmic efficiency, and the use and implementation of standard data
structures and algorithms, such as lists, trees, graphs, stacks, queues, priority queues, tables, sorting, and
searching. Students become familiar with these concepts through weekly programming assignments using the
Java programming language.
CS230X is intended for students with significant prior experience in Java programming as demonstrated by a 5
in CS AP A, or equivalent demonstration of experience. Students in this section will complete self-directed
weekly labs. If you did not take the CS AP A exam and would like to take this class, you may take the CS
placement questionnaire to see if you qualify.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 111 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Grevet Delcourt;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS231 Title: Fundamental Algorithms
An introduction to the design and analysis of fundamental algorithms. General techniques covered: divide-andconquer algorithms, dynamic programming, greediness, probabilistic algorithms. Topics include: sorting,
searching, graph algorithms, compression, cryptography, computational geometry, and NP-completeness.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 230 and MATH 225, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CS232 Title: Artificial Intelligence
What is artificial intelligence (AI) and should humans fear it as one of "our biggest existential threats"? In this
course, we will grapple with these difficult questions and investigate them in different ways. We will discuss the
development of the field from the symbolic, knowledge-rich approaches of the 20th century AI (e.g., rule-based
systems), to statistical approaches that rely on increasingly large amounts of data, including an overview of
contemporary deep learning techniques. We will explore how to apply these techniques in several AI
application areas, including robotics, computer vision, and natural language processing, and consider ethical
issues around AI in society. By the end of the semester, students should be able to answer the starting
questions in-depth and with nuance.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 111 and CS 230, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: C.
Anderson; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CS234 Title: Data, Analytics, and Visualization
As the number of our digital traces continues to grow, so does the opportunity for discovering meaningful
patterns in these traces. In this course, students will initially learn how to collect, clean, format, and store data
from digital platforms. By adopting a computational approach to statistical analysis, students will then
implement in code different statistical metrics and simulation scenarios for hypothesis testing and estimation.
Finally, students will generate meaningful visualizations for data exploration and communicating results.
Additionally, we will discuss the ethics of data collection and think critically about current practices of
experimenting with online users. Students will work in groups to create their own datasets, ask an interesting
question, perform statistical analyses and visualizations, and report the results.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 230 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Mustafaraj;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CS235 Title: Theory of Computation
This course offers an introduction to the theory of computation. Topics include languages, regular expressions,
finite automata, grammars, pushdown automata, and Turing machines. The first part of the course covers the
Chomsky hierarchy of languages and their associated computational models. The second part of the course
focuses on decidability issues and unsolvable problems. The final part of the course investigates complexity
theory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 230 and MATH 225, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CS240 Title: Foundations of Computer Systems with Laboratory
This course examines how computers run programs, introducing key software and hardware abstractions and
implementations between programming languages and transistors. The course traces representation and
translation of data and programs through three broad topics in computer systems: computer hardware
implementation, including digital logic, computer arithmetic, and machine organization; the hardware-software
interface, including instruction set architecture, assembly code, and the C programming language; and
abstractions for practical systems, including the physical memory hierarchy, the operating system process
model, virtual memory, and memory management. Students complete extensive hands-on projects in
hardware and software systems. Students are required to attend one three-hour laboratory weekly.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 230, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: This course satisfies the laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: CS240L Title: Laboratory: Foundations of Computer Systems Laboratory
Accompanying required laboratory for CS 240.
The grading option chosen for the lecture (CS 240) - either Letter Grade or Credit/Non Credit - will apply to the
lab as well; the final grade is a single unified grade for both lecture and lab and is based on the grading option
you choose for the lecture.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS242 Title: Computer Networks
A systems-oriented approach to data networks, including a theoretical discussion of common networking
problems and an examination of modern networks and protocols. Topics include point-to-point links, packet
switching, Internet protocols, end-to-end protocols, congestion control, and security. Projects may include
client-server applications and network measurement tools.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 230 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS244 Title: Machine Learning
Machine learning is the science of teaching computers how to learn from observations. It is ubiquitous in our
interactions with society, such as in face recognition, web search, targeted advertising, speech processing,
and genetic analysis. It is currently at the forefront of research in artificial intelligence, and has been making
rapid strides given the vast availability of data today. This course is a broad introduction to the field, covering
the theoretical ideas behind widely used algorithms like decision trees, linear regression, support vector
machines, and many more. We will also study practical applications of these algorithms to problems in a
variety of domains, including vision, speech, language, medicine, and the social sciences.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: CS 230.; Instructor: Tjaden, Yacoby; Distribution Requirements:
MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: CS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: CS 230 or permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: CS250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CS 230 or permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: CS251 Title: Principles of Programming Languages
This course introduces the principles underlying the design, semantics, and implementation of modern
programming languages in major paradigms including function-oriented, imperative, and object-oriented. The
course examines: language dimensions including syntax, naming, state, data, control, types, abstraction,
modularity, and extensibility; issues in the runtime representation and implementation of programming
languages; and the expression and management of parallelism and concurrency. Students explore course
topics via programming exercises in several languages, including the development of programming language
interpreters.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 230 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Turbak;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS299/PHIL222 Title: Research Methods for Ethics of Technology
How do we educate the next generation of data scientists, software engineers, and user experience designers
to think of their work as not just technical but also ethical? What moral responsibilities come with the design,
adoption, use, and consumption of digital technology? The way that these questions are interrogated,
discussed, and the sort of answers we might propose will be informed by a thoroughgoing interdisciplinary
lens. Students will learn theoretical frameworks from both Philosophy and Computational and Data Sciences
and work together to see how knowledge of frameworks from both disciplines serves to enrich our
understanding of the ethical issues that face the development and employment of digital technologies, as well
as empower us to find creative solutions. This course includes a sustained, semester-long research project,
hence the additional meeting time.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walsh (Philosophy), Mustafaraj (Computer
Science); Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS301 Title: Compiler and Runtime System Design
This course covers principles and practice in the design and implementation of modern compilers and
programming language runtime systems. Topics include lexical analysis, parsing, symbols tables, semantic
analysis, type checking, intermediate representations, program analysis and optimization, code generation,
garbage collection, and other runtime support. As time permits, the course may also survey topics including
just-in-time compilation, runtime optimization, concurrent runtime systems, or extended automatic program
error detection. Students will construct a full compiler and runtime system for a simple statically-typed
programming language over the course of the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 230 and at least one of CS 240 or CS 251. CS 235 is
recommended, but not required.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling
and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: CS304 Title: Databases with Web Interfaces
CS 304 is a course in full-stack web development. The stack comprises the front-end (typically a web browser),
the back-end (a database for storing and retrieving user-contributed data) and the middleware that knits the
two together. We will learn how to parse the incoming web request, route the request to the appropriate
handler, retrieve data from the database that is relevant to the user's search, combine that data with static
templates of web pages, and deliver that data to the browser. We will build endpoints to handle Ajax requests
and learn about REST APIs. We will also discuss performance, reliability, concurrency, and security issues.
In a semester project, we will create dynamic websites driven by database entries. In the fall, the CS 304 stack
will comprise Flask and MySQL. In the spring, the CS 304 stack will comprise Node.js and MongoDB.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 230 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Anderson;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CS307 Title: Computer Graphics
A survey of topics in computer graphics with an emphasis on fundamental techniques. Topics include:
graphics hardware, fundamentals of three-dimensional graphics including modeling, projection, coordinate
transformation, synthetic camera specification, color, lighting, shading, hidden surface removal, animation,
and texture-mapping. We also cover the mathematical representation and programming specification of lines,
planes, curves, and surfaces. Students will build graphics applications using a browser-based platform.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 230 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS313 Title: Computational Biology
Many elegant computational problems arise naturally in the modern study of molecular biology. This course is
an introduction to the design, implementation, and analysis of algorithms with applications in genomics.
Topics include bioinformatic algorithms for dynamic programming, tree-building, clustering, hidden Markov
models, expectation maximization, Gibbs sampling, and stochastic context-free grammars. Topics will be
studied in the context of analyzing DNA sequences and other sources of biological data. Applications include
sequence alignment, gene-finding, structure prediction, motif and pattern searches, and phylogenetic
inference. Course projects will involve significant computer programming in Java. No biology background is
expected.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 230 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Tjaden;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CS315 Title: Data Science for the Web
In the past decade, we have experienced the rise of socio-technical systems used by millions of people:
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, etc. Such systems are on the one hand computational systems, using
sophisticated infrastructure and algorithms to organize huge amounts of data and text, but on the other hand
social systems, because they cannot succeed without human participation. How are such systems built? What
algorithms underlie their foundations? How does human behavior influence their operation and vice-versa? In
this class, we will delve into answering these questions by means of: a) reading current research papers on the
inner-workings of such systems; b) implementing algorithms that accomplish tasks such as web crawling, web
search, random walks, learning to rank, text classification, topic modeling; and c) critically thinking about the
unexamined embrace of techno-solutionism using a humanistic lens.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 230 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Mustafaraj;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CS317 Title: Mobile App Development
Mobile devices have become more popular than desktops or laptops for communicating with others,
accessing information, and performing computation. This course covers the principles and practice of
developing applications for mobile devices, with an emphasis on features that distinguish them from
desktop/laptop applications and web applications. Topics include: the functionality of modern smartphones
and tablets, including device sensors, actuators, and communication; an iterative design process for apps that
people find both useful and usable; designing and implementing mobile app interfaces and behaviors; and
tools for developing software in teams.
In this hands-on and programming-intensive course, groups will build web apps and mobile apps using a
process that combines aspects of Human Computer Interaction and software engineering. This course begins
by using the React JS framework to build interactive web apps out of modular components. It then transitions
to React Native, a cross-platform component-based mobile app development environment for creating mobile
apps that run on both iOS and Android devices. The course also explores how apps can leverage cloud
databases to store and share information.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 230.; Instructor: Turbak; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CS320 Title: Tangible User Interfaces
Tangible user interfaces emerge as a novel human-computer interaction style that interlinks the physical and
digital worlds. Extending beyond the limitations of the computer mouse, keyboard, and monitor, tangible user
interfaces allow users to take advantage of their natural spatial skills while supporting collaborative work.
Students will be introduced to conceptual frameworks, the latest research, and a variety of techniques for
designing and building these interfaces. Developing tangible interfaces requires creativity as well as an
interdisciplinary perspective. Hence, students will work in teams to design, prototype, and physically build
tangible user interfaces.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 220 or CS 230, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Shaer; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS321 Title: Extended Reality
Mixed and Augmented Reality technologies combine virtual content with the physical environment, allowing
people to interact with computers and digital content in exciting new ways. These emerging human-computer
interaction paradigms have been applied to a variety of fields including medicine, education, design,
entertainment, and play. This course introduces fundamental methods, principles, and tools for designing,
programming, and testing mixed and augmented reality applications. Topics include the history of virtual and
augmented reality, application domains, hardware for 3D input and display, tracking and registration, 3D
perception, and societal implications. Students will work individually and in teams to develop novel virtual and
augmented reality experiences.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 220 or CS 221 or CS 230.; Instructor: Tynes; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: CS323 Title: Social Computing
Social Computing systems connect us to our closest friends, and globally to people all over the world. In
recent decades, companies like Facebook, Snapchat, and even Amazon, have reshaped our social
environments. All of these systems, at their core, are designed to facilitate interactions between people. What
design decisions shape these systems? Students will learn the theoretical foundations of Social Computing
drawn from the Social Sciences, and will learn software prototyping and design techniques to create new
systems. This class will explore topics such as identity, anonymity, reputation, moderation, crowdsourcing,
and social algorithms. Students will work in teams to design, prototype, and build social computing systems.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 220 or CS230.; Instructor: Delcourt; Distribution Requirements:
MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS325 Title: Designing for Accessibility
As technology increasingly integrates with our lives, how can we ensure that its design is inclusive of users'
different abilities? CS 325 expands on the fundamentals of design and qualitative research to explore how
technology can be made accessible for diverse users, with an emphasis on people with disabilities. In this
course, we will read about and analyze approaches to inclusive technology, study how design intersects with
disability justice, learn about the history of accessible and assistive technologies, understand how to create
multimodal user experiences, learn accessible web programming, and test state-of-the-art tools. Students will
also conduct a semester-long case study project in which they work in groups to identify accessibility issues
on the Wellesley campus and work with the community to build appropriate technology solutions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 220 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Gadiraju;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS331 Title: Advanced Algorithms
Explore advanced topics in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures. The focus is on
expanding your toolkit of problem-solving techniques and considering new settings that model real-world
challenges. Topics may include: randomization, approximation algorithms, online and streaming settings,
parallel and distributed computing, linear programming and LP rounding, optimization under uncertainty, bias
and fairness in algorithms, and algorithmic foundations of data science and machine learning.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 231 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Brubach;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS333 Title: Natural Language Processing
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the subfield of CS that focuses on language technology. Because
language is one of the most complex human abilities, building computational technologies that involve
language is both challenging and important. This course introduces NLP methods and applications. Students
will (1) learn core NLP algorithms and models; (2) explore the challenges posed by different aspects of human
language; (3) learn to evaluate ethical concerns about language technology; and (4) complete a series of
projects to implement and improve NLP models. We will cover a range of techniques, including n-gram
models, Bayesian classifiers, neural networks, and deep learning. Applications include parsing, sentiment
analysis, machine translation, and language generation, as well as information retrieval tasks like
summarization, topic modeling, and question-answering.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: CS 230 and either MATH 206 or MATH 220 or MATH 225.;
Instructor: C. Anderson; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CS334/PHIL322 Title: Seminar: Methods for Ethics of Technology
How do we educate the next generation of data scientists and software engineers to think of their work as not
just technical but also ethical? How do we get them to see that the social impact of their work requires that it
be driven by sound ethical principles? The way that these questions are interrogated, discussed, and the sort
of answers we might propose will be informed by a thoroughgoing interdisciplinary lens. Students will learn
theoretical frameworks from both Philosophy and Computational and Data Sciences and work together to see
how knowledge of frameworks from both disciplines serves to enrich our understanding of the ethical issues
that face digital technologies, as well as empower us to find creative solutions.
Central questions include: What kinds of ethical considerations are part of the everyday jobs of graduates
working in digital technology, either in non-profit or for-profit organizations? What parts of the current liberal
arts curriculum, if any, are preparing our graduates for the kinds of ethical decision-making they need to
engage in? How to expand the reach of ethical reasoning within the liberal arts curriculum, in order to
strengthen the ethical decision-making preparation? A key component in our collective efforts to engage with
these questions will involve a sustained semester-long research project with Wellesley alums working in the
field of digital tech.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One course in Philosophy, Computer Science, MAS, or Statistics,
and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Walsh (Philosophy), Mustafaraj (Computer Science); Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS340 Title: Modeling for Computer Systems
This course focuses on modeling and specifying computer systems. Students will learn how to reason about
the properties and expected behavior of modern software. Topics include designing specifications, propertybased testing, model checking, and satisfiability solvers. We will use real-world case studies to motivate the
analysis of reliable computer systems. By the end of the course, students will be able to (1) design
specifications for the expected behavior of a system, (2) model system behavior using state-of-the-art tools
with automated formal methods, and (3) identify and prevent software bugs. While prior experience with
algorithm design and analysis is expected, the course will cover any necessary background in systems
programming and formal methods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 111 and CS 230, or CS 111 and permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: VanHattum; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS341 Title: Operating Systems
This course is designed to provide a solid foundation in the design and implementation of key concepts in
existing operating systems. These concepts include process management, scheduling, multitasking,
synchronization, deadlocks, memory management, file systems, and I/O operations. Throughout the course,
the mechanism design aspects of these concepts will be discussed and assessed from the point of view of a
programmer. Moreover, more modern operating systems will be explored, such as virtual operating systems.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 240 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CS342 Title: Computer Security and Privacy
An introduction to computer security and privacy. Topics will include privacy, threat modeling, software
security, web tracking, web security, usable security, the design of secure and privacy preserving tools,
authentication, anonymity, practical and theoretical aspects of cryptography, secure protocols, network
security, social engineering, the relationship of the law to security and privacy, and the ethics of hacking. This
course will emphasize hands-on experience with technical topics and the ability to communicate security and
privacy topics to lay and expert audiences. Assignments will include technical exercises exploring security
exploits and tools in a Linux environment; problem sets including exercises and proofs related to theoretical
aspects of computer security; and opportunities to research, write, present, and lead discussions on securityand privacy-related topics. Students are required to attend an additional 70-minute discussion section each
week.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 230 and CS 240 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Lerner; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CS343 Title: Distributed Computing
What is the “cloud”? What is a distributed system? This course is for students interested in understanding the
fundamental concepts and algorithms underlying existing distributed systems. By the end of this course,
students will have the basic knowledge needed to work with and build distributed systems, such as peer-topeer systems and cloud computing systems. Topics include MapReduce, Spark, communication models,
synchronization, distributed file systems, coordination algorithms, consensus algorithms, fault-tolerance, and
security.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 230 (required); CS 231 or CS 242 (recommended).; Instructor:
Bassem; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS344 Title: Deep Learning
Deep learning is the study of how computers can learn from data in a manner inspired by neural connections
in the human brain. It is revolutionizing how people and machines interact. This course explores the principles
and practice of modern deep learning systems. Students will design and implement their own artificial neural
networks as well as analyze massive deep learning models at the forefront of the field of machine learning.
Deep learning algorithms such as convolutional neural networks and recurrent neural networks will be applied
in a variety of domains, including medical diagnosis, self-driving cars, and large-language models. Students
will further investigate the societal impacts and ethical considerations of these deep learning systems.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 230 and MATH 225.; Instructor: Tjaden; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CS349 Title: Probabilistic Foundations of Machine Learning
In recent years, Artificial Intelligence has enabled applications that were previously not thought possible—from
systems that propose novel drugs or generate new art/music, to systems that accurately and reliably predict
outcomes of medical interventions in real-time. But what has enabled these developments? Probabilistic
Machine Learning, a paradigm that casts recent advances in Machine Learning, like neural networks, into a
statistical learning framework. In this course, we introduce the foundational concepts behind this paradigm—
statistical model specification, and statistical learning and inference—focusing on connecting theory with realworld applications and hands-on practice. This course lays the foundation for advanced study and research in
Machine Learning. Topics include: directed graphical models, deep Bayesian regression/classification,
generative models (latent variable models) for clustering, dimensionality reduction, and time-series forecasting.
Students will get hands-on experience building models for specific tasks ,most taken from healthcare contexts,
using a probabilistic programming language based in Python.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: CS 230 and at least one of the following - MATH 205, MATH 206,
MATH 225, and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Yacoby; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to Juniors and Seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: CS350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: CS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: CS365/MAS365 Title: Advanced Projects in Playable Media
Students with a deep personal interest in digital game design and other forms of playable media will work in
collaborative units to explore all aspects of the game development process while contributing to a semesterlength project of their own devising. This course will require students to explore an ethical approach to game
development that will introduce new practices for ideation, pitching, designing, playtesting, and versioning
through an iterative process that will result in a finished game. This course is specifically designed for students
who have moderate experience with game development through either curricular activities or by working on
projects of their own. Students will be expected to have moderate levels of experience with the Unity Game
Engine.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One of the following - CS 321, CS 221/MAS 221, CS 220, CS 320,
or (CS 121/MAS 121 and CS 230), or permission of the instructor (portfolio must be able to demonstrate some
previous experience with game development).; Instructor: Tynes; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course may be used to fulfill the capstone requirement for the MAS major.;
Course ID: CS366/MAS366 Title: Advanced Projects in Interactive Media
Students with deep interest in interactive media will drive cutting-edge research that shapes and examines
novel user experiences with technology. Students will work in small groups to identify a direction of research,
explore and iterate over designs, prototype at varying fidelities, build working systems, consider ethical
implications, conduct evaluative studies, and report findings. This course is designed for students who have
experience in designing and implementing interactive media through either curricular activities or by working
on projects. Students will be expected to have moderate levels of experience with front-end web development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One of the following - CS204, CS220, CS320 or CS323.; Instructor:
Shaer; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course may be used to fulfill the capstone
requirement for the MAS major.;
Course ID: CS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: CS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Data Science
Data Science Major
Data Science Faculty: Anny-Claude Joseph (MATH), Eni Mustafaraj (CS), Patrick McEwan (ECON), Casey
Pattanayak (MATH/QR), Wendy Wang (MATH), Jeremy Wilmer (PSYC)
Data Science Director: Casey Pattanayak (MATH/QR)
The Data Science major consists of ten (10) courses plus a 0.5 credit capstone experience. A student can
begin the major requirements in the first or second year. Students are encouraged to explore the field of data
science by taking an introductory computer science course and an introductory statistics course as early as
possible. They can take MATH 115 and/or MATH 116 in their first year as prerequisites for MATH 205, if
needed. The following courses must be taken at Wellesley: CS 230; at least one of STAT 260 and STAT 318; at
least one 300-level course in computer science; and at least one 300-level course in statistics (including STAT
318). Contact a major advisor for additional policies regarding transfer credits.
Goals of the major:
Data Science lies at the intersection of computer science, mathematics, and statistics. A student pursuing a
major in Data Science will develop a strong foundation in all three areas and complete coursework that
emphasizes the integration of the three. The capstone will ensure that students experience the challenges of
Data Science research. Students will graduate with the critical thinking needed to pose and refine questions
that can be answered with data in an ethical way with the statistical skills needed to draw meaning from data
appropriately with the computational skills needed to tackle practical data challenges with and the ability to
collaborate, communicate, and critique in the context of modern data.
Major requirements:
1. Eight (8) foundational courses:
Introductory Statistics: Any one of STAT 160, STAT 218, BISC 198, POL 299, PSYC 105, or
ECON 103/SOC 190
Intermediate Statistical Modeling: QR 260/STAT 260 (requires introductory statistics)
Advanced Statistical Modeling: STAT 318 (requires introductory statistics and linear algebra)
Introduction to Programming: CS 111
Data Structures: CS 230 (requires CS 111)
Machine Learning: Choose from CS 305, CS 313, CS 315, CS 333, CS 344, or CS 349
Multivariable Calculus: MATH 205 (requires MATH 116)
Linear Algebra: MATH 206 (requires MATH 205)
If a student places out of CS 111, they must choose an additional CS elective, as listed in (2). If a student
places out of MATH 205 or MATH 206, they must choose an additional MATH elective in consultation with
an advisor, usually MATH 220/STAT 220 or MATH 225. If a student substitutes a Quantitative Analysis
Institute Summer Program Certificate for QR 260/STAT 260, they must choose an additional STAT
elective, as listed in (2). After any such substitutions, the total number of courses for the data science
major must be ten plus the capstone (10.5).
2. Two (2) electives, including one from statistics and one from computer science, usually chosen from
the following list. See course descriptions for prerequisites. Note that some CS electives require MATH
225, which does not count toward the data science major.
CS 231: Foundational Algorithms
CS 232: Artificial Intelligence
CS 234: Data, Analytics, and Visualization
CS 244: Machine Learning
CS 299/PHIL 222: Research Methods for Ethics of Technology
CS 305: Machine Learning
CS 313: Computational Biology
CS 315: Data Science for the Web
CS 331: Advanced Algorithms
CS 333: Natural Language Processing
CS 344: Deep Learning
CS 349: Probabilistic Foundations of Machine Learning
MATH 220/STAT 220: Probability
QR 309/STAT 309: Causal Inference
STAT 219: Spatial Statistics
STAT 221: Statistical Inference
STAT 228: Multivariate Data Analysis
STAT 320: Introduction to Bayesian Statistical Methods
3. The data science major capstone course, DS 340H (0.5 credits). DS 340H must be taken at Wellesley.
Students will be assigned to enroll in DS 340H during a particular senior year semester. Prior to enrolling
in DS 340H, students must have completed QR 260/STAT 260, STAT 318, or the QAI Summer Program,
and a 300-level CS course that counts toward data science.
Honors
A student may achieve honors by writing a thesis, if the student’s GPA in major courses over the 100-level
meets the college’s requirements. See Academic Distinctions.
Further information:
Further information—e.g., policies regarding honors theses, courses taken elsewhere, and double majoring or
minoring in related fields—will be provided by the data science faculty.
Transition from previously approved individual structured major in Data Science: Students entering in Fall 2023
or later will complete the 10.5-unit major in Data Science rather than the previous individual structured major.
Any student who entered before Fall 2023 but did not have an individual major proposal approved before Fall
2023 will complete the 10.5-unit major. Students whose proposals for individual structured majors in data
science were approved prior to Fall 2023 may either complete their planned individual major sequences or
speak to their advisors about shifting to the 10.5-unit major. Changing from an approved individual major to
the 10.5-unit major requires the approval of the Data Science Director.
DS Courses
Course ID: DS340H Title: Capstone in Data Science
Senior data science majors enroll in this course in order to meet the major’s capstone requirement. The goal is
to integrate and solidify the concepts learned in previous major courses. Students will demonstrate the ability
to conduct applied projects via the steps in the data science process. Students will complete the capstone with
the critical thinking needed to pose and refine questions that can be answered with data in an ethical way; the
statistical skills needed to draw meaning from data appropriately; the computational skills needed to tackle
practical data challenges; and the ability to collaborate, communicate, and critique in the context of modern
data. The course is also a chance to practice and demonstrate key technical skills, such as code sharing on
github or a strong command of data science libraries in both Python and R. At the end of the course, students
will have created a project or portfolio that can be shared publicly. The course must be taken for a letter grade.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: QR 260/STAT 260 or STAT 318 or QAI Certificate, and at least
one 300-level CS course that counts toward the data science major. Permission of the instructor required.;
Instructor: Joseph, McEwan, Mustafaraj, Pattanayak, W. Wang, Wilmer; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: DS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: DS350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: DS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: DS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: DS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
East Asian Languages and Cultures
The Department of East Asian Language and Cultures offers EALC majors and minor with three different tracks
focusing on The Chinese Language and Cultures, Japanese Language and Cultures, and Korean Language
and Culture.
The languages and cultures of China, Japan and Korea play a critical role in our increasingly interconnected
world. Through rigorous study of these enduring and ever more relevant East Asian languages and cultures,
our students experience the life-changing rewards of alternative perspectives, greater confidence, and sharper
cognitive abilities. Deeply fulfilling on a personal level, coursework in EALC prepares students for the global
world of professional possibility that lies beyond Wellesley.
East Asian Languages and Cultures Major
Goals for all students taking East Asian Languages and Cultures courses
Comprehend literary works, newspaper reports, historical accounts, social media, audiovisual
materials, and other authentic materials in the target language at the intermediate advanced level
Present ideas in the target language and master levels of formality appropriate to specific social and
professional settings
Deepen understanding of East Asian socio-cultural practices through classroom work and study
abroad experience
Demonstrate knowledge of East Asian classical traditions as well as modern contemporary East Asian
national literatures and cultures
Identify salient marks of East Asian national cultures and draw connections among them
Assemble research materials in both English and primary language sources
Demonstrate analytic ability by employing methodologies that pertain to the subject of study
The department reserves the right to place a student in the language course for which she is best prepared
regardless of the number of units she has offered for admission.
East Asian Languages and Cultures Major
The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures trains students to achieve fluency in Chinese,
Japanese, and/or Korean language; attain familiarity with the cultural, literary, and linguistic traditions of East
Asia; and become sophisticated readers of East Asian texts. EALC majors generally choose to focus on one
area of East Asia: China, Japan or Korea. At the same time, the Department recommends that students take
one or more courses with the EALC designation. (These courses cover China, Japan, and Korea in one
semester.) Students are strongly encouraged to begin their study of an East Asian language during their first
year at Wellesley. Students with intermediate or advanced language proficiency are required to take a
placement test to determine their proper course level. All students will choose an advisor from faculty within
the department and will design their major in consultation with their advisor. Additionally, the Department
strongly recommends that students spend a summer, semester, or full year studying at an approved program
in the country where their language is spoken.
The EALC-Chinese major consists of a minimum of 8 units distributed as follows:
1. Gateways to East Asia (EALC 221)
2. Three core language courses to be fulfilled by either:
Track One: CHIN 202, CHIN 301, CHIN 302
Track Two: CHIN 203, CHIN 204, and CHIN 306
3. Two non-language courses, of which one must be a 200-level survey course.
4. Two 300-level courses taken at Wellesley. One of these courses must be an advanced seminar in
English with the CHIN designation. Only one may have the EALC designation.
5. Students who wish to study two East Asian languages must finish 202 in one language before
beginning the second one.
6. One unit from another department at Wellesley may count toward the major provided the course is
relevant to the student’s program of study.
7. Only one independent study (350) can count toward the major.
The EALC-Japanese major consists of a minimum of 8 units distributed as follows:
1. Gateways to East Asia (EALC 221)
2. Three core language courses to be fulfilled by JPN 202, JPN 231, JPN 232
3. Two non-language courses of which one must be a 200-level survey course
4. Two 300-level courses taken at Wellesley. One of these must be an advanced 300-level seminar in
English with a JPN designation. Only one may have the EALC designation.
5. Students who wish to study two East Asian languages must finish 202 in one language before
beginning the second one.
6. One unit from another department at Wellesley may count toward the major provided the course is
relevant to the student’s program of study.
7. Only one independent study (350) can count toward the major.
The EALC-Korean major consists of a minimum of 8 units distributed as follows:
1. Gateways to East Asia (EALC 221)
2. Three core language courses to be fulfilled by KOR 202, KOR 231, KOR 232
3. Two non-language courses of which one must be a 200-level survey course
4. Two 300-level courses taken at Wellesley. EALC courses at the 300-level satisfy the requirement.
Students on the Korea track may also take one 300-level from the China and Japan tracks.
5. Students who wish to study two East Asian languages must finish 202 in one language before
beginning the second one.
6. One unit from another department at Wellesley may count toward the major provided the course is
relevant to the student’s program of study.
7. Only one independent study (350) can count toward the major.
Sample China-track major:
CHIN 103 & CHIN 104
Advanced Beginning Chinese
CHIN 203 & CHIN 204
Advanced Intermediate Chinese
CHIN 306
Advanced Readings in Twentieth-Century Literature and Culture
CHIN 220 or CHIN 320
The Fall of the Ming
CHIN 208
Modern Chinese Literature
CHIN 311
Dream of the Red Chamber (in English)
CHIN 382
Science Fiction and the Future of China
EALC 221
Gateways to East Asia
Sample Japan-track major:
JPN 101 & JPN 102
Beginning Japanese
JPN 201 & JPN 202
Intermediate Japanese
JPN 231 & JPN 232
Selected Readings in Advanced Japanese (3rd-year)
JPN 280
Japanese Popular Culture
JPN 309
Japanese Social Science Readings (in Japanese)
JPN 352
Postwar Japanese Literary and Visual Culture (in English)
EALC 221
Gateways to East Asia
EALC 236
The Girl in Modern East Asian Culture(in English)
Sample Korea-track major:
KOR 101 & KOR 102
Beginning Korean
KOR 201 & KOR 202
Intermediate Korean
KOR 206
An Introduction to Korean Language and Culture(In English)
KOR 231 & KOR 232
Advanced Intermediate Korean
KOR 256
Gender and Language in Modern Korean Culture
KOR 309
Professional Korean Through contemporary Texts and
Multimedia
EALC 221
Gateways to East Asia
EALC 345
Seminar: Language, Nationalism, and Identity in East Asia
Honors in East Asian Languages and Cultures
The only route to honors in the Chinese Language and Culture and Japanese Language and Culture majors
requires writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the thesis program, a student
must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level; the
department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic
Distinctions.
Teacher Certification in East Asian Languages and Cultures
Students interested in seeking certification in teaching Chinese or Japanese should speak with the chairs of
the EALC department and the Education department early in their college career.
Transfer Credits in East Asian Languages and Cultures
The transfer of credit (either from another American institution or from a program abroad) is not automatic.
Students wishing to transfer credit from another institution must present proof of course content and
performance to the EALC chair in the form of syllabi, written work, exams, and transcripts, as well as establish
which EALC requirements are replaced by the transferred credits. Students wishing to transfer credit for
language courses may additionally be required to take a placement test administered by the department upon
their return to Wellesley. Relevant coursework at MIT (usually under the 21F or 21H designation) may be
counted as Wellesley courses with the permission of the chair.
For students wishing to count transfer credit toward a major or minor in the department, the following
restrictions apply:
A minimum of four units of coursework for the major or a minimum of two units of coursework for the
Chinese, Japanese, and Korean minors must be completed within EALC at Wellesley
A maximum of three units towards the major and two units toward the minor may be transferred from
another institution
Non-language courses at the 300 level must be taken within the department for credit toward the major
in Chinese and Japanese.
Advanced Placement Policies and Language Requirement in East Asian Languages and
Cultures
A student entering Wellesley must have an Advanced Placement score of 5 or SAT II score of 690 to satisfy the
foreign language requirement. AP courses will not be counted toward majors or minors offered by the EALC
department. All students who wish to register for a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean class must take the
appropriate placement examination. The department reserves the right to place a new student in the language
course for which she seems best prepared regardless of her AP or SAT II score.
International Study in East Asian Languages and Cultures
In order to obtain credit for international study, students must obtain prior consent from the Office of
International Study and the EALC department chair, as well as satisfy the requirements for transferring credit
listed above.
East Asian Languages and Cultures-Chinese Related Courses
CPLT 236 / EALC 236
The Girl in Modern East Asian Culture(In English)
1.0
EALC 221
Gateways to East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 225
Traditional Romances of East Asia(In English)
1.0
EALC 325
Traditional Romances of East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 345
Seminar: Languages, Nationalism, and Identity in East
Asia(in English)
1.0
East Asian Languages and Cultures-Japanese Related Courses
CPLT 236 / EALC 236
The Girl in Modern East Asian Culture(In English)
1.0
EALC 221
Gateways to East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 225
Traditional Romances of East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 325
Traditional Romances of East Asia (In English)
1.0
EALC 345
Seminar: Languages, Nationalism, and Identity in East
Asia(in English)
1.0
East Asian Languages and Cultures-Korean Related Courses
AMST 212
Korean American Literature and Culture(In English)
1.0
CPLT 236 / EALC 236
The Girl in Modern East Asian Culture(In English)
1.0
EALC 221
Gateways to East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 225
Traditional Romances of East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 325
Traditional Romances of East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 345
Seminar: Languages, Nationalism, and Identity in East
Asia(In English)
1.0
Chinese Language and Culture Minor
Requirements for the Minor in Chinese Language and Culture
The minor in Chinese Language and Culture consists of five courses distributed as follows:
1. Two core language courses to be fulfilled by either
Track 1: CHIN 202 and CHIN 301 or
Track 2: CHIN 204, and one of the following: CHIN 306 or CHIN 307, or CHIN 310
2. Two non-language CHIN or EALC courses drawn from the offerings of faculty in the department,
including one at the 300-level (not including CHIN 310):
CHIN 208, CHIN 209, CHIN 211/CHIN 311, CHIN 212/CHIN 312, CHIN 213/CHIN 313, CHIN 223/CHIN
323, CHIN 225, CHIN 230/CHIN 330, CHIN 231/CHIN 331, CHIN 232/CHIN 332, CHIN 243, CHIN
244/CHIN 344, CHIN 245/CHIN 345, CHIN 326, CHIN 338, CHIN 339, CHIN 343, CHIN 381 and EALC
221, EALC 225/EALC 325.
3. The fifth course may be a non-language course drawn from the above, an advanced language course
(for Track 1, CHIN 302 or above; for Track 2, any of CHIN 306, CHIN 307, or CHIN 310), or, with the
permission of the chair, a course with significant China-related content taken outside the department.
Students entering with advanced language preparation may substitute alternative literature/language courses
as necessary with departmental permission. Students should work out their program in consultation with their
advisors.
Japanese Language and Culture Minor
Requirements of the Minor in Japanese Language and Culture
The Japanese minor consists of a minimum of five units of language or non-language courses at the 200-level
or above with either JPN or EALC designations and normally includes JPN 201 and JPN 202. At least one
course must be a non-language course and at least one course must be taken at the 300 level. Students must
choose an advisor from within the Japanese program. Only one unit may be transferred from another
institution to fulfill requirements for the minor.
Korean Language and Culture Minor
Requirements of the Minor in Korean Language and Culture
The Korean minor consists of a minimum of five units of language or non-language courses at the 200-level or
above, normally including KOR 201 and KOR 202. At least one course must be a non-language course. No
more than one course may have the EALC designation, and the others should all have the KOR designation.
Upper-level language work is highly recommended. Students must choose an advisor from within the Korean
program. Only one unit may be transferred from another institution to fulfill requirements for the minor.
Students entering with advanced language preparation must still complete a year of Korean language and take
three additional units, following the guidelines above.
CHIN Courses
Course ID: CAMS203/CHIN243 Title: Chinese Cinema (in English)
This course explores the cinematic conventions and experiments employed by Chinese filmmakers over the
past hundred years. Unique Chinese film genres such as left-wing melodrama, martial arts films and model
play adaptations, as well as the three "new waves" in China's recent avant-garde cinema, will be examined and
discussed. Individual filmic visions and techniques experimented with by important directors such as Fei Mu,
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Zhang Yimou, and Jia Zhangke will be closely analyzed. Class discussions will aim to help
students understand the history, politics, and aesthetics of Chinese cinema. Theoretical aspects of film studies
will also be incorporated into class readings and discussions. No prior knowledge of China or film studies is
required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: M. Song; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHIN101 Title: Beginning Chinese I
An introductory course that teaches the skills of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing in
Mandarin Chinese. Emphasis is on pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and communication. Computer
programs for pronunciation, listening comprehension, grammar, and writing Chinese characters will be used
extensively.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open only to students with no Chinese language
background.; Instructor: M. Chen; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHIN102 Title: Beginning Chinese II
An introductory course that teaches the skills of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing in
Mandarin Chinese. Emphasis is on pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and communication. Computer
programs for pronunciation, listening comprehension, grammar, and writing Chinese characters will be used
extensively.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 101 or placement by the department.; Instructor: M.
Chen; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHIN103 Title: Advanced Beginning Chinese I
An introductory course that teaches the skills of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing in
Mandarin Chinese. Emphasis is on pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and communication. Computer
programs for pronunciation, listening comprehension, grammar, and writing Chinese characters will be used
extensively.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Placement by the department. Open to students who can speak
some Chinese (Mandarin or other Chinese dialects), or who have some knowledge in reading and writing
Chinese characters.; Instructor: Zhao; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: CHIN104 Title: Advanced Beginning Chinese II
An introductory course that teaches the skills of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing in
Mandarin Chinese. Emphasis is on pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and communication. Computer
programs for pronunciation, listening comprehension, grammar, and writing Chinese characters will be used
extensively.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 103 or placement by the department.; Instructor: Tang;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHIN201 Title: Intermediate Chinese I
Further training in listening comprehension, oral expression, reading, and writing.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 102 or placement by the department.; Instructor: Tang;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHIN202 Title: Intermediate Chinese II
Further training in listening comprehension, oral expression, reading and writing.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 201 or placement by the department.; Instructor: Chen;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHIN203 Title: Advanced Intermediate Chinese I
Further training in listening comprehension, oral expression, reading, and writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 104 or placement by the department.; Instructor: Chen;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHIN204 Title: Advanced Intermediate Chinese II
Further training in listening comprehension, oral expression, reading, and writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 203 or placement by the department.; Instructor: Zhao;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHIN211 Title: Dream of the Red Chamber in Chinese Literature and Culture (in English)
Variously known in English as Dream of the Red Chamber, A Dream of Red Mansions, and The Story of the
Stone, Honglou meng is the most widely discussed Chinese novel of all time. Written in the mid-eighteenth
century, the novel offers telling insight into Chinese culture as it once was and as it remains today. The novel is
still wildly popular due to its tragic love story, its sensitive depiction of the plight of the talented woman in late
imperial culture, and its narrative intricacies. The goal of the course is to understand the novel both as a literary
text and as a cultural phenomenon. Optional extra sessions will accommodate those who wish to read and
discuss the novel in Chinese.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CHIN 311.; Instructor:
Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as CHIN 311.;
Course ID: CHIN214 Title: Love and Other Emotions in Ancient China
What are emotions? Are they innate and universal, or do they vary across time, societies, and languages? How
do humans express and describe emotions? How should individuals and societies relate to the experience and
expression of emotions? Such questions sparked an animated debate among early Chinese thinkers (5th c.
BCE–220 CE), a debate we will continue in this course. We begin by surveying ancient and modern theories of
emotion. The subsequent unit turns to the representations of different emotions in early Chinese literature and
philosophical writings, where we explore whether our experiences of love, joy, and grief are comparable
across ancient and modern contexts. In the final unit, we evaluate different philosophical proposals—from
Confucian, Daoist, and Legalist lineages—for how to cultivate and regulate emotions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Du; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHIN220 Title: The Fall of the Ming in 1644, An Event in World Culture (In English)
The Ming (1368) was a glorious dynasty, and its fall was “heard round the world." The course approaches its
glory and fall through novels (such as The Water Margin and The Plum in a Golden Vase), short stories (by
Feng Menglong and others), and dramas like Peach Blossom Fan. Elsewhere in East Asia, too, the Ming was a
theme in literature, especially at the time of its fall. Works by Chikamatsu (Japanese) and Ho Kyun (Korean)
serve as illustrations. Additionally, dramas from Holland and England provide some measure of the impact of
this event in Europe. In the last third of the course we will survey this group of writings by non-Chinese and use
them to show how reactions varied, depending on the nationality of the observer. Finally, we will read a
Cantonese opera composed in the twentieth century. It is one sign of the topic's continuing currency
throughout the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and it highlights south China's longstanding resistance to the Qing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CHIN 320.; Instructor:
Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as
CHIN 320.;
Course ID: CHIN233 Title: Masterworks of Chinese Fiction
Of China's six great novels, four (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West,
and Plum in the Golden Vase) were products of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). What were the reasons for
this important new development in Chinese literature? They include new patterns in consumption and
publishing, among other factors. And how did this development lead to the emergence of a theory of the
novel in the mid-seventeenth century? Here we will seek to understand the approaches of major theorists.
Finally, how do the four masterworks contrast with the Chinese short story, which underwent a parallel
advance at exactly the same time? The difference between complex and simple plots will be our key to an
answer. We will spend two to three weeks on each of the four novels then conclude with a look at some short
stories. Readings and discussions will be in English. Optional sessions discussing short selections of each
novel in Chinese will be offered intermittently.
Two short papers, one short report, and one final paper are required. No prerequisites for entering the
course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CHIN 333.; Instructor:
Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: The course is also offered at the 300-level as CHIN 333.;
Course ID: CHIN236/CPLT237 Title: China on the Silver Screen
This course introduces students to the Chinese cultural and literary tradition through the lens of modern
reception and cinematic representation. Beginning with Confucius and ending with the last emperor of the
imperial period (221 BCE–1911 CE), we will explore key historical turning points, influential philosophical
works, and major literary genres. By pairing historical writings (in English translation) with iconic blockbusters
and arthouse films, students will analyze in what ways and to what ends film adaptations transform their source
materials. We will also delve into the complex and often fraught relationships between the past and present in
contemporary Sinophone contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Du; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHIN242 Title: Supernatural China
Confucius in the Analects asserts that “The Master never spoke of the strange, the violent, the disorderly, and
the numinous.” Yet “recording the strange” was a thriving literary genre in classical and imperial China—one
collection of supernatural tales was in fact entitled What the Master Never Spoke Of. How do we understand
this contradiction? This course is a survey of stories and essays on ghosts, spirits, talking animals, and spooky
events, beginning from the earliest Chinese writings incised on turtle shells to the twentieth century. We will
examine changing worldviews and religious practices during these three millennia, retracing the storylines
retold around East Asia and across media ancient and modern.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Du; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion,
Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHIN244 Title: Classical Chinese Theater (in English)
This course covers three basic categories of traditional theater in China. It begins with the short form known as
zaju of the Yuan Dynasty (thirteenth to the fourteenth centuries), when dramatic works began to be written by
identifiable authors. Next come the long and elaborate chuanqi (or kunqu) of the Ming and Qing Dynasties
(fourteenth to twentieth centuries), including the still performed Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu. The last
category is Peking opera, a form that originated during the second half of the Qing Dynasty, around 1790, and
is regularly performed today. Most of our dramas were written by men, but we will also look at a few by
women. The interrelation between forms will be discussed, as will the effects of the Cultural Revolution of 196676 on Peking opera and other opera forms. Lastly such perennial themes as Mulan and The White Snake will
be surveyed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CHIN 344.; Instructor:
Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also
offered at the 300-level as CHIN 344 with additional assignments.;
Course ID: CHIN245 Title: Chinese Women in a Century of Revolution (In English)
The period 1850-1950 witnessed five political revolutions in China. Each one had an impact on the status of
women. By the end of the hundred years, the stay-at-home, bound-footed gentlewoman was no more, and
old-style dreams in which women changed gender to pursue careers or fight wars had faded away. Instead a
whole new reality for women had emerged. This course explores these changes through the writings of male
sympathizers, western missionaries, and most importantly Chinese women themselves. In bridging the “late
imperial” and “modern” eras and in its emphasis on women’s voices, it offers a distinctive take on the period
under review. Although the story is Chinese, it is a part of women’s history worldwide.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CHIN 345.; Instructor:
Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300level as CHIN 345.;
Course ID: CHIN250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHIN250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHIN301 Title: Advanced Chinese I
This course is designed to further expand students' comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
Reading materials will be selected from newspapers, short stories, essays, and films. Students will study
Chinese and China from different perspectives. In addition to authentic audio and videotapes, Chinese
learning APPs will also be used as study aids. The class is conducted in Chinese.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 202 or placement by the department.; Instructor: Zhao;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHIN302 Title: Advanced Chinese II
Advanced language skills are further developed through reading, writing, and discussions. Reading materials
will be selected from a variety of authentic Chinese texts. Students will study Chinese and China from different
perspectives. In addition to authentic audio and videotapes, Chinese learning APPs will also be used as study
aids. The class is conducted in Chinese.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 301 or placement by the department.; Instructor: Tang;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHIN306 Title: Advanced Reading in Twentieth-Century Literature and Culture
This course is designed to further expand and refine students' language skills through intensive reading of
authentic Chinese materials, such as novels, short stories, essays, and plays and through viewing of
contemporary Chinese films. Particular attention will be paid to increasing levels of literary appreciation and to
enriching understanding of the sociocultural contexts from which our readings have emerged.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 204 or CHIN 302 or placement by the department.; students
entering the course through CHIN 301 are strongly encouraged to first complete CHIN 302 as well.; Instructor:
Chen; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CHIN311 Title: Dream of the Red Chamber in Chinese Literature and Culture (in English)
Variously known in English as Dream of the Red Chamber, A Dream of Red Mansions, and The Story of the
Stone, Honglou meng is the most widely discussed Chinese novel of all time. Written in the mid-eighteenth
century, the novel offers telling insight into Chinese culture as it once was and as it remains today. The novel is
still wildly popular due to its tragic love story, its sensitive depiction of the plight of the talented woman in late
imperial culture, and its narrative intricacies. The goal of the course is to understand the novel both as a literary
text and as a cultural phenomenon. Optional extra sessions will accommodate those who wish to read and
discuss the novel in Chinese. This course may be taken as CHIN 211 or, with additional assignments, as CHIN
311.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One previous course on Chinese history or culture. Not open to
students who have taken CHIN 211.; Instructor: Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is
also offered at the 200-level as CHIN 211.;
Course ID: CHIN320 Title: The Fall of the Ming in 1644, An Event in World Culture (In English)
The Ming (1368) was a glorious dynasty, and its fall was “heard round the world." The course approaches its
glory and fall through novels (such as The Water Margin and The Plum in a Golden Vase), short stories (by
Feng Menglong and others), and dramas like Peach Blossom Fan. Elsewhere in East Asia, too, the Ming was a
theme in literature, especially at the time of its fall. Works by Chikamatsu (Japanese) and Ho Kyun (Korean)
serve as illustrations. Additionally, dramas from Holland and England provide some measure of the impact of
this event in Europe. In the last third of the course we will survey this group of writings by non-Chinese and use
them to show how reactions varied, depending on the nationality of the observer. Finally, we will read a
Cantonese opera composed in the twentieth century. It is one sign of the topic's continuing currency
throughout the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and it highlights south China's longstanding resistance to the Qing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken CHIN 220.; Instructor:
Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as
CHIN 220.;
Course ID: CHIN333 Title: Masterworks of Chinese Fiction
Of China's six great novels, four (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West,
and Plum in the Golden Vase) were products of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). What were the reasons for
this important new development in Chinese literature? They include new patterns in consumption and
publishing, among other factors. And how did this development lead to the emergence of a theory of the
novel in the mid-seventeenth century? Here we will seek to understand the approaches of major theorists.
Finally, how do the four masterworks contrast with the Chinese short story, which underwent a parallel
advance at exactly the same time? The difference between complex and simple plots will be our key to an
answer. We will spend two to three weeks on each of the four novels then conclude with a look at some short
stories. Readings and discussions will be in English. Optional sessions discussing short selections of each
novel in Chinese will be offered intermittently. Compared to CHIN 233, this course will have one extra paper
and one extra report.
Three short papers, two short reports, and one final paper are required. Students should have taken one
previous course in Chinese culture or history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
CHIN 233.; Instructor: Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: The course is also
offered at the 200-level as CHIN 233.;
Course ID: CHIN338 Title: Reading in Modern Chinese Literature
This course guides students to explore Chinese literary modernity through authentic literary texts written by
major Chinese writers of the past hundred years. It aims to give students the opportunity to deepen their
understanding of modern China in both its historical and cultural practice. Instead of language training, literary
and cultural analyses will be emphasized. Class discussions will be conducted in Chinese, and students are
expected to offer their critical responses to readings through oral presentations and papers written in Chinese.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 306 and CHIN 307 or placement by the department.;
Instructor: Du; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHIN344 Title: Classical Chinese Theater (in English)
This course covers three basic categories of traditional theater in China. It begins with the short form known as
zaju of the Yuan Dynasty (thirteenth to the fourteenth centuries), when dramatic works began to be written by
identifiable authors. Next come the long and elaborate chuanqi (or kunqu) of the Ming and Qing Dynasties
(fourteenth to twentieth centuries), including the still performed performed Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu. The
last category is Peking opera, a form that originated during the second half of the Qing Dynasty, around 1790,
and is regularly performed today. Most of our dramas were written by men, but we will also look at a few by
women. The interrelation between forms will be discussed, as will the effects of the Cultural Revolution of 196676 on Peking opera and other opera forms. Lastly such perennial themes as Mulan and The White Snake will
be surveyed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One previous course in Chinese history or culture. Not open to
students who have taken CHIN 244.; Instructor: Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as CHIN 244.;
Course ID: CHIN345 Title: Chinese Women in a Century of Revolution (In English)
The period 1850-1950 witnessed five political revolutions in China. Each one had an impact on the status of
women. By the end of the hundred years, the stay-at-home, bound-footed gentlewoman was no more, and
old-style dreams in which women changed gender to pursue careers or fight wars had faded away. Instead a
whole new reality for women had emerged. This course explores these changes through the writings of male
sympathizers, western missionaries, and most importantly Chinese women themselves. In bridging the “late
imperial” and “modern” eras and in its emphasis on women's voices, it offers a distinctive take on the period
under review. Although the story is Chinese, it is a part of women's history worldwide. Additional reading and
writings will be assigned to students with advanced-level Chinese reading proficiency. This course may be
taken as CHIN 245 or, with additional assignments, as CHIN 345.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One prior course in EALC, EAS or WGST. Not open to student who
have taken CHIN 245.; Instructor: Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This
course is also offered at the 200-level as CHIN 245.;
Course ID: CHIN350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHIN350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: CHIN360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: CHIN370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CHIN 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: CHIN381 Title: Eileen Chang (in English)
This seminar offers an intensive study of the writings of Eileen Chang, one of the most important Chinese
writers. Close analysis of her literary style will be combined with discussions on such key concepts of the
Chinese literary modernity: gender, nation, cosmopolitanism, affectivity, subjectivity, and diaspora. Her major
works will be read in biographical, historical and cultural contexts, with considerations of the classical novels
influencing her as well as the modern and postmodern writers and filmmakers working under her influences.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course at the 200 or 300 level on Chinese literature, history or
culture, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: M. Song; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHIN382/CPLT382 Title: Seminar: Science Fiction and the Future of China (In English)
This seminar guides students to explore the political, cultural, and epistemological changes represented in
Chinese science fiction. It contextualizes the genre’s evolution in the intellectual history of modern China,
where imagining the future of China is often the focus of contending ideologies and intellectual trends. The
course introduces students to three booms of Chinese science fiction, which all happened when China went
through drastic changes. The contemporary new wave of science fiction particularly presents a subversive
vision of China’s pursuit of power and wealth, a dystopian counterpart to the government-promoted “Chinese
dream.” This course examines the cutting-edge literary experiments that characterize the new wave, and
studies the transgression of gender, class, and nation in science fiction that evokes sensations ranging from
the uncanny to the sublime, from the corporeal to the virtual, and from the apocalyptic to the transcendent.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course at the 200 or 300 level on Chinese literature, history or
culture, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: O'Krent; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
EALC Courses
Course ID: CPLT236/EALC236 Title: The Girl in Modern East Asian Culture (In English)
In East Asia, the rise of the girl in literary and popular culture coincides with the appearance of modernity itself.
Beginning with the ‘modern girl,' we move chronologically, exploring coming-of-age tropes in East Asian
fiction, manga, anime, and film. How does the objectification of the adolescent girl illuminate issues around
ethnicity, national identity, sexuality, even globalization? What national anxieties hover around girls' bodies?
We read texts in English translation and explore models of female development that might aid us in our
exploration of this cultural phenomenon. Secondary readings include works by Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva,
Marianne Hirsch, Carol Gilligan, Elizabeth Grosz, among others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Zimmerman; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT328/EALC328 Title: Seminar: The Posthuman in Contemporary East Asian Culture
The posthuman points to a deep crisis of humanism. Its most powerful critique targets the fundamental
malfunction of the existing social order, epistemological paradigm, and modes of governance, production,
trade, and culture that have menaced the human conditions and harmed the planetary ecological system. The
posthuman thinking in an East Asian context motivates a reevaluation of various modernity projects and
reconsiders the position and potentials of humanity in terms of planetary consciousness. In contemporary East
Asian culture, posthuman images are particularly applied to reflections concerning the deteriorating ecological
system, evolution or devolution enabled by mutations of the political economy, and above all, an awareness of
multiplicity that replaces the human-centric singular form of globalization. This seminar guides students to
rethink about concepts like gender, sex, class, race, and species in the emerging cultural contexts of the
Chthulucene, the Neo-Baroque, virtual reality, digital consciousness, and the metaverse. The course integrates
theoretical studies to case analyses of literary works, films, TV dramas, video games, and digital artworks from
Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and the Asian diaspora across the Pacific.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One course at the 200 or 300 level on East Asian literature, history,
or culture, or CPLT 180 or another CPLT course at the 200 or 300 level.; Instructor: M. Song; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT346/EALC346 Title: Seminar: The Chinese Script - A History of Writing in East Asia and
Beyond
This course narrates three thousand years of writing practices, with the Chinese script—the shared writing
system in premodern East Asian—as a through line. We will focus on the social implications of writing,
investigating questions such as how writing transformed political systems and interacted with ordinary people.
Units and topics of this course include: mechanics of writing systems, empire formation and writing
standardization, reading and writing practices in East Asia, evolving relationships between writings and (local,
vernacular, and national) languages, writing as a technology, cross-cultural interactions and receptions, and
finally, writing and gender. For the past two millennia, East Asia has been a source of media innovation. As we
migrate with the Chinese script from bamboo slips onto paper, from printed books onto computer screens, we
will tackle the theoretical toolkit and historical precedents for examining our current age of media disruption.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course at the 200 or 300 level on East Asian literature, history
or culture; or in Comparative Literature; or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Du; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EALC123Y/LING123Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Kaleidoscope of East Asian Languages: Exploring
voices, values, and cultures
This seminar explores linguistic tapestry of East Asia, focusing on the distinct features, structures, and
variations that characterize Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Through lively discussions and hands-on
projects, we will examine the unique linguistic and cultural heritages of these languages. From their intricate
writing systems and complex grammar to the diverse range of sociolinguistic patterns and dialects, we will
uncover the layers that make each language unique. Central to our exploration will be the role of Confucian
ideology, the vibrant influence of pop culture, and the transformative impact of AI technology on
communication. Through this exploration, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how language
profoundly influences and mirrors the rich diversity of life and thought in East Asia.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Sun-Hee Lee;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: EALC221 Title: Gateways to East Asia (in English)
What does it mean to live life to its fullest capacity - personally, socially and ethically? What does it mean to
succeed? To fail? To love? To fight? To dream? In search of answers to these questions, we read the classic
foundational texts of China, Japan, and Korea from Confucian and Taoist philosophy to romantic tales,
harrowing diaries and exquisitely crafted haiku. Bringing our knowledge as a China and a Japan specialist to
bear, we formulate critical perspectives on key works with the goal of understanding East Asian culture as a
whole and as different regional expressions. Join us as we explore the complexities of East Asian identity while
discovering something about the big questions we all confront today wherever - and whomever - we are.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Zimmerman; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: No prior
background in the study of East Asia is required; all readings will be in English.;
Course ID: EALC225 Title: Traditional Romances of East Asia (in English)
The course begins with a brief introduction to an eleventh-century novel from Japan, Murasaki Shikibu's The
Tale of Genji. This work shows considerable awareness of Chinese culture, but the design is entirely original
and the aesthetics typically Japanese. There is no influence at all between Genji and our next subject, Cao
Xueqin's eighteenth-century masterpiece, Dream of the Red Chamber, also known as The Story of the Stone.
However, the similarities point to shared East Asian traditions, and the contrasts can be traced to major
differences in the aesthetics of China and Japan. For students who have already studied The Tale of Genjii or
Dream of the Red Chamber, alternative reading will be assigned. Later on we will take up three other pieces,
two from Korea and one from Vietnam. These two, as well, fit into a larger East Asian syndrome, but exhibit
national characteristics at the same time.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken EALC 325.; Instructor:
Widmer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as EALC 325.;
Course ID: EALC292 Title: Remixing East Asia: Pop Culture Genres across Japan, Korea, and the Sinosphere
This course explores the circulation of genre across popular media forms in 20th and 21st century East Asia as
part of the legacy of Japanese colonialism. We will look at primary texts/media objects—fiction, films,
animation, tv shows, pop music, and video games—from Japan, Korea, and the broader Sinosphere that
embody popular genres including action, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, crime, and romantic
comedy. While thinking about definitions of "genre" in a popular context, we will also trace how different genres
and forms of media resonate with each other across different national and cultural contexts, with a particular
focus on how genre conventions are employed to grapple with imperial or colonial pasts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ward; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EALC325 Title: Traditional Romances of East Asia (in English)
The course begins with a brief introduction to an eleventh-century novel from Japan, Murasaki Shikibu's The
Tale of Genji. This work shows considerable awareness of Chinese culture, but the design is entirely original
and the aesthetics typically Japanese. There is no influence at all between Genji and our next subject, Cao
Xueqin's eighteenth-century masterpiece, Dream of the Red Chamber, also known as The Story of the Stone.
However, the similarities point to shared East Asian traditions, and the contrasts can be traced to major
differences in the aesthetics of China and Japan. For students who have already studied The Tale of Genjii or
Dream of the Red Chamber, alternative readings will be assigned. Later on we will take up three other pieces,
two from Korea and one from Vietnam. These two, as well, fit into a larger East Asian syndrome, but exhibit
national characteristics at the same time.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: One 200-level course in either Chinese or Japanese language and
culture required. Not open to students who have taken EALC 225.; Instructor: Widmer; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as EALC 225.;
Course ID: EALC345 Title: Seminar: Language, Nationalism, and Identity in East Asia (In English)
Language constitutes an important marker of social identity at many levels, such as the individual, subcultures,
ethnic groups, and nations. Language has contributed to establishing unity, socio-cultural diversity, and
nationalism in East Asian Society. This course explores the function of language in forming national, ethnic,
and cultural identity and nationalism throughout the modernization process for China, Korea, and Japan. The
seminar will discuss how language has been interconnected with the shaping of intra-East Asian
literary/cultural practices, modern identity, and globalization. Students will acquire fundamental knowledge of
the dynamics of language and socio-cultural changes as well as comparative perspectives on
nationalism/colonialism and national identity in East Asian communities. Basic knowledge of and familiarity
with a particular language/region (China, Korea, or Japan) and its historical, socio-linguistic backgrounds are
required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One 200-level course in either Chinese, Japanese, or Korean
language and culture required.; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
JPN Courses
Course ID: JPN101 Title: Beginning Japanese I
Introduction to the modern standard Japanese language. Emphasis on developing proficiency in listening,
speaking, reading, and writing, using basic expressions and sentence patterns. Four 75-minute classes plus
one blended learning session.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Maeno; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: JPN102 Title: Beginning Japanese II
Introduction to the modern standard Japanese language. Emphasis on developing proficiency in listening,
speaking, reading, and writing, using basic expressions and sentence patterns. Four 75-minute classes plus
one blended learning session.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: JPN 101 or equivalent.; Instructor: Maeno; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: JPN201 Title: Intermediate Japanese I
Continuation of JPN 101-JPN 102. The first semester will emphasize further development of listening and
speaking skills with more complex language structures as well as proficiency in reading and writing. The
second semester will emphasize reading and writing skills. Four 75-minute classes plus one blended learning
session.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: JPN 101-JPN 102 or placement by the department.; Instructor:
Torii-Williams; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: JPN202 Title: Intermediate Japanese II
Continuation of JPN 101-JPN 102. The first semester will emphasize further development of listening and
speaking skills with more complex language structures as well as proficiency in reading and writing. The
second semester will emphasize reading and writing skills. Four 75-minute classes plus one blended learning
session.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: JPN 201 or placement by the department.; Instructor: ToriiWilliams; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: JPN231 Title: Selected Readings in Advanced Japanese I
This course is designed for the students who have completed the second year of Japanese (JPN 201-JPN
202). Each lesson introduces you to practical vocabulary items, grammatical structures, and cultural
orientations that give you the ability to discuss such topics in a more advanced and culturally appropriate
manner. Throughout the course, the development of more fluent speech and stronger literacy will be
emphasized by studying more complex and idiomatic expressions. Acquisition of an additional few hundred
kanji characters will be part of the course. The class will be conducted entirely in Japanese. Three classes per
week.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: JPN 201-JPN 202 or placement by the department.; Instructor:
Torii-Williams; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: JPN232 Title: Selected Readings in Advanced Japanese II
A continuation of JPN 231, this course further develops literacy in Japanese. Students focus on intensive
reading of various styles of written Japanese, writing on different topics, and development of fluent oral skills.
Japanese movies will be used for reinforcement of grammar and for discussion. Class discussion will be
conducted entirely in Japanese. Three classes per week.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: JPN 231 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Torii-Williams;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: JPN250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: JPN250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: JPN251/THST251 Title: Japanese Literature from Myth to Manga (in English)
This course explores Japanese literature from the seventh to the nineteenth centuries––including myths,
poetry, narrative romances, diaries, essays, military tales, Noh drama, haiku, puppet plays, kabuki, and ghost
stories––then traces its modern afterlife to film, television, and manga. Students will develop a critical and
historically grounded appreciation of Japan's rich and varied literary tradition by analyzing it in light of such
topics as religious practice, aesthetic ideals, dreams, desire, subjectivity, Chinese influence, the supernatural,
war, gender, and sexuality.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Goree; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JPN252 Title: Supernatural Japan (in English)
In 1776, the Japanese writer Ueda Akinari set down a famous collection of ghost stories entitled Tales of
Moonlight and Rain. Beginning with this collection, we will explore how representations of the supernatural
were both embedded in and transformed by discourses of modernity. Throughout the twentieth century,
writers such as Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Izumi Kyoka, and Enchi Fumiko kept the
supernatural strand alive. In tales of the fantastic and the strange, they also made trenchant commentary on
the state of their society. We read (and contrast) literary and visual texts to explore alternative visions of
Japan's rush to modernize.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Zimmerman; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: JPN260 Title: Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature and Media
This course offers an introduction to modern Japanese literature and media (in translation) from the 1890s to
the present, covering materials including poetry, novels, short stories, photography, and film. Through close
readings of selected works, we will address social, cultural and philosophical issues in the context of the
historical transformations over the past hundred and fifty years. We will trace a variety of responses to
questions of identity formation for the self and the nation, modernism and colonialism, communal expression
and activism, gender, trauma and memory, nature and the environment, and the transformation of media
ecologies in postwar and contemporary Japan. No previous knowledge of Japanese literature, culture, or
history is expected or assumed. All readings are presented in English translation. Students with Japanese
language ability are, however, encouraged to read original texts if they so wish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: C. Ward; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JPN261 Title: Contemporary Japanese Literature: Translationese, Japanese
Many contemporary Japanese novelists, beginning with Murakami Haruki, have been criticized for writing in
language that sounds foreign to a domestic audience—more “translationese” than Japanese. Indeed, many
contemporary Japanese authors live outside Japan, write in other languages in addition to Japanese, and/or
come from minority backgrounds within Japan that have complicated relationships to standardized Japanese.
In this course we will read contemporary works of Japanese literature through the lens of translation as both a
readerly and writerly practice, as well as a means by which to think through how we define the boundaries of a
given language or national literature. We will engage with short stories, poetry, screenplays, criticism and
novels to examine how writers use different linguistic registers, genres, and formal techniques to explore
questions of community, identity, gender, and even language itself. In addition, we will look at some theoretical
and historical approaches to the study of translation in Japan as necessary background for these discussions.
We will also think about how adaptation—across literary traditions or genres—relates to translation. While
works examined in this course may themselves be read in English translation, students with advanced
Japanese are encouraged to read in the original.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: C. Ward; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JPN280 Title: Japanese Pop Culture: From Haiku to Hello Kitty (in English)
A critical exploration of popular culture in Japan from its isolation in the 1600s to its globalization today. Topics
include advertising, anime, architecture, art, fashion, film, food, games, literature, magazines, manga, music,
performance, sports, television, and travel. Students engage directly with these topics by analyzing cultural
phenomena, from geisha to baseball, in light of historical and theoretical perspectives drawn from the
disciplines of literary criticism, cultural studies, film studies, and anthropology—all in an effort to understand
Japan through patterns of consumption, cultural memory, gender, media, national identity, race, and sexuality.
The course demonstrates the complexity and appeal of what is arguably the major alternative to American
popular culture. No prior background in Japanese is required; all readings are in English translation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Instructor: Goree; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JPN290 Title: Geisha, Samurai and the Birth of Tokyo (English)
Japan enjoyed tremendous political stability under samurai rule for 265 years before opening up to the West in
the late 19th century. Far from static, however, this era, known as the Edo period (1603-1868), was one of
dynamic economic growth, social change, intellectual ferment, and artistic experimentation, when a vibrant
urban culture emerged and spread to cities and villages across the Japanese archipelago. Many of the things
we associate with traditional Japanese culture today, including haiku, kabuki, sumo, geisha, sushi, manga,
and the samurai ethos, emerged or developed into maturity at this time. This course introduces students to
Edo Japan by way of its rich visual and literary cultures, with particular emphasis on the representation of
sexuality, gender, violence, honor, and otherworldly phenomena. No knowledge of Japan or Japanese
required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Goree; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51
Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: JPN308 Title: Advanced Japanese Through Short Fiction and Essays
In this course, students will read original works of short fiction and essays in Japanese by well-known
contemporary authors. We will explore various genres and popular themes in Japanese literature and look at
authors' styles and voice. The course will be completely in Japanese except when translation into English
takes center stage. In either case, the major emphasis will be on discussion of the works in class. Through
these works, students will also be introduced to advanced Japanese grammar, expressions, patterns, kanji,
and vocabulary.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: JPN 232 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Goree;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JPN309 Title: Advanced Japanese Through Contemporary Japanese Social Science
This course aims to achieve advanced level fluency through current news articles and broadcast news in
Japanese. Students will learn a wide range of vocabulary and expressions through class discussions,
presentations and individual writing projects.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: JPN 232 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Maeno;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JPN314 Title: Contemporary Japanese Narrative (in English)
Students read and discuss contemporary fiction by women in Japanese as they improve reading and speaking
skills, and learn how to translate fiction from Japanese to English. Weekly translation exercises and periodic
translation workshops build confidence as students develop their own translation style. For the final project,
students choose a contemporary short story and translate it in collaboration with the instructor. Class
conducted in English. Two weekly meetings plus individual meetings with instructor.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: JPN 232 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Zimmerman;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: JPN350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: JPN350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: JPN352 Title: Seminar: Postwar Japanese Literature and Visual Culture (in English)
With the lifting of state censorship in the postwar period, Japanese writers and artists broke new ground,
wrestling with the legacy of the war (Oe Kenzaburo, Mizuki Shigeru), upending gender norms (Kono Taeko,
Uchida Shungiku), unveiling less visible aspects of Japanese society (Nakagami Kenji, Yu Miri), or even
forging new modes of representation (Murakami Haruki). Drawing on fiction, manga, and film, we embed texts
in their historical and social contexts, listening for the "hum of the times." No Japanese required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course on Japan, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Zimmerman; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: JPN358 Title: Haruki Murakami and Modern Japanese Literature (in English)
The fiction of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami has often been described as being closer to “American
literature” than to the modern Japanese literary canon. His official website even names Raymond Chandler,
Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan as “influences.” In this course, we will test that assumption, holding
Murakami’s work up against the mirror of Japanese short fictions from 1900-2022. Moving chronologically, we
read broadly, covering half of Murakami’s major novels, as well as a dozen short fictional and non-fictional
works. Given that Murakami’s work has been translated into 50 languages, we also explore how translation
practices shape reception. From Japanese to Polish to Chinese, we explore the multiple worlds—and worldmaking practices-- of Haruki Murakami. We also study two films that are based on his work. Taught in English,
no knowledge of Japanese is necessary.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One literature course from English, Comparative Literature, EALC,
or any language department. Permission of the instructor required.; Instructor: Zimmerman; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JPN360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: JPN370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: JPN 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
KOR Courses
Course ID: KOR101 Title: Beginning Korean I
An introductory course on standard conversational Korean for students who have little or no knowledge of
Korean. The course will provide basic skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing, with a focus on spoken
language proficiency. The course will emphasize the development of communication skills in given situations
and tasks, and provide an introduction to sociocultural interests and daily life in Korea. Four 75-minute classes
with regular individual meetings.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: J. Song; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: KOR102 Title: Beginning Korean II
An introductory course on standard conversational Korean for students who have little or no knowledge of
Korean. The course will provide basic skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing, with a focus on spoken
language proficiency. The course will emphasize the development of communication skills in given situations
and tasks, and provide an introduction to sociocultural interests and daily life in Korea. Four 75-minute classes
with regular individual meetings.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: KOR 101 or equivalent; Instructor: J. Song; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: KOR201 Title: Intermediate Korean
A continuation of KOR 101-KOR 102. The first semester will emphasize further development of listening and
speaking skills with more complex language structures as well as proficiency in reading and writing. The
second semester will emphasize reading and writing skills. Four 75-minute classes with regular individual
meetings.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: KOR 101- KOR 102 or placement by the department.;
Instructor: Hwang; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: KOR202 Title: Intermediate Korean
A continuation of KOR 101-KOR 102. The first semester will emphasize further development of listening and
speaking skills with more complex language structures as well as proficiency in reading and writing. The
second semester will emphasize reading and writing skills. Four 75-minute classes with regular individual
meetings.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: KOR 201, or placement by the department.; Instructor: Hwang;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Students who are placed into KOR 202 must continue at the third-year level
(KOR 231 or KOR 232) to complete the Foreign Language requirement.;
Course ID: KOR209H Title: Dynamic Korea (Wellesley-MIT in Seoul)
This three-week-intensive study abroad course is designed to expand the students’ Korean language skills
while further developing their sociocultural understanding of Korea by utilizing critical engagement and
analytical thinking to communicate effectively with native speakers of Korean. In particular, the course will
employ a variety of approaches and methods to develop intercultural and interactional competence at an
intermediate level. Students will practice appropriate manners and language use based on the sociocultural
awareness and interactional practices they learn in the course. Students will experience Korea through: (i)
Language: intensive language training + collaborative work with an individual language buddy, (ii) Culture:
hands-on cultural activities + excursions + projects, and (iii) Community: homestay + community service. The
course takes a student-centered and project-based approach to language acquisition. Students will become
aware of the structural, conceptual, social and cultural aspects associated with language use in both Korean
and their own native language(s).
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: KOR 201 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: J. Song;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: KOR231 Title: Advanced Intermediate Korean I - Formal Conversation and Presentation Skills
This third-year Korean course is designed for students to develop an advanced level of language proficiency
by focusing on communication and discussion skills, and cross-cultural understanding, and critical and
creative thinking ability. Students will improve their linguistic competence through student-led discussions,
presentations, debates, and various individual projects. The integrated activities and applications are designed
to expand advanced level vocabulary including formal expressions and Hanja, grammar, and cultural
knowledge. Media resources and readings using TV drama, movies, broadcasted news and blogs will provide
enriched information on contemporary Korean society and lifestyle.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: KOR 201-KOR 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: S.
Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: KOR232 Title: Advanced intermediate Korean II - Developing multiliteracy and formal writing skills
This course is a continuation of KOR 231. More emphasis will be placed on enhancing students' reading and
writing fluency. Students will read various authentic materials including newspaper articles, formal essays,
short stories, and business letters. Class activities and assignments will help students learn how to write in
formal and academic settings. These include writing analytical papers, critical reviews, resumes, job
applications, business correspondence, etc. Under the guidance of the instructor each student will present
and write a critical review as a final project. Through this course, students will be able to expand their linguistic
capacity to an advanced level. The class will be conducted entirely in Korean.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: KOR 231 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hwang;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: KOR246/LING246 Title: Digital Language: Corpus Linguistics and its Applications
Advances in computer technology have revolutionized the ways linguists can approach their data. By
accessing large digital bodies of text (corpora) and searching for phenomena of interest, we can uncover
complexities in naturally-occurring data and explore broader issues utilizing linguistic patterns and frequency
information. This course presents a practical introduction to corpus linguistics, an extremely versatile
methodology of language analysis using computers.
Some of the fundamental questions to explore include; what is a corpus, and what corpora exist? How are
corpora constructed and linguistic annotation added? What tools are available for search, annotation, and
analysis? Students will also learn how corpora are used in diverse areas such as sociolinguistics, discourse
analysis, child language acquisition, and language change as well as language learning and teaching and
develop their own research ideas. Students who register for KOR 246 will be expected to do their coursework
using Korean language texts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LING 114 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Sun-Hee Lee;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: KOR250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: KOR250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: KOR256 Title: Gender and Language in Modern Korean Culture (in English)
Postwar modernization and industrialization have brought dramatic changes in Korean society. In spite of
remarkable economic growth and rapid social progress, Korean women still struggle with gender inequality.
This course explores the relationship between language use and cultural views of womanhood in modern
Korea, using phonetics, semantics, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics. By examining actual language use
in myths, movies, ads, and popular culture, we explore how sociolinguistic factors shape gender dichotomies,
notions of individual identity, and ethnicity. Substantial evidence of linguistic data will be used to clarify the
connection between language and gender as we address the challenges faced by women of East Asia.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: S. Lee; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: KOR307 Title: Advanced Readings in Modern Korean Narratives: Webtoons, Dramas, Films, and
Stories
This advanced Korean language course explores the rich tapestry of modern Korean narratives, including
webtoons, dramas, films, and literary stories. Designed to provide students with an immersive experience in
Korean language and culture, the course aims to enhance language proficiency in reading, listening, and
critical analysis through engagement with authentic materials and creative expressions. Students will engage
in critical examination, discussion, and creative projects, focusing on the themes, narratives, and aesthetic
innovations characteristic of both digital and traditional Korean storytelling forms. The course seeks to broaden
students' understanding of contemporary Korean society and its cultural nuances, as well as the art of
storytelling, thereby advancing their Korean language skills to a higher level of fluency. Through this
comprehensive approach, students will not only improve their language proficiency but also gain a deep
appreciation for the richness and cultural diversity inherent in Modern Korean Narratives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: KOR 232 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Sun-Hee Lee;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: KOR309 Title: Professional Korean Through Contemporary Texts and Multimedia
This course aims at achieving advanced level fluency in reading and writing Korean through the study of
various texts and multimedia. Course "texts" include contemporary works of Korean literature, current
newspaper articles, broadcast news, and clips of television shows and films. The course will develop
sophisticated interpretive and presentational skills in formal contexts while enhancing the student's level of
literary appreciation and intellectual analysis. The focus is on mastery of a wide range of vocabulary and
idiomatic expressions, individual writing projects, classroom discussion, and presentations on assigned topics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: KOR 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Lee;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: KOR350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: KOR 309 or permission of the department and instructor.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: KOR350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: KOR360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: KOR370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: KOR 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
East Asian Studies
An Interdepartmental Major
East Asian Studies is an interdisciplinary major offered jointly by faculty from departments at the College
whose research and teaching interests focus on East Asia and from the Department of East Asian Languages
and Cultures (EALC). The major is designed for students with a broad interest in East Asia. It encourages
students to familiarize themselves with one or more countries or societies of East Asia and also requires that
students have an area of concentration, which may be based on a country/culture or academic discipline. To
major in EAS, students must fulfill requirements in Language studies, Humanities, and History and Social
Sciences (see below). Through this combination of breadth and depth, students learn about the historic links
between East Asian societies and how ideas, cultures, and policies flow across and shape life in East Asia
today.
East Asian Studies Major
Goals for the East Asian Studies Major
To familiarize students generally with the arts, histories, languages and literatures, religions, and the
social, political, and cultural systems of East Asia
To develop fuller expertise in a specific area of study, whether by country, or scholarly discipline
To ensure a firm foundation in at least one of three East Asian languages: Mandarin Chinese,
Japanese, or Korean
Requirements for the East Asian Studies Major
Prospective East Asian Studies majors should begin study of an East Asian language as soon as possible in
their first year. The program also recommends that students take one or more courses that explore East Asia
(such as HIST 274, REL 108, or EALC 225) in their first two years to attain familiarity with the region. The
program encourages students to:
Familiarize themselves with several East Asian societies and cultures.
Choose an area of concentration that is country/culture-based or based on an academic discipline. For
example, students may select a focused study of one country or culture (e.g. China, Japan, Korea(s)),
or select a disciplinary or interdisciplinary focus (see below).
Prospective majors should consult with a member of the East Asian Studies faculty as early as possible to
discuss their academic plans. Majors devise their own programs of study in consultation with an advisor from
the student's area of concentration. Both the major advisor and the program director must approve proposals
for the major.
Ten units are required for the major, consisting of the following:
1. Language courses: four units.
All students must complete at least four language courses above the 100 level in the language most
appropriate to their area of concentration. (Students will not receive credit toward the major for the first
year of language study.) Those who begin their language study at Wellesley in a 300–level language
class must still complete at least four language courses. Students with native or near native fluency in an
East Asian language may replace the four units of language with non-language EAS courses, in
consultation with their advisor. At least 2 of the non-language courses for heritage speakers must come
from the EALC department. Language study beyond what is required for the major is strongly
recommended.
All majors are also encouraged to spend at least a summer or a semester studying abroad in China,
Japan, Korea, or Taiwan. The East Asian Languages and Cultures Department, through the chairperson
of EALC, must approve plans for language study taken away from Wellesley and to be applied toward the
major.
2. Non-language courses: six units
(1) All majors must also take at least one non-language course on East Asia in each of the following
categories:
i. Humanities
ii. History and Social Science
(2) A minimum of three non-language courses are required to fulfill a selected concentration, and two
must be at the 300 level.
i. Country/culture-based concentrations may focus on one of the following: China, Japan, Korea(s).
ii. Discipline or focused interdisciplinary-based concentrations that are normally possible at Wellesley
include arts and visual studies, history, linguistics, literature, politics, religion, and women's and gender
studies. Under unusual circ*mstances, and with the approval of her advisor and the program director, a
student may design her own disciplinary concentration. Majors normally declare their concentration no
later than the spring semester of their junior year.
(3) A minimum of four non-language courses must be taken at Wellesley, including the required two units
of 300-level courses. Of the two required 300-level courses, only one may be a 350, 360, or 370.
(4) A maximum of two non-language courses taken outside Wellesley can count toward the major.
(5) Some courses can count as a language or non-language course for the purpose of fulfilling
requirements for the major. Each course unit can be credited only once toward the major. No doublecounting (e.g. as both a language course and non-language course) is permitted.
(6) One course in Asian American studies may be counted toward the major, provided that the course
addresses a significant aspect of East Asian traditions, culture, or society in its global, cross-cultural
contexts. Students should consult with their advisors.
Honors in East Asian Studies
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. A grade point
average of at least 3.5 in the major, above100-level courses, is the minimum requirement for application.
Students must also submit a dossier of required material, including a thesis proposal, to the EAS director and
the Faculty Advisory Committee, which will approve students for admission. For details about the dossier, see
below. The Faculty Advisory Committee may petition on behalf of a student whose GPA in the major is
between 3.0 and 3.5, if the rest of her dossier is particularly strong. [For more details, see Honors Information
and Thesis Process.]
1. By spring break of the junior year, craft your topic in rough form and find an adviser.
2. By the end of the first week of senior year, submit a 2-3 page prospectus to the EAS chair, who will
circulate it to the faculty steering committee. A preliminary bibliography should be submitted at the
same time.
3. The prospectus and bibliography should both be drawn up in consultation with the adviser.
4. A transcript (official or unofficial);
5. A writing sample, preferably a research paper for an East Asian Studies class.
Transfer Credits in East Asian Studies
In order to obtain Wellesley credit for any EAS-related course taken at another institution during the academic
year or summer, the student must obtain approval from the College Registrar and the program director prior to
enrolling in the course. First the Registrar must award the appropriate college credit for each unit. Second, the
approval of the course/s to be credited to the EAS major must be granted by the program director. Students
should present relevant syllabi and other materials about the prospective course to the director. Students,
especially those taking EAS courses abroad, may be required to contact the course instructor in order to
obtain specific details about the course in cases where the online course description may be insufficient to
make an informed decision.
Courses for Credit Toward the East Asian Studies Major
Language Courses (Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean): See offerings in the Department of East Asian
Languages and Cultures (EALC)
Humanities:
AMST 212
Korean American Literature and Culture
1.0
ARTH 238
Chinese Art and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 240
Asian Art and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 248
Chinese Painting: Theories, Masters, and Principles
1.0
ARTH 249
Japanese Art and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 255
Twentieth-Century Chinese Art
1.0
ARTH 337
Seminar: The Song Imperial Painting Academy
1.0
ARTH 341
Seminar: The Landscape Painting of China, Korea, and
Japan
1.0
ARTH 346
Seminar: Poetic Painting in China, Korea, and Japan
1.0
CAMS 203 / CHIN 243
Chinese Cinema (In English)
1.0
CHIN 208
Writing Modern China (in English)
1.0
CHIN 211
Dream of the Red Chamber in Chinese Literature and
Culture (in English)
1.0
CHIN 220 / CHIN 320
The Fall of Ming in 1644, An Event in World Culture(In
English)
1.0
CHIN 226
City in Modern Chinese Lit &Film (In English)
1.0
CHIN 233 / CHIN 333
Masterworks of Chinese Fiction (In English)
1.0
CHIN 239
Popular Culture in Modern China
1.0
CHIN 244
Classical Chinese Theater (in English)
1.0
CHIN 245
Chinese Women in a Century of Revolution (In English)
1.0
CHIN 311
Dream of the Red Chamber in Chinese Literature and
Culture (in English)
1.0
CHIN 326
The City in Modern Chinese Literature and Film (in
English)
1.0
CHIN 338
Reading in Modern Chinese Literature
1.0
CHIN 344
Classical Chinese Theater (in English)
1.0
CHIN 345
Chinese Women in a Century of Revolution (In English)
1.0
CHIN 381
Eileen Chang (in English)
1.0
CHIN 382
Seminar: Sci-Fi & Future of China (In English)
1.0
CPLT 236 / EALC 236
The Girl in Modern East Asian Culture
1.0
EALC 221
Gateways to East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 225
Traditional Romances of East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 325
Traditional Romances of East Asia (in English)
1.0
EALC 345
Seminar: Language, Nationalism, and Identity in East
Asia (In English)
1.0
JPN 251 / THST 251
Japanese Writers Explore Their World (in English)
1.0
JPN 252
Supernatural Japan (in English)
1.0
JPN 280
Japanese Pop Culture: From Haiku to Hello Kitty (in
English)
1.0
JPN 290
Geisha, Samurai and the Birth of Tokyo
1.0
JPN 308
Advanced Japanese Through Short Fiction and Essays
1.0
JPN 314
Translating Japanese Narrative
1.0
JPN 352
Seminar: Postwar Japan in Word and Image (in English)
1.0
JPN 356
Seminar: Hauntings in Modern Japan (In English)
1.0
KOR 206
An Introduction to Korean Language and Culture (in
English)
1.0
KOR 246 / LING 246
Digital Language: Corpus Linguistics (In English)
1.0
KOR 256
Gender and Language in Modern Korean Culture (in
English)
1.0
REL 108
Introduction to Asian Religions
1.0
REL 253
Buddhist Thought and Practice
1.0
REL 254
Chinese Thought and Religion
1.0
REL 255
Japanese Religion and Culture
1.0
REL 257
Contemplation and Action
1.0
REL 353
Seminar: Zen Buddhism
1.0
CHIN 338, JPN 314: Fulfill either Language or Humanities requirement for the major.
History and Social Sciences:
HIST 269
Japan, the Great Powers, and East Asia, 1853-1993
1.0
HIST 274
China, Japan, and Korea in Comparative and Global
Perspectives
1.0
HIST 277
China and America: Evolution of a Troubled Relationship
1.0
HIST 278
Reform and Revolution in China, 1800 to the Present
1.0
HIST 280
Topics in Chinese Commerce and Business
1.0
HIST 395
International History Seminar: Legacies of Conquest:
Empires in Chinese and World History
1.0
PEAC 119Y / REL 119Y
First-Year Seminar: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Yasukuni
Shinto Shrine
1.0
POL2 208
Politics of China
1.0
POL2 304
Nation-building and Nationalism in East Asia
1.0
EAS Courses
Course ID: EAS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: EAS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: EAS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the director.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in
the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient
progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: EAS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: EAS 360 and permission of the director.; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Economics
Economics is the theoretical and empirical study of the universal problems of scarcity, choice, and human
behavior. Unlike business administration, which deals with specific procedures by which business enterprises
are managed, economics examines a broad range of institutions and focuses on their interactions within a
structured framework.
Economics Major
Goals for the Economics Major
Our majors should attain
1. a basic understanding of economic principles
2. an ability to engage in critical reasoning
3. competency in making written and oral arguments
Our majors should attain skills that enable them to be more informed and engaged citizens. Economics majors
will understand fundamental economic principles, apply those concepts to evaluate arguments, and construct
oral and written arguments of their own. A basic understanding of economic principles means students will
identify situations in which scarcity of resources requires that individuals, firms and societies make trade-offs,
and recognize the opportunity costs embodied in those choices. Students will analyze efficiency and equity in
market outcomes, the role of government in a market economy, the costs and benefits of international trade,
the challenge of stabilizing the macroeconomy, and the factors that raise the long-term growth rate of the
economy. Students will also assess the logic of an economic argument by applying both analytical and
quantitative tools, for example by using empirical evidence to support or reject a proposition. Finally, having
demonstrated command of core concepts in economics, and an ability to judge the logic that undergirds
economic proposals, students will produce oral and written presentations that demonstrate their competency.
Requirements for the Economics Major
The economics major consists of a minimum of nine units. The major must include courses in
microeconomics (ECON 101 or ECON 101P, and ECON 201), macroeconomics (ECON 102 or ECON 102P,
and ECON 202), and statistics (ECON 103 and ECON 203), as well as at least two 300-level units taken at
Wellesley (ordinarily not including ECON 350, ECON 360, or ECON 370). One semester of mathematics at
Wellesley at the level of MATH 115 or above is a prerequisite for ECON 201, ECON 202 and ECON 203. QR
260/STAT 260 and QR 309/STAT 309 can be counted as major electives. Students need not complete ECON
103 if they have completed STAT 160, STAT 218, PSYC 105 or PSYC 205. However, they must take an
additional Economics elective to complete the minimum requirement of nine units in the major.
Choosing courses to complete the major requires careful thought. All majors should choose an advisor and
consult them regularly. Students interested in economics and its applications in international relations might
want to consider the interdepartmental major in International Relations-Economics.
Honors in Economics
The department offers students two honors programs. Under program I, a student completes two semesters of
independent research (ECON 360 and ECON 370) culminating in an honors thesis. Under program II, a
student completes one semester of independent research (ECON 350) related to previous 300-level course
work, and then submits to an examination in economics that includes the topic covered in her research
project. Ordinarily, a student is expected to complete all of the core course work and one 300-level course
before enrolling in the honors program. Admission to the honors program requires students to have a GPA of
3.5 or higher in their economics courses above the 100 level. All honors candidates are expected to participate
in the Economics Research Seminar (ECON 380), for which they receive 0.5 units.
Transfer Credit in Economics
In order to obtain credit for any economics course taken at another institution during the summer or academic
year, approval must be obtained in advance from the department’s transfer credit advisor. In general, courses
from two-year colleges will not be accepted at any level. Courses taken elsewhere normally will not be
transferred at the 300 level. ECON 201, ECON 202, and ECON 203 should ordinarily be taken at Wellesley.
Transfer students wishing to obtain transfer credit for economics courses taken prior to enrollment at Wellesley
should contact the department's transfer credit advisor.
AP and IB Credit in Economics
AP credit: Students who receive a 5 on the AP Microeconomics exam can place out of ECON 101. Students
who receive a 5 on the AP Macroeconomics exam can place out of ECON 102 (although we encourage such
students to take ECON 102 since a full semester of college macroeconomics will typically cover more
material). Students cannot use AP Statistics to place out of ECON 103. AP credits do not count towards the
minimum number of major or minor units.
IB credit: Students who receive a 5, 6, or 7 on higher-level IB courses can place out of ECON 101 and ECON
102, although the department recommends that students place out of those courses only if they receive a 7.
Economics Minor
Requirements for the Economics Minor
The economics minor consists of ECON 101 or ECON 101P, ECON 102 or ECON 102P, and ECON 103, as
well as two additional 200-levelunits (ordinarily excluding ECON 201, ECON 202, ECON 203, ECON 250, and
ECON 251H). Students need not complete ECON 103 if they have completed STAT 160, STAT 218, PSYC 105
or PSYC 205. However, they must take an additional Economics elective to complete the minimum
requirement of five units for the minor.
ECON Courses
Course ID: ECON101 Title: Principles of Microeconomics
This first course in economics provides the fundamental tools for exploration of the field. Microeconomics
considers the decisions of households and firms about what to consume and what to produce, and the
efficiency and equity of market outcomes. Supply and demand analysis is developed and applied. Policy
issues include price controls, competition and monopoly, income inequality , and the role of government in
market economies. Students who have AP or IB credit in economics, and who elect ECON 101, forfeit the AP
or IB credit. ECON 101P is an alternative course open to students who have not fulfilled the Quantitative
Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Fall;
Course ID: ECON101P Title: Principles of Microeconomics
This first course in economics provides the fundamental tools for exploration of the field. Microeconomics
considers the decisions of households and firms about what to consume and what to produce, and the
efficiency and equity of market outcomes. Supply and demand analysis is developed and applied. Policy
issues include price controls, competition and monopoly, income inequality, and the role of government in
market economies.
Econ 101P is open to (but is not limited to) students who do not meet the QR prerequisites for ECON 101 and
is also appropriate for students who, because of their previous preparation in economics and mathematics,
would benefit from additional academic support for their study of introductory economics. Additional class
meeting slots will emphasize fluency with mathematical tools needed for success in economics. Students are
normally expected to enroll concurrently in ECON 251H. Students who have AP or IB credit in Economics, and
who elect ECON 101P, forfeit the AP or IB credit.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. First
generation students and students with QR scores below 10 will be sent an explicit invitation to join. Concurrent
enrollment in ECON 251H is expected but is not a requirement.; Instructor: Rothschild; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON102 Title: Principles of Macroeconomics
This course follows ECON 101 in continuing to build fundamental tools for exploration of the field. The course
analyzes the aggregate dimensions of a market-based economy. Topics include the measurement of national
income, economic growth, unemployment, inflation, business cycles, the balance of payments, and exchange
rates. The impact of government monetary and fiscal policies is considered. Students who have AP or IB credit
in economics and who elect ECON 102 forfeit the AP or IB credit. ECON 102P is an alternative course open to
students who have not fulfilled the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning &
Data Literacy requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P. Fulfillment of the Quantitative
Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ECON102P Title: Principles of Macroeconomics
This course follows ECON 101 in continuing to build fundamental tools for exploration of the field. The course
analyzes the aggregate dimensions of a market-based economy. Topics include the measurement of national
income, economic growth, unemployment, inflation, business cycles, the balance of payments, and exchange
rates. The impact of government monetary and fiscal policies is considered.
ECON 102P is open to (but is not limited to) students who do not meet the QR prerequisites for ECON 101 and
is also appropriate for students who, because of their previous preparation in economics and mathematics,
would benefit from additional academic support for their study of introductory economics. Additional class
meeting slots will emphasize fluency with mathematical tools needed for success in economics. Students are
normally expected to enroll concurrently in ECON 251H. Students who have AP or IB credit in economics, and
who elect 102P, forfeit the AP or IB credit.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P. Enrollment is by permission of the
instructor. First generation students and students with QR scores below 10 will be sent an explicit invitation to
join. Concurrent enrollment in ECON 251H is expected but is not a requirement. Students who took ECON
101P will be given priority in admission to ECON 102P.; Instructor: Weerapana; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: ECON103/SOC190 Title: Introduction to Probability and Statistical Methods
An introduction to the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of quantitative data as used to
understand problems in economics and sociology. Using examples drawn from these fields, this course
focuses on basic concepts in probability and statistics, such as measures of central tendency and dispersion,
hypothesis testing, and parameter estimation. Data analysis exercises are drawn from both academic and
everyday applications.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P or one course in sociology. Fulfillment
of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not
open to students who have taken or are taking STAT 160, STAT 218, PSYC 105 or PSYC 205.; Instructor: Giles,
Levine, Swingle (Sociology); Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Summer; Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ECON201 Title: Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis
Intermediate microeconomic theory: analysis of the individual household, firm, industry, and market, and the
social implications of resource allocation choices. Emphasis on application of theoretical methodology.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: All of the following -- ECON 101 or ECON 101P, ECON 102 or
ECON 102P, and one math course at the level of MATH 115 or higher. The math course must be taken at
Wellesley.; Instructor: Abeberese, McKnight, Rothschild, Skeath; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ECON202 Title: Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis
Intermediate macroeconomic theory: analysis of fluctuations in aggregate income and growth and the balance
of payments. Analysis of policies to control inflation and unemployment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: All of the following -- ECON 101 or ECON 101P, ECON 102 or
ECON 102P, and one math course at the level of MATH 115 or higher. The math course must be taken at
Wellesley.; Instructor: Hilt, Neumuller; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ECON203 Title: Econometrics
This course introduces students to the methods economists use to assess empirical relationships, primarily
regression analysis. Issues examined include statistical significance, goodness-of-fit, dummy variables, and
model assumptions. Includes an introduction to panel data models, instrumental variables, and randomized
and natural experiments. Students learn to apply the concepts to data, read economic research, and write an
empirical research paper.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 21; Prerequisites: All of the following -- ECON 101 or ECON 101P, ECON 102 or
ECON 102P, and one math course at the level of MATH 115 or higher. The math course must be taken at
Wellesley. One course in statistics (ECON 103, PSYC 105, PSYC 205, STAT 160, or STAT 218) is also
required.; Instructor: Giles, McKnight, Park, Shastry; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: The
Credit/Non Credit grading option is not available for this course. Letter graded only.;
Course ID: ECON204 Title: Big Ideas in Economics: Contributions of Nobel Laureates
Economics is the only social science in which the Nobel prize is awarded, and the list of winners and citations
showcases the evolution of the discipline and economic ideas with staying power. This course will use the
Nobel Prize as a starting point for students to apply what they have learned in principles of economics courses
by exploring how economists have framed, and answered, important empirical and theoretical questions in our
field. Topics may include incentives and decision-making; poverty, inequality, and welfare concerns; market
design, firm behavior, and competition; externalities; financial markets; economic growth and macroeconomic
equilibrium; the application of empirical methods to social problems; and possible future prize-winning ideas.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P and ECON 102 or ECON 102P.;
Instructor: Werkema; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON213 Title: International Finance and Macroeconomic Policy
This course introduces the study of macroeconomics in an open economy. Topics include basic features of
foreign exchange markets, the structure of the balance of payments accounts, and the effectiveness of
macroeconomic policy under fixed and flexible exchange rates and varying degrees of capital mobility. The
course also examines the evolution of the international financial system, the role of the IMF, the creation of the
European Monetary Union, and the recent financial crises in East Asia, Russia, and Brazil.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P and ECON 102 or ECON 102P.;
Instructor: Weerapana; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON214 Title: Trade Policy
More than half of all the goods and services produced in the world are traded across national boundaries.
While economists agree that international trade is beneficial overall, allowing consumers to get more kinds of
goods at lower prices, politicians and citizens often see trade as harmful to their interests. This course will
examine the economic argument in favor of trade, explore the reasons why nations choose restrictive trade
policies and even engage in trade wars, and analyze the consequences of those policies for economic well
being. We will also consider the climate consequences of the movement of goods around the world. The
course will make significant use of a case discussion format requiring class participation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: (ECON 101 or ECON 101P) and (ECON 102 or ECON 102P). ;
Instructor: Velenchik; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON215 Title: Tax Policy
This course considers the role of taxation in the economy. The course studies how taxation affects economic
efficiency, income distribution, capital formation, and microeconomic incentives. Major topics include the
effects of the individual income tax, the corporate income tax, Social Security taxes, estate taxes, property
taxes, green taxes, sales taxes, and the role of international tax incentives in a global economy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P. ECON 102 or ECON 102P
recommended.; Instructor: Rothschild; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON220 Title: Development Economics
This course is an introduction to the study of the key issues affecting economic development in low- and
middle-income countries. We will use economic analysis to gain an understanding of these key issues and
review policy options. Specific topics will include growth, population, health, education, gender equality, credit
markets, trade and foreign aid.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Either ECON 101 or ECON 101P and either ECON 102 or ECON
102P. ECON 103 recommended.; Instructor: Abeberese; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON222/PEAC222 Title: Games of Strategy
Should you sell your house at an auction where the highest bidder gets the house, but only pays the secondhighest bid? Should the U.S. government institute a policy of never negotiating with terrorists? The effects of
decisions in such situations often depend on how others react to them. This course introduces some basic
concepts and insights from the theory of games that can be used to understand any situation in which
strategic decisions are made. The course will emphasize applications rather than formal theory. Extensive use
is made of in-class experiments, examples, and cases drawn from business, economics, politics, movies, and
current events.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 21; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P. Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and
Seniors.; Instructor: Skeath; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive
Course.;
Course ID: ECON226/EDUC226 Title: Economics of Education Policy
Uses a microeconomic framework to analyze important questions in education policy about school finance,
organization, efficiency, and equity. Is education a private good? What are the costs and benefits of
expanded education for individuals, communities, and countries? What are the consequences of more
widespread early childhood education and college attendance? What is the role of teachers, peers, and
families in education? Does school choice promote student achievement? Applies concepts such as
comparative statics, subsidies, externalities, perfect and imperfect competition, cost-benefit analysis, and
welfare analysis to these and other questions. Each semester includes one or two policy discussions on
contemporary issues in education.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P. ECON 102 or ECON 102P and ECON
103 recommended.; Instructor: Werkema; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON228/ES228 Title: Environmental and Resource Economics
This course considers the economic aspects of resource and environmental issues. After examining the
concepts of externalities, public goods, and common property resources, we will discuss how to measure the
cost and benefits of environmental policy in order to estimate the socially optimal level of the environmental
good. Applications of these tools will be made to air and water pollution, renewable and nonrenewable
resources, and global climate. In addressing each of these problems we will compare various public policy
responses such as regulation, marketable permits, and tax incentives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P.; Instructor: Keskin; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON229 Title: Women in the Economy
This course uses economic theory and empirical analysis to examine the lives of women and their role in the
economy. We first discuss the economics of gender and note that the research on the economics of gender
tends to fall into three areas: analyses of labor markets, analyses of policies and practices to address issues
facing working women and their families, and analyses of the economic status of women across countries.
After that introduction, we will discuss women's educational attainment and participation in the labor market,
gender segregation and the gender pay gap, discrimination, division of labor within household, and work
versus family-life balance. In the second segment we will review government and company policies, like
affirmative action, aimed at issues faced by working women and families. The final section will examine
international evidence on the economic status of women and their changing role in the world economy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P and ECON 103, or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Kerr; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ECON232 Title: Health Economics
This course explores the health care sector and health policy issues from an economic perspective. Topics to
be discussed include the demand for health insurance, the supply of health care, health care costs, health
outcomes and disparities, and the recent U.S. health care reform law. The course focuses primarily on the
U.S., with some discussion of these issues in an international context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P.; Instructor: Coile; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ECON233 Title: Microeconomics of Pandemics
Pandemics like the COVID-19 crisis can exact a heavy toll in the loss of human life. Yet their consequences
may also include job losses and business failures, volatility in stock and product markets, and (potentially
permanent) changes to global supply chains, work, education, and cities. In this course, we examine
pandemics through a microeconomic lens. Topics to be explored include the health costs of pandemics, the
economics of vaccines, insuring individuals against pandemic-related risks, racial and socioeconomic
disparities in pandemic impacts, the effects of pandemics on firms and markets, and government interventions
to combat pandemics. In exploring these topics, we will use standard microeconomic tools including the
supply and demand model, models of consumer and firm behavior, cost-benefit analysis, and the expected
utility model. We will read current research on COVID-19 as well as research on earlier events like the 1918
influenza pandemic.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P. ECON 103 (or equivalent)
recommended. Not open to students who have taken ECON 232 or ECON 332.; Instructor: Coile; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ECON241/LAST241 Title: Poverty and Inequality in Latin America
The course is a survey of economic development in Latin America, with an emphasis on public policies aimed
at reducing poverty and inequality. How can we define and measure development? How did Latin American
governments pursue development over the 20th century and into the 21st? How does contemporary social
and education policy contribute to the reduction of poverty and inequality? The course introduces students to
policy evaluation, with a focus on understanding and writing about field experiments in Latin America.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P.; Instructor: McEwan; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ECON250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: ECON251H Title: Wellesley Initiative for Scholars of Economics (WISE)
This course is designed to deepen students' engagement with scholarship in Economics. Enrollment is by
invitation only and will draw from students concurrently enrolled in the core required courses for the major or
minor. The class will introduce students to current research in Economics, presented by different faculty
members, and link that research to skills and concepts covered in core required courses. Students will gain a
better understanding of the ways the tools they are learning in their courses can be applied to real world
issues.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Enrollment is by invitation only.; Instructor: Rothschild,
Weerapana; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. The class
meets once per week for 75 minutes. It earns 0.5 units and may be repeated once for additional credit.;
Course ID: ECON301 Title: Advanced Microeconomic Analysis
Further development and application of the tools of analysis developed in ECON 201 (Intermediate Micro).
Students will study advanced topics in consumer and producer theory, including strategic models of firm
behavior in the presence of market power and many-good models of household behavior. Emphasis on
mathematical manipulation of models and effective communication of advanced theoretical reasoning and
results.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201. MATH 205 recommended.; Instructor: Skeath;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON302 Title: Advanced Macroeconomics
In this course, students will learn about, and apply, mathematical techniques and econometric tools from
doing macroeconomic analysis. In terms of mathematical preparation, students are expected to have a good
knowledge of calculus and will be introduced to relevant topics in linear algebra, differential equations, and
dynamic optimization. In terms of econometrics, students will learn about time-series econometrics and vector
auto-regressions. Economic applications will include economic growth, search models of unemployment, New
Keynesian models for macroeconomic policy evaluation, and dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: All of the following - ECON 201, ECON 202, ECON 203, MATH
205.; Instructor: Neumuller; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ECON303 Title: Advanced Econometrics and Data Science
This course will develop students' understanding of causal inference in cutting-edge empirical research.
Students will develop tools for their own work and enhance their ability to critically evaluate research in the
social sciences. How should a researcher approach an empirical question? How should a policymaker
evaluate the impact of a program? Topics include randomized experiments, instrumental variables, panel data,
regression discontinuity designs and machine learning. Applications will emphasize research on the frontier of
applied microeconomics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Either ECON 203 or QR 260/STAT 260, and either ECON 201 or
MATH 205.; Instructor: Park; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON306 Title: Economic Organizations in U.S. History
This course will use the insights of organization theory to analyze the development of the U.S. economy. The
main topics to be examined will include: the evolution of the U.S. banking and financial system and the
institutional changes underlying each phase of its development; the contractual foundations of business
organizations and the choice between partnerships and the corporate form; the rise of big business and the
great merger wave of the 1890s and the legal changes that made these developments possible; and the
regulatory innovations of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1930s. The course will employ a
variety of sophisticated theoretical and empirical methods in analyzing these developments and will present
them in comparative international perspective.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201, ECON 202 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Hilt; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON310 Title: Public Economics
This course explores the reasons for government intervention in the economy and the responses of
households and firms to the government's actions. Economic models and empirical research are used to
analyze tax policies and spending programs. Topics include the effect of taxes on savings and labor supply,
externalities and public goods, and social insurance programs such as social security and unemployment
insurance.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Giles; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON311 Title: Economics of Immigration
This course examines the economic causes and consequences of international migration, both historically and
in the present, with a focus on the U.S. experience. We explore changes in immigration law over time and the
political debates surrounding immigration in the past and present. Topics include: the effect of immigrants on
the wages of the native born; immigrants' use of welfare and other social services; and immigrants'
involvement in crime and their treatment in the criminal justice system. In each case, students will discuss the
popular perception, the theory, and the empirical evidence, with a focus on the public policy alternatives for
dealing with each issue.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Butcher; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON312 Title: The Economics of Globalization
This course examines the reasons for the integration across borders of the markets in goods and the factors of
production, and the consequences of these trends. In the first part of the course we discuss the history of
globalization. We then investigate the rationale and record of international trade, the immigration of labor, and
global financial flows. We examine issues related to international public goods, and the need for collective
solutions to such global problems as pandemics and pollution. We also investigate the records of international
governmental organizations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201.; Instructor: Joyce; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: ECON313 Title: International Macroeconomics
This course deals with economic activity in an open economy. Students learn basic concepts, including the
balance of payments, exchange rates, and capital flows. The impact of government policies in open
economies is analyzed. The last section examines financial crises and the role of the IMF.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201, ECON 202 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Joyce;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON314 Title: Advanced International Trade
This course analyzes the causes and consequences of international trade. The theory of international trade
and the effects of trade policy tools are developed in both perfect and imperfect competition, with reference to
the empirical evidence. This framework serves as context for the consideration of several important issues: the
effect of trade on income inequality, the relationship between trade and the environment, the importance the
World Trade Organization, strategic trade policy, the role of trade in developing countries, and the effects of
free trade agreements.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203; Instructor: Abeberese; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON318 Title: Economic Analysis of Social Policy
This course uses economic analysis to evaluate important social policy issues in the United States, focusing
on the role of government in shaping social policy and its impact on individuals. Does welfare make people
work less or have more children? Why is the teenage birthrate so high, and how might it be lowered? How do
fertility patterns respond to changes in abortion policy? Theoretical models and econometric evidence will be
used to investigate these and other issues.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203; Instructor: Levine; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ECON320 Title: Economic Development
This class introduces students to the research field of economic development. We will examine some of the
big topics in economic development and how economists study them. For example, we will study key aspects
of life for poor households in the developing world, such as fertility, education, and savings, through the lens of
economic theory. We will consider interventions and policy options designed to improve outcomes and
examine related empirical evidence. Students will study recent research in this area and, for the final project,
propose a research project on a question of relevance in development economics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Shastry; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON321 Title: Corporate Finance
This course analyzes the major financial decisions facing firms from the perspective of a manager making
choices about what investments to undertake, how to finance these projects, and how best to manage their
risks. This course is particularly focused on the underlying economic models that are relevant for making these
choices. Topics include capital budgeting, links between real and financial investments, optimal capital
structure, dividend policy, and firm valuation. Additional topics may include corporate risk management,
corporate governance, corporate restructuring, such as mergers and acquisitions, and start-up/entrepreneurial
financing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 103/SOC 190 (or equivalent course) and ECON 201.;
Instructor: Neumuller; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON322 Title: Strategy and Information
How do individuals and groups make decisions? The core of the course is traditional game theory: the formal
study of the choices and outcomes that emerge in multiperson strategic settings. Game theoretic concepts
such as Nash equilibrium, rationalizability, backwards induction, sequential equilibrium, and common
knowledge are motivated by and critiqued using applications drawn from education policy, macroeconomic
policy, business strategy, terrorism risk mitigation, and good old-fashioned parlor games.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 103. MATH 205 recommended.; Instructor:
Rothschild; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON323 Title: Finance Theory and Investments
This course provides a rigorous treatment of the fundamentals of finance. Topics include the valuation of
distant cash flows, pricing financial instruments such as stocks, bonds and options, portfolio choice, and
equilibrium theories of asset pricing. Where possible, modern academic research that relates to these topics
will be introduced and discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Hilt; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON324 Title: Behavioral Economics
Why do people give to charity? What can be done to convince more people to save money in retirement
plans? This course explores these and other questions by introducing psychological phenomena into standard
models of economics. Evidence from in-class experiments, real-world examples, and field and laboratory data
is used to illustrate the ways in which actual behavior deviates from the classical assumptions of perfect
rationality and narrow self-interest.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Shurchkov; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ECON326 Title: Advanced Economics of Education
The course uses microeconomy theory and statistical methods to analyze education policy. What are the
private and social returns to investments in schooling, and why do so many students leave school early? What
are promising approaches for attracting and motivating good teachers? How should scarce public resources
be invested in the quality of public schools, and what role should the private sector play in education policy?
Students will learn how to read and critique empirical research, with an emphasis on understanding
experimental and quasi-experimental research designs. Students will refine their skills in empirical data
analysis, including the replication of classic papers using primary data.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: McEwan; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON327 Title: The Economics of Law, Policy and Inequality
This course uses an economic framework to explore the persistence of inequality in the U.S. The course will
pay special attention to racial inequality. We will use economic theory to analyze the rules governing important
societal institutions, like the criminal justice system, to understand their theoretical implications for inequality.
After examining the theory, we will closely examine the empirical evidence that tests for discrimination in
criminal procedures, school finance, residential choices, media coverage, labor market outcomes, and more.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Park; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON328/ES329 Title: Environmental Issues in Developing Countries
Poor sanitation, inadequate waste management, contaminated water supplies and exposure to indoor air
pollution affect millions of people in developing countries and pose continuing risks to their health. The
objective of this course is to provide students with a set of theoretical, econometric and practical skills to
estimate the causal impact of environmental policies and programs with a particular focus on less-developed
countries. Examples from the readings will explore the effect of laws, NGO programs or natural experiments on
environmental quality and sustainability. Students will learn to critically analyze existing studies and to gauge
how convincingly the research identifies a causal impact. Students will use these skills to develop an
evaluation plan for a topic of their choice at the end of the term.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Keskin; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON330 Title: Institutional Research and Policy Analysis in Higher Education
This course will introduce students to economics research and policy analysis related to decisions made in
university settings by students, instructors and administrators. The course will emphasize practical, real-world
applications of empirical methods to Wellesley College taken from published research. Potential topics include
the determinants and consequences of course and major choice; peer and roommate effects on students’
learning; the effects of academic advising; and the impact of grading policies on student and faculty behavior.
We plan to invite selected alumnae back to campus to discuss their research and their careers in public policy
and data science. The course will require that students complete a project related to institutional research at
Wellesley. These projects could include (1) analysis of an existing data set that has been gathered by a
campus “client” such as, for example, the Office of Institutional Research, the Office of Residential Life, or
Career Services; (2) working with a specific department, program or instructor to help them design and/or
carry out a curricular or programmatic innovation and assess its effectiveness; (3) design a proposal for a
prospective evaluation of a campus-wide policy (such as a randomized trial). This is an experimental teamtaught course supported by ER&D.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201, ECON 203.; Instructor: McEwan, Weerapana;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON332 Title: Advanced Health Economics
This course applies microeconomics to issues in health, medical care, and health insurance. Emphasis is
placed on policy-relevant empirical research. Topics include the impact of health insurance on health, the
interaction between health insurance and the labor market, the government's role in health care, the
economics of medical provider reimbursem*nt, and the effects of medical malpractice policy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: McKnight; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON334 Title: Macroeconomics in Practice
How do practitioners—including policymakers, financial market participants, and economic forecasters—
actually use the tools of macroeconomics? This course builds on Intermediate Macro and Econometrics to
deepen your understanding of how the macroeconomy and macro policy really work. Key questions include:
What challenges and puzzles are raised by recent macro developments? How are textbook macro models
implemented empirically and how do they need to be extended to capture recent developments? How
have/should monetary and fiscal policymakers respond given the (sometimes) inadequacy of models and
other real-world complexities? Course assignments will include both a policy simulation and a macro
forecasting exercise. Step beyond Econ 202 to develop a more sophisticated understanding of
macroeconomics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 202 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Sichel; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ECON335 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Economic Journalism
Students will combine their knowledge of economics, including macro, micro, and econometrics, with their
skills at exposition, in order to address current economic issues in a journalistic format. Students will conduct
independent research to produce bi-weekly articles. Assignments may include coverage of economic lectures
by well-known economists, book reviews, economic data releases, and recent journal articles. Students also
may write an op-ed and a blog post. Class sessions will be organized as workshops devoted to critiquing the
economic content of student work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: All of the following - ECON 201, ECON 202, ECON 203.; Instructor:
Sichel; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON341 Title: Industrial Organization
This course uses applied microeconomic theory to study the relationships between firm conduct, market
structure, and industry performance. Topics include monopoly power and imperfect competition, price
discrimination, product differentiation, firm entry/exit, advertising, and standard setting. The course will
introduce the possibility that free markets may not produce the socially optimal set of products. Emphasis will
be divided equally between the strategic implications of the models and the policy implications.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ECON350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ECON350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ECON360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ECON370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: ECON380H Title: Economics Research Seminar
A seminar for senior economics majors engaged in independent research. Students will learn about the use of
empirical techniques in economics, including the opportunity to engage with the research of prominent
economists, who present their work at the Calderwood and Goldman seminars hosted by the department.
Students will also present and discuss their own research at weekly meetings. Students may not accumulate
more than 0.5 credit for this course.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Limited to Senior
Economics majors doing independent research.; Instructor: Hilt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Education Studies
Education is a broadly interdisciplinary field of study, drawing on a wide variety of knowledge and experience.
It occurs through interactions across actors, such as those between students and teachers and in the
interconnected settings of schools, families, and communities. Students examine how features of these
settings shape teaching and learning. They will analyze and reflect on fundamental topics and problems in
education, integrate theoretical frameworks, and examine purposes and values intrinsic to education in
society, while emphasizing connections between research and action, theory and practice. Students are
encouraged to blend on-campus learning with experiences in schools and communities.
Students will gain tools and perspectives that will be useful in education during an era of rapidly increasing
racial, ethnic, social and linguistic diversity and technological change. Courses in education engage with past
and present efforts to adapt and respond to this increasing diversity, centering the role of social, cultural,
historical and political context and the lived experiences of educators, youth and communities.
Education Studies Major
Goals for the Education Studies Major
Students will engage in and understand the interdisciplinary study of education.
Students will develop their skills as critical thinkers, analytic writers and skilled researchers through
active experiences in course work, independent study, and supervised experiences in the field.
Students will explore the variety of educational settings where teaching and learning occurs, such as
schools, out-of-school settings, families, and communities.
Through an analysis of past and present school reform efforts, students will examine the various
purposes and goals of schooling as well as the role and function of curriculum, teaching, and
pedagogy to serve those purposes, including democracy, freedom, and justice.
Students will examine and understand how contextual factors such as social class, race, immigration,
demographic shifts and rural/suburban/urban contexts have influenced educational policies and
practices.
Students will make connections between educational theory and practice while also acknowledging
tensions that may occur between educational theory and practice.
Students will apply their learning in communities of practice such as school classrooms and
community agencies, where present educational problems and change efforts can be observed in their
full contexts.
Requirements for the Education Studies Major
Students are expected to complete nine units of coursework, six of which must be completed at Wellesley
College. The major consists of three primary requirements: education core coursework, a capstone
experience, and an additional suite of courses taken within the education department. Supplemental
documents to assist students in planning a course of study can be found on the education department
website.
Students must complete:
An education core course
Students majoring in education studies must take at least one of the following three core courses. Students
can also choose to take more than one core course as part of their fulfillment of the Education Research and
Theory course requirement. Students taking multiple core courses may take them in any sequence as none of
the core courses have prerequisites. Each course can be a good starting point for a student interested in
studying education. One way of illustrating the distinctions between the three core courses is that:
EDUC 120 provides a foundational understanding of the themes and major issues in education
EDUC 214 explores the life of the child through family, community, and local context
EDUC 215 explores schools as sites for understanding and transforming social inequalities
*Prior to the 2024-25 academic year, EDUC 216 was included in the core course grouping. Students who
completed EDUC 216 may use the course as a core course.
EDUC 120
Foundations of
Education: An
Introduction to
the Major
Themes,
Controversies,
and Theories in
the Field
1.0
EDUC 214
Ecologies of
Education: Youth,
Family,
Community, and
Power
1.0
EDUC 215
Educational
Inequality and
Social
Transformation in
Schools
1.0
An education studies capstone experience
All education studies majors will be required to take a capstone experience, with guidance on the selection
from their major advisor. Education capstone courses have a course number designation in the 330s. Students
may choose from the following two options and must declare their intentions by the end of their junior year:
Option 1: One course in the EDUC 330’s sequence: These capstone courses include critical inquiry
into educational theory and practice, often include an experiential component, and require the student
to develop skills in research and inquiry. Capstone courses are offered each year and vary depending
on availability. Some examples of capstone courses include: EDUC 334: Seminar. Ethnography in
Education: Race, Migration, and Borders; EDUC 335: Seminar. Urban Education: Equity, Research,
and Action; EDUC 336 Theorizing Race in Education through Counternarrative Inquiry; EDUC 339
Seminar: Critical Perspectives, Practice, and Reflection in Teaching and Curriculum (restricted to
students in the teacher certification program).
Option 2: EDUC 360/EDUC 370 (Senior Thesis)
At least four and up to seven additional courses from the list of Education Research and Theory courses.
Students are required to take at least four additional Education Research and Theory courses to complete their
major. These courses allow students to establish a foundation in the interdisciplinary study of education and
develop an integrated understanding of educational policy, research, and practice.
Students may also select up to three Curriculum and Teaching courses (which focus on teaching methods and
offer field-based experiences in classrooms) and/or three Education Electives courses.
Education Research and Theory Courses
AFR 205 / EDUC 205
Black Pedagogies in the Americas
1.0
AFR 227 / EDUC 227
Black Girlhood Studies
1.0
AMST 102Y / EDUC 102Y
First-Year Seminar: Lessons of Childhood:
Representations of Difference in Children's Media
1.0
AMST 206 / EDUC 206
Abolitionist Study: Knowledge Production in US Prisons
1.0
CHEM 302 / EDUC 317
Seminar: Communicating and Teaching Chemistry
1.0
ECON 226 / EDUC 226
Economics of Education Policy
1.0
EDUC 116Y
First-Year Seminar: From Abbott Elementary to Waiting
for Superman: Representing School and Society on the
Big Screen
1.0
EDUC 120
Foundations of Education: An Introduction to Major
Themes, Controversies, and Theories in the Field
1.0
EDUC 200
Theory and Practice in Early Childhood Care and
Education
1.0
EDUC 201
Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special
Education
1.0
EDUC 207 / SOC 207
Schools and Society
1.0
EDUC 213
Social and Emotional Learning and Development:
Theoretically Informed Practice for K-12 Education
1.0
EDUC 214
Ecologies of Education: Youth, Family, Community,
and Power
1.0
EDUC 215 / PEAC 215
Educational Inequality and Social Transformation in
Schools
1.0
EDUC 216
Race, Class, and Ethnicity in Education Policy
1.0
EDUC 234
Children’s Literature: Fostering Agency, Equity, and
Academic Success
1.0
EDUC 236
Race, Class, and Ethnicity in Education Policy
1.0
EDUC 239H / PHYS 239H
Physics Pedagogy in Practice
.50
EDUC 245
The Politics of Multilingualism in Schools
1.0
EDUC 252 / HIST 252
The Modern Black Freedom Struggle
1.0
EDUC 298H / PSYC 299H
Practicum in Child Development
.50
EDUC 308 / SOC 308
Children in Society
1.0
EDUC 313
Seminar: Social and Emotional Learning and
Development: Theoretically Informed Practice for K-12
Education
1.0
EDUC 321 / PEAC 312 /
SOC 312
Seminar: De-centering and Re-centering: Social Theory
Across the Globe
1.0
EDUC 324 / PSYC 324
Adolescent Sexual Health Communication in the Real
World
1.0
EDUC 328 / PSYC 322
Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Social
Technologies and Adolescent Development
1.0
EDUC 334
Seminar: Ethnography in Education: Race, Migration,
and Borders
1.0
EDUC 335
Seminar: Urban Education and Emancipatory Research
1.0
EDUC 336
Seminar: Theorizing Race in Educational Inquiry
1.0
EDUC 338
Seminar: Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design in
Education
1.0
EDUC 339
Seminar: Critical Perspectives, Practice, and Reflection
in Teaching and Curriculum
1.0
EDUC 380
Seminar: Advanced Research Methods in Education
1.0
POL4 311
Seminar: Grassroots Organizing
1.0
WRIT 114
Education in Philosophical Perspective
1.0
Curriculum and Teaching Courses
EDUC 300
Teaching and Curriculum in Middle School and High
School
1.0
EDUC 303
Practicum: Curriculum and Supervised Teaching
1.0
EDUC 325
Seminar: Educating English Language Learners
1.0
Education Electives
AFR 105
Introduction to the Black Experience
1.0
AFR 206
African American History 1500-Present
1.0
AFR 220
Black Studies at Wellesley and Beyond
1.0
AFR 249
From Mumbet to Michelle Obama: Black Women's
History
1.0
AMST 121
Introduction to Ethnic Studies
1.0
AMST 151
Asian American Experience
1.0
AMST 152
Race, Ethnicity, and Politics in America
1.0
AMST 161
Introduction to Latina/o Studies
1.0
AMST 222 / PSYC
222
Asian American Psychology
1.0
AMST 225 / SOC 225
Urban Studies and Policy
1.0
AMST 251 / SOC 251
Racial Regimes in the United States and Beyond
1.0
AMST 246 / SOC 246
How Immigration is Changing the U.S. and the
World
1.0
AMST 264
Histories of Asian American Labor and
Immigration
1.0
AMST 281 / ENG 297
Rainbow Republic: American Queer Culture from
Walt Whitman to Lady Gaga
1.0
AMST 290 / PEAC
290
Afro-Latinas/os in the U.S.
1.0
AMST 315
Beats, Rhymes, and Life: Hip-Hop Studies
1.0
ANTH 210
Political Anthropology
1.0
ANTH 231 / PEAC
231
Anthropology In and Of the City
1.0
CAMS 276
Media Publics: An Introduction to Civic Media
1.0
CLSC 216 / PSYC 216
Psychology of Language
1.0
CS 121 / MAS 121
Intro to Game Design
1.0
CS 232
Artificial Intelligence
1.0
ECON 241
Poverty and Inequality in Latin America
1.0
ECON 326
Seminar: Advanced Economics of Education
1.0
ECON 327
The Economics of Law, Policy and Inequality
1.0
ENGR 305 / PEAC
305
Intersections of Technology, Social Justice, and
Conflict
1.0
HIST 203
Out of Many: American History to 1877
1.0
HIST 204
The United States History since 1865
1.0
HIST 253
Native America
1.0
LING 114
Introduction to Linguistics
1.0
LING 238
Sociolinguistics
1.0
LING 244
Language: Form and Meaning
1.0
LING 248
Introduction to Historical Linguistics
1.0
LING 312
Bilingualism: An Exploration of Language, Mind,
and Culture
1.0
LING 338
Seminar: African American English
1.0
PEAC 104
Introduction to the Study of Conflict, Justice, and
Peace
1.0
PEAC 206 / POL2 220
Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences
1.0
POL1 328
Seminar: Immigration Politics
1.0
POL4 249
Neoliberalism and its Critics
1.0
POL1 337
Seminar: Race in American Politics
1.0
POL4 341
Beyond Prisons: Resistance, Reform, Abolition
1.0
PSYC 101
Introduction to Psychology
1.0
PSYC 207
Developmental Psychology
1.0
PSYC 210
Social Psychology
1.0
PSYC 217
Cognition
1.0
PSYC 245
Cultural Psychology
1.0
PSYC 307R
Research Methods in Developmental Psychology
1.0
PSYC 316
Seminar: Language Acquisition
1.0
PSYC 325
Seminar: Adolescent Psychology: Bridging
Research and Practice
1.0
PSYC 326
Seminar: Child and Adolescent Psychopathology
1.0
PSYC 333
Clinical and Educational Assessments
1.0
PSYC 337
Seminar: Prejudice and Discrimination
1.0
PSYC 344
Seminar: Social Imagination
1.0
PSYC 345
Seminar: Development of a Theory of Mind
1.0
SAS 232 / SOC 232
South Asian Diasporas
1.0
SOC 205 / WGST 211
Modern Families and Social Inequalities: Private
Lives and Public Policies
1.0
SOC 209
Social Inequality
1.0
SOC 311 / WGST 311
Seminar: Family and Gender Studies
1.0
WGST 221
Gender, Race, and the Carceral State
1.0
WGST 224
Feminist Methods
1.0
WGST 326
Seminar: Crossing the Border(s): Narratives of
Transgression
1.0
WRIT 110
The Social Construction of Inequalities: Race,
1.0
Gender, Class and Sexuality
MIT EC. 717
D-Lab: Education and Learning
0.75
MIT 11.124
Introduction to Education: Looking Forward and
Looking Back on Education
0.75
MIT 11.125
Introduction to Education: Understanding and
Evaluating Education
0.75
Additional Considerations to the Education Studies Major:
Beyond the requirements described above:
Advising is a central element of the education studies major. In consultation with an advisor, students
will develop a well-structured and coherent course plan. Students may choose, but are not required, to
outline an area of concentration, with an advisor’s support, within the major such as education policy,
urban education, or bilingual/bicultural education. Given the wide variety in student interest and the
diversity in education coursework, there are many possibilities.
Students must complete a minimum of two 300-level courses taught within the education department.
Courses satisfying the 300-level requirement include those on the Education Research and Theory list.
These courses may include the capstone seminars, other 300-level education courses, and 360/370
(counting as one course for this purpose).
Students may take EDUC 250 or 350 (Research or Individual Study), but only one unit of independent
study may be counted towards the major. EDUC 350 courses may not be used to fulfill the minimum
requirement that two education courses be at the 300-level.
Honors in Education Studies
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral defense of the thesis. To be
admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the
major field above the 100 level; the department may petition on the student’s behalf if the student’s GPA in the
major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Advanced Placement Policy in Education Studies
Students may not count AP credits toward the fulfillment of the education studies major, education studies
minor, or teaching and learning studies minor.
Education Studies Minor
Students in the education studies minor study education as a multidimensional and interdisciplinary area of
study. Across courses in the minor program, students have an opportunity to understand the social, political,
historical, and cultural contexts that have shaped schooling practices and educational experiences. Students
explore the competing tensions and inherent challenges within educational environments and develop a clear
analysis of the role of equity, diversity, and access.
Requirements for the Education Studies Minor
The education studies minor consists of five courses across three dimensions:
1. Students will take at least one of the following education core courses: EDUC 120, EDUC 214, or EDUC
215.
2. Students will choose four additional courses from the Education Research and Theory course list.
Students may, in consultation with their advisor, select courses that reflect an area of concentration.
3. Within the five-course minor program, students must take at least one 300-level education course from
the Education Research and Theory course list.
Upon consultation with their advisor, students may substitute one of the required courses from the Education
Research and Theory list with a course in the Curriculum and Teaching Courses list or the Education Electives
list. No more than one 100-level course (beyond EDUC 120) may be included in the minor.
Note: Not all of these courses are offered every year; some may be limited to majors in these fields.
Teaching and Learning Studies Minor
The teaching and learning studies minor centers on understanding students’ processes of learning and
development and on exploring the work of teaching, including creating and enacting school curriculum. Its
underlying values are: relating to students, their cultures, and their communities with appreciation and care,
acting to promote democracy and justice, and interweaving academic teaching with the growth and
development of young people.
Students may choose to prepare themselves for the teaching profession, one of the most rewarding and
challenging of all professions, in collaboration with other talented, dedicated Wellesley students. Fieldwork, a
part of most courses for the minor, will facilitate engagement with the many dimensions of teaching and work
with students and will encourage learning through continual reflection and discussion.
Requirements for the teaching and learning studies minor
The requirements below allow students to chart a meaningful path. Faculty are available to support students
through all stages of planning and decision-making.
The teaching and learning studies minor consists of five courses across two dimensions chosen from the
following:
1. Students will take one to three of the following courses, which provide grounding for the study of
education: WRIT 114, EDUC 110, EDUC 116, EDUC 117, EDUC 120, EDUC 200, EDUC 201, EDUC
213, EDUC 214, EDUC 215, EDUC 216, EDUC 234, EDUC 236, EDUC 245, EDUC 313, EDUC 334,
EDUC 335, PSYC 248, PSYC 321, MIT 11.124, MIT 11.125 or other approved course;
2. Students will take two to four of the following courses in the critically-understood practice of teaching:
EDUC 200, EDUC 201, EDUC 234, EDUC 300, EDUC 339, EDUC 303, EDUC 322, EDUC 325, or PSYC
207 (or PSYC 208). Students who have taken earlier courses that are no longer offered (EDUC 304,
EDUC 305, EDUC 310, EDUC 314) may include those courses within this dimension of the minor.
Wellesley Teacher Scholars Program: Teacher Certification/Licensure
As part of the teaching and learning studies minor (or even separate from a declared minor), students may be
able to participate in the Wellesley Teacher Scholars Program, a program to attain state teacher licensure.
Wellesley Teacher Scholars are prepared to teach full-time upon graduation, and licensure through Wellesley
is transferable to most other states. Faculty are available to discuss the many paths into teaching as well as
strategies for incorporating the full student teaching program into a student’s existing program of study.
Faculty are also available to discuss other options, such as enrolling in graduate teacher preparation programs
or other alternative teacher certification programs.
Wellesley Teacher Scholars gain internship experience (and possible licensure) at the high school (grades 812) and middle school (grades 5-8) levels. Our elementary school (grades 1-6) level program will be closed to
new students as of August 2022. Please consult with Noah Rubin (nrubin@wellesley.edu) about middle and
high school education to plan a program of study. Students may also consult Diane Tutin
(dtutin@wellesley.edu) with questions about obtaining teacher certification/licensure.
Middle and High School Teacher Certification
To attain teacher licensure, students must complete:
1. One introductory course from those listed in the first requirement of teaching and learning studies
minor;
2. Arts and sciences coursework appropriate to the specific teaching field (please contact the department
for details);
3. EDUC 300, EDUC 303, EDUC 325, and EDUC 339.
We recommend that, if possible, all those doing secondary certification take EDUC 215, EDUC 234, and/or
EDUC 313 before their senior year or senior fall and strongly suggest taking the required course EDUC 325 at
Wellesley in a fall semester.
Early Childhood Education
Students may also gain internship experience (and a possible certificate) in early childhood education. Issued
by the Department of Early Education and Care, the early childhood education Lead Teacher certificate
qualifies students to teach in private preschools and child care centers, but not in public kindergartens, and is
not transferable directly to other states. For early childhood education, students take required courses and
complete their student teaching at the Wellesley College Child Study Center or Wellesley Community
Children’s Center. Please consult with Maureen Morgan about early childhood education and courses.
Title II information can be viewed at https://www.wellesley.edu/education/minor/title-ii
EDUC Courses
Course ID: AFR205/EDUC205 Title: Black Pedagogies in the Americas
Rooted in Afro-centric principles, the course explores the foundations of Black Pedagogies and examines the
ingenious ways enslaved Africans and their progeny tapped into their sacred cosmologies, wisdom and
memories, and devised emancipatory strategies of learning and passing on information during the period of
enslavement and its aftermath. Through the enactment of violent slave codes and anti-literacy legislation,
enslaved Africans were prohibited to read and/or write in the language of the enslaver-colonizer. Moreover,
they were not allowed to freely access or openly express an education that reflected their dynamic history or
heritage, which was later enforced by discriminatory Jim Crow and colonial laws. In this way, the course
dismantles the intended-ills and history of Western Eurocentric curricula, religious instruction, and media. It
unearths and underscores Black pedagogical tools, intellectualism, institutions, and creative expressions as
redemptive, remedial, and inclusive pathways for diversifying and humanizing the education curriculum. We
will peruse the wide breadth of languages and cultural modes of knowledge production and transmission that
emerged during the harrowing passages of the trans-Atlantic trade of captured Africans and their subsequent
enslavement and oppression in the Americas. Central themes and areas of study include: the praxis of love,
sacred science, oral and literary traditions, memory, storytelling, nature and communal engagement,
community, quilt-making, food-ways, dress, art and artifacts, religion, ritual, trauma, resilience, black talk/black
text, interjections, body language/gesticulations, theatre, music, dance, genealogy, ancestral reverence,
graveyards, schools, and other sites of knowledge creation, expression, and preservation. The course will be
aided by a wealth of lively and interactive lectures, discussions, documentaries, literature, works of art, oral
tradition and first-hand testimonies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: AFR227/EDUC227 Title: Black Girlhood Studies
This course is designed to examine interdisciplinary theories, methods, and analytical approaches to define
and study of Black girlhood. We will explore Black girlhood as a developmental period, a public and private
performance, and a source of identity and agency. Students will discuss the duality of Black girlhood, risk
versus resilience, to understand how Black girlhood is enacted and evaluated in families, schools,
communities, mass media, and the larger society. The cultural, social, psychological, and political
constructions of Black girlhood in the U.S. context will be interrogated by analyzing academic texts, film,
media, poetry, novels, art, and music focused on Black girls.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Lindsay-Dennis; Distribution Requirements: SBA
- Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST102Y/EDUC102Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Lessons of Childhood: Representations of
Difference in Children's Media
From Disney films to Nickelodeon cartoons to Newberry award-winning texts, popular children's media offers
us the opportunity to analyze how complex issues of identity are represented in cultural productions aimed at a
young audience. This course takes as a site of analysis media aimed at children to investigate the lessons
imparted and ideologies circulate in popular films and books. How is class drawn in Lady and the Tramp?
What are politics of language at play in Moana? What are the sounds of masculinity in Beauty and the Beast?
How does Mulan construct gender, race, and militarism? Using an intersectional frame of analysis, we will
trace popular tropes, identify images of resistance, and map out the more popular messages children receive
about difference in our world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Mata; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course. Registration in this section is
restricted to students selected for the Wellesley Plus Program. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: AMST206/EDUC206 Title: Abolitionist Study: Knowledge Production in U.S. Prisons
In this class, we will look at several forms of knowledge production that have historically emerged behind the
walls of U.S. prisons. These have included captivity narratives, disciplinary regimes, formal university-funded
humanities education and, most importantly, self-organized political education and study groups. Moments of
the latter have caused some political and politicized prisoners to refer to prisons as “universities of revolution.”
In today’s prison abolitionist movement, inside-outside study groups serve as social hubs, political workshops
and cultural anchors. By looking closely at the history of imprisoned intellectual production (writing, radio,
artwork, etc), we will see how imprisoned people and their supporters theorize, understand, and struggle
against the prison regime through organic and mutual forms of political education
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Alexander; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: CHEM302/EDUC317 Title: Seminar: Communicating and Teaching Chemistry
Making scientific discoveries is clearly important, but it is also vital to be able to communicate science
effectively to non-expert audiences. How do people learn? And in particular, how do inquiry-based learning
techniques improve the learning experience? This course provides students the opportunities to explore and
apply current research on learning and instructional strategies by developing a series of hands-on in-class
chemistry activities. Students will read primary literature on pedagogical approaches from a range of sources,
including chemical education journals. Students will synthesize and apply numerous chemical concepts that
they have learned in-depth in previous chemistry classes in order to design and teach a chemistry lesson at a
local elementary school. Additionally, students will communicate and teach chemistry to non-expert audiences
at a museum or science cafe. This class will be useful to students considering careers in the medical
profession, so that they can clearly explain science to their patients; careers in research science, so they can
inform the public of their discoveries; and careers in education, so they can teach science in an exciting and
meaningful fashion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: CHEM 205 or CHEM 120.; Instructor: Stanley; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ECON226/EDUC226 Title: Economics of Education Policy
Uses a microeconomic framework to analyze important questions in education policy about school finance,
organization, efficiency, and equity. Is education a private good? What are the costs and benefits of
expanded education for individuals, communities, and countries? What are the consequences of more
widespread early childhood education and college attendance? What is the role of teachers, peers, and
families in education? Does school choice promote student achievement? Applies concepts such as
comparative statics, subsidies, externalities, perfect and imperfect competition, cost-benefit analysis, and
welfare analysis to these and other questions. Each semester includes one or two policy discussions on
contemporary issues in education.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P. ECON 102 or ECON 102P and ECON
103 recommended.; Instructor: Werkema; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: EDUC116Y Title: First-Year Seminar: From Abbott Elementary to Waiting for Superman:
Representing School and Society on the Big Screen
Schools have historically been a point of public fascination. Consequently, societal debates on inequality,
pluralism, and social movements have played out in the TV- and film-inspired hallways and classrooms of K-12
schools. What do these popular portrayals of school and society teach us about our societal values and the
role of public education in a pluralistic society? How does Abbott Elementary reinforce and challenge our
conceptions of under-resourced urban schools? How does saviorhood lie at the root of teacher heroism in
Dangerous Minds? What do documentary films like The Lottery teach us about education policies related to
school choice and charter schools? In this course, we will integrate an analysis of popular media
representations of education with examinations of education policy, research, and practice to delve into some
of the long-running debates about schools and society.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Only open to First-Years who are part of the Wellesley Plus
program.; Instructor: Hong; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other
Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: EDUC120 Title: Foundations of Education: An Introduction to Major Themes, Controversies, and
Theories in the Field
This course introduces students to the central themes and big questions in education. What is the purpose of
education? For whom are schools and teaching methods imagined? What is the role of family and
communities in the experience and process of teaching and learning? How should we structure schools and
classrooms? What are the political controversies, challenges, and issues of power facing young people and
schools? A case study format that focuses on past and current events will allow students to tackle these
complex questions in a transdisciplinary way with concrete examples that aid in the development of critical
inquiry skills. Together, students will develop informed opinions, make sense of their own educational
journeys, and learn the reflexivity necessary to enter the field of education.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: D'Andrea Martínez; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: EDUC200 Title: Theory and Practice in Early Childhood Care and Education
Starting with a broad, historical overview of child development and developmental theories, we will connect
ideas about children's learning with teaching practices and current perspectives on early childhood education.
We will focus on recognizing changing needs and developmental differences in infants, toddlers, and
preschoolers as they grow in all skill areas-motor, cognitive, social emotional, and language and
communication. Through readings, observations, writing assignments, and reflective discussion, students will
learn to integrate developmental understanding and appropriate curriculum planning in an Early Childhood
setting.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Morgan; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Notes: Meets one of the course requirements toward Department of Education and Care Teacher
Certification.;
Course ID: EDUC201 Title: Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education
We will study characteristics of young children with disabilities and examine supportive programs, practices,
and services. We will focus on theoretical and applied knowledge about disabilities, including communication
disorders, sensory impairments, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders, autism spectrum disorders,
intellectual disabilities, giftedness, and physical and health related disabilities. We will discuss screening,
assessment, early intervention, individualized education programs, inclusive education, community resources,
family issues, and the requirements of various state and federal laws that impact children and students with
disabilities. Students will learn how programs make accommodations, structure modifications, and
differentiate instruction based on young children's needs.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Some coursework in child development or by permission of the
instructor. Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores, and Juniors. Seniors by permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Morgan; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC207/PEAC207/SOC207 Title: Schools and Society
Does education in the United States encourage social mobility or help to reproduce the socioeconomic
hierarchy? What is the hidden curriculum—the ideas, values, and skills that students learn at school that are
not in the textbook? Who determines what gets taught in school? How do schools in the US compare to
school systems in other countries? What makes school reform so hard to do?
Questions like these drive this course. It offers students an introduction to the sociology of education by
broadly exploring the role of education in American society. The course covers key sociological perspectives
on education, including conflict theory, functionalism, and human and cultural capital. Other topics include
schools and communities; the role of teachers, students, parents, mentors, and peers in educational
inequalities (including tracking and measures of achievement), school violence, school reform, and knowledge
production. We also look comparatively at education systems across the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC213 Title: Social and Emotional Learning and Development: Theoretically informed Practice
for K-12 education
This introductory seminar engages students in a series of explorations that illuminate the field of Social and
Emotional Learning (SEL), which is one of the most exciting areas of teaching and learning in U.S. schools and
around the world. Students explore how social, emotional, and academic learning can be interwoven with what
we understand about child and youth development, and how these ideas can inform pedagogy (teaching) in k12 settings. Students also uncover how social and emotional learning is bound together with struggles for
youth civic participation, social justice, and efforts to dismantle structural oppression in a range of educational
sites and in society. Through a variety of different activities and learning structures the course provides
students with multiple opportunities to explore their own social emotional educations and participate in the
creation of new ways to engage young people and adults in joyful learning, celebrating identities, emotional
and physical thriving, social justice, and healing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rubin; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Not
open to students who have taken EDUC 313.;
Course ID: EDUC214 Title: Ecologies of Education: Youth, Family, Community, and Power
School-age children and youth are often understood through the complex lives they lead in schools--academic
achievers, behavioral misfits, and rebellious adolescents. Beyond the routine analyses of behavior, test scores
and curriculum, what else can the lives of youth tell us about educational change? And who has power and
agency to be part of educational decision-making? This course seeks to explore education by looking outside
of schools: What are the experiences of students’ families and what do they want for their children? How do
relationships with peers influence a student’s concept of self and sense of belonging in school? How do
historical, political, and social encounters with race, class, and inequality shape families’ interactions with
schools? Through an exploration of research, memoir, children’s literature and film as well as interactions with
the course’s community-based educators (caregivers, parent organizers, and community leaders), this course
seeks to understand young people through their complex relationships and encounters within families, peer
groups and community institutions, all the while interrogating the ways schools can integrate the holistic lived
experiences of children and youth into theories of educational change.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 22; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores and Juniors. Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hong; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: EDUC215/PEAC215 Title: Educational Inequality and Social Transformation in Schools
In this course students will engage with a spectrum of historic and contemporary school reform efforts across
different contexts in the United States. Making use of a diverse array of texts from articles to podcasts and
videos, students will struggle with both the promise of education as a tool for remedying race- and class-based
inequalities and the stubborn reality that too often schools reflect and reproduce injustice. The structure of the
course session and activities prompts students to learn about and experience alternative educational
possibilities. Working in groups, pairs, and as individuals, students will explore scholarship and cases in
educational anthropology, sociology, history, and critical theory, while questioning the purposes, processes,
and products of schooling. Central to the course is the community students create with the instructor for
mutual learning support and debate. All members of the course are engaged in a learning stance that centers
a discipline of hope and engages with the proposition that communities can organize their own struggle to
define and demand a humanizing and liberatory education. Students also have multiple opportunities to
explore their own educational experiences and design their own research or educational initiatives to act on
their learning.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 22; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores and Juniors. Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: D'Andrea Martinez; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC234 Title: Children’s Literature: Fostering Agency, Equity, and Academic Success
Children’s literature has a transformative effect on student learning. We will examine, review, and critique
children’s literature, as well as the theory, research, and application that supports our understanding of its
impact on learning. In this course, we will apply criteria for the selection of children’s texts, and analyze them
for bias. We will learn how children’s literature can foster the development of empathy and identity by affirming
the voices of marginalized and/or under-represented groups and creating windows of awareness for others.
We will also learn how children’s literature can strengthen vocabulary, language fluency, comprehension, and
higher-order thinking. We will use a variety of texts from children’s picture books to middle-grade chapter
books that reflect the developmental range of school-age children.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Tutin; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: EDUC236 Title: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in Education Policy
This course is an examination of education policy in the 20th and 21st century and the social, political, and
economic forces that have shaped these policies over the years. We will analyze the different-and sometimes
conflicting-goals, motivations, and outcomes of educational policies at the national, local, and school level.
Central questions to this course are: who designs educational policy and for whom? Whose interests are
served and whose interests are unmet? Using an interdisciplinary approach and case exploration, we examine
the ways education policies and practices have responded to or been shaped by social issues such as
immigration, poverty, racism and urban development. We will integrate theoretical and conceptual learning
with an understanding of cases through both group and individual analysis. In doing so, students will develop
critical skills of policy analysis that can allow them to better understand current trends and develop alternative
solutions to questions of educational dilemmas and practices.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: One education core course - EDUC 120, EDUC 214, or EDUC 215.
Not open to students who have taken EDUC 216.; Instructor: Hong; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: EDUC239H/PHYS239H Title: Physics Pedagogy in Practice
For students interested in current best practices in active learning and inclusive teaching, this course provides
a unique experience to learn, teach, and change the physics curriculum at Wellesley. Students will read and
discuss current literature in physics education, gain practice in supporting inclusive group work, refine their
own physics knowledge, and do hands-on projects to improve the studio physics experience at Wellesley
College. Students must complete this course prior to working as Physics Learning Assistants.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hue; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: EDUC245 Title: The Politics of Multilingualism in Schools
The United States is multilingual. Since before colonization, many Indigenous languages circulated as well as
the languages of the colonizers and the languages brought by enslaved Africans. Today, there is incredible
linguistic fluidity and diversity across the country. However, linguistic pluralism in schools has traditionally only
been extended to the elite, making language a battleground for anti-Immigration, anti-Indigeneity, and antiBlackness. In this course, students will unpack the linguistic ideologies that have been operationalized in
schools and what these have meant for the experiences of multilingual learners. Students will learn about the
history of multilingualism in schools, its current political landscape, and how grassroots efforts have imagined
and pushed for linguistic justice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 22; Prerequisites: One education core course - EDUC 214, EDUC 215 or EDUC 216.;
Instructor: D'Andrea Martínez; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 5; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: EDUC250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 3; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: EDUC252/HIST252 Title: The Modern Black Freedom Struggle
As popularly narrated, African Americans' modern freedom struggle is a social movement beginning in the
mid-1950s and ending in the late-1960s, characterized by the nonviolent protest of southern blacks and
facilitated by sympathetic (non-southern) whites. In this course, we explore the multiple ways-beyond protest
and resistance-that blacks in the twentieth-century United States struggled for their rights and equality using
resources at their disposal. This exploration will take us out of the South and consider actors and activities
often neglected in the narrations of the struggle. Throughout, we will return to the following questions: What
defines a movement? What constitutes civil rights versus Black Power activity? How and why are people and
institutions-then and now-invested in particular narratives of the black freedom struggle?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Greer; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC298H/PSYC299H Title: Practicum in Child Development
The Psychology Practicum in Child Development allows students to gain hands-on experience in the field of
psychology and acquire course credit through their participation in non-paid teaching internships at the Child
Study Center. Students are expected to spend 4-5 hours per week teaching at the Child Study Center, do
periodic readings, keep a weekly journal, and attend three, mandatory supervision meetings. Does not count
toward the minimum major or minor in psychology.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: PSYC 101. Permission of the instructor is required. ; Instructor:
Morgan; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: This
course is repeatable once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: EDUC300 Title: Teaching and Curriculum in Middle School and High School
This seminar engages students directly with the exciting work of teaching, curriculum development, and
working with youth in middle and high school classrooms. Explorations of vital areas of education are joined
with discussions of important contemporary issues facing youth, teachers, and our school systems. The
development of engaging and creative learning environments is a central focus, as are teacher
practices which support the academic, social, emotional, and identity strengths and needs of youth. A
laboratory session allows students to practice teaching lessons and an accompanying carefully chosen field
placement involves students in a public school classroom one day a week. This course is designed for seniors
in the Wellesley Secondary Teacher Education Program, and for others who do not plan to complete teacher
training at Wellesley, but who want to teach after graduation or explore what teaching might be like.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One of EDUC 102, EDUC 117, EDUC 212, EDUC 213, EDUC 214,
EDUC 215, EDUC 216, PSYC 248, PSYC 321, or MIT 11.124, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Rubin; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Open to all students, mandatory for those seeking middle school or
high school certification; students should contact the instructor either before or soon after registration to plan
their field placement.;
Course ID: EDUC303 Title: Practicum: Curriculum and Supervised Teaching
This course is supervised student teaching, and curriculum development in students' teaching fields
throughout the semester. Attendance at an appropriate school placement is required, with regular
observations and conferencing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Students seeking teacher certification must apply to the
department for admission to this course in the semester before it is taken; other students should contact the
instructor either before or soon after registration to plan their field placement.; Instructor: Rubin; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Open to students seeking substantial observation and teaching experience in a
school, mandatory for students seeking teacher certification. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: EDUC304 Title: Curriculum and Instruction in Elementary Education
In this seminar taught by a team of expert teachers and guided by experienced faculty, students will engage
with the work of curriculum development, planning instruction, and assessment in elementary school
classrooms through investigations on various topics highly relevant to current teaching practices. Recent
studies have included: Methods for Ethnic Studies with children, Social Justice and Antiracist Pedagogy,
Science across elementary grades, Classroom Community building, Trauma Informed practice, Design
Thinking, Museum Education, Family/School Connections, and the Reading/Writing Connection. Additional
laboratory periods for the presentations of lessons engage students in practice teaching and a limited
accompanying field placement are required. Remote options will be offered as necessary should COVID
interfere. This course is designed for seniors in the Wellesley Elementary Teacher Scholars Program and other
juniors and seniors who do not plan to complete teacher training at Wellesley, but want to teach after
graduation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Pre/Co-requisite - EDUC 310 or EDUC 314 or by permission of the
instructor. Open to all Juniors and Seniors. It is recommended that students who take this course have at least
one previous education course. Students should contact Professor Noah Rubin and/or Professor Diane Tutin
for registration permission and to plan a field placement.; Instructor: Rubin, Tutin; Distribution Requirements:
EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Mandatory only for Seniors seeking elementary education certification through the Wellesley
Elementary Scholars Program. ;
Course ID: EDUC305 Title: Curriculum, Instruction and Special Needs in Elementary Education
This seminar is taught by a team of expert teachers and guided by experienced faculty, A continuation of
EDUC 304, this course engages students in curriculum materials and instructional methods used in elementary
school classrooms. Students will learn about Relationship Building and Classroom Management, Special
Needs and Disability, Family/School Connections, Social Studies, English Learners and Culturally Sustaining
Pedagogies, and Classroom Design. An accompanying field placement is required. This course is designed
for seniors in the Wellesley Elementary Teacher Education Program and other juniors and seniors who do not
plan to complete teacher training at Wellesley, but want to teach after graduation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: EDUC 304 or by permission of the instructor. Open to Juniors,
Seniors and post-baccalaureate students. It is recommended that students who take this course have at least
one previous education course. Students should contact Professor Noah Rubin and/or Professor Diane Tutin
for registration permission and to plan a field placement.; Instructor: Rubin, Tutin; Distribution Requirements:
EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Mandatory only for Seniors seeking elementary education certification through the Wellesley
Elementary Program. ;
Course ID: EDUC308/SOC308 Title: Seminar: Children in Society
This seminar will focus upon children and youth as both objects and subjects within societies. Beginning with
consideration of the social construction of childhood, the course will examine the images, ideas, and
expectations that constitute childhoods in various historical and cultural contexts. We will also consider the
roles of children as social actors who contribute to and construct social worlds of their own. Specific topics to
be covered include the historical development of childhood as a distinct phase of life, children's peer cultures,
children and work, children's use of public spaces, children's intersectional experiences of inequality, and the
effects of consumer culture upon children. Considerable attention will be given to the dynamics of the social
institutions most directly affecting childhood today: the family, education, and the state.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken any 100- or 200-level
sociology course, or one of the following - EDUC 214, EDUC 215, or EDUC 216. ; Instructor: Rutherford;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: EDUC310 Title: Seminar: Child Literacy and the Teaching of Reading
Students will examine how children acquire reading, writing, listening, and oral language skills, and how this
relates to cognition, with a focus on current research and practice in literacy development for elementary-age
children. Oral language and reading processes, assessment using a variety of techniques, phonics, and
comprehension strategies are addressed and lessons are constructed. Integrated throughout this learning is
an exploration of culturally diverse and relevant children's literature. Teaching strategies that address the
needs of a diverse population of learners, including at-risk students, English Language Learners, and students
with special needs will be studied. A weekly 1.5-hour field placement experience at a nearby elementary
school is required. An online option will be available if COVID protocols interfere. This course is structured to
support students pursuing elementary education certification, but is open to all students and also highly
applicable to students considering teaching abroad or in urban schools. Offered during the spring semester
and required for elementary teaching certification, it is strongly recommended that the course be completed
before student teaching begins.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to students who have taken at least one education course or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Tutin; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC313 Title: Social Emotional Learning and Development: Theoretically informed Practice for
K-12 education SEM
This seminar engages students in a series of explorations that illuminate the field of Social and Emotional
Learning (SEL), which is fast becoming one of the most exciting areas of teaching and learning in U.S.
schools. Students explore how social, emotional, and academic learning can be interwoven with what we
understand about child and youth development, and how these ideas can inform pedagogy (teaching) in k-12
settings. Students also uncover how social and emotional learning is bound together with struggles for civic
participation, social justice, and efforts to dismantle structural oppression in a range of educational sites and in
society. Through many different activities and learning structures the course provides students with multiple
opportunities to explore their own social emotional educations and participate in the creation of new ways to
engage young people and adults in joyful learning, celebrating identities, emotional and physical thriving, and
justice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 200 level education course or permission of the instructor.
Not open to students who have taken EDUC 213.; Instructor: Rubin; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC314 Title: Learning and Teaching Mathematics: Content, Cognition, and Pedagogy
Students in this course will strengthen their own understanding of the principles and concepts underlying
fundamental mathematical content, specifically number and operations, functions and algebra, geometry and
measurement, and statistics and probability. At the same time, students will learn to develop meaningful and
inviting approaches to teaching mathematics classroom settings, with an emphasis on student-centered
learning. This course is team taught by Wellesley College faculty with a background in mathematics and
quantitative reasoning and an elementary school teacher and mathematics specialist. Weekly fieldwork of 60
minutes in an elementary classroom is required. This course is structured to support students pursuing
elementary education certification, but is open to all students.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One education course or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Haskell, Staff; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; MM - Mathematical Modeling and
Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC320 Title: Observation and Fieldwork
Observation and fieldwork in educational settings. This course may serve to complete the requirement of
documented introductory field experiences of satisfactory quality and duration necessary for teacher
certification. Arrangements may be made for observation and tutoring in various types of educational
programs; at least one urban field experience is required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: EDUC 300 or EDUC 304. Open only to students who plan to
student teach. Permission of the instructor required.; Instructor: Hawes, Rubin; Distribution Requirements: SBA
- Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: EDUC321/PEAC312/SOC312 Title: Seminar: De-centering and Re-centering: Social Theory Across
the Globe
Cultural and intellectual life is still dominated by the West. Although we recognize the importance of globalizing
scholarship, our research and teaching still prioritizes western canons and frameworks. Cultural and
intellectual inequality are part and parcel of socioeconomic inequality. If we don’t do better at one, we will not
do better at the other. We need to master a broader range of methods, tools, and ways of knowing. In this
class, Wellesley College students work with students and faculty from Latin America, Asia, and Africa to
explore what it means to produce, disseminate, teach about, and act upon knowledge more equitably in
different parts of the world. Our goals are to (1) learn to read power in physical, intellectual, virtual, and cultural
spaces by witnessing, evaluating, and then acting, (2) gain exposure to ways of asking and answering
questions outside the West, (3) reread classical theories in context to explore how we can reinterpret their
usefulness and meaning, (4) understand and develop new engaged and critical pedagogies and forms of
education, and (5) promote a decentered attitude, that charts more equitable and inclusive forms of intellectual
engagement and collaboration.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least two 200-level or above courses in the social sciences
including Peace and Justice Studies.; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: EDUC324/PSYC324 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Adolescent Sexual Health
Communication in the Real World
Thoughtful communication about adolescents’ sexual health is a complex and often fraught issue. Many
people have strong feelings and deeply held beliefs about what is right and wrong, what should be taught, and
why. In this Calderwood Seminar, we will utilize small groups and collaborative editing to tackle how to
communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences. We will explore ways to translate evidence-based
research for a general population. All course assignments will consist of writing for public audiences, such as
an op-ed, newspaper article, a blog for a teen or parent magazine, and an interview profile of a professional in
the field. Students will learn about psychological research and evidence-based practice in health-promoting
and developmentally appropriate communication with adolescents about sex and relationships.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: This course is limited to juniors and seniors. Students must have
completed at least two 200-level courses in Psychology, Education, or Women's and Gender Studies.;
Instructor: Grossman; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories:
CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC325 Title: Seminar: Educating English Language Learners
Students will examine current research and practice in the teaching of English Language Learners, with a
focus on secondary education. Students will explore challenges facing this diverse group of learners and how
to build on the assets they bring to their classroom communities. Students will develop skills necessary to plan
and promote discussion, engagement, and content mastery while supporting continued language
development. Lesson planning will prioritize culturally relevant and responsive teaching while acquiring skills
to analyze and adapt required teaching materials. Limited fieldwork observations are required either online or
in person; more extensive fieldwork can be arranged. The course is structured to support students pursuing
middle school and high school teacher licensure and meets requirements for a MA Department of Education
endorsem*nt in Sheltered English Immersion when MA Secondary Education certification requirements are
completed. It is also applicable to students considering teaching abroad, teaching in urban schools, or
pursuing any other work with emerging bilingual youth.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to students who have taken at least one education course
and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Tutin (Fall), Palaia (Spring); Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Spring; Notes: The course is taught at MIT in the Spring semester.;
Course ID: EDUC328/PSYC322 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Social Technologies &
Adolescent Development
Adolescents are developing socially, cognitively, and civically in their online and offline worlds, transforming
how formal and informal learning takes place. Students in this course will digest research findings and reflect
on their own experiences about how social technologies (e.g., Instagram, gaming, mobile phones) can
influence wellbeing during the tween and teen years. Harnessing personal narratives that appeal to different
stakeholders, we will develop timely and accessible strategies to inform adolescents, educators, families,
youth workers, and policymakers about the implications of these findings. This interdisciplinary course
spanning education, psychology, media studies, and health communication fields involves transforming
research into digestible, brief, non-academic pieces intended for the general public and provides opportunities
for students to explore their own interests. Sample assignments include a policy brief, op-ed, e-newsletter, 2
minute podcast, social media messaging campaign, and strategic writing for UX design. Each week, fellow
classmates critique each other’s work in a friendly, constructive environment while guest writing coaches and
industry professionals provide useful tips to hone each piece to its creative potential.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors and Seniors.; Instructor:
Charmaraman; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in
Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Fall;
Course ID: EDUC334 Title: Seminar: Ethnography in Education: Race, Migration, and Borders
This seminar examines narratives of immigrant youth and families to understand ways in which race, culture,
and migration shape educational experiences. Using ethnography as a methodological lens, we will develop
in-depth analyses of research on global migration and immigration to the U.S, examining the influence of
policy, public perception, xenophobia, and historic racism. We will explore the role of borders—physical,
symbolic, or ideological—to understand how our conceptions of the border and our cultural and physical
policing of these borders impact the everyday lives of immigrant families as well as the formation of self,
identity, and community. Central to these narratives will be the forms of refusal and resistance that have
historically shaped immigrants’ encounters with exclusion and marginalization. Students will also design
inquiry-based research projects informed by our study of ethnography in education and that contributes to our
understanding of the interplay between race, culture, ethnicity, and migration.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Intended for EDUC majors or
minors in Junior or Senior year.; Instructor: Hong; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC335 Title: Seminar: Urban Education and Emancipatory Research
First and foremost, this seminar explores urban schools through an examination of research and practice. We
study the educational experiences of students, families, and educators shaped by the social, political and
economic contexts of urban communities. Students investigate recent educational policies such as school
closures and school desegregation through the political and cultural forces that shape policy creation,
implementation, and community impact. Students examine policy and practice as distinct forces that
profoundly shape the other and yet often exist in conflict and tension. Voices of traditionally marginalized yet
profoundly impacted communities frame course discussion of urban education, and students learn to discuss
education policies and practices dynamically through an analysis of power, race, and agency. To complement
their study of urban education, students will explore the role of emancipatory educational research and
decolonizing research methodologies and will demonstrate their learning through the implementation of an
original field-based research project.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Intended for EDUC majors or
minors in Junior or Senior year.; Instructor: Hong; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC336 Title: Seminar: Theorizing Race in Education through Counternarrative Inquiry
Since the 1990s, Critical Race Theory scholars in education have asserted that as long as race remains
undertheorized, antiracist change in education will conveniently remain elusive. In this course, students will
study texts that theorize race while engaging in their own collective and individual theory-building around the
role of race in education. These two activities together will represent student praxis for social change; that is,
students will enter a dialogic relationship with existing scholarship while theorizing it forward. Methodologically,
this course centers counternarrative/storytelling as an inquiry method for students to explore the role of race in
their lives, in their many endeavors (e.g., as researchers, teachers, and policymakers), and to surface new
antiracist and liberatory ideas in education.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Intended for EDUC majors or
minors in their Junior or Senior year.; Instructor: D'Andrea Martínez; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: EDUC338 Title: Seminar: Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design in Education
In education, research plays an important role in identifying problems, understanding how those problems and
issues play out in schools, and exploring the possibilities for change. In this course, students will understand
the process of qualitative research and explore different approaches to qualitative inquiry in education:
narrative inquiry, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Students will also examine
the ways in which qualitative research can be designed to interact with communities of practice through actionoriented, community-engaged, and participatory models of inquiry that lead to educational change. Students
will design a qualitative research proposal that explores a question in education--from the conceptualization of
a problem to the development of research questions and on to the processes of data collection. They will
incorporate their learning of key methods such as interviewing, participant observation, document analysis as
well as their examination of key dilemmas such as researcher positionality.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One course in education.; Instructor: Hong; Distribution
Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC339 Title: Seminar: Critical Perspectives, Practice, and Reflection in Teaching and
Curriculum
This seminar engages a community of students in the study of teaching in all its dimensions. Weekly reflection
sessions allow students to explore the role of the teacher, the nuances of classroom interactions, individual
and group learning, and building pedagogical relationships with students to support their academic, social,
emotional, and identity strengths and needs. Careful examination of curriculum materials and classroom
practice in specific teaching fields is included, as are methods for promoting student engagement and social
justice in education. Students also learn about teacher research and the process of gathering data and acting
to improve learning.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: EDUC 300 or EDUC 304, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Rubin; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Open to students seeking substantial
observation and teaching experience in a school, mandatory for students seeking teacher certification;
students should contact the instructor either before or soon after registration to plan their field placement.;
Course ID: EDUC350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: EDUC350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: EDUC360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out
independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is made, students may
continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: EDUC370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: EDUC 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: EDUC380 Title: Seminar: Advanced Research Methods in Education
In this course, students will pursue a research question that addresses an issue of their interest in education.
The course is designed for education studies majors in their senior year who have previously completed one of
the education studies capstone courses (EDUC 332, 334, 335, or 338) and are familiar with research
methodologies in education such as ethnography, portraiture, participatory/action research, and case study.
Students will design and implement an original research project that builds upon previous research in a
capstone course or that addresses a new question. The course offers more sophisticated training for data
collection methods such as interviewing, participant observation, child study, and narrative inquiry while also
introducing students to data analysis skills such as coding through the use of qualitative data analysis
software. Students may choose to incorporate fieldwork in a school- or community-based setting. Students will
present their research in a senior symposium at the conclusion of the course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following education capstone courses - EDUC 332,
EDUC 334, EDUC 335 or EDUC 338. Education Majors and Minors only.; Instructor: Hong; Distribution
Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC399H Title: Teacher Education Practicum
This course is designed to allow students enrolled in Wellesley’s teacher certification program to finish their
teaching pre-practicum and begin their official practicum during the winter session. The course will allow
student teachers to begin their five day a week placements in sync with the public school schedule in January.
Students will be supervised by the director of secondary teacher education. Students will be expected to put in
full school days as well as attend to after-school responsibilities five days a week. Enrolled students will
complete weekly reflections and participate in a reading group focused on a text which explores aspects of
pedagogy, youth development and teacher development/well-being. This course will lead directly into EDUC
303, the Massachusetts state mandated teacher education practicum and EDUC 339 the weekly reflection
seminar that accompanies the state practicum in the spring semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: This course is restricted to members of the teacher education
program cohort.; Instructor: Rubin; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Winter; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Engineering
Through coursework in the Wellesley Engineering Laboratory (We-Lab), research opportunities, advising, and
co-curricular opportunities, Engineering Studies seeks to educate students in the context of a liberal arts
education to:
apply the knowledge and skills acquired in their engineering studies to enhance their capability in their
own disciplines and through cross-disciplinary work in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural
Sciences
assess technological innovations critically using lenses from both engineering and liberal arts
disciplines
develop the confidence and preparation to pursue engineering in more depth at MIT or Olin and in
graduate school, should the student seek to do so.
Beyond the engineering studies courses taught at Wellesley, there are many options available to the student
interested in studying engineering within the liberal arts context at Olin College of Engineering and with MIT via
the Wellesley-MIT exchange program. Follow this link to find out more about Engineering Opportunities"
Learning Outcomes
Students who take one or more Engineering Studies courses at Wellesley College will:
develop and refine the ability to work on a team-based project and to solve problems collaboratively
design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as
economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability and
sustainability.
communicate engineering concepts effectively through written and visual work, informal discussions,
and formal presentations
evaluate the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental and societal context
integrate qualitative and quantitative engineering methodologies and approaches drawn from science,
mathematics, social sciences, and humanities, to gather data, analyze, model, and draw conclusions
generate novel technical ideas and approaches, taking into account authentic constraints including
interpreting social conditions.
ENGR Courses
Course ID: ENGR111 Title: Product Creation for All
This hands-on class will explore how products are created, including an exploration of ideation and
brainstorming, reverse engineering, and the product development process. An emphasis will be placed on the
role of human factors engineering, including usability successes and failures of specific products. Students will
learn about these topics through two approaches: disassembly and study of existing products and creation of
simple product prototypes for specific, local nonprofit organizations serving populations such as those with
developmental or physical limitations. By the end of the semester, students will be able to comprehend and
independently apply both the product development process and specific human factors engineering
approaches used in the design of many everyday objects; they will also have developed their own creativity
and better understand how to further develop and apply that skill.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Banzaert; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: ENGR120 Title: Making a Difference through Engineering
A project-based exploration of the technical challenges facing under-served communities locally and in
developing countries. Technologies are focused primarily at the household level, exploring the benefits and
limitations of existing and proposed solutions. Students will learn and apply engineering design skills-including
estimation, prototyping, and creativity-to address real problems facing community partners affiliated with the
class. Methodologies for participatory development and co-creation will be considered and utilized as
appropriate. The necessity for interdisciplinary work when generating solutions will be emphasized.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Banzaert; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course.
This course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement. Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit. ;
Course ID: ENGR160 Title: Fundamentals of Engineering
Engineering is about combining ideas from mathematics, physics, computer science, and many other fields to
design objects and systems that serve human needs. This project-based course introduces the big ideas of
engineering and prepares students for taking additional engineering courses at Olin College or MIT. Topics
include: the design and construction of mechanisms using rapid prototyping tools such as laser cutters, 3D
printers, and computer-aided design software (SolidWorks); modeling and controlling physical systems using
the MATLAB programming environments; and feedback and control using digital electronics (Arduino
microcontrollers).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Pre- or co-requisite - PHYS 107 or CS 111 or PHYS 120, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Banzaert; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and
Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENGR210/PHYS210 Title: Experimental Techniques
Through hands-on exploration, students will learn about analog and digital electronics, optical systems, and
foundational techniques in the modern physics laboratory. A framework for data analysis will be developed,
with a focus on model-data comparison, model selection and statistical inference. This course helps prepare
students for independent research and internships in physics and related fields.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: PHYS 108. ; Instructor: Belisle, Hall; Distribution Requirements:
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ENGR250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ENGR250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ENGR305/PEAC305 Title: Intersections of Technology, Social Justice, and Conflict
This course explores the intersections between social justice, conflict, and engineering using an
interdisciplinary, hands-on, case study approach. We will explore four technologies (drones, cell phones,
cookstoves and water pumps), exploring in each case both the embodied engineering concepts and the
ethical and political implications of using the technology. The case studies will inform our discussions of the
following big ideas: technology is directly linked to social justice and can have both highly beneficial and?
highly problematic results for the development and transformation of conflicts; understanding technology at a
deeper level is critical to understanding the justice impact on communities and people; media communication
about technology and technological innovations' benefits can be hyperbolic and requires a critical lens. Peace
and Justice Studies majors must register for PEAC 305. Students in other majors may register for either PEAC
305 or ENGR 305 depending on their preparation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: For PEAC 305 - PEAC 104 and PEAC 204, or permission of the
instructor (Confortini). For ENGR 305 - one ENGR course, or a comparable course at another institution, or
permission of the instructor (Banzaert).; Instructor: Confortini, Banzaert; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not
satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ENGR350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 6; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Banzaert; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENGR350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 4; Prerequisites: ENGR 250; Instructor: Banzaert; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
English and Creative Writing
English, as a discipline, stresses the intensive study of writers and their works in literary, cultural, and historical
contexts. It is keyed to the appreciation and analysis of literary language, through which writers compose and
organize their poems, stories, novels, plays, and essays. We offer a wide range of courses: introductory
courses in literary skills; more advanced courses in influential writers, historical periods, and themes in English,
American, and world literatures in English; and numerous courses in creative writing, including screenwriting
and creative nonfiction.
Our course offerings strike a balance between great authors of past centuries and emerging fields of study. We
teach courses on topics ranging from literature and memory to Asian-American Literature to the works of
Geoffrey Chaucer. We emphasize analysis and argument in paper-writing, critical thinking, and literary
research, and we foster and develop a deep, complex, passionate response to literature.
Courses at the 100 level presume no previous college experience in literary study. They provide good
introductions to such study because of their subject matter or their focus on the skills of critical reading. ENG
120 (Critical Interpretation) and ENG 121 (A Survey of English Literature) are open to all students, but are
primarily designed for prospective English majors. The course trains students in the skills of critical reading
and writing. 200-level literature courses are open to all students without prerequisite. They treat major writers
and historical periods, and provide training in making comparisons and connections among different works,
writers, and ideas. 300-level literature courses encourage both students and instructors to pursue their special
interests. They presume a greater overall competence, together with some previous experience in the study of
literature. They are normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, and by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students. For independent work (ENG 350), students with at least a 3.33 GPA in courses in the department will
have first consideration. Students are encouraged to confer with the instructors of courses in which they are
interested. Students should consult the more complete descriptions of all courses, composed by their
instructors and available from the department academic administrator.
The English department also offers beginning and advanced courses in poetry (ENG 202 and ENG 302), in
fiction (ENG 203 and ENG 301), in children’s literature (ENG 205), and in screenwriting (CAMS 204/ENG
204 and CAMS 308/ENG 308) and writing for television (CAMS 208/ENG 208). A literary nonfiction writing
course (ENG 206) covers different genres (for example, reviewing the arts, travel writing, personal essay, and
memoir). The Theatre Studies department offers an introductory playwriting course (THST 221). These courses
are open to all Wellesley College students. Creative writing courses are taught mandatory credit/noncredit.
English/English and Creative Writing Majors
Goals for English/English and Creative Writing Majors
Students who major in English will strive to:
Acquire a knowledge of English literary history, including both the canonical works of the past and
works from emerging traditions and multicultural literature;
Recognize and demonstrate an ability to work with critical methodologies employed in the discipline of
literary studies;
Write with clarity, originality, and style;
Recognize and construct a lucid and persuasive argument;
Read literature with deep attention and intensive responsiveness to content, language and form.
Those who major in English and Creative Writing should fulfill all the goals above and in addition should:
Develop a distinctive literary voice;
Acquire a knowledge of the history and cross-cultural diversity of the genres, traditions, and styles in
which they are working.
Requirements for the English Major
10 units total
8 of these taken in the English department and in areas other than creative writing
7 courses above the 100-level
2 300-level courses (not creative writing; not 350s)
1 course that focuses on postcolonial, minority, or ethnic writing
English 120: only if you entered the college before fall 2024
English 223 or 224 (Shakespeare): only if you entered the college before fall 2022
Period requirements:
For students who entered Wellesley before Fall 2022: two courses focused on literature written
before 1900. One of these must focus on literature before 1800. Shakespeare courses do not
count.
For students who entered Wellesley in or after Fall 2022: three courses focused on literature
written before 1900. Two of these must focus on literature before 1800. Shakespeare courses
can fulfill this requirement.
Notes:
The First-Year Writing requirement does not count toward the major unless it is cross-listed as an English
course.
Independent work (ENG 350, ENG 360, or ENG 370) does not count toward the minimum requirement of two
300-level courses for the major or toward the 10 courses required for the major.
300-level courses in creative writing do not count toward the minimum requirement of two 300-level courses for
the major.
With the approval of a student’s major advisor, two courses from other departments or programs at Wellesley
or from outside the college may be counted toward the major. These may include literature courses taught in
translation or in the original language.
Courses taken in other departments at Wellesley may not be used to satisfy any of the above distribution
requirements for the major, except the postcolonial/minority/ethnic writing requirement.
With the chair’s permission, summer school courses or courses taken abroad or via the Twelve College
Exchange, may satisfy certain distribution requirements. Students planning to study for a full academic year in
the United Kingdom should seek the counsel of their advisors or the department chair.
Transfer students may apply to the chair to earn major credit for more than two literature-based courses taken
outside the College.
If you are a transfer student or Davis Scholar who entered before fall 2024 and who has done work equivalent
to ENG 120 elsewhere, you may apply to the chair for exemption from this requirement.
Requirements for the English and Creative Writing Major
12 units total
8 of these taken in the English department and in areas other than creative writing
4 creative writing courses (most creative writing courses can be taken twice and receive credit twice;
350 is an option but not encouraged)
9 courses above the 100-level
2 300-level courses (not 350s, not creative writing)
1 course that focuses on postcolonial, minority, or ethnic writing
English 120: only if you entered the college before fall 2024
English 223 or 224 (Shakespeare): only if you entered the college before fall 2022
Period requirements:
For students who entered Wellesley before Fall 2022: at least two courses focused on literature
written before 1900. At least one of these must focus on literature before1800. Shakespeare
courses do not count.
For students who entered Wellesley in or after Fall 2022: at least three courses focused on
literature written before 1900. At least two of these must focus on literature before1800. Courses
on Shakespeare do fulfill this requirement.
Please see Notes for the English Major above.
Honors in English
The department offers a single path toward honors. The honors candidate does two units of independent
research culminating in a critical thesis or a project in creative writing. Applicants for honors should have a
minimum 3.5 GPA in the major (in courses above 100 level) and must apply to the department in their junior
spring for admission to the program. Except in special circ*mstances, it is expected that students applying for
honors will have completed five courses in the major, at least four of which must be taken in the English
department at Wellesley. A more detailed description of the department’s application procedure is available
from the department’s academic administrator.
Graduate Study in English
Students expecting to do graduate work in English should ordinarily plan to acquire a reading knowledge of
one and, if possible, two foreign languages. They should take ENG 382 (Literary Theory) or an equivalent
course in literary theory. They should also consult with the department’s graduate school advisor, and with
their major advisor, about courses that are appropriate for those considering graduate work in English.
Teacher Certification in English
Students interested in obtaining certification to teach English in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should
consult with the chair of the Education department and the English department liaison to the Education
department.
Advanced Placement Policy in English
Students may receive credits toward their Wellesley degree for their performance on AP or IB examinations.
Because no high school course is considered the equivalent of a course in the English department, the
English department does not grant credit toward the major for AP or IB courses. First-year students and other
undeclared majors contemplating further study in English are encouraged to consult the department chair or
the department pre-major advisor in relation to their course selection. Students majoring in English should
discuss their programs with the chair or their major advisors, and should consult with them about any changes
they wish to make during their junior and senior years.
English Minor
Requirements for the English Minor
The English Minor requires 5 units total:
4 of these taken in the English department
1 300-level course (excluding any creative writing courses, and 350s)
ENG 120: only for students who entered Wellesley before Fall 2024
At least one pre-1900 literature course:
For students who entered Wellesley before Fall 2022, Shakespeare courses do not count.
For students who entered Wellesley in or after Fall 2022, Shakespeare courses do count.
One course taught within language and literature departments and related interdepartmental programs at
Wellesley and other approved schools may be offered for minor credit; these may include literature courses
taught in translation or language courses at the third-year level or higher. A maximum of two creative writing
units may be included.
ENG Courses
Course ID: AFR201/ENG260 Title: The African American Literary Tradition
A survey of the Afro-American experience as depicted in literature from the eighteenth century through the
present. Study of various forms of literary expression including the short story, autobiography, literary criticism,
poetry, drama, and essays as they have been used as vehicles of expression for Black writers during and since
the slave experience.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR212/ENG279 Title: Black Women Writers
The Black woman writer's efforts to shape images of herself as Black, as women, and as an artist. The problem
of literary authority for the Black woman writer, criteria for a Black woman's literary tradition, and the relation of
Black feminism or "womanism" to the articulation of a distinctively Black and female literary aesthetic.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR265/ENG265 Title: African American Autobiographies
This course traces the life stories of prominent African Americans, which, in their telling, have led to dramatic
changes in the lives of African American people. Some were slaves; some were investigative journalists; some
were novelists; and one is the president of the United States. We will examine the complex relationship
between the community and the individual, the personal and the political and how these elements interact to
form a unique African American person. The course also draws on related video presentations to dramatize
these life stories. Authors include Linda Brent, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Richard Wright, Maya
Angelou, Malcolm X, and Barack Obama.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR295/ENG295 Title: The Harlem Renaissance
This is an exploration of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement of African American literature and culture of the
early twentieth century, which encompassed all major art forms, including poetry, fiction, and drama, as well as
music, the visual arts, cabaret, and political commentary. This movement corresponds with the publication of
The New Negro anthology (1925). Literary authors we will study may include Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer,
Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, and Richard Bruce Nugent. We will also enter into
contemporary debates about “the color line” in this period of American history, reading some earlier work by
W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, or James Weldon Johnson, in the context of early Jim Crow, the Great
Migration, the Jazz Age, and transatlantic Modernism. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: González; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST116/ENG116 Title: Asian American Fiction
At various times over the past century and a half, America has welcomed, expelled, tolerated, interned,
ignored, and celebrated immigrants from Asia and their descendants. This course examines the fictions
produced in response to these experiences. Irony, humor, history, tragedy and mystery all find a place in Asian
American literature. We will see the emergence of a self-conscious Asian American identity, as well as more
recent transnational structures of feeling. We will read novels and short stories by writers including Hisaye
Yamamoto, John Okada, Mohsin Hamid, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Min Jin Lee. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in
English requirement
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST240/ENG269 Title: The Rise of an American Empire: Wealth and Conflict in the Gilded Age
An interdisciplinary exploration of the so-called Gilded Age and the Progressive era in the United States
between the Civil War and World War I, emphasizing both the conflicts and achievements of the period. Topics
will include Reconstruction and African American experience in the South; technological development and
industrial expansion; the exploitation of the West and resistance by Native Americans and Latinos; feminism,
"New Women," and divorce; tycoons, workers, and the rich-poor divide; immigration from Europe, Asia, and
new American overseas possessions; as well as a vibrant period of American art, architecture, literature,
music, and material culture, to be studied by means of the rich cultural resources of the Boston area.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: P. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AMST248/ENG248 Title: Poetics of the Body
Sensual and emotionally powerful, American poetry of the body explores living and knowing through physical,
bodily experience. From Walt Whitman’s “I Sing the Body Electric” to contemporary spoken word
performances, body poems move us through the strangeness and familiarity of embodiment, voicing the
manifold discomforts, pains, pleasures, and ecstasies of living in and through bodies. We’ll trace a number of
recurring themes: the relationship between body and mind, female embodiment, queer bodies, race, sexuality,
disability, illness and medicine, mortality, appetite, and the poem itself as a body. Poets include Whitman,
Frank O’Hara, Rita Dove, Thom Gunn, Claudia Rankine, Ocean Vuong, Tyehimba Jess, Jos Charles, Max
Ritvo, Laurie Lambeth, Chen Chen, and Danez Smith. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Brogan; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST258/ENG258 Title: Gotham: New York City in Literature, Art, and Film
This course examines how that icon of modernity, New York City, has been variously depicted in literature and
the arts, from its evolution into the nation’s cultural and financial capital in the nineteenth century to the
present. We’ll consider how urban reformers, boosters, long-time residents, immigrants, tourists, newspaper
reporters, journalists, poets, novelists, artists, and filmmakers have shaped new and often highly contested
meanings of this dynamic and diverse city. We'll also consider how each vision of the city returns us to crucial
questions of perspective, identity, and ownership, and helps us to understand the complexity of metropolitan
experience. Authors may include Walt Whitman, Edith Wharton, Anzia Yezierska, Paule Marshall, Frank
O’Hara, and Colson Whitehead. We’ll look at the art of John Sloan, Georgia O’Keeffe, Helen Levitt, and
Berenice Abbott, and others. Filmmakers may include Vincente Minnelli, Martin Scorsese, and Spike Lee.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Brogan; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST261/ENG261 Title: Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan
Between the breakdown of the studio system and the advent of the blockbuster era, American filmmaking
enjoyed a decade of extraordinary achievement. We'll study a range of great films produced in the late 60s and
70s, such as Bonnie and Clyde, Taxi Driver, The Godfather, Chinatown, Annie Hall, Shampoo, Carrie, and
Apocalypse Now, exploring their distinctive combination of American genre and European art-film style, and
connecting them to the social and political contexts of this turbulent moment in American history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST262/ENG262 Title: American Literature to 1865
This is the greatest, most thrilling and inspiring period in American literary history, and the central theme
represented and explored in it is freedom, and its relationship to power. Power and freedom—the charged and
complex dynamics of these intersecting terms, ideas, and conflicted realities: we will examine this theme in
literature, religion, social reform, sexual and racial liberation, and more. Authors to be studied will include
Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Douglass, Stowe, Henry James. We will enrich our work by studying films
dealing with the period—for example, Edward Zwick’s Glory (1989), about one of the first regiments of
African-American troops, and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012).; and we also will consider the visual arts—
photography and American landscape painting. The literature that we will read and respond to in this course
was written 150 years ago, but the issues that these writers engage are totally relevant to who we are and
where we are today. In important ways this is really a course in contemporary American literature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST266/ENG266 Title: American Literature from the Civil War to the 1930s
This changing-topics course provides students with an opportunity to pursue special interests in the study of
major American writers and ideas from the Civil War to the 1930s.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes:
This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: AMST268/ENG268 Title: Genres of American Fiction Today
Why are some genres of fiction much more prestigious than others? How do works of fiction get categorized
and valued? What accounts for the difference between “genre fiction” and “literary fiction”? This class will read
literary-critical debates about genre alongside a survey of 21st century U.S. fiction. We will explore genres
ranging from sci-fi to historical fiction to so-called autofiction, and consider how they can help us think about
contemporary issues including climate change and the politics of race and gender. Authors may include
George Saunders, Colson Whitehead, Jeff Vandermeer, Torrey Peters, Elif Batuman, Jonathan Franzen.
Theorists and critics may include Pierre Bourdieu, Seo Young Chu, Theodore Martin, Mark McGurl, and others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Winner; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST281/ENG297 Title: Rainbow Republic: American Queer Culture from Walt Whitman to Lady
Gaga
Transgender rights, gay marriage, and Hollywood and sports figures' media advocacy are only the latest
manifestations of the rich queer history of the United States. This course will explore American LGBTQ history
and culture from the late nineteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on consequential developments
in society, politics, and consciousness since Stonewall in 1969. The course will introduce some elements of
gender and queer theory; it will address historical and present-day constructions of sexuality through selected
historical readings but primarily through the vibrant cultural forms produced by queer artists and communities.
The course will survey significant queer literature, art, film, and popular culture, with an emphasis on the
inventive new forms of recent decades. It will also emphasize the rich diversity of queer culture especially
through the intersectionality of gender and sexuality with class, ethnicity and race.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: P. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST292/ENG292 Title: Film Noir
A journey through the dark side of the American imagination. Where classic Hollywood filmmaking trades in
uplift and happy endings, Film Noir inhabits a pessimistic, morally compromised universe, populated by
femmes fatales, hard-boiled detectives, criminals and deviants. This course will explore the development of
this alternative vision of the American experience, from its origins in the 1940s, through the revival of the genre
in the 1970s, to its ongoing influence on contemporary cinema. We’ll pay particular attention to noir’s
redefinition of American cinematic style, and to its representations of masculinity and femininity. Films we are
likely to watch include Howard Hawks’s The Big Sleep, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, Roman Polanski’s
Chinatown, Carl Franklin’s Devil in a Blue Dress, and David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. We’ll also read a number
of the gritty detective novels from which several of these films were adapted.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST296/ENG296 Title: Diaspora and Immigration in 21st-Century American Literature
This course explores the exciting new literature produced by writers transplanted to the United States or by
children of recent immigrants. We’ll consider how the perspectives of immigrants redefine what is American by
sustaining linkages across national borders, and we’ll examine issues of hybrid identity and multiple
allegiances, collective memory, traumatic history, nation, home and homeland, and globalization. Our course
materials include novels, essays, memoirs, short fiction, and visual art. We’ll be looking at writers in the United
States with cultural connections to India, Pakistan, Viet Nam, Bosnia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Korea, Japan, and
Mexico. Some authors to be included: André Aciman, Catherine Chung, Sandra Cisneros, Mohsin Hamid,
Aleksandar Hemon, Jumpa Lahiri, Lê Thi Diem Thúy, and Dinaw Mengestu. Artists include Surendra Lawoti,
Priya Kambli, Asma Ahmed Shikoh, and the African American mixed-media artist Radcliffe Bailey. Fulfills the
Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Brogan; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST299/ENG299 Title: American Nightmares: The Horror Film in America
An exploration of the horror film in America, from 1960 to the present, with particular attention to the ways that
imaginary monsters embody real terrors, and the impact of social and technological change on the stories
through which we provoke and assuage our fears. We'll study classics of the genre, such as Psycho,
Rosemary’s Baby, and The Exorcist, as well as contemporary films like Get Out and Midsommar, and read
some of the most important work in the rich tradition of critical and theoretical
writing on horror.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: AMST359/ENG359 Title: Literary Celebrity and the Use of Media
This course explores the rise, the stakes, and the ironies of literary celebrity from the mid-20th century to the
present. Beginning with the peculiar case of the Beat author, as exemplified by Jack Kerouac and Allen
Ginsberg, we consider what their uncommon degree of fame meant to literature and vice versa in the postWorld War II era—a time when a rapidly changing media ecology, rising consumerism, and intensifying Cold
War nationalism made for curious marriages: between avant-garde art and pop culture, between
countercultural ambitions and commercial appropriation. We will also examine contemporary texts by authors
including David Foster Wallace and Patricia Lockwood that address technology and its importance to selffashioning. Focusing on celebrity as both a complex sociological process and as a perspective-warping
stimulus we experience daily, this course will help us to demystify the products of celebrity culture while
cultivating a reasonable appreciation for the power of its aesthetic appeal.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One course in literature.; Instructor: Winner; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST367/ENG367 Title: Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashbery, James Merrill: Three Postwar American
Poets
The course will explore the work of three leading postwar American poets: Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashbery,
and James Merrill. We will approach these poets as creators of distinctive poetic styles and voices, as figures
within the poetry world of their time, and as queer artists involved in complex negotiations of concealment and
disclosure. We’ll situate their work within (and outside) some of the major schools of postwar poetry, and look
at the reception of that work by critics in their time and ours. We’ll use letters and other recently available
documents to illuminate the poetry. We’ll examine the role in their careers of different forms and locales of
expatriation (Bishop in Brazil, Ashbery in France, Merrill in Greece). Most of all, we’ll seek to engage with and
understand three compelling bodies of poetic achievement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST383/ENG383 Title: Women in Love: American Literature, Film, Art, and Photography
We will study in depth three great American novels: Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady (1881, rev. 1908);
Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1900); and Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country (1913). We also will
study two film adaptations: The Portrait of a Lady (1996; dir. Jane Campion, starring Nicole Kidman and John
Malkovich); and Carrie (1952; dir. William Wyler; starring Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones). In addition:
portraits of women by the painters John Singer Sargent, Thomas Eakins, and Mary Cassatt, and Alfred
Stieglitz’s photographs of Georgia O’Keefe.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Cain; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST386/ENG386 Title: Willa Cather
Willa Cather, Pulitzer-prize winning American woman novelist of the early twentieth century, is best known for
her novels about settlers on the Great Plains, My Ántonia, O Pioneers! and, set a generation later, The Song of
the Lark. The power of the land and questions about the way humans should best relate to the land are at the
center of her work. Cather lived most of her life with her companion, Edith Lewis, and her alternative views on
heterosexuality, marriage, and transgressive female sexuality emerge in indirect and interesting ways in her
fiction. Other intriguing issues in her work include immigration, inter-racial and inter-ethnic relations, the nature
of the body in health and illness, tensions between rural and urban life, the development of the artist,
especially the woman artist, and the emotional consequences of war.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Meyer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS208/ENG208 Title: Writing for Television
An introduction to writing for television. We’ll read, watch, and discuss pilot episodes of network and cable
comedies and dramas. We'll study and practice the basics: script format, episode structure, story and
character development, visual description. Each student will develop and write their own original TV pilot, and
students will give and receive feedback through the workshop process.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lu; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. This
course may be repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: CAMS234/ENG204 Title: The Art of Screenwriting
A creative writing course in a workshop setting for those interested in the theory and practice of writing for film.
This course focuses on the full-length feature film, both original screenplays and screen adaptations of literary
work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Cezair-Thompson; Distribution Requirements:
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. This course may be
repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: CAMS308/ENG308 Title: Advanced Writing for Television
In Advanced Writing for Television, we’ll pick up where Writing for Television left off. Students will continue to
practice the skills of writing teleplays—character and story development; structure and arc; tension and
conflict; audience, premise, and tone; scenes, description, action, and dialogue; and voice and clarity. We’ll
start by studying a range of TV shows: comedies, dramas, web series, and others. Through reading scripts,
watching shows, and discussing both in class, students will develop a more advanced and specific
understanding of what makes a show work. Through their own writing, students will practice applying the
lessons they’ve learned. In the workshop process, we’ll discuss everything that comes up in students’ scripts
—what’s working, what’s not, and what we can all learn about TV writing from each example.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: CAMS 208/ENG 208; Instructor: Holmes; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: CPLT119/ENG119 Title: Women* Write Weird Fiction
From the mid-20th century to 2021, women writers have been major players globally in the upsurge of what is
now referred to as speculative fiction--a literary supergenre or umbrella term for a spectrum of “what if” fictions:
fairy tale, science fiction, horror, dystopian, magic realism, surrealism, fantasy. We will explore together short
stories and novels written in the last four decades. Class discussions will aim at interpretation and appreciation
of these peculiar and powerful literary texts as well as reflection on their particular historical and cultural
context.
In particular, we will be curious about how these authors play with a spectrum of gender - in their own lives and
in their writing. The texts include fiction written in English and fiction translated into English; we will address the
issue of reading works in translation. Speakers and students of languages other than English, are encouraged
to offer their insights into the necessary friction between an original text and its English translation.
Among the authors to be read: Octavia Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, N.K. Jemisin, Samanta Schweblin, Ursula Le
Guin, Basma Abdel Aziz, Eden Robinson, Vandana Singh. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English
requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 40; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Sides; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CPLT247/ENG247/MER247 Title: Arthurian Legends
The legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, with their themes of chivalry, magic, friendship,
war, adventure, corruption, and nostalgia, as well as romantic love and betrayal, make up one of the most
influential and enduring mythologies in our culture. This course will examine literary interpretations of the
Arthurian legend, in history, epic, romance, and fiction, from the sixth century through the sixteenth, following
the characters and motifs through their evolution. We will also consider some later examples of Arthuriana, in
novels, comics, TV and movies, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Wall-Randell; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT283/ENG283 Title: The History of 'Cabaret'
Christopher Isherwood’s autofictional Berlin Stories (1945)—featuring Sally Bowles, immortalized by Liza
Minelli—inspired John Van Druten’s play I Am a Camera and, later, the film adaptation (1951, 1952). These, in
turn, inspired the musical Cabaret (1966). The legendary Bob Fosse directed and
choreographed Cabaret for the screen (1972); the rest is cinematic history. On stage or
screen, Cabaret departs from novel and play. The famed musical transforms the ‘original,’ taking
the Cabaret as motif and theme, a seedy nightclub run by a sinister Master of Ceremonies. Joel Grey was
the original Emcee, while Alan Cumming reinterpreted the role in Sam Mendes’ West End and Broadway
productions (1998, 2014). Amid these adaptations and revivals, Isherwood published Christopher and His
Kind, shedding further light on his nocturnal Berlin years (1976). This memoir was dramatized for the screen,
which at last reveals the ‘real’ Sally Bowles, Jean Ross (2011). An intertextual mesh of media, stories, genres,
authors, characters, and agendas, the history of Cabaret is an exciting story in itself. In this course, we will
analyze most of the works mentioned, while tracing the intertextuality and history of Cabaret. That history
includes the ‘divine decadence’ of the Weimar Republic, the rise of Nazism, and the beginnings of the
Second World War. But the lives and afterlives of Cabaret also trace a complex queer genealogy, before and
after Stonewall, which continues to this day. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: González; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: CPLT285/ENG284 Title: Ghost Stories and How We Read Them
Everyone loves ghost stories, but why? Do we believe in their truth? Do we see ghosts as something that
people from other cultures or other times believe? How might the presence of ghosts be linked to historical
developments, including European colonialism? In this course, we will read stories featuring ghosts from
across the world and through modern history. We’ll also explore various kinds of literary criticism to see how
they can help us become more aware of what we’re doing when we read ghost stories. Stories and novels will
include well-known works such as Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Leslie
Maron Silko’s Ceremony, Amos Tutuola’s The Palm-Wine Drinkard, and South Korean novelist Hwang SokYong’s The Guest. The goal is to become more aware of the assumptions behind how we read and interpret
these stories. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT287/ENG287 Title: Capitalism and Literature
How is literature related to capitalism? How can one help us to understand the power of the other? This course
examines their shared forms and overlapping histories. We will read literary works, accounts of capitalism as a
social system and historical epoch, and criticism focused on the material basis of literature. Fiction will range
from Balzac to Ling Ma. That trajectory shows the development of capitalism from the period of the industrial
revolution in England to the complex supply chains of global capitalism in the present. Theorists will include
Marx, Adorno, Brecht, Eric Williams, and Althusser. Issues will include the commodity form, the role of slavery
and empire in the development of capitalism, class consciousness, structuralism, and neo-liberalism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Y. Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT290/ENG290/JWST290 Title: Jews, African-Americans, and Other Minorities in U.S. Comics
and Graphic Novel
Comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels have throughout their history in the United States had a
complex relationship with members of minority groups, who have often been represented in racist and
dehumanizing ways. Meanwhile, though, American Jews played influential roles in the development of the
medium, and African-American, Latinx, Asian-American, and LGBTQ artists have more recently found
innovative ways to use this medium to tell their stories. In this course, we will survey the history of comics in
the U.S., focusing on the problems and opportunities they present for the representation of racial, ethnic, and
sexual difference. Comics we may read include Abie the Agent, Krazy Kat, Torchy Brown, Superman, and Love
& Rockets, as well as Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, Alison Bechdel’s
Fun Home, and Mira Jacob’s Good Talk.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT319/ENG319 Title: Contemporary Anglophone Speculative Fiction
The term “speculative fiction” has emerged as an inclusive gesture towards the most exciting fiction being
written right now. Under its umbrella thrive fiction categories like Gothic, horror, science fiction, fantasy,
magical realism, dystopian, and environmental fiction (plus heady blends of all these).
Writers of color, Indigenous writers, LGBTQIA+ writers have figured prominently in the contemporary (post
2000) explosion of speculative fiction—writing about “what if” in the future or in the past has proved liberating
as a critique of colonial legacies, an exploration of transcultural and transnational experiences in the lives of
immigrants, and a re-imagining of gender.
Entering the world of Anglophone speculative fiction requires, too, reflecting on the particular historical and
cultural contexts of these texts and exploring the speculative fiction genre through scholarly essays and online
literary magazines. Among the authors: Helen Oyeyemi, Vandana Singh, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi,
Larissa Lai, and Claire Colman.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: A 200-level ENG course, or CPLT 180, or ENG 119, or permission
of the instructor.; Instructor: Sides; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG103 Title: Beyond Borders: Writers of Color Across the Globe
This course takes a whirlwind world tour through the imaginative literature of writers of color across the globe.
Each work will provide a distinct, exhilarating, and sometimes heart-breaking experience of a world culture
from the inside. However, a number of overlapping threads will connect the works: generational change and
conflict amid cross-cultural globalization; evolving ideas of love, desire and identity amidst cultural traumas;
colonialism and its after-effects; the persistence of suffering. The syllabus will include: Chinua
Achebe's Things Fall Apart; Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things; Wajdi Mouawad’s family drama set in a
war-torn Middle East, Scorched; Han Kang's contemporary novel about gender struggle in Korea, The
Vegetarian; the Argentinian Mariana Enriquez’s stunning short story collection, Things We Lost in the
Fire; and Yaa Gyasi’s epic novel that traces a family’s history from West Africa to post-slavery
America, Homegoing. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Especially designed for the non-major and thus not writingintensive. Not open to students who have taken this course as a topic of CPLT 113.; Instructor: Ko; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG106 Title: Narrative Theory and Social Justice
This course will teach you the basic tools and concepts of narrative theory, a branch of literary theory that
focuses on stories and story-telling. Using short stories as our primary examples, we will consider how
analyzing narratives can provide deeper insight into questions of social justice and injustice, including racial,
class, and gender difference as well as global distributions of inequality.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken WRIT 106.; Instructor:
Yoon Sun Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG111D Title: Making Gloriana: Imagining Elizabeth I in Literature
Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was an anomaly. Ascending to the throne of a country that for centuries had
passed royal power from father to son, she was a woman who remained unmarried and childless. Her reign
was long and successful, and her era produced a flowering of literary greatness, by Shakespeare and others,
unparalleled in English culture. How did she conquer the political odds against her and create a personal
mythology that inspired a generation of poets? This course will explore the world of Elizabeth I and the
courtiers and artists who adored her. Special attention will be paid to treasures from Wellesley’s rare books
and museum collections that illuminate the life and culture of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen.
Wellesley Online courses are designed to be highly interactive and encourage group discussion; they require
participation through live online class meetings throughout the semester, as well as work in a collaborative
environment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Course ID: ENG112 Title: Introduction to Shakespeare
Shakespeare wrote for a popular audience and was immensely successful. Shakespeare is also universally
regarded as the greatest playwright in English. In this introduction to his works, we will try to understand both
Shakespeare’s popularity and greatness. To help us reach this understanding, we will focus especially on the
theatrical nature of Shakespeare’s writing. The syllabus will likely be as follows: Romeo and Juliet, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Othello, King Lear, and The Winter’s Tale.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None. Especially designed for the non-major and thus not writingintensive. It does not fulfill the Shakespeare requirement for English majors.; Instructor: Ko; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG113 Title: Studies in Fiction
A reading of some of the greatest novels of English, American, and European literature, primarily from the
19th century. We will move carefully together through these extraordinary works, seeking to make their deep
acquaintance through attentive, shared reading and to add them to your own life storehouse of important
literary experiences. Taught primarily in lecture, this course will not be writing-intensive. Designed especially
for first-year students and for non-majors, though all others are welcome. A likely reading list: Jane Austen ,
Emma; Heinrich von Kleist, The Marquise of O, An Earthquake in Chile; Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary;
Charles Dickens, Bleak House; Henry James, Washington Square; Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan
Ilych, Master and Man, Hadji Murad.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 60; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG118 Title: Literature, Racism, and the Spirit: Introspection and the Literary Life Worth Living
This course considers racism a hegemonic discourse that permeates many unto all elements of life within our
current age. The course considers racism as a discourse that may penetrate to the very spirit of the individual,
whether victim or perpetrator, racist or antiracist. Literature that aims to depict elements of real life, capture
their spirit, and leave readers feeling fundamentally changed often aims to produce transformation at the level
of the reader’s soul. In order to understand the dynamic interactions between literature, racism, and the spirit,
this course examines scriptural texts from major religious traditions, philosophical and scholarly traditions
germane to racism’s influence on the soul, explicitly white supremacist thought, and critical race theory.
Students will focus on meditative practices for reading and analysis. We will use these practices to ask: what
happens when literature, racism, and the spirit come together? And how can such knowledge help to fashion a
collective life worth living?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Whitaker; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG120 Title: Critical Interpretation
English 120 introduces students to a level of interpretative sophistication and techniques of analysis essential
not just in literary study but in all courses that demand advanced engagement with language. In active
discussions, sections perform detailed readings of poetry drawn from a range of historical periods, with the
aim of developing an understanding of the richness and complexity of poetic language and of connections
between form and content, text and cultural and historical context. The reading varies from section to section,
but all sections involve learning to read closely and to write persuasively and elegantly.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Required of English majors and minors if you entered the
College before Fall 2024. Ordinarily taken in first or sophom*ore year.; Instructor: Noggle, Whitaker, Brogan;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ENG121 Title: A Survey of English Literature
Students in this course will gain a foundational knowledge of the major texts and developments of English
literature from its inception. The course fulfills the 120 requirement for the English major and minor. Starting
with Beowulf, we will survey the tradition’s most durably influential figures, including Chaucer, Spenser, Milton,
Pope, Swift, Blake, Wordsworth, and Tennyson. We will also explore works more recently added to the canon,
by Mary Wroth, Aphra Behn, Olaudah Equiano, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Along the way, we will reflect on
theories of the canon and on what a literary period is (for instance, the Middle Ages, the Romantic Era), and
how periodization continues to shape the study of literature. Like 120, this course emphasizes the close
reading of significant texts, in class discussion and essay writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Not open to students who have taken ENG 216.; Instructor:
Noggle; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: This course can substitute ENG 120 as a requirement to the major.;
Course ID: ENG123 Title: The Novels of Jane Austen
This course will focus on four of Austen’s major novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and
Persuasion. What kind of narrative voice does Austen create? How does she treat major and minor characters?
What is the importance of the courtship plot? How does Austen represent time and change?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Yoon Sun Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Summer;
Course ID: ENG125 Title: 30 Poems
This course provides an introduction to poetry by focusing one at a time and in detail on thirty poems, from
Sappho to Octavio Gonzalez. Each poem will be considered as a unique arrangement of words, images, and
metaphors on the page; as a script for vocal performance; as a word game whose rules must be deduced; as
an expression of the full range of private emotions, including joy, anguish, passion, remorse, and boredom; as
a reflection of, and a contribution to, the historical and cultural frameworks of its time and place. Authors may
include: William Shakespeare; Sir Walter Raleigh; George Herbert; Christopher Smart; John Keats; Marianne
Moore; Elizabeth Bishop; Sylvia Plath; Lucille Clifton; Jenny Xie; Tarfiah Faizullah.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Chiasson; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG128 Title: Great American Short Stories You Must Read
We’ll read a selection of the best and most influential American short stories, and trace their influence on
subsequent generations of storytellers, in both literature and film. We’ll consider what makes the stories we
read effective, how later writers and filmmakers have revised and transformed these narratives, and how those
revisions and transformations illuminate the workings of literary influence. We’ll read classic American short
fiction like Edgar Allan Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” and Willa Cather’s
“Paul’s Case” alongside later works that recall, subvert, and reimagine those narratives, from Alfonson
Cuarón’s Gravity to Jennifer Egan’s “Safari” and beyond.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: ENG132/THST132 Title: America's Journey through Drama
A survey of American Drama that takes a journey through America’s history from the early 20th century to the
present. Issues explored will include: family trauma; the American Dream; evolving ideas of race, class, gender
and sexuality; and identity. Works will include: Eugene O'Neill’s classic, Long Day's Journey into Night; Edward
Albee’s absurdist satire, The American Dream; Lorraine Hansberry’s story of a Black family’s struggle, A Raisin
in the Sun; Sam Shepard’s dark story about secrets, Buried Child; Tony Kushner’s meditation on the AIDS era,
Angels in America; Melinda Lopez’s story of Cuban emigreés, Sonia Flew; Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer winner
about class, race and social inequality, Sweat; the filmed version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton; and the
playwright Celine Song’s film about transcultural romance, Past Lives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 5; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Ko; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG150Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Creating Memory
Participants in this seminar will delve into the workings of memory--a term that encompasses several different
kinds of remembering and recollecting. What makes something memorable? Can we choose or shape what
we remember? Does memory constitute identity? How has technology altered what and how we remember?
As we ponder such questions, our primary focus will be on literature (including Shakespeare, Wordsworth,
Proust, Woolf, Borges, Nabokov, and Toni Morrison). We'll also draw on philosophy, psychology, and
cognitive science and explore creative arts such as drawing, photography, painting, sculpture, book arts, film,
and music. Students will write in several genres--creative, critical, and reflective-and experiment with different
ways of collecting, curating, and presenting memories in media of their choice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Hickey; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ENG200 Title: The Art of Biography
We live in an age of autobiography, memoir, and personal narrative. We may find the very concept of speaking
for others distasteful or immoral: everyone, we reason, should be trusted to tell their own stories. And yet
biography is an art: a great biographer can provide insights and contexts into a life, which elude the memoirist.
This workshop on the art of biography will study great examples of biographical writing by Ralph Waldo
Emerson, W.E.B. Dubois, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Ellmann, and others, along with contemporary
examples by Robert Caro, Heather Clark, Langdon Hammer, and others. Students will choose their own
biographical subjects early in the course and present, in a workshop format, their ongoing research and
writing, culminating in a short biography of 15-20 pages.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Chiasson; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ENG201 Title: Weirdcraft: Wielding the Craft of Speculative Fiction in our Writing
Speculative fiction writers enchant audiences with their stories of magic and mayhem. Through strangeness
we seek to explain the inexplicable. In this creative writing workshop, we will explore the speculative fiction
techniques that will allow us to wield such power for our own stories. We’ll write, discuss and play with a
variety of fantasy, Afrofuturism, horror, sci-fi, surrealism, and weird fiction tropes and structures to imagine new
and exciting ways of seeing our world. We will pick apart craft essays and interviews from Carmen Maria
Machado, George RR Martin, Lesley Nneka Arimah, and others and take a page out of their toolboxes to
power our own work. A significant portion of the class will be dedicated to reading and giving feedback to each
other’s work. This course welcomes writers of all levels and will culminate with a final portfolio of original
work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ndlovu; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ENG202 Title: Poetry
A workshop in the writing of short lyrics and the study of the art and craft of poetry.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Chiasson; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.
This course may be repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: ENG203 Title: Short Narrative
A workshop in the writing of the short story; emphasis on class discussion of student writing, with reference to
older and contemporary established examples of the genre.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Cezair-Thompson, Ndlovu (Fall); Ndlovu
(Spring); Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. This course may be
repeated once for additional credit.;
Course ID: ENG205 Title: Writing for Children
What makes for excellence in writing for children? When Margaret Wise Brown repeats the word "moon" in two
subsequent pages-"Goodnight moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon"-is this effective or clunky? What
makes rhyme and repetition funny and compelling in one picture book (such as Rosemary Wells's Noisy Nora)
but vapid in another? How does E.B. White establish Fern's character in the opening chapter of Charlotte's
Web? What makes Cynthia Kadohata's Kira-Kira a a novel for children rather than adults-or is it one? In this
course, students will study many examples of children's literature from the point of view of writers and will write
their own short children's fiction (picture book texts, middle-reader or young adult short stories) and share
them in workshops.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Meyer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: ENG206 Title: Non-Fiction Writing
Topic for Fall 2024: Writing the Travel Essay
Taken a trip lately—junior year abroad, summer vacation, spring break? Looked back fondly or in horror at a
family road trip? Turn your experience into a travel essay. We study both the genre of the literary travel essay
as well as the more journalistic travel writing found in newspaper travel sections and travel magazines. And, of
course, write our own travel narratives. The course focuses on the essentials of travel writing: evocation of
place, a sophisticated appreciation of cultural differences, a considered use of the first person (travel narratives
are closely related to the genre of memoir), and basic strong writing/research skills.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Sides; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: ENG 206 is a changing topics writing workshop that will
each year take up a particular nonfiction writing genre. Please note that this course is not intended as a
substitute for the First-Year Writing requirement. This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for
credit as long as the topic is different each time. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: ENG207 Title: Stranger Than Fiction: Afro-Surrealism, Activism, & The Art of Unreality
What is the relationship between art and activism when we live in a strange reality of worldwide pandemics, AI
that can generate paintings in the style of da Vinci, and ongoing climate disaster? When reality is stranger than
fiction, how can magical realism help us render this strange reality or Afrofuturism empower us to transform the
present and transgress? In this creative writing workshop, we will experiment with unreality by tapping into
storytelling with an undercurrent of magic and discovering how our voices can go beyond the page and
change the world. We will read & write fiction where strange things happen: people fly, time collapses, the
dead rise, & nature eschews the laws of physics etc. From NoViolet Bulawayo to Octavia Butler, the goal is to
see how authors weave activism into their work and try it ourselves.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ndlovu; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ENG209 Title: Clean as a Bone: Flash Fiction and Poetry for Novelists and Poets
What is a novel but a collection of sentences? This writing workshop approaches the formation of fiction by
addressing the magic and science of its smallest units: lines and sentences. By reading flash fiction (very short
stories), novels-in-verses, and poetry, we will explore the potency of short work and literary compression.
Throughout the semester, you will write your own poems and flash fiction pieces. How deeply and quickly can
you affect readers by working at the line level? What happens within a sentence or between lines? What can
poetry and flash fiction do that so speaks to our age? For fiction writers intimidated by poetry and poets
intimidated by long-form fiction, this writing workshop takes a gentle approach to the close reading and writing
of poetry and fiction. From studying the works of Danez Smith, Safia Elhillo, Ocean Vuong, Jamaica Kincaid,
Warsan Shire, and more, we will amass a series of questions useful to our own practice as readers and writers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ndlovu; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ENG210 Title: History of the English Language
In 1774, an anonymous author wrote of "the perfection, the beauty, the grandeur & sublimity" to which
Americans would advance the English language. In this course, we will explore the complex history that allows
us to conclude that American English is not perfect and is but one English among many. We will study Old
English, later medieval English, the early modern English of Shakespeare's day, and the varying Englishes of
the modern British isles as well as those of modern America. We will read linguistic and literary histories along
with literary passages from multiple times and places. We will ask, how does the history of the language affect
our views of the world and our selves? And how are we continually shaping English's future?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Whitaker; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG212/MER212 Title: Monsters, Villains, and Wives
This course will select its monsters, villains, and wives from early English, French, and Anglo-Norman
literature, ranging from the giant Grendel (and his mother) in Beowulf to the arch-villain Ganelon in The Song
of Roland, from the faithless queen Guinevere to the seductive wife of the enigmatic Green Man in Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight. We will finish by considering the survival of magical monsters in the modern-day fantasy
classic The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, and in The Mere Wife, by Maria Dahvana Headley. We will also trace
Tolkien’s career as a medievalist himself and especially as a Beowulf scholar.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken WRIT 143 in Fall
2022.; Instructor: Lynch; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG213 Title: Chaucer
What happens to the medieval Christian community when the unity of the Church breaks down? How does a
narrative position its author and its characters within contemporary political controversy? Which characters are
inside the traditional bounds of community? Which are outside? And how should we interpret the differences
between them? In this course, we will examine these and other questions about medieval English literature and
culture through the lens of Chaucer's writing. The course focuses on Middle English language and poetics as
well as medieval structures of community-political, cultural, religious, and economic. The course will give
special attention to how differences and conflicts, including those born of physical disparities and religious
heresies, are managed within communities and portrayed in literature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Whitaker; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG220 Title: Happiness
How does literature help us understand what it means to be happy? What kinds of happiness do the “happy
endings” of fiction propose (and why is happiness associated with endings, not middles or beginnings)? In this
course, we’ll survey various ways literature has presented happiness: sometimes as a feeling, either vividly
immediate (joy, pleasure, elation) or longer term (contentment, fulfillment); at others, as an objective condition,
such as prosperity or flourishing. We’ll start with some ancient Greek-Roman philosophy, then focus on novels
and poetry of the Enlightenment, when the pursuit of happiness (with life and liberty) became a political
imperative. Readings will include works by Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson,
and Olaudah Equiano. We’ll conclude with recent texts that consider how happiness may thrive and fail under
current class, family, labor, and other social conditions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Noggle; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG221/HIST221 Title: The Renaissance
This interdisciplinary survey of Europe between 1300 and 1600 focuses on aspects of politics, literature,
philosophy, religion, economics, and the arts that have prompted scholars for the past seven hundred years
to regard it as an age of cultural rebirth. These include the revival of classical learning; new fashions in
painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, and prose; the politics of the Italian city-states and Europe’s “new
monarchies”; religious reform; literacy and printing; the emerging public theater; new modes of representing
selfhood; and the contentious history of Renaissance as a concept. Authors include Petrarch, Vasari,
Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, Castiglione, Rabelais, Montaigne, Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare. Lectures
and discussions will be enriched by guest speakers and visits to Wellesley’s art and rare book collections.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Grote and Wall-Randell (English); Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG222 Title: Renaissance Literature
This changing-topics course encourages students and faculty to pursue special interests in the study of major
writers and ideas during the Renaissance, the period of European history between the 14th and 17th centuries.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long
as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: ENG223 Title: Shakespeare Part I: The Elizabethan Period
We will study representative plays written during the reign of Elizabeth I: Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry IV (Part 1), Twelfth Night, and Hamlet. These plays are chosen not only
because they cover a wide range of genres--from savage farce and romantic comedy to tragedy and hybrid
varieties in between--but also because they powerfully dramatize such a wide range of human experiences.
They also represent masterpieces of storytelling in the medium of theatre that continue their lives in on-going
and evolving performances.Viewing and analysis of contemporary performances and films will thus be
integrated into the work of the course. At the same time, we will engage with contemporary scholarship by
those who grapple, as women, people of color, and as members of the LGTBQ+ community, with
Shakespeare's legacy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Cain; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: ENG224 Title: Shakespeare Part II: The Jacobean Period
The great tragedies and the redemptive romances from the second half of Shakespeare's career, during the
reign of James I, such as Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Winter’s Tale. These
plays portray humans pushed to the limit of endurance and raised to the heights of blessedness, and also find
Shakespeare challenging the limits of genre. Study of the plays’ language and poetry will be complemented by
a survey of their stage histories and an immersion in their present incarnations in performance and in
adaptations across the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. This course is open to all students except first-semester
First-Years.; Instructor: Ko; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG227 Title: Milton
Milton helped set the standard of literary power for generations of writers after him. His epic Paradise Lost
exemplifies poetic inspiration, sublimity, creativity, originality, and unconventionality, offering a richness of
meaning and emotion that seems to provoke violently incompatible interpretations, even radical uncertainty
about whether his work is good or bad. This course will focus on how this poem challenges and expands our
views of God, evil, heroism, Hell, good, Heaven, pain, bliss, sex, sin, and failure in startling ways. We will
consider Milton as the prototype of a new kind of poet who pushes meaning to its limit, from his early writings,
to Paradise Lost, to Paradise Regain'd at his career's end, and sample the range of critical responses his
poetry has elicited.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Noggle; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG234 Title: Dark Side of the Enlightenment
The period known as the Enlightenment (roughly 1660-1789) promoted individual rights, attacked superstition
and advanced science, dramatically expanded literacy and publishing, brought women as readers and writers
into a burgeoning literary marketplace, and created the public sphere. Yet the era also massively increased the
trans-Atlantic slave trade, devised new forms of racism and anti-feminism, and established European
colonialism as a world system. This course will examine British literature that confronts these complexities.
We’ll read novels like Behn’s Oroonoko, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels that portray
encounters between Europeans and the non-European “Other”; poems by Alexander Pope and Mary Wortley
Montagu that explore the nature of women and femininity; and texts that find the limits of Enlightenment reason
in uncertainty, strong passions, and madness.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Noggle; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG241 Title: Romantic Poetry
Essential works of a group of poets unsurpassed in poetic achievement and influence: Blake, Wordsworth,
Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, Keats. Selected writings of Dorothy Wordsworth, Mary Robinson, Felicia Hemans.
We’ll explore and interrogate prominent themes of Romanticism, including imagination, memory, creation;
childhood, nature, the self; sympathy, empathy; questions of representation (for example, what issues arise
when white, European, and for the most part male writers attempt to represent or “give voice” to “others”?);
envisioning social justice; the lure of the unknown or unknowable; inspiration as "spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings"; dejection and writer's block, bipolar poetry; influence (from opium to "the viewless wings of
Poesy"); beauty, truth, fancy, illusion; rebellion, revolution, transgression, exile; the Byronic hero, the femme
fatale, the muse; complexity, ambiguity, mystery, doubt; mortality, immortality. Open to majors and nonmajors. No poetry background required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hickey; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG242/ES242 Title: From 'Nature Poetry' to Ecopoetics
From ancient pastoral poets to Amanda Gorman, how have writers made nature their subject? What can
literature tell us about the diverse and changing ways in which humans perceive, construct, interact with,
inhabit, and alter our environments? How do historical and cultural differences inflect writing about nature?
Does the prospect of climate catastrophe impel writers to reimagine traditional genres? We’ll explore such
questions through a broad selection of poetry and lyrical prose, countering circ*mscribed notions of
environmental writing as a predominantly white or cis straight male realm and seeking to illuminate the vital
connections between environmentalism and social and racial justice.
Readings from the English pastoral tradition and its classical roots; Shakespeare, the Romantics, Gerard
Manley Hopkins; foundational American poets Dickinson and Whitman; and a broad selection of 20th- and
21st-century poets such as Robert Frost, Jean Toomer, Richard Wilbur, A.R. Ammons, W.S. Merwin, Audre
Lorde, Gary Snyder, Mary Oliver, Ed Roberson, Seamus Heaney, Lucille Clifton, Pattian Rogers, Louise Glück,
Jorie Graham, Carolyn Forché, Joy Harjo, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Forrest Gander, Claudia Rankine, Annie
Finch, dg nanouk okpik, Camille T. Dungy, Jennifer Chang, Ada Limón, and Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Prose by
Dorothy Wordsworth, Henry David Thoreau, Rachel Carson, Annie Dillard, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Lauret Savoy,
and Helen Macdonald.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hickey; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG245 Title: Dead or Alive: The Object of Desire in Victorian Poetry
Victorian poems stand among the most memorable and best-loved in all of English verse: they're evocative,
emotionally powerful, idiosyncratic, psychologically loaded, intellectually engaged, daring, inspiring, and
bizarre. We'll study Tennyson, the Brownings, Emily Brontë, the Rossettis, Arnold, Hopkins, and Hardy, with
attention to their technique and place in literary history. Themes will include the power and limits of language,
tradition and originality, love and sexuality, gender roles, the literary expression of personal crisis, religious
faith and doubt, evolution, industrialism, and the role of art. Supplementary prose readings and forays into art
history will illuminate literary, aesthetic, and social contexts, particularly those surrounding the Woman
Question, female authorship, and representations of female figures.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Instructor: Hickey; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG246 Title: Victorian Poets, Pre-Raphaelites, Decadents, and the Turn of the Twentieth Century
The Victorian period, spanning roughly eight decades of literary tradition and innovation between Romanticism
and Modernism, gave rise to some of the most memorable and best-loved works of literature in the English
language: The texts for this course--mostly poems, some essays and short fiction, one play--include writings of
Tennyson, Browning, Emily Brontë, the Rossettis and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Arnold, Hopkins, Wilde,
Hardy, fin-de-siècle Aesthetes and Decadents, early Yeats, and World War I poet Wilfred Owen. They are
evocative, emotionally powerful, idiosyncratic, psychologically loaded, intellectually engaged, sensual, daring,
inspiring, harrowing, and bizarre. We'll trace thematic and stylistic connections, analyzing diverse
representations of love, longing, loss, the power and limits of words, Medievalism, marriage and its
discontents, gender dynamics, the Woman Question, women's authorship, queer eroticism, beauty, art,
artifice, aesthetic and sensual pleasures, pain, suffering, sacrifice, the pity of war, repression, depravity,
"madness," spiritual crisis, the horrors of war, and fears for the future of civilization. A Book Arts workshop and
readings from Pater, Ruskin, Mill, Arnold, and William Morris will further illuminate the role of artists, artisans,
and consumers of art.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hickey; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG249 Title: Poetry Now
A study of American poetry in the last two years. Emphasis on poets with one or two books. Students will write
short review-essays. Authors may include: Sally Wen Mao, Terrance Hayes, Danez Smith, jos charles, A.E.
Stallings, Jenny Xie, Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Shane Macrae, J. Michael Martinez, and Jana Prikryl.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG251 Title: Modern Poetry
The modernist revolution at the beginning of the twentieth century is one of the most important revolutions in
the history of English—writers radically rethought what a poem is, what a novel is, what writing itself is. We are
still the heirs of the great innovators who emerged during that time: Yeats, Eliot, Pound, Frost, Moore, Stevens,
Williams, Hughes. In this course we will look at what connects their work and the profound divisions among
them.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG252 Title: Contemporary American Poetry: Interiority and Unrest
We will focus on recent American poets who have responded, in a variety of forms and stances, to the
demands of social and political action. An important challenge for American poets of the last fifty years has
been, as Walt Whitman suggested, to maintain a position “both in and out of the game” - to exist at the seam
between private imperatives and public demands, and often to call that very distinction into question. Poets will
include: Robert Lowell, Adrienne Rich, June Jordan, A.R. Ammons, James Merrill, Frank Bidart, Lucille Clifton,
Wanda Coleman, Natalie Diaz, Claudia Rankine, Tommy Pico, Cathy Park Hong, Terrance Hayes, jos charles,
Sumita Chakraborty, Wendy Chen. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: At least one prior class in the English Department.; Instructor:
Chiasson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG253 Title: Contemporary American Poetry
A survey of the great poems and poets of the last 50 years, a period when serious poetry has often had to
remind us it even exists. Our poets articulate the inside story of what being an American person feels like in an
age of mounting visual spectacle, and in an environment where identities are suddenly, often thrillingly,
sometimes distressingly, in question. Poets include: Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop, the poets of “The New
York School” (John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, Barbara Guest, James Schuyler), Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, A.R.
Ammons, Louise Glück, Robert Pinsky, Anne Carson, Susan Howe, Frank Bidart, Jorie Graham, D.A. Powell,
Terrance Hayes, Tracy K. Smith, and others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 45; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: ENG255 Title: Reading Emily Dickinson
Working mainly in her bedroom and around her family's home in Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson
composed nearly 1800 poems in her lifetime. This body of work, composed by hand on stationery or scrap
paper, was not widely known in her lifetime; Dickinson circulated it among friends, or kept it in the bottom
drawer of her bureau, for her own enjoyment and for the readers of the future to discover. We will consider
Emily Dickinson's poems as brilliantly shaped and executed performances of extreme emotions, from elation
to despair; as the creation of a richly elaborated personal religion and homemade philosophy; as the
decanting of an individual nineteenth-century woman's ordinary life and experiences, within the patriarchal
structures and strictures of the day; as marks on paper, made within a material and household culture; as
pathways in a distribution network invented by Dickinson, in opposition to conventional publishing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 40; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Chiasson; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG257 Title: Text and Image
From medieval illuminated manuscripts to contemporary graphic novels, genres that combine words and
pictures invite us to consider the relationship between what were once called the "Sister Arts" of literature and
the visual arts. This course will explore the various, complex, and fascinating interactions between texts and
images in "blended" genres: children's picture books, ekphrastic poetry (poetry that describes and responds to
visual artwork), concrete poetry (poetry in the shape of images), graphic novels, comics, and illustrated novels.
We'll also look at works of visual art that include text.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Brogan; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG259/PEAC259 Title: Bearing Witness: Conflict, Trauma, and Narrative in Africa and the African
Diaspora
This course explores the role of written and cinematic narratives along with photography in response to
traumatic historic events, focusing on select regions of Africa and on African Diaspora societies in the U.S. and
Caribbean. We’ll explore the roles of (and relationships between) narrator, witness, audience and victim, both
historically and in light of new social media, and discuss how these relationships give rise to particular
representations of perpetrators, victims and saviors. Topics to be considered in relation to such narratives
might include: colonization, genocide, apartheid, the continuing impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and
systemic racism on African-American and Caribbean societies. Works might include Joseph Conrad, Heart of
Darkness; Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart or No Longer at Ease; Chimamanda Adiche, Half of a Yellow Sun;
Toni Morrison, Beloved; Junot Diaz, The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao; short fiction of the Apartheid Era;
short fiction/essays by James Baldwin; Films: Fruitvale Station, 13th, Kinyarwanda, Lumumba. Students will
be introduced to postcolonial literary theory and trauma narrative theory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Not open to student who have taken ENG 388/PEAC 388.;
Instructor: Cezair-Thompson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG267 Title: American Literature from World War II to the Millenium
A selection of short novels, essays, short stories, memoirs, poems and films ranging, in this special term, from
the 1960s to the present. Authors and directors to be studied include James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Stanley
Kubrick, Robert Altman, Maxine Hong Kingston, Philip Roth, Spike Lee, Edward Jones, Denis Johnson, Rachel
Kushner and others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG270/JWST270 Title: Jews and Jewishness in American Literature
The roles played by Jews in the development of modern American literature are complex and contradictory.
Influential American authors expressed anti-Semitic views in their correspondence and work, and prejudice
excluded Jews from many literary and cultural opportunities well into the 20th century. Nonetheless Jewish
publishers, editors, critics, and writers were extraordinarily influential in the development of the field, founding
leading publishing houses, supporting freedom of expression and movements like modernism and
postmodernism, and writing some of the most influential and lasting works in the tradition. In this course, we
will explore the ways Jews have been represented in American literature and their roles in modernizing and
expanding the field. Fulfills the English Department’s Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: ENG271 Title: The Rise of the Novel
Fantasy, romance, “true” crime, experimental absurdity, Gothic-early English fiction originates narrative types
that energize the novel throughout its history as literature's most popular form. This course begins with Aphra
Behn's romance, Oroonoko, set in a South American slavery colony, and Daniel Defoe's tale of a pickpocket
and sex worker, Moll Flanders. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift has captivated a world readership with its
vertiginous mix of fantasy and satire. Henry Fielding laughs at his readers' class and gender anxieties in
Joseph Andrews, while Horace Walpole invents a whole new fictional sensibility with the first Gothic novel, The
Castle of Otranto. The course concludes with a parody of storytelling itself, Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy,
and Frances Burney's Evelina, which anticipates the courtship comedy of Austen and the humorous
characterization of Dickens.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Noggle; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG272 Title: The Nineteenth-Century Novel
In this course, we will explore the changing relationships of persons to social worlds in selected English novels
of the nineteenth century. The English novel’s representation of imperialism and industrialization, its
engagement with debates about women's roles, social mobility, class conflict, and its assertion of itself as a
moral guide for its readers will be among the themes we will discuss. The assigned novels will probably
include Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens’s Hard Times, and
Henry James's Daisy Miller.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rodensky; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG273 Title: The Modern British Novel
This changing-topics course provides students with an opportunity to pursue special interests in the study of
major writers and ideas in the Modern Era of British Literature, spanning from 1901-1945, which saw a country
affected by two world wars, the end of the Victorian Era, the end of Britain as an empire, and a rapidly
diversifying population.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more
than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: ENG274/JWST274 Title: The Diversification of U.S. Literature, 1945-2000
What was at stake in the production and consumption of literature in the age of television and nuclear
proliferation? We will read and analyze U.S. fiction, drama, and poetry produced after 1945, a period during
which minority voices, particularly (but not only) those of American Jews, became central in U.S. literary
culture. We will explore the tension between literature as just another form of entertainment (or even a
pretentious instrument of exclusion) and literature as a privileged site of social analysis, critique, and minority
self-expression. Authors considered may include Chester Himes, Saul Bellow, Flannery O’Connor, Lorraine
Hansberry, Tillie Olsen, Fran Ross, Thomas Pynchon, Raymond Carver, Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, Susan
Sontag, Alejandro Morales, Kathy Acker, Shelley Jackson, Tony Kushner, and Lan Samantha Chang. Fulfills
the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG275/JWST275 Title: Representation and Appropriation in U.S. Video Game Narratives
What stories do U.S. video games tell us, and whose stories are they to tell? In this course, we will survey the
history of narrative video games in the U.S., from the 1980s to the present, paying particular attention to how
games represent gender, ethnicity, religion, and class. We will explore the way that games allow for
identification across difference; the significant contributions of American Jewish game developers; and the
prevalence of exoticism, cultural appropriation, and misogyny in the history of the medium. Games we will
consider, in whole or in part, include Silas Warner’s Castle Wolfenstein (1981) and its many sequels, Jordan
Mechner’s Karateka (1984) and The Prince of Persia (1989), Freedom! (1993), Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
(2004), Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin’s The Walking Dead (2013), David Cage's Detroit: Become Human
(2018); Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross’ The Last of Us, Part 2 (2020), Zak Garriss’ Life Is Strange: True
Colors (2021), and Meredith Gran’s Perfect Tides (2022). We will consider game studies scholarship and
criticism by Akil Fletcher, Jacob Geller, Cameron Kunzelman, Julian Lucas, Soraya Murray, Gene Park,
Amanda Phillips, and Anita Sarkeesian, among others, and students will be expected to write several analytical
or research essays. Fulfills the English Department’s Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG277/PEAC277 Title: Representing War
As author Viet Thanh Nguyen notes, “All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time
in memory.” The ways armed conflicts are represented play a determining factor not only our collective
memory of them, but also in the way we conduct ourselves. This course will explore a range of approaches to
representing war in the twentieth century. Among the questions we will ask are: When does war begin, and
when does it end? At what distance do we sense war, and at what scale does it become legible? What are the
stakes of writing, filming, or recording war, or for that matter, studying its representations? We will address
these issues through units on violence, trauma, apocalypse, mourning, repair, visuality, and speed. Texts will
include novels, short stories, Supreme Court cases, poetry, graphic novels, films, journalism, and theory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rich; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG278 Title: Crafting Narratives for Video Games
In this course, you will enhance your creative writing and critical analysis skills by exploring how video games
use narrative to captivate and motivate their players. You will uncover the unique aspects that set games apart
from other storytelling media and learn how games manipulate narrative elements such as plot, setting,
character, and conflict. Through evaluating the logical consistency and emotional complexity of story-driven
games, you will produce writing samples showcasing your ability to craft an engaging narrative, whether in
collaboration or independently. Apart from analyzing titles like The Last of Us, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice,
and Firewatch, you are required to complete one game of your choice by the end of the semester and
participate in the class discussion on various game studies and reviews.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lu; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ENG280 Title: The Poetry of Frank Bidart
A course on the poetry of one of the key figures in American Literature of the past fifty years. Topics include:
Bidart as a confessional and post-confessional writer, incorporating the innovations of his mentors, Robert
Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop; Bidart as experimental poet, extending the high-Modernist line pioneered by Ezra
Pound and William Carlos Williams; Bidart as a practitioner of the dramatic monologue as channelled from
Shakespeare to Robert Frost; as a regional poet of California and New England; as a poet of queer identity;
and, crucially, as a poet of unsurpassed formal and rhetorical inventiveness. We will read Bidart's collected
volume, Half-Light: Collected Poems 1965-2016, in its entirety.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Chiasson; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG285 Title: Global Fictions After Empire
This course serves as an introduction to contemporary Global Anglophone literatures, as well as a survey of
postcolonial and transnational approaches to the field. It asks: What stories do we tell to make sense of our
world, and how are these narratives shaped by histories of imperialism and independence? What kinds of
critique of empire do these fictions sustain, and what role do they play in establishing a sense of community,
language, and place in empire’s wake? The course studies writerly engagements with residual and emergent
imperial forms, bringing together key works of postcolonial and U.S. multiethnic literatures. Issues to be
discussed include migration and diaspora, cosmopolitanism and globalization, human rights, racial and sexual
politics, and transnational kinship.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rich; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG286 Title: New Literatures: The Gay 1990s and Beyond
Given their slow integration into the social mainstream, queer people have often made do with self-fashioning,
a sensibility that identity is a work in progress. Literature and other artistic forms have been integral in
sustaining and protecting the stories of queer lives and times. In this course, we will encounter various forms
and transformations of queer expression, while focusing on a recent era that saw the dramatic visibility of
LGBT folk: the 1990s. But we will not read this period in history in isolation. Instead, we will look backward too,
considering early accounts of same-sex longing alongside contemporary representations. The Nineties
zeitgeist was self-conscious about the previous “Gay Nineties” (the 1890s) and other queer eras like the
Harlem Renaissance. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: González; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG289 Title: London in Literature, Then and Now
London started to become a global, multicultural city in the eighteenth century. How has it changed and how
has it remained the same? This course examines how London has been experienced and represented in
literary works from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. We will explore how the city has been imagined in
terms of disease, crime, power and pleasure. We will consider what types of stories London inspires, and who
gets to tells them?. Authors will include Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Virginia Woolf, and Zadie Smith.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG291 Title: What Is Racial Difference?
Through literary and interdisciplinary methods, this course examines the nature of race. While current debates
about race often assume it to be an exclusively modern problem, this course uses classical, medieval, early
modern, and modern materials to investigate the long history of race and the means by which thinkers have
categorized groups of people and investigated the differences between them through the ages. The course
examines the development of race through discourses of linguistic, physical, geographic, and religious
difference--from the Tower of Babel to Aristotle, from the Crusades to nineteenth-century racial taxonomies,
from Chaucer to Toni Morrison. Considering the roles physical appearance has played in each of these
arenas, we will thoughtfully consider the question: What Is Racial Difference? Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures
in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken ENG 391.; Instructor:
Whitaker; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300 level as ENG 391.;
Course ID: ENG294/WGST294 Title: Writing AIDS, 1981-Present
AIDS changed how we live our lives, and this course looks at writings tracing the complex, sweeping
ramifications of the biggest sexual-health crisis in world history. This course looks at diverse depictions and
genres of H.I.V./AIDS writing, including Pulitzer Prize-winning plays like Angels In America and bestselling
popular-science "contagion narratives" like And the Band Played On; independent films like Greg Araki's The
Living End and Oscar-winning features and documentaries like Philadelphia, Precious, and How to Survive a
Plague. We will read about past controversies and ongoing developments in AIDS history and historiography.
These include unyielding stigma and bio-political indifference, met with activism, service, and advocacy;
transforming biomedical research to increase access to better treatments, revolutionizing AIDS from death
sentence to chronic condition; proliferating "moral panics" about public sex, "barebacking," and "PrEP" (preexposure prevention), invoking problematic constructs like "Patient Zero," "being on the Down Low," "party and
play" subculture, and the "Truvada whor*"; and constructing a global bio-political apparatus ("AIDS Inc.") to
control and protect populations. We will look at journal articles, scholarly and popular-science books
(excerpts), as well as literary and cinematic texts. Also some archival materials from ACT UP Boston, the
activist group. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: González; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG298 Title: The Language, Literature and Music of Jamaica
This course focuses on the history of Jamaican literature and music with attention to the evolution of
Jamaican English. Beginning with early, colonialist writings, we’ll examine tropes used to describe the
landscape and the people during the periods of conquest, slavery, rebellion, and plantocracy. We'll proceed
through the pre-Independence decades of the twentieth century to analyze the emerging literary and musical
traditions and underlying socio-historical influences (nationalism, emigration, the colonial legacy, hybridity,
Rastafarian culture, Pan-Africanism). We will study the African roots of Jamaican music and the metamorphosis
of popular forms from Mento through Ska to Reggae. We will finally look at postcolonial issues that have
influenced writers and musicians from the 1960s to the present (political upheaval, violence, urban poverty,
Black consciousness) for Jamaican writers both at home and abroad. Some of the writers to be included:
Claude McKay, Louise Bennett, Una Marson, Colin Channer, Kwame Dawes, Lorna Goodison, Marlon James,
Andrea Levy, and Bob Marley. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Cezair-Thompson; Distribution Requirements: LL
- Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG301 Title: Advanced Writing Workshop: Fiction
A workshop in the techniques of fiction writing together with practice in critical evaluation of student work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ENG 203 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: CezairThompson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. This course may be repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: ENG302 Title: Advanced Writing/Poetry
A workshop in intensive practice in the writing of poetry. Students who have taken this course once may
register for it one additional time.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ENG 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: González;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Notes: This course may be repeated once for credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ENG315 Title: Advanced Studies in Medieval Literature
This changing-topics course provides students with the opportunity to pursue special interests in the
interdisciplinary study of culture and civilization during the millennium between approximately 500 and 1500
CE. While the Middle Ages traditionally encompasses European literature and history, it is increasingly a
multicultural Mediterranean and global field of study, multifaceted by nature and touching on a wide array of
subjects.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken two literature
courses in the department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other
qualified students.; Instructor: Whitaker; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for
credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: ENG316 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Dead Poetry Society
This Calderwood seminar in public writing will show that there is no such thing as dead poetry. In a series of
weekly writing and editing exercises ranging from movie reviews to op-eds, we will explore the many ways that
the great poetry of centuries past speaks directly to modern experience. We will be taught both by the poets
themselves (whose eloquence will rub off on us) and each other, as each student will pick a poet whose
writing she will become expert at relaying to a lay audience. By the end of the semester, not only will you be
able to persuade a newspaper reader that blank verse matters as much as Twitter; you will also learn how to
articulate the value of your English major to a prospective employer--and how to transmit your excitement
about the latest discoveries in your field to friends and parents.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken at least two literature courses
in the department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Lynch; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW
- Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG317 Title: The Black, the Lady, and the Priest: Medieval Romance and the Politics of Race
This course takes its title from Duby’s magisterial history The Knight, the Lady, and the Priest, which studies
medieval marriage and its implications for marriage and gender relations in modernity. We will build on Duby’s
work by considering how medieval romance literature has constructed not only marriage but also race. We will
read medieval romances that depict religious differences as physical differences, especially skin color, and we
will consider texts in the theological, philosophical, and historical contexts that informed their creation and
reception. We will also consider the afterlives of medieval romance in modern love stories that are concerned
with race. We will inquire, what do blackness and whiteness mean in chivalric literature and the history of love?
And is modern race actually medieval? Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Whitaker; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG321 Title: Seminar: The Satanic Principle in English Literature
“Evil be thou my good,” resolves Satan in Paradise Lost. This course will explore literary works that follow
Milton’s lead in unleashing radical energies that invert or “transvalue” conventional values, whether their
authors endorse such inversions or not. Blake’s Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Shelley’s Frankenstein, Brontë’s
Wuthering Heights, Ellison’s Invisible Man all test the claims of darkness against light. We’ll also consider other
examples, and theories, of the Gothic, and the sublime, that stage literature as an uncontrollable contest
between irreconcilable forces. Theories of intention will suggest how such a lack of authorial control can seem
a literary strength. Throughout we will assess the political potential of the Satanic principle—how it might
inspire anti-capitalist, feminist, antiracist, and other oppositional modes of reading.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Noggle;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG324 Title: Advanced Studies in Shakespeare
Topic for Spring 2025: Shakespeare in Performance Around the Globe
The globalization of Shakespeare has only accelerated in the past quarter century, generating a trove of new
stage productions, films and adaptations that continue to re-imagine, challenge and revitalize Shakespeare.
This course will explore some of the more striking examples, in both English and other languages, from a
Korean stage version of A Midsummer Night's Dream and a Chinese film adaptation of Hamlet (The Banquet)
to Spanish and Indian retellings of Othello. In the process, we will also investigate what concepts like
authenticity, translation, and adaptation mean in an intercultural context. The reading list will be finalized at a
later date so that local productions can be considered, but will most likely include: A Midsummer Night's
Dream, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, OR by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Ko; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This is a topics course and
can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: ENG325 Title: Advanced Studies in 16th- and 17th-Century Literature
This changing-topics course provides students with the opportunity to pursue special interests in the study of
major writers and ideas in 16th and 17th century literature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken
more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: ENG334/PEAC334 Title: Seminar: Imagining Justice in Law and Literature: Rights, Reparations,
Reconciliation
This course explores the complex relationship between literature and law, focusing on how each represents
and responds to violence and its aftermath, especially in terms of memory and repair. Our goal will not be to
judge the efficacy of literary and legal projects, but rather to study how they imagine and enact issues of
testimony, commemoration, apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation. We will seek to understand how different
forms of life correspond to the various legal theories and codes we’ll encounter, and how literature challenges
or corroborates these specifically legal subjects, life worlds, and behaviors. We will also ask whether there are
cases in which literature intervenes in jurisprudence, imagining or demanding its own model of law. The class
will explore these issues in relation to existing twentieth-century juridical paradigms such as postwar military
trials, human rights, reparations, and reconciliation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one literature course in any department or by permission
of the instructor to other qualified students.; Instructor: Rich; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG335 Title: Advanced Studies in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature
This changing-topics course provides students with the opportunity to pursue special interests in the study of
major writers and ideas that began and flourished from 1660 to 1789, often called the Age of Enlightenment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is
different each time.;
Course ID: ENG336 Title: Jane Austen and the Novels of Her Time
This course reads Jane Austen alongside other women writers of her time, and examines her novels in the
context of war and revolution. These revolutions took place not only on battlefields but within British thought,
politics, and culture, particularly concerning the boundaries and definitions of gender, race, empire, and class.
Comparing Austen’s novels to other authors, such as Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, and Mary Hays, we
will see how Austen shapes a mode of representation responsive to her moment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Yoon Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG341 Title: Sibling Romantics, Romantic Siblings
How do siblings, sibling relationships, and conceptions of brotherhood and sisterhood figure in Romanticperiod authorship and texts? What is particularly Romantic about sisters and brothers? We'll consider such
questions from several different angles, looking, for example, at the following: representations of siblings in
literary texts; sister-brother writers (but also the importance of non-writing siblings); the relation of genius to
genes; the complications of step-siblings, half-siblings, and siblings-in-law; the overlap or conflict of sibling
relationships with friendship, marriage, romantic love, and self-love; and brotherhood as metaphor
(revolutionary, abolitionist, Christian). Texts by Joanna Baillie, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Coleridge,
Charles and Mary Lamb, DeQuincey, Byron, Austen (Sense and Sensibility), M. Shelley (Frankenstein), P.
Shelley, Keats.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Hickey; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG342 Title: Love, Sex, and Imagination in Romantic Poetry
Study of Romantic poems (and some prose), focusing on the role of love and sex in Romantic conceptions of
imagination. Passion, sympathy, sensibility; the lover as Romantic subject; gendering the sublime and the
beautiful; sexual/textual ambiguity; gender and genius; the sublime potential of unutterable or unspeakable
love; the beloved as muse; enchantresses and demon lovers as figures of imagination; the attractions,
dangers, excesses, and failures of idealizing erotic imagination (sentimentalism, narcissism, solipsism,
disenchantment); desire as Romantic quest; sexual politics; marriage (and its discontents); non-normative or
transgressive sex; (hom*o)erotics of Romantic literary friendship, rivalry, and collaboration. Texts by Charlotte
Smith, Coleridge, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Hazlitt, Mary Robinson, 'Sapphic' poets, Caroline Lamb,
Byron, Felicia Hemans, P.B. Shelley, Mary Shelley, Keats, and John Clare.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Hickey; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG345 Title: Advanced Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature
This changing-topics course provides students with an opportunity to pursue special interests in the study of
major writers and ideas in 19th century literature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor.; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This
is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: ENG346 Title: George Eliot and Her Readers
In August 1872, Benjamin Jowett (the head of Oxford's Balliol College and one of the century's most eminent
scholars) wrote George Eliot a fan letter. In it, Jowett not only identified Middlemarch, the novel Eliot published
earlier that year, as her “great work,” but also reported that “It is a bond of conversation and friendship
everywhere.” And so it has been ever since. In this course, we will explore the great novels of the greatest
novelist of the Victorian period. In addition to reading Eliot's novels, we will take up critical responses to them,
beginning with those of Eliot's contemporaries. In particular, we will consider readers' objections to her
representations of religion, female autonomy, and sexuality. As we ourselves become part of Eliot's readership,
we will think about her development as a novelist and critic who reimagined the novel as central to the moral
and intellectual lives of the reading public. Eliot wanted her novels to make a deep and lasting impression on
her readers, as indeed they do. Novels will include Scenes of Clerical Life, Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss,
The Lifted Veil, Middlemarch, and Daniel Deronda.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students. Not open to students who have taken this class as a topic of ENG 345.; Instructor: Rodensky;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG347 Title: Nineteenth-Century Novels of Romantic Mistake
“Reader, I married him,” Jane Eyre tells us as her novel draws to a close. Many nineteenth-century novels end
with a marriage. So despite suggestions within the body of the novel that women's traditional role is not a
satisfying one, the heroine often seems contented in that role by the novel's end. But what happens if the
heroine chooses wrongly? In this course, we will consider novels that look at a heroine's life after a marriage
that she comes to regret, as well as some novels in which the bad romantic choices do not result in marriage.
What do these novels of romantic mistake have to say about women's lives? Probable authors: Anne Brontë,
Charlotte Brontë, James, Austen, Eliot.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken at least two literature courses
in the department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Meyer; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG349 Title: George Eliot Makes a Difference in the World
George Eliot believed that art could teach us how to be better people, and she wrote novels that she hoped
would make a difference in the world. That’s Wellesley’s mission too. In this course, we’ll read five of Eliot’s
seven major works (Scenes of Clerical Life, Adam Bede, Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda) and
consider the “difference” Eliot wanted to make in her readers and their communities. We will explore not only
the novels themselves but also their contemporary reviews as well as Eliot’s letters and essays. In addition, we
will take up the wider questions that Eliot raises about the force and function of literature and examine recent
essays about how and whether fiction changes its readers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Rodensky; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ENG350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ENG351H Title: The Robert Garis Seminar
An advanced, intensive writing workshop, open to six students, named for a late Wellesley professor who
valued good writing. This is a class in writing non-fiction prose, the kind that might someday land a writer in
The New Yorker or The Atlantic. Our genre is often called "literary journalism," and here the special skills -technical precision, ability for physical description, and psychological insight -- necessary for writing fiction are
applied to real-life events and personalities. We will read and emulate authors like Joan Didion, Hilton Als,
Janet Malcolm, Robert Mcfarlane, and Terry Castle, and each student will produce a 5,000 word-piece of their
own.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 6; Prerequisites: Open to qualified students by permission of the instructor.;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ENG352 Title: Poetry of Louise Glück
An advanced seminar in the poetry of Louise Glück, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature. We will read
Glück's entire oeuvre, from Firstborn (1968), written partly in late adolescence and expressing the passions
and fears of a young person, to Marigold and Rose (2022), written for her infant grandchildren. Glück's
subjects were the phases and cycles of ongoing life. She explores the experiences of being a child, wanting a
child, having a child, having grandchildren; of being part of relationships and communities--a marriage, a
village, friendships, artistic collaboration, a college faculty--and of leaving behind, or being excluded from,
those structures; of finding passionate comfort in art, music, poetry, TV, gardening, cooking; of facing illness
and disability in a changing body; of being a woman in a patriarchal culture and in an art that favors men.
These subjects and others were embodied in changing forms that challenge us by the clarity and complexity of
their emotional logic and the sheer force of their beauty.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ENG 120, one English course at the 200 level.; Instructor:
Chiasson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG355 Title: Advanced Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature
This changing-topics course provides students with an opportunity to pursue special interests in the study of
major writers and ideas in 20th century literature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is
different each time.;
Course ID: ENG356 Title: Ernest Hemingway: Life and Writings
This course will survey Hemingway's literary career: his novels, including The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to
Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea; his brilliant short stories from In Our Time and
other collections; and his Paris memoir, A Moveable Feast. We will give special attention to the young
Hemingway, who survived serious wounds in World War I and who worked hard to establish himself as a writer
in the 1920s when he was living in Paris with his wife and child. In addition, we will contextualize our discussion
through film, painting, and photography. Our goals will be to understand Hemingway's extraordinary style -- its
complexity, emotional power, and depth -- and his charismatic personality as it is displayed in both his life and
his writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Cain; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG357 Title: The World of Emily Dickinson
The poems and letters of Emily Dickinson, arguably the most important American poet of the nineteenth
century, provide a window into one of the most thrilling and idiosyncratic minds in literature. Dickinson lived
her entire adult life in her family's elegant home on the main street of Amherst, Massachusetts, writing in her
spacious bedroom through the night. The house and its views, as well as its gardens and paths, are all vivid
presences in her work. Dickinson hand-wrote all of her poems on paper she scavenged around the house;
scholars are still debating how to read and interpret her hand-done poems. To study Dickinson is to be
confronted with questions that seem sometimes more forensic than literary critical. We will explore Dickinson's
online archives and visit, several times, her house and gardens in Amherst. This course should appeal not only
to lovers of poetry but to lovers of old houses, scrapbooks, ghost stories, and the material history of the New
England region.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Chiasson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course.
This course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ENG358 Title: Sapphic Modernism
This seminar focuses on the rich and strange archive of modern lesbian literature of the twentieth century. We
begin with the “mother” of Sapphic Modernism, Sappho herself, and continue through the Interwar Era with
the High Modernism of Virginia Woolf, the Black Modernism of Nella Larsen, the Parisian “Lost Generation” of
Gertrude Stein, and the Late Modernism of Djuna Barnes. After an interlude during the Second World War, with
the poetry of H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), we turn to the 1950s and the beginning of the so-called American Century,
with the postwar pulp and noir writings of Ann Bannon and Patricia Highsmith. We continue into the 1960s,
with the “toward Stonewall” lesbian novel Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule, and end with Adrienne Rich in the
post–“Stonewall” Era. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: González; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ENG370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ENG 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: ENG382 Title: Literary Theory
A survey of major developments in literary theory and criticism. The emphasis is on breadth of coverage.
Discussion will focus on important perspectives and schools of thought from Plato to the present day. We will
consider, for instance, Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism, structuralism, post-colonialism, race theory, and
post-humanism as they have contributed to the interpretation of literature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Instructor: Shetley; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; LL - Language and
Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG387 Title: Authors
This changing topics course provides an intensive study of major writers. The course will focus on primary
texts, but also give attention to the biographical, literary, and historical context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is
different each time.;
Course ID: ENG388/PEAC388 Title: Trauma, Conflict, and Narrative: Tales of Africa and the African Diaspora
This course explores the role of narratives in response to mass trauma, focusing on regions of Africa and
African Diaspora societies. Drawing on the emerging fields of trauma narrative, we will examine the
effectiveness of oral, written and cinematic narratives in overcoming legacies of suffering and building peace.
Topics include: violence in colonial and postcolonial Central Africa, the Biafran war, South Africa during and
after Apartheid and Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. We will also explore the trans-Atlantic slave trade and its impact
on African-American and Caribbean societies. Types of narrative include novels, memoirs, films, plays, and
data from truth and reconciliation commissions. Students will be exposed to trauma narrative not only as text
but as a social and political instrument for post-conflict reconstruction.
Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: At least one literature course in any department or by permission
of the instructor to other qualified students.; Instructor: Cezair-Thompson (English); Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG389 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: How We Write When We Write about
Literature
While literary criticism might seem like an esoteric or unworldly pursuit, it has relevance and consequence
beyond the narrow world of academic journals. It shapes reading lists at the high school, college, and
graduate level and contributes to cultural conversations about expanding the canon. It also has the potential to
create connections between academic scholarship and the larger world it inhabits. In this Calderwood
seminar, we will read selected works of contemporary literary criticism (and a few short stories) and consider
the place of published criticism in the wider culture. Over the course of the semester, students will produce
several short pieces exploring criticism’s significance and present their work to the class as part of our weekly
writing workshops. Assignments -- including op-eds, reviews of public talks, memoranda, podcasts, and blog
posts -- will target a non-specialist reading audience. This course will give students the opportunity to build
on their own experiences as readers of literature and writers of literary criticism as they engage with the
questions and controversies that criticism raises.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Rodensky;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in
Public Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG391 Title: What Is Racial Difference?
Through literary and interdisciplinary methods, this course examines the nature of race. While current debates
about race often assume it to be an exclusively modern problem, this course uses classical, medieval, early
modern, and modern materials to investigate the long history of race and the means by which thinkers have
categorized groups of people and investigated the differences between them through the ages. The course
examines the development of race through discourses of linguistic, physical, geographic, and religious
difference - from the Tower of Babel to Aristotle, from the Crusades to nineteenth-century racial taxonomies,
from Chaucer to Toni Morrison. Considering the roles physical appearance has played in each of these
arenas, we will thoughtfully consider the questions: How do we discern racializing discourses? What historical
discourses have led to modern race? How do we best analyze literary and related materials to understand how
racial ideology has impacted texts? And to understand how texts have impacted racial ideology? Through
these and other inquiries, we will arrive at some answers for the big question, What Is Racial Difference? Fulfills
the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the
department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified
students. Not open to students who have taken ENG 291.; Instructor: Whitaker; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also
offered at the 200 level as ENG 291.;
Environmental Studies
An Interdisciplinary Major and Minor
Environmental Studies examines the interdependent relationships between humans and the environment. The
Environmental Studies department aims to provide values, skills, and experiences that equip our students with
both confidence and empathy as they prepare to tackle pressing environmental issues as scholars, scientists,
activists, health care workers, policymakers, planners, artists, storytellers, and more.
Values
1. Justice. Systemic inequities underlie all environmental issues. Environmental Studies examines how
racism, colonialism, and power shape environmental problems, their consequences, study, and
solutions.
2. Scale. Environmental issues at all scales matter. Environmental Studies recognizes the
interconnectedness and importance of natural and human systems across time and space.
3. Complexity. Environmental issues are rarely simple. They involve ambiguity, ethical dilemmas, and
uncertainty. Environmental Studies engages this complicated work in a spirit of shared vulnerability and
collaboration.
Skills
1. Conceptualizing. Environmental Studies is inherently forward looking. It empowers students with a
broad set of skills and tools to address unsolved problems. Students learn to ask productive
questions, deploy the necessary tools, and work collaboratively across scholars, activists,
policymakers, and communities to address both emerging and longstanding environmental issues.
2. Analyzing. Environmental Studies provides students with the tools to construct, describe, and evaluate
environmental models and narratives. Students work to understand social, physical and biological
processes using data, argument, and case studies. Underpinning this work are systems-based
approaches focused on the interdependence of humans and the environment.
3. Contextualizing. Environmental Studies draws upon multiple ways of knowing, spanning cultures and
disciplines. This requires centering marginalized voices and sources of knowledge, and reflecting on
the limitations, biases, and assumptions of conventional sources of expertise.
4. Communicating. Environmental Studies empowers students to communicate about environmental
issues, engaging different communities and cultures. Whether creating policy briefs, research posters,
art installations, blog posts, op-eds, or lesson plans, students learn to communicate effectively across a
variety of mediums and audiences.
Experiences
1. Learning. Environmental Studies often blurs the boundaries between the classroom and the world. It is
as much about application as it is about content. Students benefit from synergies among curricular, cocurricular, off-campus study, study abroad, and applied experiences.
2. Research. Student-initiated research and peer learning are central to Environmental Studies. Students
join a transdisciplinary and collaborative learning community where student peers, faculty, staff,
alumnae, and the wider public are all valued sources of expertise.
3. Mentorship. Environmental Studies aims to provide students with a rich advising experience that
supports their individual interests and goals. This advising experience includes strong relationships
with faculty and staff, alongside opportunities to connect with alumnae and other practitioners in the
field.
Environmental Studies Major
Requirements for the Environmental Studies Major
A 10-course major:
The environmental studies major includes two components: a set of core requirements and a set of electives.
The core requirements provide students with an interdisciplinary introduction to environmental studies. The
electives allow students to pursue either a general approach to environmental studies or an area of focus that
reflects their particular interests.
1. Two required core courses:
a. ES 102 Environment and Society: Addressing Climate Change
b. ES 214/POL2 214 Social Causes and Consequences of Environmental Problems
2. Two science courses (with at least one lab):
a. One introductory environmental science course, from among this list of courses:
- ES 100 Introduction to Environmental Science & Systems
- ES 101 Fundamentals of Environmental Science with Laboratory
- BISC 108 Environmental Horticulture with Laboratory
- BISC 111 or BISC 113 Organismal Biology with Laboratory
- CHEM 103 Elements and the Environment
- ES 111/GEOS 101 Earth Processes and the Environment with Laboratory
b. One additional NPS designated course from the list of Environmental Studies courses or Courses for
Credit Towards the ES Major. If the introductory science course taken didn't have a lab, the additional NPS
course must. Includes 100-level courses but not both ES 100 and ES 101.
3. One environmental studies course which satisfies the Historical Studies, Language and Literature, Religion,
Ethics, and Moral Philosophy, or Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film, and Video distribution requirement.
4. Four electives from the list of Environmental Studies courses or courses for credit toward the major. The
electives must add up to at least 4 units of academic credit. Independent study courses and partial-credit
courses count toward the requirement, although at least two electives must be full-unit, non-independent study
courses, one of which must be at the 300-level (a 350 independent study does not meet the 300-level elective
requirement).
5. One capstone course:
- ES 300 Environmental Decision-making
- ES 399 Environmental Synthesis and Communication
Other guidance regarding the major:
Students will, in consultation with their advisors, choose one or more focus areas to lend depth and
coherence to the major and can guide course choices.
Note: All courses that count for the ES major can be taken as electives, but no single course can fulfill two
requirements for the major.
Students who have taken a core ES required course for another major or minor can substitute an ES elective
(200-level or above) instead of taking an additional core ES course to fulfill the same requirement.
Partial unit courses can be combined to fulfill the science or humanities requirements or count toward the
elective requirement.
A student may petition to count a course not listed in the Courses for Credit Toward the Major list. Students
should contact the Chair for approval, and the Chair will use their discretion in seeking guidance from the ES
Advisory Faculty.
Students may count three courses taken from outside of Wellesley toward the environmental studies major.
Courses from abroad cannot be substituted for ES 102, ES 214, or the 300-level elective
requirement. Students may petition the Chair to count more than three courses from outside Wellesley. Such
petitions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Courses should be approved by the Chair prior to
enrollment. Courses at MIT and Olin, as well as EXTD courses, count as Wellesley courses rather than as
courses taken off campus, but specific courses must be approved by the student's advisor to count toward the
major. AP credit in Environmental Science cannot be used to replace any Environmental Studies requirements.
Environmental Studies Senior Thesis
Engaging in the completion of a thesis in ES enables a student to examine a set of questions that they codiscover working closely with an ES faculty advisor during the course of an entire academic year. It provides
the opportunity to develop a specialized set of analytical skills in order to make a significant research
contribution in their field of study. The products of this inquiry often include presentations at Ruhlman
conferences, national professional society meetings, and in some disciplines may result in the submission of a
peer-reviewed manuscript. There are two options for pursuing a thesis: ES 355/365 for senior theses and ES
360/370 for senior honors theses. In both cases, a thesis is a chance to pursue in-depth research for a
sustained project, involving careful project design and research, over the course of the entire senior year. In all
cases, thesis work is in addition to the 10-course requirement for the ES major. Any student interested in
pursuing a thesis should follow the application process outlined on our website, including identifying a thesis
advisor and developing a proposal. To pursue an honors thesis and register for ES 360/370, students must
have a GPA of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level and the department's permission.
There is no GPA requirement to pursue ES 355/365, although the thesis proposal must be approved by the ES
Advisory Faculty. For complete Environmental Studies Senior Thesis Guidelines
visit: https://www.wellesley.edu/environmentalstudies/major/seniorthesis.
Courses for Credit Toward the Environmental Studies Major
In addition to all courses offered by or cross-listed with the ES department, the following courses may be used
as electives. Note, this list may not reflect courses recently added to the college curriculum. If you are taking or
have taken another ES-related course that doesn’t appear on the list, please petition the chair to count it
toward your major or minor. Note that some 200- and 300-level courses have prerequisites outside of required
Environmental Studies courses.) Note that PHIL 338 and POL4 311 require an ES paper in order to count as an
elective.
AFR 226
Environmental Justice, "Race," and Sustainable
Development
1.0
AFR 304 / POL3 302
The Politics of Chocolates and Other Foods
1.0
AFR 312
Seminar: The Political Economy of Natural Resources in
Africa
1.0
ANTH 222
Anthropology of Science
1.0
ARTH 266
New Perspectives on the Global City
1.0
ARTH 317
Historic Preservation: Theory and Practice
1.0
ASTR 223 / GEOS 223
Planetary Atmospheres and Climates
1.0
BISC 108
Environmental Horticulture with Laboratory
1.25
BISC 111 or BISC 113
Organismal Biology with Laboratory
1.25
BISC 116 & CHEM 116
Fundamentals of Chemistry and Molecular/Cellular
Biology with Laboratory: An Integrated Approach
2.5
BISC 198
Statistics in the Biosciences
1.0
BISC 201
Ecology with Laboratory
1.25
BISC 202
Evolution with Laboratory
1.25
BISC 204
Biological Modeling with Laboratory
1.25
BISC 209
Microbiology with Laboratory
1.25
BISC 210
Marine Biology with Laboratory
1.25
BISC 308
Tropical Ecology
1.25
BISC 310
Seminar: Issues in Marine Biology
1.0
BISC 314
Environmental Microbiology with Laboratory
1.25
CHEM 103
Elements and the Environment
1.0
CHEM 105
Fundamentals of Chemistry with Laboratory
1.25
CHEM 120
Intensive Introductory Chemistry with Laboratory
1.25
CHEM 303
Seminar: Aquatic Chemistry
1.0
ECON 328
Environmental Issues in Developing Countries
1.0
EXTD 123
Water Resources Planning and Management
1.0
EXTD 128
Coastal Zone Management
1.0
GEOS 102
The Dynamic Earth with Laboratory
1.25
GEOS 208
Oceanography
1.0
GEOS 304
Sedimentology and Stratigraphy with Laboratory
1.25
GEOS 315
Environmental Geochemistry with Laboratory
1.25
GEOS 320
Isotope Geochemistry
1.0
HIST 320
Seminar: The Hand that Feeds: A History of American
Food
1.0
PHIL 338
Seminar: Who Owns the Past?
1.0
POL4 311
Seminar: Grassroots Organizing
1.0
QR 260 / STAT 260
Applied Data Analysis and Statistical Inference
1.0
STAT 160
Fundamentals of Statistics
1.0
WGST 302
Global Health and the Environmental Crisis
1.0
WRIT 128
Are We What We Eat? Writing About Food and Culture
1.0
Environmental Studies Minor
Requirements for the Environmental Studies Minor
A 5-course minor:
The environmental studies minor includes two components: a set of core requirements and a set of electives.
Similar to the major, the core requirements provide students with a shared foundation in environmental studies
and the electives allow them to pursue topics of interest to them in environmental studies.
1. Two required core courses:
ES 102 Environment and Society: Addressing Climate Change
ES 214/POL2 214 Social Causes and Consequences of Environmental Problems
2. Three electives from Environmental Studies courses or the list of Courses for Credit Toward the Major.
Introductory, core, and capstone courses may also count as electives, but no single course can fulfill two
requirements for the minor. A student may petition to count a course not listed in the Courses for Credit
Toward the Major list. Students should contact the Chair for approval, and the Chair will use their discretion in
seeking guidance from the ES Advisory Faculty.
Independent study courses and partial-credit courses can count toward the elective requirement, although at
least two electives must be full-unit, non-independent study courses.
Students who have taken a core ES required course for another major or minor can substitute an ES elective
(200-level or above) instead of taking an additional core ES course to fulfill the same requirement.
Students may count no more than one course taken away from Wellesley toward the environmental studies
minor. This course should be approved by the director prior to enrollment. Courses from abroad cannot be
substituted for ES 102 or ES 214. Courses at MIT and Olin, as well as EXTD courses, count as Wellesley
courses rather than as courses taken off campus, but specific courses must be approved by the student’s
advisor to count toward the major. AP credit in Environmental Science cannot be used to replace any
Environmental Studies requirements.
ES Courses
Course ID: ANTH265/ES265 Title: The Politics of Nature
In this course we will consider the historical, social, and political life of nature in its many guises and from an
anthropological perspective. What is the relationship between resource control and the consolidation of
power? How have social movements and development agencies mobilized ideas of participatory conservation
to achieve their goals, and how have these same concepts been used to exclude or to reproduce inequality?
We will explore themes such as the relationship between race, nature, and security; intellectual property and
bioprospecting; and the lived effects of the many “green,” “sustainable,” and “eco-tourism” projects now
attracting foreign travelers around the world. Additionally, the course will introduce students unfamiliar with
socio-cultural anthropology to ethnographic research methods, ethical dilemmas, and the craft of
ethnographic writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH267/ES267 Title: Art and the Environmental Imagination
Exploring the relationship between art and the environment, this course will focus on the land of the United
States as it has been shaped into forms ranging from landscape paintings to suburban lawns, national parks,
and our own Wellesley College campus. Among the questions we will consider are: What is “nature”? What do
we value in a landscape and why? How are artists, architects, and landscape designers responding to
environmentalist concerns?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Bedell; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: BISC247/ES247 Title: Plant Diversity and Ecology with Laboratory
This course is a combination of “What's that wildflower?” and “Why does it grow over there and not here?” We
begin by examining large-scale patterns of plant diversity from an evolutionary and phylogenetic perspective
and then shift to an ecological perspective. Along the way, we zoom in to specific concepts and processes that
help us understand overall patterns. Laboratories will primarily be taught in the field and greenhouses and will
include plant identification, observational and experimental studies, and long-term study of forest communities
on the Wellesley campus. Laboratories will also include aspects of experimental design and data analysis. The
goal of the course is not only to train students in botany and plant ecology, but to engage them in the world of
plants every time they step outside.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following - ES 100, ES 101, BISC 108, BISC 111,
BISC 111T, BISC 113, BISC 113Y; or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken BISC
347/ES 347.; Instructor: Griffith; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory;
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: The course
is offered at the 300-level as BISC 347/ES 347.;
Course ID: BISC307/ES307 Title: Ecosystem Ecology with Laboratory
The emergent structure and function of ecosystems are regulated by feedbacks between biological and
physical systems from the microscopic to the global scale. We will study how ecosystems cycle carbon and
nutrients and how the energy balance of ecosystems influences climate. We will also examine the role that
humans play in managing, creating, and using services from ecosystems in our current era of rapid global
change. Synthesizing these concepts, we consider the role of protected areas in preserving ecosystem
functioning. Students will develop statistical skills working with authentic long-term ecosystem ecology
datasets. Students in this course will develop independent data analysis projects that include scientific
communication through presentations, writing, and visual displays of data.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: One of the following - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 209, BISC 210,
BISC 247/ES 247, ES 220; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.
Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course.;
Course ID: BISC309/ES309 Title: Seminar: Tropical Ecology
Tropical forests and coral reefs are among the most fascinating and diverse ecosystems, but unfortunately
face multiple threats. In this seminar, brief lectures will provide a baseline understanding of these ecosystems
and the key processes that shape them. However, the main focus will be the discussion of important papers in
the field. Students will present papers from the primary literature that illustrate how these ecosystems function,
why they are struggling and what can be done to preserve and restore them. We will pay particular attention to
the observational, experimental and analytical approaches that are used in this field of study, and how the
science informs conservation decisions. The final project involves writing a research proposal.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 207, BISC 210, BISC 214.; Instructor:
Koniger; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC310/ES310 Title: Seminar: Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems
This course will focus on the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. As greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere have increased, the oceans have absorbed more than 93% of the excess heat and roughly ¼ of
the carbon dioxide. The triple threat of warming temperatures, depletions in oxygen, and drops in ocean pH
have led to dramatic effects on ocean ecosystems. Students will analyze the primary literature to examine 1)
how these stressors are affecting physiology, demography, phenology, and distributions of marine species
separately and when acting together, 2) the potential for adaptation/evolution, 3) what lessons can be learned
from the paleorecord, and 4) the impacts on coastal communities and nations. The course incorporates
student-led seminar-style discussions, and a final synthetic project where teams will present evidence for the
impacts of climate change on a particular marine ecosystem.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following courses - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 209,
BISC 210, BISC 214, BIOC 219/BISC 219, ES 201, ES 220, EXTD 225, EXTD 226 or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Selden; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking
Intensive Course.;
Course ID: BISC327/ES327 Title: Seminar: Current Topics in Ecology
Topic for 2023-2024: Biodiversity in the Built Environment
How do other species interact with landscapes and habitats that people have modified or even completely
restructured? Which species live in human-dominated environments, and how does the diversity of species in
these habitats affect the function and health of these ecosystems? In this course we will build our scientific
understanding of biodiversity and its consequences, and explore how this understanding can inform the
design and management of spaces we occupy. We will consider habitats from agricultural landscapes to
suburban parks to buildings, with special attention to the opportunities afforded by Wellesley’s remarkable
campus, including the Global Flora greenhouse.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Two courses from the following - BISC 201, BISC 202, BISC 204,
BISC 207, BISC 209, BISC 210, BISC 214, ES 201, ES 220, or ES 247/BISC 247; or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Jones; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for
credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: BISC327H/ES327H Title: Seminar: Current Topics in Ecology
Topic for 2021-22: Biodiversity in the Built Environment
How do other species interact with landscapes and habitats that people have modified or even completely
restructured? How does biodiversity in human-dominated habitats affect the function and health of these
ecosystems, and resilience with respect to climate change? In this course we will build our understanding of
biodiversity and its consequences, and explore how this understanding can inform the design and
management of spaces we occupy. We will consider habitats from agricultural landscapes to suburban parks
to buildings.
Not open to students who have taken BISC 327/ES 327 with the same topic.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Two of the following course - BISC 201, BISC 207, BISC 209,
BISC 210, ES 220, BISC 247/ES 247; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Jones; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long
as the topic is different each time. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. Students taking BISC 327H/ES 327H in the
academic year 2021-2022 may combine with BISC 150H/ES 150H, BISC 350H or BISC 350 taken any year to
fulfill either the 300-level course without lab requirement or the elective course requirement for the BISC major.;
Course ID: BISC347/ES347 Title: Advanced Plant Diversity and Ecology with Laboratory
This course meets along with BISC 247/ES 247 and offers an opportunity for students to engage more deeply
with the material and perform independent research. Students will be expected to more thoroughly review and
reference peer-reviewed literature and assist in leading in-class discussions. Additionally, each student will
develop and conduct an experiment (or observational study) over the course of the semester that examines
mechanisms of plant diversity and coexistence.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following - BISC 201, ES 220, BISC 207, or
permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken BISC 247/ES 247.; Instructor: Griffith;
Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200level as BISC 247/ES 247.;
Course ID: CAMS219/ES219 Title: Ecological Approaches to Cinema and Media Studies
This course examines ecology’s intersection with cinema and media studies. Amidst climate change,
ecological theorists have complicated boundaries between nature and technology and between humans and
nonhumans. We will focus on the intersection of these ecological conversations with cinema and media
studies. This course will consider a range of media, from mushrooms to cyborgs; explore cinematic
innovations aimed at depicting nonhuman actors; discuss how media create their own environments; and
cover topics like digital waste. Course readings will include a range of contemporary ecological perspectives,
including texts from Feminist Science and Technology Studies, Black Studies, and Indigenous Critical Theory.
We will apply these ideas in discussions of recent films.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: ; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CHEM103/ES103 Title: Elements and the Environment
Elements and molecules interact with the environment producing global challenges such as climate change,
ozone depletion, and heavy metal pollution. This course is a general introduction to the chemistry of such
environmental problems, focusing on the chemical principles that regulate the effect, fate, and transport of
chemicals in the environment. It explores how the structure of a chemical relates to its environmental impact
and how interactions can be predicted through chemistry. Assignments will include working with real data-sets
of elements in the environment, such as records of carbon in forests, oxygen in the ocean, and heavy metals in
soils. Chem 103 is intended for students with very little prior chemistry experience. This course does not count
towards the chemistry major or minor.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Stanley; Distribution Requirements: NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CPLT238/ES238 Title: The Color of Green Literature: Writing in the Face of Environmental
Collapse
This course discusses the narrative challenges posed by the Anthropocene, the current era in history in which
the impact of humans on the environment imperils the very future of our planet. Reading fictional and critical
texts that have emerged in different parts of the world over the course of the last three decades, we will identify
the fictional tools and aesthetic strategies that writers are exploring to address the climate catastrophe. We
will discuss what the traditions of writing about biocide are to which contemporary authors can turn when
creating new narratives adequate to capture the environmental crisis. We will analyze the most prominent
genres involved in “green writing” and will pay close attention to the ways authors deal with the tensions
between the local and the global in their narratives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken GER 338.; Instructor:
Nolden; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course meets with GER 338, which is
intended for advanced German students and which has a third class meeting conducted in German.;
Course ID: CPLT362/ES362 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: From Farm to Table to Print
When we talk about food, we think about personal passions, individual diets and eating behaviors, but we
might also think about cultural traditions, consumption disparities and food insecurities, about public health
and sustainability, animal rights, deforestation, and genome edited crops. Clearly, the topic challenges us to
address difficult questions of intersectionality (of the personal and the political, the local and the global, the
human and the non-human). In this seminar we will learn to translate academic discourses into public writing
formats that might include op-eds, social media posts, (cook) book reviews, Wikipedia entries, restaurant
reviews, and portraits of food activists.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors, or by permission of the instructor.
Not open to students who have taken GER 362.; Instructor: Nolden; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course meets with GER
362.;
Course ID: ECON228/ES228 Title: Environmental and Resource Economics
This course considers the economic aspects of resource and environmental issues. After examining the
concepts of externalities, public goods, and common property resources, we will discuss how to measure the
cost and benefits of environmental policy in order to estimate the socially optimal level of the environmental
good. Applications of these tools will be made to air and water pollution, renewable and nonrenewable
resources, and global climate. In addressing each of these problems we will compare various public policy
responses such as regulation, marketable permits, and tax incentives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P.; Instructor: Keskin; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ECON328/ES329 Title: Environmental Issues in Developing Countries
Poor sanitation, inadequate waste management, contaminated water supplies and exposure to indoor air
pollution affect millions of people in developing countries and pose continuing risks to their health. The
objective of this course is to provide students with a set of theoretical, econometric and practical skills to
estimate the causal impact of environmental policies and programs with a particular focus on less-developed
countries. Examples from the readings will explore the effect of laws, NGO programs or natural experiments on
environmental quality and sustainability. Students will learn to critically analyze existing studies and to gauge
how convincingly the research identifies a causal impact. Students will use these skills to develop an
evaluation plan for a topic of their choice at the end of the term.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ECON 201 and ECON 203.; Instructor: Keskin; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG242/ES242 Title: From 'Nature Poetry' to Ecopoetics
From ancient pastoral poets to Amanda Gorman, how have writers made nature their subject? What can
literature tell us about the diverse and changing ways in which humans perceive, construct, interact with,
inhabit, and alter our environments? How do historical and cultural differences inflect writing about nature?
Does the prospect of climate catastrophe impel writers to reimagine traditional genres? We’ll explore such
questions through a broad selection of poetry and lyrical prose, countering circ*mscribed notions of
environmental writing as a predominantly white or cis straight male realm and seeking to illuminate the vital
connections between environmentalism and social and racial justice.
Readings from the English pastoral tradition and its classical roots; Shakespeare, the Romantics, Gerard
Manley Hopkins; foundational American poets Dickinson and Whitman; and a broad selection of 20th- and
21st-century poets such as Robert Frost, Jean Toomer, Richard Wilbur, A.R. Ammons, W.S. Merwin, Audre
Lorde, Gary Snyder, Mary Oliver, Ed Roberson, Seamus Heaney, Lucille Clifton, Pattian Rogers, Louise Glück,
Jorie Graham, Carolyn Forché, Joy Harjo, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Forrest Gander, Claudia Rankine, Annie
Finch, dg nanouk okpik, Camille T. Dungy, Jennifer Chang, Ada Limón, and Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Prose by
Dorothy Wordsworth, Henry David Thoreau, Rachel Carson, Annie Dillard, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Lauret Savoy,
and Helen Macdonald.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hickey; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES100 Title: Introduction to Environmental Science & Systems
This course introduces environmental science through the lens of systems thinking. Given the staggering level
of complexity found around us, a powerful approach in science is to simplify complex systems into key
components that influence processes and provide predictive power. But how do we choose which factors to
focus on? How disconnected are causes and effects? Although not a laboratory course, students will actively
engage in data collection, analysis, and interpretation of systems ranging from energy in ecosystems to
environmental toxins and human health. (Note that students may enroll in either ES 100 or ES 101, but not
both.)
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken ES 101.; Instructor:
Davis; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living
Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ES101 Title: Fundamentals of Environmental Science with Laboratory
Environmental problems are some of the most complex issues that we face today, and addressing them
requires skills and knowledge from a variety of scientific and non-scientific disciplines. This course seeks to
provide the scientific foundation for approaching environmental problems. Using a systems-approach to
problem formulation and solving, we will investigate environmental issues including soil degradation, human
and natural energy flows, stratospheric ozone depletion, mercury pollution, and the conservation of
biodiversity. The combined studio and laboratory format offers diverse approaches for understanding,
applying, and constructing models to investigate the behavior of environmental systems as well as testing
hypotheses and drawing conclusions.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. Juniors and
Seniors may only enroll with permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken ES 100.;
Instructor: Griffith; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES101L Title: Laboratory: Fundamentals of Environmental Science
This course is a required co-requisite laboratory for ES 101.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. Juniors and
Seniors may only enroll with permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken ES 100.;
Instructor: Griffith; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES102 Title: Environment and Society: Addressing Climate Change
This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to Environmental Studies, with a focus on climate change.
Major concepts that will be examined include: the state of scientific research, the role of science, politics, and
economics in environmental decision-making, and the importance of history, ethics, and justice in approaching
climate change. The central aim of the course is to help students develop the interdisciplinary research skills
necessary to pose questions, investigate problems, and develop strategies that will help us address our
relationship to the environment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. Juniors and Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Davis, Turner; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ES111/GEOS101 Title: Earth Processes and the Environment with Laboratory
Geologic processes both rapid (earthquakes and landslides) and slow (mountain building and sea level rise)
are intimately linked with sustaining the diversity of life on the planet. This course examines processes linked
with the flow of energy and mass between the atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere. Laboratory exercises,
and field work provide authentic experiences to develop the skills needed to observe and model processes
shaping our environment. Problem solving during class time fosters critical thinking and classroom debates
between larger teams focus on research and communications skills by examining current issues in
geosciences such as building and removing dams, and the science surrounding global climate change.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken ASTR 120 or a
100-level GEOS course.; Instructor: Brabander; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ES125H/PEAC125H Title: The Climate Crisis and the Liberal Arts
The humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences are indispensable to understanding the climate
crisis. Drawing on perspectives from across the liberal arts, the course instructors will plumb the depths of the
climate crisis and imagine the possible ways of responding to it. What can the role of climate in human history
reveal about our uncertain future? How do social constructions, including race and gender, shape our
understanding of this problem? How have diverse cultures of the world related to nature and climate and how
can our own relationships to nature and climate inform our responses? Can the arts help us to reconceive the
crisis? How can the sciences help us assess and adapt to our future climate? Can we leverage psychological
processes to change individual attitudes toward the environment? By examining such questions, we aim for
deeper knowledge, both of the climate crisis and of the power of liberal arts education.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 80; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Banzaert, Brabander, Kulik-Johnson, Morari,
Shukla-Bhatt, Turner; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ES201/GEOS201 Title: Environmental, Health, and Sustainability Sciences with Laboratory
Problems in environmental, health, and sustainability sciences are inherently transdisciplinary and require a
diverse skill set to frame, analyze, and solve. This course will focus on developing a toolbox of skills including
systems level thinking, field and analytical methods, biogeochemical analysis (natural waters, soils, and other
environmental materials), and modeling with a goal of building a science-based foundation for the analysis of
complex issues at the interface between humans and the environment. Students will conduct semester-long
research projects and will present their results in a final poster session.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to students majoring in ES and GEOS, other
students by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Brabander; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES205/POL2255 Title: Africa and Environmental Politics
This course examines the intersection of politics and the environment in Africa. We will explore historical
contexts such as the environmental aftereffects of colonialism and highlight ‘wicked’ environmental problems
such as increased vulnerability to climate change. Using case examples from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa,
Congo, and Egypt, we will analyze issues such as the water politics of the Nile River, the role of women in
environmental movements, and the United Nations and other international organizations’ roles in addressing
environmental issues. Finally, students will have the opportunity to engage in ongoing debates in African
environmental politics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Gatonye; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES214/POL2214 Title: Social Causes and Consequences of Environmental Problems
This course focuses on the social science explanations for why environmental problems are created, the
impacts they have, the difficulties of addressing them, and the regulatory and other actions that succeed in
mitigating them. Topics include: externalities and the politics of unpriced costs and benefits; collective action
problems and interest-group theory; time horizons in decision-making; the politics of science, risk, and
uncertainty; comparative political structures; and cooperation theory. Also addressed are different strategies
for changing environmental behavior, including command and control measures, taxes, fees, and other market
instruments, and voluntary approaches. These will all be examined across multiple countries and levels of
governance.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ES 102 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: DeSombre;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ES220 Title: The Ecology of Humans: Environmental Limits and Conservation with Laboratory
Humans and their environment make up a complex and dynamic system. As with all ecological systems, key
components are the availability and use of resources and the interactions with other species - both of which
have important impacts on the nature and stability of the system itself. This course investigates these farreaching concepts by examining topics such as the broad implications of thermodynamics, energy and
material flows through human and natural systems, natural resource management, and the conservation of
resources and biodiversity. We will also explore the role of science and technology in surmounting previous
limits (e.g. energy use and agricultural yields), as well as the implications of inherent limits that may never be
broken. Laboratory work will focus on quantitative skills and modeling tools used to examine a range of
systems.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following - ES 100, ES 101, GEOS 101, GEOS 102,
BISC 108, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Griffith; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory; MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES229/REL229 Title: Sacred Earth
Every religious culture regards the earth as a site of sacrality, whether understood as the creation of the gods
and thus intrinsically sacred, or as an entity through and with which the sacred interacts. In our time of
escalating ecological disaster and runaway global heating, humans can claim these traditions as one way of
placing our human wreckage of the planet into a larger critical perspective than the scientific warnings,
corporate denials, and governmental temporizing that currently inform the environmental crisis. This course
will introduce students to ideas of the terrestrial sacred and how humans should relate to it from a range of
religious and spiritual traditions, including Native American, Biblical, Christian, Transcendentalist, and today’s
ecological thinkers. Together we will assess the value and applicability of these diverse approaches to sacred
earth for today’s ever more urgent crisis of global environmental disruption. No prior knowledge of or course
work in Religious Studies is required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: ES233/PHIL233 Title: Environmental Ethics
This course will train students to use philosophical methods to engage in rigorous investigation of ethical
issues concerning the environment. Topics may include animal rights, climate justice, the rights of ecological
refugees, obligations to future generations, and the ethics of environmental activism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: E. Matthes (Philosophy); Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ES234/PHIL234 Title: From Wilderness to Ruins
This course concerns a range of ethical and aesthetic questions about places, whether of natural or cultural
significance. How should we understand the value of nature? Is it relative to human interests, or independent
of them? What is nature in the first place, and how is it distinguished from culture? Is scientific or cultural
knowledge relevant to the aesthetic experience of nature? Does “natural beauty” have a role to play in guiding
environmental preservation? When we seek to preserve an ecosystem or a building, what exactly should we be
aiming to preserve? Should the history of a place guide our interactions with it? How should we navigate
conflicts between environmental and cultural preservation, especially as they intersect with issues of race and
class? How should a changing climate affect our environmental values? We will investigate these questions,
among others, in contexts from wilderness to parks, cities to ruins.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: E. Matthes; Distribution Requirements:
REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This
course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ES235/PHIL235 Title: Environmental Aesthetics
The world around us is rich with aesthetic qualities. It is beautiful, awesome, enchanting, and sublime. Places
have moods, vibes, atmospheres, and ambiances. How can we think rigorously and systematically about the
aesthetics of the natural and built environment? What role, if any, should aesthetics play in environmentalism,
environmental policy, and our relationship with the world we live in? This course will focus on contemporary
philosophical work that seeks to answer these questions. Themes may include the place of science,
imagination, history, and culture in aesthetic judgment, the role of aesthetics in conservation, and the
relationship between aesthetics and climate change.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Matthes; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ES250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ES250GH Title: Research or Group Study
The Environmental Studies program runs a weekly reading group on changing topics. Readings will be chosen
based on the interests of the participating students and faculty members. Students who enroll commit to
coming to each week's discussion, preparing a set of responses to the week's reading, and, in collaboration
with other group members, selecting some of the weekly topics and readings.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: ES250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ES251 Title: Future of Energy
Addressing climate change means transitioning to a clean energy future by 2050. This course adopts an
interdisciplinary approach to study the prospects for such a transition. What technologies can pave the way to
a clean energy future? What policies can hasten this transition and ensure it is advanced equitably? Can such
a transition help pull people around the world out of poverty? What policies are necessary to ensure that a
clean energy future also promotes energy democracy? Is there enough copper, lithium, and rare earth metals
to support such a transition? Could growing dependency on these resources precipitate future conflicts over
limited resources?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken ES 151H are not
allowed to take this course.; Instructor: Turner; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES299/HIST299 Title: U.S. Environmental History
This course examines the relationship between nature and society in American history. The course will
consider topics such as the decimation of the bison, the rise of Chicago, the history of natural disasters, and
the environmental consequences of war. There are three goals for this course: First, we will examine how
humans have interacted with nature over time and how nature, in turn, has shaped human society. Second, we
will examine how attitudes toward nature have differed among peoples, places, and times, and we will
consider how the meanings people give to nature inform their cultural and political activities. Third, we will
study how these historical forces have combined to shape the American landscape and the human and natural
communities to which it is home. While this course focuses on the past, an important goal is to understand the
ways in which history shapes how we understand and value the environment as we do today.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Turner; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Wendy
Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ES300 Title: Environmental Decision-making
An interdisciplinary seminar in which students work together in small groups to understand and develop
solutions for current environmental problems. Each year, we focus on a given environmental issue of concern
to our community, e.g., environmental implications of building design, energy use, or water quality. In
particular, we work to understand its scientific background, the political processes that lead to potential
solutions, and the ethical and environmental justice implications. Student-led research provides the bulk of the
information about the issue and its role in our local environment; lectures and readings provide supplementary
information about the local situation and the global context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: A declared major in environmental studies and completion of six
courses that count toward the ES major, or permission of the instructor. Open to Juniors and Seniors only.;
Instructor: DeSombre; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ES302/WGST302 Title: Global Health and the Environmental Crisis
Social understandings of the relationship between human health and the environment are visible and
malleable in moments of crisis, from industrial disasters, weather-related catastrophes, and political conflict, as
everyday events like childbirth and routine sickness. But these understandings vary dramatically across time
and community. This course addresses the complex dynamics at work in the representations of and
responses to health and the environment that emerge during moments of crisis. By studying the way these
constructions are shaped by social, political, technological, and moral contexts, we will analyze the role of
nature, knowledge, ethics and power in such contemporary problems as human migration, hunger, debility,
and disease. The class will together consider the meaning of crisis and how it is shaped by social systems
such as gender, sexuality, ability, class, and race.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors or Seniors or by permission of the
instructor. A 200 level WGST course is recommended.; Instructor: Harrison; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: ES306 Title: Global Environmental Activism
Environmental activism, from local to global, offers a viable and creative means to address environmental
injustice beyond traditional policy strategies. This class will critically examine the range of strategies deployed
by nonviolent grassroots environmental movements, drawing on lenses including global environmental justice,
intersectionality, and design justice. This course will examine these movements in relation to their geographic,
political, and cultural contexts. Case studies will be chosen based on student interests. Potential case studies
include the Green Belt Movement, Greenpeace, Earth First!, Movement for Survival of the Ogoni People, World
Rainforest Movement, the Chipko Movement, and Bahamas Plastic Movement. Students in this course will
develop a theoretical understanding of environmental activist strategies, a comparative framework for
analyzing activist campaigns, and an understanding of the political ecology of specific campaigns and the
environmental justice issues they aim to resolve. Student work will culminate with the design of an activist
campaign.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ES course, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Hassey; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES308/PHIL308 Title: Seminar: Environmental Aesthetics
The world around us is rich with aesthetic qualities. It is beautiful, awesome, enchanting, and sublime. Places
have moods, vibes, atmospheres, and ambiances. How can we think rigorously and systematically about the
aesthetics of the natural and built environment? What role, if any, should aesthetics play in environmentalism,
environmental policy, and our relationship with the world we live in? This course will focus on contemporary
philosophical work that seeks to answer these questions. Themes may include the place of science,
imagination, history, and culture in aesthetic judgment, the role of aesthetics in conservation, and the
relationship between aesthetics and climate change.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open to Majors and Minors in Philosophy and Environmental
Studies, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: E. Matthes; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion,
Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ES312/POL2312 Title: Environmental Policy Research Seminar
Focuses both on how to make and how to study environmental policy. Examines issues essential in
understanding how environmental policy works and explores these topics in depth through case studies of
current environmental policy issues. Students will also undertake an original research project and work in
groups on influencing or creating local environmental policy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Either ES 214 or a 200-level course in political science.
Permission of the instructor required.; Instructor: DeSombre; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking
Intensive Course.;
Course ID: ES325/POL3325 Title: International Environmental Law
For international environmental problems, widespread international cooperation is both important and quite
difficult. Under what conditions have states been able to cooperate to solve international environmental
problems? Most international efforts to address environmental problems involve international law-how does
such law function? What types of issues can international environmental law address and what types can it
not? This course addresses aspects of international environmental politics as a whole, with particular attention
to the international legal structures used to deal with these environmental problems. Each student will
additionally become an expert on one international environmental treaty to be researched throughout the
course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ES 214/POL2 214 or POL3 221 or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: DeSombre; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES328/WGST328 Title: Seminar: Naturecultures: Feminist Futures & Environmental Justice
The stories we tell about the world make certain futures possible, while foreclosing other imaginable ones. This
course reveals how Western historical, theoretical, and scientific ways of knowing understood both women
and nature as inferior and thus needing to be controlled. Pushing back against the ideas of any inherent binary
separations between sex/gender and nature/culture, we will examine feminist ecological possibilities for
planetary futures. Learning from the intertwined histories of environment, race, and gender, that have led to
both personal and global inequity and disaster, we will also engage solutions that imagine different futures.
Recognizing that solutions to environmental problems require a feminist attunement, we can start to
understand the implications that our ethical commitments have to the future of life on the planet.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any WGST 200-level course or ES-200-level course. Juniors and
Seniors only. ; Instructor: Subramaniam; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES331/FREN331 Title: Seminar: Between Nature and Culture: Francophone Caribbean Literature
and the Environment
The lushness of the mangroves, the flora and fauna of tropical landscapes, the intricacy of the rhizome, the
flow of great rivers, the crashing waves of the Atlantic, the heights of mountainous lands, and expanse of the
plateau—the natural world is an important site of Caribbean art in general and, more specifically, the
francophone Caribbean novel of the 20th and 21st centuries. Applying eco-criticism to the field of francophone
Caribbean literature, the goal of this class is to examine the ways that fiction explores the relationship between
human activity and the environment. How does the novel inhabit Caribbean ecologies and topographies? How
does it represent nature? In what ways do Caribbean texts meditate on nature and culture together or against
one another? As the earthquake in Haiti demonstrated in 2010 with calamitous force, and the cycles of
Caribbean hurricanes have shown over the years, natural disaster is also a political crisis. In view of this, we
will also consider the legacies of slavery and colonialism in terms of class, gender and race politics. This
investigation of the dynamics of natural and cultural phenomena will also have a theoretical frame rooted in
critical texts of Caribbean literary and political movements such as Indigénisme, Négritude, Antillanité, and
Créolité.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: FREN 210 or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN 213 or
above.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ES343/WGST343 Title: Seminar: Feminist Critical Animal Studies: Humans and Horses
Equine cultural studies has become one of the most exciting fields to emerge out of Critical Animal Studies for
how it looks at the intersection of humans and horses across histories, cultures, and the humanities. This
seminar will provide an introduction to Equine Cultural Studies through the lens of feminist studies in its focus
on the boundaries between horses and humans. Some of the questions we explore include: Did Anna
Sewell’s Black Beauty (1877) inspire the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention Against Cruelty to Animals
as well as the backlash against Victorian women’s corsets? Is there a feminist way to ride a horse? How does
feminist thought offer a unique interrogation of race, flesh, and femaleness that sheds new light on equine
studies? How has the horse been an integral partner in therapeutic healing in both Native and Indigenous
communities as well as in non-Native communities?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. At least one course in either WGST or
ES or ANTH 240 is recommended. This course is intended for juniors and seniors.; Instructor: Creef;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to Juniors and Seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ES350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ES355 Title: Thesis Research
The first course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research project, culminating in the preparation
of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Environmental Studies
department. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with thesis research (365) in the second
semester. This route does not lead to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ES360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
The first course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research project, culminating in the preparation
of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Environmental Studies
department. This route leads to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ES365 Title: Thesis
The second course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research project, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Environmental Studies
department. This route does not lead to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ES370 Title: Senior Thesis
The second course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research project, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Environmental Studies
department. This route leads to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ES 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: ES381/POL1381 Title: U.S. Environmental Politics
This course examines the politics of environmental issues in the United States. The course has two primary
goals: First, to introduce students to the institutions, stakeholders, and political processes important to
debates over environmental policy at the federal level. Second, to develop and practice skills of analyzing and
making decisions relevant to environmental politics and policy. Drawing on the literature of environmental
politics and policy, this course will consider how environmental issues are framed in political discourse, various
approaches to environmental advocacy and reform, and the contested role of science in environmental
politics. The course will be organized around environmental case studies, including endangered species
conservation, public lands management, air and water pollution, and toxics regulation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: A 200-level ES course or POL1 200 or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Turner; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES395/POL2398 Title: Seminar: Migration and the Environment
This course will delve into the complex interrelationship between migration and the environment. We will
examine how environmental changes influence migration patterns and, conversely, how migration contributes
to environmental changes. Through a combination of theoretical discourse and real-world case studies,
participants will develop critical thinking abilities and the capability to propose sustainable solutions for
pressing issues at the intersection of migration and the environment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ES 214 or POL3 221.; Instructor: Ssekajja; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ES399 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Environmental Synthesis and Communication
Tax carbon? Label genetically modified crops? Ban endocrine disruptors? In this course, an interdisciplinary
capstone experience for the ES major, we will engage with such questions and related environmental
sustainability issues as public writers. Students will choose one environmental issue, which will be the focus of
their environmental “beat” during the semester. They will draw on an interdisciplinary toolset from
environmental studies to analyze and communicate the scientific, economic, political, and ethical dimensions
of pressing policy issues. Students will conduct independent research to produce weekly articles, such as opeds, blog posts, press releases, book reviews, policy memos, and interviews with environmental professionals.
Class sessions will be organized as writing workshops focused on the interdisciplinary analysis and content of
student work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: A declared major in environmental studies and completion of six
courses that count toward the ES major, or permission of the instructor. Open to Juniors and Seniors only.;
Instructor: Turner; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Extradepartmental
EXTD Courses
Course ID: EXTD100H Title: Building Intercultural Competence: An Introduction
This seminar is the beginning, or perhaps a continuation, of a life long journey. You will be learning about
yourself, about other students in the class, and about interacting with people in the U.S. and in other parts of
the world. Classes will consist of a presentation of theories or ideas, as well as group discussion and
exercises, to put these theories into practice in real life applications and situations. Self-reflection, experiential
learning, and active participation are integral for this process. Cross-cultural studies can be challenging
emotionally as well as intellectually but you will be expected to try new ideas, experiment with new behaviors,
and learn from your fellow students. You can use the knowledge and skills you gain from this course to
enhance your interactions with others outside of the classroom, and in your daily life.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Maturana Sendoya (Associate Dean of Students for Inclusion and
Engagement); Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: EXTD123 Title: Water Resources Planning and Management
A comprehensive introduction to the economics and ecology of water supply and water pollution control.
Topics include watershed management, groundwater and wetlands protection, and wastewater treatment. The
inherent difficulty in applying static laws and regulations to a dynamic natural resource such as water is a
recurring theme. Offered by the Marine Studies Consortium.
Further details about the course, including past syllabi can be found under the Courses tab at
https://www.marinestudiesconsortium.org/
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Interested students can self-register. Any questions about the
course can be directed to MSC Liaison Becca Selden. The course will be taught remotely.; Instructor: Staff;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EXTD128 Title: Coastal Zone Management & Policy
This course presents a survey of the coastal environment and its physical characteristics, natural systems,
economic uses, and development pressures. Lectures examine strategies formulated in the United States for
land and water-resource management in the coastal zone. The roles of federal, state, and local governments,
environmental groups, and resource users are also explored. Finally, by comparing coastal-zone management
problems in the United States to those elsewhere in the world, students gain a global perspective. Offered by
the Marine Studies Consortium.
Further details about the course, including past syllabi can be found under the Courses tab at
https://www.marinestudiesconsortium.org/
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 5; Prerequisites: Interested students can self-register. Any questions about the
course can be directed to MSC Liaison Becca Selden. The course will be taught remotely.; Instructor: Staff;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: EXTD225 Title: Biology of Fishes
This upper-level survey course covers the evolution, systematics, anatomy, physiology, and behavior of
freshwater, marine, and anadromous fishes from temperate to tropical environments. The course also
examines the diversity of fish interactions in aquatic communities: predator/prey relationships, host/symbiont
interactions, and the various roles of fishes as herbivores. Study of inter- and intra-specific predator-prey
relationships among fish populations in aquatic communities integrates principles of ecology. Offered by the
Marine Studies Consortium.
Further details about the course, including past syllabi can be found under the Courses tab at
https://www.marinestudiesconsortium.org/
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 5; Prerequisites: One year of general biology and two upper-level biology courses.
Open to students by permission of the consortium representative, Becca Selden, Department of Biological
Sciences. The course will take place at the New England Aquarium.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: EXTD226 Title: Biology of Whales
This upper-level course examines the biology and conservation of cetaceans: whales, dolphins, and
porpoises. Topics include physiology, population biology, life history analysis, molecular genetics,
morphology, distributional ecology, and social behavior. Early lectures focus on the biology of cetaceans and
how they are adapted to the marine environment. Subsequent lectures use case studies to review how
biological principles can be applied to the conservation of a wide range of cetacean species. Offered by the
Marine Studies Consortium.
Further details about the course, including past syllabi can be found under the Courses tab at
https://www.marinestudiesconsortium.org/
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 5; Prerequisites: One year of general biology and two upper-level biology courses.
Open to students by permission of the consortium representative, Becca Selden, Department of Biological
Sciences.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
First-Year Seminars
First-Year Seminar Program
The First-Year Seminar Program offers courses across a wide range of disciplines and topics. Enrollment is
limited to a small number of first-year students. The seminars emphasize active, collaborative, and creative
learning. Courses may fulfill specific distribution and/or major requirements.
Goals for the First-Year Seminar Program
1. Shape student expectations of the values, rigor, aspirations, and rewards of the intellectual enterprise
practiced in a vibrant and supportive academic community.
2. Foster skills and habits of mind essential for intellectual inquiry.
3. Build a sense of intellectual and social community among students from diverse backgrounds in a
cooperative and collaborative learning environment.
4. Create opportunities early in a student’s college career for close interaction with faculty and for the
individualized instruction typical of a liberal arts education.
5. Demonstrate how knowledge is constructed in a particular field.
FYS Courses
Course ID: AMST102Y/EDUC102Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Lessons of Childhood: Representations of
Difference in Children's Media
From Disney films to Nickelodeon cartoons to Newberry award-winning texts, popular children's media offers
us the opportunity to analyze how complex issues of identity are represented in cultural productions aimed at a
young audience. This course takes as a site of analysis media aimed at children to investigate the lessons
imparted and ideologies circulate in popular films and books. How is class drawn in Lady and the Tramp?
What are politics of language at play in Moana? What are the sounds of masculinity in Beauty and the Beast?
How does Mulan construct gender, race, and militarism? Using an intersectional frame of analysis, we will
trace popular tropes, identify images of resistance, and map out the more popular messages children receive
about difference in our world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Mata; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course. Registration in this section is
restricted to students selected for the Wellesley Plus Program. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ARTH110Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Michelangelo: Artist and Myth
This first-year seminar examines the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti (1474-1564). Although
he is best known as a sculptor and painter, Michelangelo was also a poet, architect, civil engineer, and
diplomat driven by complex artistic, religious, political, and economic motivations. His long career provides a
framework for understanding the Italian Renaissance, and the mythology surrounding that career provides
insight into changing perceptions of the artist and the individual during that time. We will focus on works of art
and contemporary texts, as well as real or virtual visits to Wellesley’s Special Collections, Papermaking Studio,
and Book Arts Lab, as well as Harvard's Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments and the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Musacchio;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: FYS - First
Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC112Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Exploration of Cellular and Molecular Biology with Laboratory
Seminar-style introduction to life at the cellular and molecular level, designed as an alternative to BISC 110 for
students with strong high school preparation (such as AP, IB, or other). The course will include eukaryotic and
prokaryotic cell structure, function of biological macromolecules, molecular genetics, cellular metabolism,
molecular genetics, and mechanisms of growth and differentiation, with an emphasis on experimental
approaches to investigating these topics. This course will aim to develop students' skills in data analysis and
scientific writing along with building foundational knowledge in the field. Lab sections are shared with BISC
110. This course differs from BISC 110 in its small class size and discussion-based format; it meets for one
discussion and one lab session per week. One year of high school chemistry or equivalent is strongly
recommended. BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116; or BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113,
or BISC 113Y may be taken first. Students must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the
course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open to First-Year students only. Biology AP score of 4 or 5/IB HL
Biology score of 6 or 7, or permission of the instructor. Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken
BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112 or BISC 116.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Other Categories: FYS - First Year
Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: BISC113Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Exploration of Organismal Biology with Laboratory
An exploration of the central questions, concepts, and methods of experimental analysis in selected areas of
organismal biology, designed as an alternative to BISC 111 for students with strong high school preparation
(such as AP, IB, or other). Topics include: the evolution and diversification of life, the form and function of
plants and animals, and ecological interactions among organisms, with an emphasis on laboratory methods,
data analysis, and science writing. Lab sections are shared with BISC 111. This course differs from BISC 111 in
its smaller class size, a seminar-style format, and a focus on discussion of landmark scientific studies that
shape this field; it meets for one discussion and one lab session per week. Either BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC
112, BISC 112Y, or BISC 116; or BISC 111, BISC 111T, BISC 113, or BISC 113Y may be taken first. Students
must attend lab during the first week in order to continue in the course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open to First-Year students only. Biology AP score of 4 or 5, or IB
HL Biology score of 6 or 7, or permission of the instructor. Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken
BISC 111, BISC 111T, or BISC 113.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CAMS107Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Is Technology Evil? Social Value and New Media Design
In an age of algorithmic automation, mass surveillance, and the commodification of social relations, this course
asks the question: is technology evil? Using that provocation as a means to investigate the design, use, and
economics of social media and other digital objects, we will read a mix of academic and popular texts that treat
new media as a problem—not as an unqualified ill, but as something to be carefully considered in all of its
immense power and pervasiveness in everyday life. Through an introduction to the methodologies of visual
analysis, and close reading, we will think critically about the role of mass media in the production of
consuming subjects, of the representations of race, gender and sexuality in new media, and the nature and
role of aesthetics and design in contemporary life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: N. Gutierrez;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: FYS - First
Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV110Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Archaeology and Artifacts: Greek and Roman Cultures on
Display
This first-year seminar examines the past through direct engagement with objects from ancient Greek and
Roman cultures. Working with a diverse collection of artifacts—including pottery, coins, and figurines—
students will learn about the societies of the ancient Mediterranean as well as methods of artifact analysis and
theories of material culture studies. We will explore the history of the objects now at Wellesley, with attention to
ethical and legal aspects of collecting antiquities. We will also consider the presentation of ancient objects as
art and artifact in various local museum settings. Students will work collaboratively to design an exhibition of
select pieces.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Burns; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; HS - Historical Studies; Other Categories: FYS - First
Year Seminar; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT112Y/REL112Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Monsters
An introduction to the history and concepts of monsters and monstrosity. We will apply readings in literary and
cultural theory to case studies drawn from biblical literature and iconography from the ancient Middle East and
Mediterranean myths and cosmologies, Victorian-era gothic novels, and contemporary popular culture to
study monstrous beings from the earliest examples until the present. We will center questions concerning the
human creation (and fear) of monstrous beings, the cultural specificity of terror, the social significance of
monsters, and how the history of monsters informs, and has been informed by, the ancient world. No previous
knowledge of the Bible, literature, or monsters is required or presumed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories:
FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Every four years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: EDUC116Y Title: First-Year Seminar: From Abbott Elementary to Waiting for Superman:
Representing School and Society on the Big Screen
Schools have historically been a point of public fascination. Consequently, societal debates on inequality,
pluralism, and social movements have played out in the TV- and film-inspired hallways and classrooms of K-12
schools. What do these popular portrayals of school and society teach us about our societal values and the
role of public education in a pluralistic society? How does Abbott Elementary reinforce and challenge our
conceptions of under-resourced urban schools? How does saviorhood lie at the root of teacher heroism in
Dangerous Minds? What do documentary films like The Lottery teach us about education policies related to
school choice and charter schools? In this course, we will integrate an analysis of popular media
representations of education with examinations of education policy, research, and practice to delve into some
of the long-running debates about schools and society.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Only open to First-Years who are part of the Wellesley Plus
program.; Instructor: Hong; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other
Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: ENG150Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Creating Memory
Participants in this seminar will delve into the workings of memory--a term that encompasses several different
kinds of remembering and recollecting. What makes something memorable? Can we choose or shape what
we remember? Does memory constitute identity? How has technology altered what and how we remember?
As we ponder such questions, our primary focus will be on literature (including Shakespeare, Wordsworth,
Proust, Woolf, Borges, Nabokov, and Toni Morrison). We'll also draw on philosophy, psychology, and
cognitive science and explore creative arts such as drawing, photography, painting, sculpture, book arts, film,
and music. Students will write in several genres--creative, critical, and reflective-and experiment with different
ways of collecting, curating, and presenting memories in media of their choice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Hickey; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: HIST114Y Title: First-Year Seminar: American Hauntings
The American past is crowded with ghosts. In this seminar, we will trace the evolution of supernatural belief in
America and analyze some of its most famous ghost stories. What about the nation’s history makes it such
fertile terrain for ghosts? What happens when the dead refuse to stay in the past, relegated to history? Why, in
short, is the American historical imagination so haunted? We’ll dig deeply into selected hauntings, drawn from
across historical North America, and encounter the spirits of French Detroit, the Gettysburg battlefield, and
colonial Jamaica, among others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST116Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Vladimir Putin: Personage, President, Potentate
With Russian military forces surging through Ukraine in an unprovoked and catastrophic war that few in Russia
or the West had predicted, as President Vladimir Putin threatens the annihilation of Ukraine’s statehood and
the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons, now is the time to plunge into a study of that authoritarian leader
of the world’s largest country. What are the causes and consequences of this catastrophic conflict? How did
Putin accumulate so much power? What have been his goals, values and operating principles? A product of
Leningrad’s “mean streets,” the young Putin sought glory in the KGB, and after the demise of the Soviet Union
—a collapse he rues to this day—moved into the heights of power. We will explore Vladimir Putin’s life path,
political strategies and policies, ideas about Russia’s identity and place in the world, and his image as the
epitome of both potent masculinity and the devil incarnate. We will also delve into Russian politics and society
in the era of this enigmatic, potent, and murderous leader.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Tumarkin; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: ITAS104Y Title: First-Year Seminar: The Cities of Italy: An Introduction to Italian Culture (in English)
This seminar is dedicated to the representation of Italian cities in Italian literature, art, and cinema from the
Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. By presenting cities as spatial narratives, we will introduce students to
some of the most important moments in Italian history and will invite them to examine the representation of
urban landscape as a privileged vantage point to understand Italian culture. The seminar is designed to
introduce students to the field of Italian Studies and to provide them with a solid background in Italian history
and culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Parussa; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: MATH124Y Title: First Year Seminar: Discrete Mathematics
This course is a first-year seminar for students in the Wellesley Plus program. It will introduce students to
important basic mathematical concepts as set theory, proof techniques, propositional and predicate calculus,
graph theory, combinatorics, probability, and recursion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: S. Chang; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MATH201Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Euler
This seminar surveys the work of Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), one of the most influential and prolific
mathematicians of all time. It is geared toward students who would like a broad overview of what advanced
mathematics (beyond calculus) is about, and how it got that way. Topics are drawn from a wide range of areas
in pure and applied mathematics, such as algebra, number theory, analysis, and geometry. Highlights include
the Basel problem, complex exponentials, the calculus of variations, the Euler line, and the bridges of
Königsberg. The seminar is discussion-based: students retrace Euler's steps by making definitions, proposing
conjectures, generating examples, and crafting and critiquing proofs, ever attentive to the balance between
intuitive ingenuity and rigorous argument.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: MATH207Y Title: First Year Seminar: Knots, Molecules, and the Universe
What can we know about the shape of the universe? When is a molecule left- or right-handed and what does
that mean? How can an inhabitant of a one- or two- or three-dimensional universe figure out the shape
(geometry and topology) of their universe? This course provides an elementary introduction to mathematical
topology (sometimes described as rubber-sheet geometry), and the tools to address questions such as
these. In this context, the notions of knot invariants and geodesics (shortest paths) arise, and students learn
how to use these tools to classify knots, and to classify all closed surfaces. Applications of topology and
geometry to chemistry and molecular biology will be discussed.
Students will learn about fundamental topological and geometric ideas and develop their visual intuition, which
can provide a valuable framework for MATH 302 and MATH 307.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 116 or the equivalent. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor:
Kerr; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other Categories: FYS First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH223Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Number Theory
Number theory is the study of the most basic mathematical objects: the natural numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). It
begins by investigating simple patterns: for instance, which numbers can be written as sums of two squares?
Do the primes go on forever? How can we be sure? The patterns and structures that emerge from studying the
properties of numbers are so elegant, complex, and important that number theory has been called "the Queen
of Mathematics." Once studied only for its intrinsic beauty, number theory has practical applications in
cryptography and computer science. Topics include the Euclidean algorithm, modular arithmetic, Fermat's and
Euler's Theorems, public-key cryptography, quadratic reciprocity. MATH 223 has a focus on learning to
understand and write mathematical proofs; it can serve as valuable preparation for MATH 305.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Lange; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MUS105Y Title: First Year Seminar: The Inner-Workings of Pop and World Music: Listening to
Rhythm and Form
One of the most fundamental ways that music moves us is through rhythm and the emotional highs and lows
of musical form. This first year seminar will focus on the musical materials that aid in critically analyzing
popular music and world music: rhythm and song form. In this seminar, students will hone their ability to hear
the structures that make up the music in our daily lives through group discussion, guided listening journals,
and practice with analysis. The semester will culminate in an analysis of a listening experience, such as an
album, playlist, DJ set, or concert. Students need no prior experience with formal musical training: they need
only to have the means to listen to music in private.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Goldschmitt;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: FYS - First
Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: NEUR125Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Brains, Minds, and Machines: Intelligence and
Consciousness
How is intelligent behavior produced by the brain and how can it be replicated in machines? What role, if any,
does our conscious experience play in producing intelligent behavior? This seminar explores human
intelligence through the perspectives of neuroscience, cognitive science, and computer science, integrating
studies of the brain, the mind, and the computations needed to create intelligent machines. This
interdisciplinary approach has accelerated the pace of research aimed at understanding how intelligent agents
use vision to recognize objects and events; navigate through a complex, dynamic environment; use language
to communicate; and develop a conscious awareness of the world. Through exploration of current research
and hands-on computer activities, students will learn about methods used to probe neural circuits and
visualize brain activity; investigate human performance and behavior; and build computer models that capture
the remarkable abilities of biological systems.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Wiest; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PEAC119Y/REL119Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Yasukuni Shinto Shrine
Discussion based seminar deals with Japan both as a victim and as a victimizer during and in the aftermath of
the World War II. It probes what drove Japan to aspire toward world domination; how the "ultimate bomb to
end all wars" was used twice on Japan in August 1945; and how the Japanese "war criminals" are enshrined
today at Yasukuni as "divine beings"; and how Yasukuni Shinto Shrine remains a major barrier in establishing
peace between Japan and its Asian neighbors. The seminar is intended for students interested in the
comparative and historical study of religion, Peace and Justice Studies, and East Asian Studies.
Requirements: active participation in discussion, joint paper writing and presentation; no exams.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories:
FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL106Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Introduction to Moral Philosophy
This course is an introduction to moral philosophy. Our discussion will be split between normative ethics,
applied ethics, and metaethics. When we talk about normative ethics we talk about moral values and ideals in
an effort to guide human behavior. When we talk about applied ethics, we want to identify the particular values,
rights, duties, and assumptions that are in play in a specific kind of situation, like: “Should we eat animals?” or
“Is watching football immoral?” When we talk about metaethics, we engage with the question of whether
“right” and “wrong” exist and whether “right” and “wrong” are the same for everyone, at all times, everywhere.
This course will engage these topics across three themes: (1) Autonomy, Personhood, and Freedom; (2)
Values and Relativism; (3) Justice and Oppression.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Walsh; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL108Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Friendship
This seminar undertakes a philosophical examination of the nature and value of friendship. Two questions will
animate the course: What is a friend? And, why are friends valuable? Drawing examples from literature and
films, we will examine different types of friendships and the features that characterize and sustain them. Many
philosophers have argued that the best kind of friendship is one in which the friend is loved for her own sake;
we will consider whether this is truly possible or whether all friendships are ultimately instrumental. We'll also
examine how the partiality inherent in friendship conflicts with the demands of standard moral theories. Finally,
we will compare the love that characterizes friendship with the feelings that sustain relationships with parents,
children, and lovers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Gartner; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Registration in this
section is restricted to students selected for the Wellesley Plus Program. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: REL111Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Jesus of Nazareth: Fact, Faith, Fiction, and Film
This introductory course focuses on Jesus of Nazareth. We will study key texts within the Jewish and Christian
Bibles, examining not only their composition in the context of empire and diasporic Judaism in the ancient
world, but also how they are still used to debate contemporary ethical and political actions. We will consider 1)
biblical texts in their historical context and their earliest interpretations; 2) recent trends in Jesus studies,
including feminist, queer, and postcolonial interpretation; Black Jesus; and contemporary popular culture; 3)
Jesus in global, pluralistic, and multi-religious contexts.
Visits to the Wellesley Davis Museum and the Harvard Art and Near Eastern Museums are planned.
All persons and perspectives are welcome in this class. Previous knowledge or personal experience with the
Bible or religious traditions is neither presumed nor necessary.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; HS - Historical Studies; Other Categories: FYS First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: THST106Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Speaking Truth to Power
This course will introduce students to the art of developing personal narrative as a means to creating a viable
piece of theatre. Through guided writing exercises and exposure to the works of Nora Ephron, Billie Holiday,
and Susanna Kaysen, and others, students will explore the intricacies of their own and their family histories.
Based on the techniques that have produced numerous original plays here at Wellesley, the weekly exercises
will be centered around various aspects of life such as race, gender, class, body image, and personal history.
Students will hear and critique each other weekly while preparing for a final evening of “stories” to be offered
to the public at the end of the semester. The class will also focus on the final composition of the evening, and
the journey each student makes to bring it to fruition. Emphasis is on the development and refinement of the
dramatic content while building confidence for even the least experienced student.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Roach; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
French & Francophone Studies
The French language gave me an entrée into another culture. It allowed me to discover different means
ofexpression, a different way of life, different values, a different system of thought. Because when you’re a
judge and you spend your whole day in front of a computer screen, it’s important to be able to imagine what
other people’s lives might be like, lives that your decisions will affect.
—U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
Courses in the French & Francophone Department target fluency in the language of France and Frenchspeaking countries and open doors to cultures that are rich in tradition and have pivotal roles to play in a
rapidly diversifying Europe and a rapidly contracting world. With few exceptions, our courses, elementary to
advanced, are taught in French. The subjects we teach in literature and culture span ten centuries, from the
Middle Ages to the present. In addition to covering a broad cultural range, our courses are designed to help
students develop anumber of critical life skills—linguistic, analytical, interpretive, expressive, creative.
Why French? Because French affords access to cultures—both historic and modern—that are vital and that
offer a fresh perspective on our own time and culture. Becoming a sensitive observer of a French-speaking
culture means learning to understand and respect its unique set of values, and, by extension, to embrace
many different kinds of otherness. A student who has mastered French well enough to enter sympathetically
into cultures different from her own has learned to push beyond what currently exists and to express herself in
a new way. She is likely to be more complexly understanding, more subtly perceptive, more keenly
articulate,more expansively communicative, a better collaborator and a better listener than a classmate who
has not. To move freely and securely among multiple frames of cultural reference, to inhabit the alternate
personae that come with mastery of another tongue, to have the sounds and songs and idioms of French in
one's head—these are all deep intellectual pleasures. They are also highly useful tools in the real world. As the
above quote from Justice Stephen Breyer points out, the ability to project oneself into the attitudes and
expectations of others, to step into their shoes and see reality from their standpoint as well as from your own,
is an extraordinarily valuable skill in today’s world—in diplomacy, business and politics, and, of course, in
human relations.
Beginning in our language courses, students work with materials from different parts of the world and from
historical periods that range from the medieval to the contemporary, in a variety of genres and media. They
acquire skill as well in a number of different approaches to reading and analyzing texts: historical, sociological,
psychological, and literary—including the perspectives of race and gender. Students who graduate from our
program have gone on to further study in areas as diverse as the law, medicine, international relations,
museum science, art and art history, English, French, and Middle Eastern Studies, as well as to careers in
publishing and on Wall Street and Madison Avenue. Graduates who are professionals in industries from tech
to finance to media routinely report that their skills in French are a significant asset in their careers.
Our courses prepare students for study abroad programs in France and in French-speaking countries, among
them Senegal and Morocco. The French department’s Wellesley-in-Aix program offers courses in a variety of
fields in humanities and the social sciences, and courses in political science and international relations through
our collaboration with the Institut des Sciences Politiques (Sciences Po).
French & Francophone Studies Department Information
The French Department offers two majors, one in French and one in French Cultural Studies. A description of
the major in French Cultural Studies and directions for election appear at the end of the French curriculum.
Students who begin with FREN 101-FREN 102 in college and who plan to study abroad should consult the
chair of the department during the second semester of their first year.
The numbering of certain 200-level courses does not denote increasing levels of difficulty; FREN 206 through
FREN 209 may be taken in any sequence and 200-level courses above FREN 209 may also be taken in any
sequence. Students planning to major in French will need to take FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212, which
develop skills in literary analysis and writing in preparation for the major; they should complete one of the three
courses as early as possible, after consultation with a member of the French Department to determine which
course best suits their needs and interests. Students planning to study abroad will need to take at least one
class at the upper-200 level (210 or higher).
French Major
Goals for the French Major
Students will achieve skill in speaking, writing, reading, and understanding French at the advanced
level, as detailed in the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.
Students will know enough important French literary and cultural works to identify the major themes in
French literary and cultural history.
Students will learn to recognize and construct well-formed arguments about literary texts, cultural
artifacts, and historical events that rely on clear writing and in-depth understanding of both primary and
secondary sources.
Students will learn to grasp the complexity of cultural differences. They will know how to spot clichés
and avoid using them in thinking about France and the Francophone world in particular, and other
cultures in general. As global citizens, they will come to value tolerance, appreciate diversity, and be
prepared to face the challenges and reap the benefits of living in an increasingly interconnected world.
Requirements for the French Major
The major in French requires a minimum of nine semester courses above FREN 201, one of which may be a
course taught in English in the French Department, and one of which must be FREN 210, FREN 211 or FREN
212. The major in French requires at least two 300-level courses taught in French, one of which must be during
the student's senior year.
FREN 101, FREN 102, and FREN 201 count toward the degree but not toward the French major.
FREN 350, FREN 360 and FREN 370 do not count toward the minimum requirement of two 300-level courses
for the major. No more than two courses taken Credit/Non Credit at Wellesley College may be applied to the
French major. Students planning to major in French should consult with the chair of the French department.
Honors in French
The department offers two options for the achievement of honors in French: Under Option A, students write a
thesis and pass an oral exam. Candidates must complete a 300-level course or its equivalent before the fall of
senior year. In addition, a 300-level course is to be taken concurrently with FREN 360-FREN 370. Under Option
B, students prepare for a written examination based on a reading list devised by the student with the guidance
of an advisor. Candidates must be recommended by two professors in the department, and must complete a
300-level course or its equivalent before the fall of senior year. Option B carries no course credit, but
candidates may elect a unit of FREN 350 in the fall of senior year as part of their preparation for the
examination. To be admitted to either program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all
work in the major field above the 100-level; the department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is
between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions at the beginning of this catalog.
Graduate Study in French
Students planning graduate work in French or comparative literature are encouraged to write an honors thesis
and study a second modern language and/or Latin.
Teacher Certification in French
Students interested in obtaining certification to teach French in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should
consult the chair of the education department.
Satisfying the Language Requirement in French
Refer to the Wellesley College degree requirement definitions in the Student Handbook to find out how to
satisfy the Foreign Language requirement.
All incoming students who have taken French are required to take the placement test prior to registering for
courses in the Department of French and Francophone Studies. Any student who takes a language course at
another institution and would like college credit must obtain permission in advance and take the French
placement test upon her return to verify she has attained the required level.
International Study
Since international study enriches academic learning with real-time experience, all students of French, majors
and non-majors alike, are strongly encouraged to spend a year or semester abroad in France or a
Francophone country. Wellesley-in-Aix, the college's own international study program in Provence, is the ideal
choice; other programs may be approved upon application to the International Study Committee. The French
department has funds to support a limited number of summer internships in France or Francophone countries,
through the Wellesley-in-Aix program. The department encourages those students who cannot spend a
semester abroad to participate in the department's Wintersession course in Paris.
Maison Française
Qualified students are encouraged to live at the Maison Française, a French-speaking residence and cultural
center for the Wellesley College community. It houses 14 students and two French assistants from AixMarseille University. The Maison Française is a place where majors and non-majors who have demonstrated a
significant competence in French live and can exchange ideas and experiences. During the academic year, the
Maison Française organizes seminars, talks, and colloquia that all students interested in French are
encouraged to attend.
French Cultural Studies
The French department's interdepartmental major in French Cultural Studies intended for students whose
interests in the French and Francophone world are primarily cultural and historical. Interested students are
directed to the description of the major and its directions for election, which appear at the end of the French
curriculum.
French Minor
Requirements for the French Minor
The minor requires a minimum of five courses above FREN 201, including one 300-level course. No more
than one course taken credit/noncredit at Wellesley College may be applied to the minor.
FREN Courses
Course ID: AMST231/FREN231 Title: Americans in Paris: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the City of Light (in
English)
For more than two hundred years, the experiences of Americans in Paris have exerted an outsized influence on
American, French, and global culture. These transnational encounters have included writers and artists as well
as diplomats, students, filmmakers, jazz musicians, bohemians and tourists. Drawing on a variety of historical
and literary documents, among them novels and essays, along with films and music, we will trace the history
of American encounters with Paris from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Through our study,
Paris emerges as a long-running site of complex cultural encounters, a creative and dynamic metropolis with
special significance to many different groups, among them, African Americans, women, and queer people,
who have made this city a hotbed of intellectual innovation and social change.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. ; Instructor: Datta, P. Fisher; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT222/FREN236 Title: Understanding Colonialism and Its Legacies: Immigrant Experience in
Paris
This course begins with a brief history of European colonization and includes a unit on French expansion as it
relates to immigrant communities in Paris. Next, the class will cultivate a broad sense of the period of
independences, decolonization, and the formation of new nations as a period in world history, once again
contextualizing the different waves of immigration to the city of Paris. Students will use Parisian sites and a
variety of materials available locally to study immigration patterns and the recent development of the Parisian
cityscape while privileging immigrant perspective. Weekly assignments, which can be done flexibly, will involve
visits to museums, monuments, neighborhoods, markets, and cafés. A number of local scholars, artists, and
activists will provide guest lectures to guide our study. Each student will devise a project that will involve
exploring the city from a viewpoint that falls within their interest, defined through discipline or theme. The latter
part of the course will consist of independent work involving exploration of the city through the prism of the
student’s project and it will be done in close consultation with the instructor. Interviews and shadowing of
individuals (with prior permission) who are living the immigrant experience will inform the final project, which
will take the form of a multimedia journal.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: A special hybrid course offered for Wellesley students studying
abroad at American University in Paris.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: ES331/FREN331 Title: Seminar: Between Nature and Culture: Francophone Caribbean Literature
and the Environment
The lushness of the mangroves, the flora and fauna of tropical landscapes, the intricacy of the rhizome, the
flow of great rivers, the crashing waves of the Atlantic, the heights of mountainous lands, and expanse of the
plateau—the natural world is an important site of Caribbean art in general and, more specifically, the
francophone Caribbean novel of the 20th and 21st centuries. Applying eco-criticism to the field of francophone
Caribbean literature, the goal of this class is to examine the ways that fiction explores the relationship between
human activity and the environment. How does the novel inhabit Caribbean ecologies and topographies? How
does it represent nature? In what ways do Caribbean texts meditate on nature and culture together or against
one another? As the earthquake in Haiti demonstrated in 2010 with calamitous force, and the cycles of
Caribbean hurricanes have shown over the years, natural disaster is also a political crisis. In view of this, we
will also consider the legacies of slavery and colonialism in terms of class, gender and race politics. This
investigation of the dynamics of natural and cultural phenomena will also have a theoretical frame rooted in
critical texts of Caribbean literary and political movements such as Indigénisme, Négritude, Antillanité, and
Créolité.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: FREN 210 or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN 213 or
above.; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: FREN101 Title: Beginning French I
Systematic training in all the language skills, with special emphasis on communication, self-expression, and
cultural insights. Classes are supplemented by regular assignments in a variety of video, audio,
print, and Web-based materials to give students practice using
authentic French accurately and expressively. Three meetings weekly.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Open to students who do not present French for admission, an
equivalent departmental placement score, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bilis, Kippur; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: FREN102 Title: Beginning French II
Systematic training in all the language skills, with special emphasis on communication, self-expression, and
cultural insights. Classes are supplemented by regular assignments in a variety of video, audio,
print, and Web-based materials to give students practice using
authentic French accurately and expressively. Three meetings weekly.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: FREN 101, an equivalent departmental placement score, or by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Kippur, Carr; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: FREN201 Title: French Language, Literatures, and Cultures
Reading, writing, and speaking skills and critical thinking are developed through analysis and discussion of
cultural and literary texts. Issues of cultural diversity, globalization, and identity are considered. Thorough
grammar review.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: FREN 102, an equivalent departmental placement score, or by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Carr, Ganne-Schiermeier; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: A student who takes FREN 202 without having completed FREN 201
must elect one of the following courses in order to complete the language requirement - FREN 205, FREN 206,
FREN 207, FREN 208, FREN 209. Completion of FREN 202 allows first-year students to qualify for international
study after two further courses in French - a unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208, or FREN 209;
and a unit of FREN 210 or above.;
Course ID: FREN202 Title: French Language, Literatures, and Cultures
Reading, writing, and speaking skills and critical thinking are developed through analysis and discussion of
cultural and literary texts. Issues of cultural diversity, globalization and identity are considered. Thorough
grammar review. Three meetings weekly.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: FREN 201, an equivalent departmental placement score, or by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Lee, Ganne-Schiermeier, Carr; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Spring; Notes: A student takes FREN 202 without having completed FREN 201 must elect one of the
following courses in order to complete the language requirement - FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN
208, FREN 209. Completion of FREN 202 allows first-year students to qualify for international study after two
further courses in French - a unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208, or FREN 209; and a unit of
FREN 210 or above.;
Course ID: FREN205 Title: Literature and Film in Cultural Contexts
Discussion of modern literature and film in their cultural contexts. Training in techniques of literary and cultural
analysis. Materials include novels, short stories, poetry, films, screenplays, and videos from France and the
Francophone world. Vocabulary building and review of key points of grammar. Frequent written practice.
Attention to oral skills and listening comprehension, as needed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: FREN 202, or an equivalent departmental placement score.;
Instructor: Datta; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: FREN206 Title: Intermediate Spoken French
This course develops the skills of listening and speaking in French, with special emphasis on pronunciation
and attention to the related skills of reading, writing, and grammatical accuracy. Participants will practice
conversation through discussion of a wide variety of materials, including websites, magazine articles, short
stories and films.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: FREN 202, or an equivalent departmental placement score.;
Instructor: Datta, Ganne-Schiermeier; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: FREN207 Title: Perspectives on French Culture and Society: French Identity in the Age of
Globalization
In this introduction to French society and culture, we will examine France's identity crisis in the twenty-first
century. From its historical position of political, economic, and intellectual leadership in Europe and the world,
France is searching to maintain its difference as a defender of quality over mass appeal and the proud values
of its national tradition in the face of increasing globalization. Topics covered include Franco-American
relations, the European Union, immigration, the family, and the role of women in French society. Readings are
drawn from a variety of sources: historical, sociological, and ethnographic. Magazine and newspaper articles
along with television programs and films will provide supplementary information.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: FREN 202, or an equivalent departmental placement score.;
Instructor: Datta; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: FREN208 Title: Challenging Literary Tradition: Women and Literature from the Middle Ages to the
Twentieth Century
Through the centuries, women's writing has been ignored, criticized and maligned. It was only in the 1970s
and 80s that the place of women in literature was recognized and their originality and creativity fully studied.
In this course, we will examine how women authors break with social language and literary codes, how they
express themselves through familiar genres such as the novel and poetry but also less "mainstream" ones:
fairy tales and letters. We will view these women not as the object of desire or discourse, but as subjects
thinking and creating independently, expressing their desires, their wishes for themselves and humanity, their
vision of society and the world, and their own experience of love, power and powerlessness.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: FREN 202, or an equivalent departmental placement score.;
Instructor: Ganne-Schiermeier; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: FREN209 Title: Studies in Literature and Film
Topic for 2022-2023: The Paris of Poets
This course changes topics from year to year. In some years, the course explores the dynamic cross-century
interplay between French poetry, the visual arts and an ever changing Parisian landscape. In others, it
examines the history of the Cannes Film Festival through a diverse array of published and audio-visual
materials. Both topics aim to foster student fluency in writing, reading and speaking in French.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: FREN 202, or an equivalent departmental placement score. ;
Instructor: Petterson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long
as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: FREN210 Title: From the Middle Ages through the Enlightenment
Major authors from the Medieval period through the Enlightenment studied in their historical and cultural
contexts, with emphasis on close reading, critical analysis, and writing in French. Attention to literary genres,
including the constraints and innovations they engender, and study of key notions that will inform students'
understanding of French literature and history-galanterie, courtoisie, mimesis, poetics, epistolarity, Salic law,
French Wars of Religion, the Edict of Nantes, and Absolutism. We will end with consideration of prerevolutionary works, anticipating the rise of the French Republic.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Bilis; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Notes: Any course FREN 210 or above satisfies the requirement for study abroad. Majors should
consult with a member of the French Department to determine which course best suits their needs.;
Course ID: FREN211 Title: Studies in Language
Students in this course will explore works of prose, poetry, fiction and autobiography and acquire the skills and
techniques needed to decipher and analyze them in writing. A writing-intensive course, in which participants
learn to produce a reaction paper, an essay, a creative narration, textual analysis of a poem, and a sustained
argument. Special emphasis on critical thinking and interpretive judgment. Students will learn to construct
logical, well thought-out essays, including the dialectical essay (la dissertation) practiced in French
universities. An ongoing, intensive review of grammar underlies and anchors the course. Open to first-year
students who have taken one of the prerequisite courses.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Tranvouez; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Any course FREN 210 or above satisfies the requirement for study abroad.
Majors should consult with a member of the French Department to determine which course best suits their
needs.;
Course ID: FREN212 Title: From Classicism to Present Day: French Literature & Culture Through the
Centuries
Major authors from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first, studied in their historical and cultural contexts,
with emphasis on close reading, critical analysis, and writing in French. Literary generations and movements,
from the philosopher-writers of the Enlightenment through the nineteenth-century innovations of the romantic
and realist writers, to groundbreaking twentieth-century experiments in prose, poetry and theater, and the
painful disillusionment of the Second World War. A key course for appreciating and understanding the
materials in all our courses and one that prepares students to study abroad.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Carr; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Any course FREN 210 or above satisfies the requirement for study abroad.
Majors should consult with a member of the French Department to determine which course best suits their
needs.;
Course ID: FREN213 Title: From Myth to the Absurd: French Drama in the Twentieth Century
An investigation of the major trends in modern French drama: the reinterpretation of myths, the influence of
existentialism, and the theatre of the absurd. Special attention is given to the nature of dramatic conflict and to
the relationship between text and performance. Study of plays by Anouilh, Cocteau, Giraudoux, Sartre, Camus,
Ionesco, Beckett, and Genet.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN214 Title: Society and Self in the Nineteenth-Century French Novel
This interdisciplinary course investigates the intersections of the nineteenth-century French novel with the
artistic innovations of its time, with political and psychological selfhood, and with questions of culture and
identity that we are still debating today. It situates the genre in its historical and social contexts, and analyzes
the impact of three major nineteenth-century literary movements—Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism—on
the esthetic achievement of the writers we read. Recurring themes: the development of narrative form and
structure and the novel's role in constructing a French national identity in an era of imperial expansion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Michelle Lee; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN216 Title: Introduction to Francophone Studies: Global France, Its Dissidents, and
Francophone Culture
Exploring large swathes of the globe that France colonized over the centuries, this course presents writing in
French from these areas. It serves as an introduction to postcolonial studies in general and the Francophone
world in particular. We will discover Francophone intellectuals from France, Haiti, Martinique, Mauritius, the
Congo, Quebec, and Madagascar, crisscrossing the US., Vietnam, Canada, and Gabon. Transposing France’s
imperial aspiration to a universal, global Frenchness, Francophone aesthetics envisions a non-hierarchical,
equitable world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Prabhu; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN217 Title: Books of the Self
This course focuses on texts that seek to reveal the reality of the self in the space of a book, including readings
of confessional and autobiographical works by the twentieth-century writers Camus, Annie Ernaux, Roland
Barthes, and Maryse Condé, and by their literary ancestors Augustine, Abélard, Montaigne, and Rousseau.
Themes examined include: the compulsion to confess; secret sharing versus public self-disclosure; love,
desire, and language; the search for authenticity; dominant discourse and minority voices; the role of the
reader as accomplice, witness, judge, confessor.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Lydgate; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN220 Title: Decoding the French
This course offers students analytical tools for interpreting French history, society, and culture. The first part of
the course focuses on the approaches that social science disciplines (history, anthropology, sociology) and
theoretical frameworks (semiotics, Marxism, structuralism, cultural history, queer theory) have used to analyze
French social phenomena. Short excerpts of texts by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Pierre Bourdieu, Roland Barthes,
Algirdas Julien Greimas, Natalie Zemon-Davis, Michel Foucault, Lynn Hunt, Pierre Nora, Robert Darnton, Joan
Scott and others will orient our discussions. In the second part of the course, students use these different
approaches to examine the ways in which terms such as “nation,” “class,” “secularism,” and “gender” take on
distinct meanings in the French context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Gunther; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: FREN221 Title: Love and Madness in French Poetry from François Villon to the Present
An overview of the themes of love, madness, and death in French poetry from François Villon to the present,
with specific attention to the ways these themes are embodied in poetic form. In which ways is poetry most apt
to address and express the passions of the human heart and mind?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Petterson; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN222 Title: French Cinema from the Lumière Brothers to the Present: The Formation of
Modernity
This course offers a critical panorama of French cinema while also building essential vocabulary and critical
concepts for film analysis. Students will pay specific attention to the various connections between cinema,
urban space, and notions of modernity. Close analyses of clips in class will also lead to a deeper appreciation
of genre and technical aspects in the history of cinema. Filmmakers studied will include the Lumière Brothers
(for the “perspective” model), Georges Méliès (for the cinema of attraction), Jean Renoir (for depth of field),
Robert Bresson (for literary adaptation), Jean-Luc Godard (for traveling shots and direct sound), and Chris
Marker (for documentary).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Morari; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL - Language and Literature; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN223 Title: Literary Games in Postmodern and Contemporary Fiction
What makes literature “new”? This course examines the ways in which French writers of the 20th and 21st
centuries have radically transformed the field of fiction through playful and experimental techniques. We will
study the literary games they played in their efforts to break with tradition and expand the boundaries of
language, genre, and form. Through a range of texts and audiovisual materials, we will trace this idea of play
across the 20th and 21st centuries, with examples taken from the nouveau roman, the OuLiPo, écriture
féminine, autofiction, documentary fiction, photo-texts, and digital literature. In the spirit of the materials
studied, course assignments will include traditional essays as well as more experimental writing projects.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Kippur; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: FREN224 Title: Versailles and the Age of Louis XIV
Louis XIV sought to present his royal court at Versailles as the ultimate in monarchical splendor and power. Yet
writers who frequented the court focus on its dangerous intrigues, moral corruption, and petty rivalries. The
course will explore this discrepancy through close study of official and unofficial productions of the court.
Royal paintings, medallions, architecture, ceremonies, and official historiography all foreground the Sun King's
glory; novels, memoirs, letters, and moral treatises seem to undo the very notions of courtly magnificence put
forward by the monarchy. Both elements are crucial to understanding the social, political, religious, and artistic
practices that defined the court. Recent films and historical works on Versailles will help us evaluate its legacy
for contemporary French culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Bilis; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN225 Title: The French Press
This course is designed for students who want to become more familiar with the French media, to keep up with
current events, and to know more about the differences between the perspectives of French and American
news sources with regard to current issues. The course is also intended to improve students' reading, writing,
and speaking skills in French.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Gunther; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN227 Title: Black Paris: "Postcolonializing" the Seine (in English)
A study of contemporary immigrant experience in Paris through a range of media and an historical
perspective. Materials will comprise text and still and moving images. What are some of the dominant themes
and emotions in the self-representation of immigrants in Paris today? How were Africans (in particular)
represented during the colonial period in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and how did Africans
represent themselves on the rare occasions they had to do so then? How do we understand France's
precarious, and often volatile, positioning of immigrants in its society today?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One writing class, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Prabhu; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN228 Title: The Paris of Balzac and Zola
An examination of the rapid modernization and urbanization (haussmannization) of Paris in the Nineteenth
Century and the changes it brought to the life of Parisians. Two authors fond of Paris: Balzac, the eternal
Parisian wanderer, and Zola, the social scientist, will be the focus of this course. Balzac witnesses the birth of
the bourgeoisie and of the power of money; Zola evokes the monsters they engender.
In this class we will discuss the modernization of Paris in the XIX Century and its effects on the life of Parisians.
We will study a novel by Balzac, Ferragus, in which the author emphasizes the “monstrosity” of the French
Capital, which is a theater of a struggle between the new and the old. In Ferragus, Balzac contrasts the old and
dirty streets and neighborhoods of Paris, where shady, destitute characters roam, and the new polished
“quartiers” where the bourgeoisie and the Bank have just established their bearings. Inequalities abound and
extremes between the social classes become prevalent. We will also study excerpts from César Birotteau, a
novel about financial speculation and the evolution of commerce in the early 1830’s.
Advertising and marketing, two factors of success evoked by Balzac in Histoire de la grandeur et décadence
de César Birotteau dominate the retail market in Zola‘s Au bonheur des dames. In the latter novel, Zola recalls
the birth of the large department stores and explores their successes. The availability of goods, mass
consumption and cost cutting are part of the new trade strategies and symbolize the modern activity that Zola
describes in Au Bonheur des dames. Zola’s goal in his Histoire naturelle et sociale d’ une famille sous le
Second Empire was to portray his century as a century of conquest and action which witnessed the
transformation of Paris from an unsanitary medieval town into a modern urban city. In La Curée, he recreates
the commercial Paris of the “Grands Boulevards” as well as the bourgeois Paris riddled with speculation and
corruption. Gold and pleasure are the two driving forces of the century.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208, FREN 209 or
above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Tranvouez; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Winter;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN229 Title: America Through French Eyes: Perceptions and Realities
The French have long been fascinated by the United States, especially since the end of the Second World
War. At times, the United States has been seen as a model to be emulated in France; more often, it has stood
out as the antithesis of French culture and values. This course examines French representations of the United
States and of Americans through key historical and literary texts-essays, autobiographies, and fiction-as well
as films. Topics to be explored include: representations of African Americans in French films (Josephine
Baker), French views of Taylorization, the Coca-Cola wars of the 1950s, French-American tensions during the
Cold War, especially under de Gaulle, as well as more recent debates about Euro Disney, McDonald's,
Hollywood, globalization, and multiculturalism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Datta; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN232 Title: Occupation and Resistance: The French Memory and Experience of World War II
Few experiences in recent French history have marked French collective memory as profoundly as World War
II. During these years, the French dealt not only with the trauma of defeat and the German Occupation, but
also with the divisive legacy of the collaborationist Vichy regime, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, a revered
World War I hero. Memories of the war have continued to mark the public imagination to the present day,
manifesting themselves in the various arenas of French national life. This course examines the history and
memory of the French experience of World War II through historical documents, memoirs, films, literature, and
songs.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Datta; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: FREN234 Title: Re-Mapping the French Novel (in English)
A close look at how the purposes, contradictions and anxieties of empire building are revealed in four
nineteenth-century French-language novels. First, an analysis of the postcolonial cultural critic Edward Said’s
method of contrapuntal reading will make clear the uneasy dialectic between metropolitan and colonial
histories in literary texts. Armed with this critical reading strategy, we will evaluate the impact of colonial
expansion on narrative form, historical consciousness and stylistic choice in Honoré de Balzac’s Eugénie
Grandet, Claire de Duras’s Ourika, Victor Hugo’s Bug-Jargal and George Sand’s Indiana. Central to our
preoccupations will be the global dimensions of the novel, the gender and racial dimensions of its characters,
and the colonial novel’s place in the field of postcolonial studies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: FREN235/PEAC235 Title: Antislavery Literature and Abolition in Nineteenth-Century France (in
English)
This course examines the development of antislavery thought in French literature from the end of the
eighteenth century through the first half of the nineteenth century. We will analyze the imagery, narratives and
presuppositions on which authors relied and in turn reproduced to express antislavery sentiment. We will pay
attention to how the Haitian Revolution; French abolition of the slave trade and other models of abolition
shaped a culture of moral repugnance at France’s ongoing economic dependence on the practice of chattel
slavery. Referring to this context, we will consider the particular voice of antislavery literature in producing
abolitionist arguments. On what grounds did French authors understand and denounce colonial slavery? How
did antislavery texts participate in a movement towards abolition? How did authors depict enslaved individuals
and how did these texts contribute to nineteenth-century discourses on gender and race in France? These
questions will lead students to confront the ambiguous and complicitous intersections between abolition,
antislavery literature, imperial expansion and racism prior to the definitive abolition of slavery in 1848 and the
establishment of France’s Second Empire.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: FREN250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: FREN278 Title: Court, City, Salon: Early Modern Paris—A Digital Humanities Approach
Court, city, salon: these are the spaces where notions of good taste and sound judgment, still crucial to French
identity today, took root, and where the European Republic of Letters emerged. Students will explore the
culture and literature of these milieus through the lens of digital humanities' methods and theories, combining
study and praxis of such new approaches. The intersection of traditional scholarship with digital humanities
applications will enable students to investigate if, and how, DH methods can broaden, confirm, disprove or
reinterpret dominant analyses of the influential spaces of early modern Paris.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one unit of FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208,
FREN 209 or above, or an equivalent departmental placement score.; Instructor: Bilis; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN303 Title: Advanced Studies in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Long Live the Queen!": Women, Royalty and Power in the Literature of the Ancien Régime. This seminar will
examine historical, cultural and literary portrayals of female royalty in seventeenth-century France. An object of
exchange in international relations, a physical "carrier" of the future king, a regent who can rule—but not in her
own name—the queen poses thorny questions for political and artistic representations of power. An analysis of
her social, symbolic, and politically ambiguous status reveals the paradoxes of a woman exercising
sovereignty in a time when the king's body comes to define the State. Readings will include Corneille, Racine,
Lafayette, Perrault, Saint Simon, and Saint-Réal.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN
213 or above.; Instructor: Bilis; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN305 Title: Six Degrees of Marie-Antoinette: Social Networks and the French Revolution
The men-and women-who made up what we refer to today as the “Age of Enlightenment” hailed from a
surprising variety of backgrounds ranging from the halls of Versailles, Parisian cafés, provincial Academies, to
the literary underground of p*rnographers and pamphleteers. Starting from the premise that cultural
transformations are achieved through social connections, this course will examine Ancien Régime fictional,
historical, and political networks as a means of understanding the origins of the French Revolution. This course
will introduce students to the concept of social networks as a sociological theory and as a recent digital
humanities approach. Through experimentation with, and critique of, existing Digital Humanities projects,
students will understand network theory as a means to analyze the social structures of historical actors and
literary characters. No previous digital humanities experience required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following - FREN 210, FREN 211 or FREN 212 - and
one additional unit, FREN 213 or above.; Instructor: Bilis, O'Brien; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN306 Title: Literature and Inhumanity: Novel, Poetry, and Film in Interwar France
This course will examine the confrontation between literature and inhumanity through the French literature,
poetry, and film of the early twentieth century. Poetry by Guillaume Apollinaire, Robert Desnos, André Breton,
Francis Ponge, and René Char, films by Luis Buñuel, and novels by André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre, and André
Malraux all serve to illustrate the profound crisis in human values that defined and shaped the twentieth
century.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following - FREN 210, FREN 211 or FREN 212 - and
one additional unit, FREN 213 or above.; Instructor: Petterson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN307 Title: The Contemporary French Novel and the "Pleasure of the Text"
In mental landscapes ranging from the personal to the impersonal, and in geographical settings that vary from
high-paced urbanism to plodding ruralism, the contemporary French novel invites reassessment of the formal,
political, cultural and historical stakes of writing and reading fiction in the twenty-first century. This course
explores the subtle pleasure of the text in works by some of France's more brilliant contemporary writers: Marie
Redonnet, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, François Bon, Patrick Modiano, Annie Saumont, Laurent Mauvignier, Jean
Echenoz.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN
213 or above.; Instructor: Petterson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN308 Title: French Translation Studies - Translating in the 21st Century
This course introduces students to the main theories and practices of translation and it provides a deep
understanding of the ways translating can enrich one's own critical reading and writing processes. Practical
training in translation between French and English is paired with readings from the major theories of translation
from Cicero to the present, with further focus on contemporary applications of translation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One unit of FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212, and one
additional unit FREN 213 or above.; Instructor: Petterson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN309 Title: Seminar: Francophone Boston
Comment dit-on ‘Boston’ en français? This course examines the historical, cultural, and literary ties between
the city of Boston and francophone individuals and communities, past and present. We will consider such
topics as French, Quebecois, and Haitian immigrations in the 17th, 19th, and 20th centuries; local Frenchlanguage newspapers and publishing houses committed to printing French books; French immersion
programs in Boston-area schools; depictions of Boston's high society and college campuses by major
francophone writers (Beauvoir, Sarraute, Tocqueville, and others); and the influence of Julia Child’s Bostonbased cooking show The French Chef on French avant-garde theater. Combining a range of readings with site
visits and field projects, this course will expose students to local resources for French speakers as well as
francophone community leaders. The course will culminate in a research project on a topic that students wish
to explore further.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One unit of FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212, and one
additional unit FREN 213 or above.; Instructor: Kippur; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: FREN312 Title: Decolonial Nationalisms, France, and Francophonie
France continues to have complex and uneasy relationships with regions of the world that it once dominated.
Decolonial thinking examines the lasting effects of colonialism, racial capitalism, and settler colonialism on
societies long after colonialism has ended. Our study of policy, literature, film, and art will show how political
control in the Caribbean, economic domination by manipulating currency in West and Central Africa, and, in
the case of Algeria, extreme violence, cultural and religious discrimination, and immigration policy can
reinvigorate the colonial project.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211 or FREN 212, and one additional unit (FREN
213 or above).; Instructor: Prabhu; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN313 Title: George Sand: The Novelist as Playwright
Novelist George Sand often stated that it was far more difficult to write plays than novels. In addition to laying
bare the dramatic aesthetic of a pivotal 19th-century writer, this course will afford an in-depth understanding of
her ideals and ideas. We will examine the evolution of her self-adaptations, specifically her rewriting of stories
from novels into plays. We will also discuss her adaptation of dramatic works of other authors from a variety of
countries and eras, including works by Shakespeare, Hoffmann, Tirso de Molina, and plays inspired by the
commedia dell'arte.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN
213 or above.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: FREN314 Title: A Cinematic History of Intellectual Ideas in Post-WWII France: The Politics of Art
This course examines the various ideological turns and patterns in post-World War II France through the study
of cinema. Proceeding from the assumption that aesthetics and politics are intertwined, the course will focus
on form and content in order to examine the political engagement of filmmakers, overtly militant cinema,
propaganda, and the shaping of moral spectatorship, in parallel with specific trends in French intellectual and
political history. Our focus will be on the films of Alain Resnais, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Chantal
Akerman, Claude Chabrol, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Abdel Kechiche. Readings will include contemporary
political philosophers Jacques Rancière, Alain Badiou, and Étienne Balibar.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN
213 or above.; Instructor: Morari; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN319 Title: Itinerant Tales: Literary Voyages and Voyagers in the Global Nineteenth Century
This course seeks to open a window onto French literature and culture by exploring the travel writing of key
nineteenth-century French authors. We will explore armchair travel narratives, anti-tourism essays, and
travelers' real-time journals, as well as literary works that showcase travel. Writers studied include Honoré de
Balzac, Chateaubriand, Maxime Du Camp, Gustave Flaubert and George Sand. Our discussions will pay
particular attention to how these literary voyagers depict cross-cultural encounters and negotiate cultural
differences.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, or FREN 211, or FREN 212, and one additional unit
FREN 213 or above.; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: FREN323 Title: Liberty, Equality, Sexualities: How the Values of the French Republic Have Both
Protected and Limited Sexual Freedom
An examination of sexualities and genders in France, from the ancien régime to the present, that signifies the
ways in which sexuality and gender have been conceptualized differently in France than in places like the
United States. At the end of the semester, the course will focus on recent changes in discussions of gender
and sexuality and address the issue of whether traditional paradigms for explaining gender and sexuality in
France still apply or whether the French might be entering a new sexual era.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN
213 or above.; Instructor: Gunther; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: FREN324 Title: The Belle Epoque and the Emergence of Modern France
The term belle époque (1880-1914) evokes images of Parisian boulevards, bustling cafés, glittering shop
windows, and Montmartre cabarets, all symbols of modern consumer culture. No emblem of the era is as
iconic as the Eiffel Tower, constructed for the World's Fair of 1889 as a tribute to French technology and
progress. During the years preceding World War I, Paris was the center of the European avant-garde-indeed,
the capital of modernity. While cultural ebullience is its hallmark, this period also witnessed the definitive
establishment of a republican regime, the expansion of an overseas empire, and the integration of the
countryside into national life. Drawing on historical documents and literary texts as well as films, posters, and
songs, this interdisciplinary course examines French culture, politics, and society during the era that ushered
France into the modern age.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN
213 or above.; Instructor: Datta; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN325 Title: Seminar: Material Culture, Identity, and the Everyday in Contemporary France
This course approaches contemporary France through its material culture(s), asking what literary and filmic
representations of everyday objects and consumer habits tell us about social values. In the decades following
World War II, France simultaneously experienced rapid economic growth and the collapse of its colonial
empire. Yet in the midst of these sweeping upheavals, many authors and filmmakers made a seemingly
paradoxical choice: to focus on the minutiae of daily life—its consumer goods, architectures, and routines.
Through close analysis of novels and films, we will consider what such a choice reveals about France’s
attempts to define itself in a post-colonial and increasingly post-industrial Europe. For instance: What might a
young couple’s frenzied shopping sprees suggest about class mobility? How might a woman’s rote familiarity
with her kitchen appliances comment on gender roles? We will also examine how authors and filmmakers from
former French colonies have used material culture to critique notions of belonging and citizenship, and how
their critiques inform ongoing debates in France.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN
213 or above.; Instructor: Carr; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN332 Title: Myth and Memory in Modern France: From the French Revolution to May 1968
This course explores the way the French view their past through myths created to inscribe that past into
national memory. We will examine modern French history and culture from the perspective of les lieux de
mémoire, evaluating both thematically and chronologically the symbolic events (Bastille Day), institutions (the
Napoleonic Code), people (Joan of Arc), and places (Sacré-Coeur) that have shaped French national identity.
We begin by analyzing such concepts as the nation, the hexagon, and the colonial mission civilisatrice and
go on to examine the legacy of key moments in French history, among them the French Revolution and the
era of Napoleon, the establishment of the Third Republic and an overseas empire, the two World Wars, the
Algerian conflict, and the events of May 1968.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN
213 or above.; Instructor: Datta; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN333 Title: Great Works of French and Francophone Theater, Then and Now
An exploration of great works of French and Francophone theater from the seventeenth century to the present.
Students will read the classical playwrights Molière, Corneille, and Racine, as well as lesser known but worthy
early modern women dramatists, Catherine Bernard and Olympe de Gouges; the course will follow the
aesthetic and thematic shifts brought on by Marivaux, Beaumarchais, and Hugo, and compare these to the
theater of contemporary Francophone playwrights such as Yasmina Réza, Marie N’Diaye, and Wajdi
Mouawad. Close attention will be paid to the historical settings and material conditions in which the plays first
appeared, and how they have since been adapted and reprised in different political contexts and by troupes
with varying objectives. Students will watch performances and grasp the unique position that theater occupies
within the French cultural tradition.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211, or FREN 212; and one additional unit, FREN
213 or above.; Instructor: Bilis; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: FREN334 Title: African Cinema: Character and Narrative
This course examines how character is built and how narration occurs in cinema. It covers the study of
cinematic techniques in African cinema and explores how this cinematic tradition has responded to specific
issues of representation in African history that came to bear upon filmmaking and cinematic language. The
larger purpose of the course is to understand filmmaking as an aesthetic and political form of intellectual
expression, but also as an industry in Africa, with a place in African cultural and political history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: FREN 210, FREN 211 or FREN 212, and one additional course
FREN 213 or above.; Instructor: Prabhu; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN335 Title: Ethics and Difference (in English)
A course on the idea of difference in historical perspective, with particular emphasis on ethical aspects of
claiming/identifying difference. Study of difference in texts by the Philosophers of the Enlightenment, travel
accounts, anthropological writing, ethnographic film, and recent fiction. The course focuses on methods of
close reading and the function of grammatical structures such as objects and variations in tenses, on the
position of the narrator, and on nuances in vocabulary. Individual assignments will be based on students' wider
interests. Themes of difference include gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, class, and differential power in
individual or group relationships.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors. Sophom*ores by permission of the
instructor. To have this course count as a course taught in French for purposes of the major, contact the
instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN336/WGST336 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Feminisms in the Wake of the
Global #MeToo Movement (in English)
From Hollywood’s casting couches, to the Copenhagen City Hall and the highest echelons of the French
media establishment, to the feminists in Mexico and Argentina and the demands of those in Japan, Iran, and
Egypt, the #MeToo movement has raised a global wave of protests against sexual abuse. The expression of
women’s voices has been undeniably transformed since the hashtag's emergence, but the aims and results of
the movement, and the consequences faced by those accused, have varied from place to place. Students will
consider #MeToo from a comparative and multilingual perspective, analyzing texts and media from around the
globe, in a collective effort to grasp how culture, language, and nation condition the international struggle for
women’s rights.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least one Language & Literature course at the 200-level in any
modern language department or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bilis; Distribution Requirements:
LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical
Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: FREN350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: FREN360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first
semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is
made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: FREN370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: FREN 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
French Cultural Studies
An Interdepartmental Major
The major in French Cultural Studies (FCS) is intended for students whose interests in the French and Frenchspeaking world are primarily cultural and historical. This interdepartmental major combines courses from the
French department with courses in Africana Studies, art, history, music, political science, or any other
department offering courses focused on France or Francophone countries. The French department’s courses
in history and society are the core of the program. These courses examine institutions, political and social
movements and the mass media using methodologies grounded in the social sciences, primarily history and
sociology. Other French department offerings in the field include courses that place literature and film in a
social context. French cultural studies majors ordinarily work closely with two advisors, one from the French
department and one from their other area of concentration.
French Cultural Studies Major
Goals for the French Cultural Studies Major
Students will achieve skill in speaking, writing, reading, and understanding French at the advanced
level, as detailed in the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.
Students will be able to identify major themes in the histories and in the contemporary cultures of
France and other Francophone places.
Students will learn to recognize and construct well-formed arguments about cultural artifacts and
historical events that rely on clear writing and in-depth understanding of both primary and secondary
sources.
Students will learn to grasp the complexity of cultural differences. They will know how to spot clichés
and avoid using them in thinking about France and the Francophone world in particular, and other
cultures in general. As global citizens, they will come to value tolerance, appreciate diversity, and be
prepared to face the challenges and reap the benefits of living in an increasingly interconnected
world.
French Cultural Studies Information
FREN 101, FREN 102, and FREN 201 count toward the degree but not toward the major. First-year students
who begin with FREN 101-FREN 102 in college and who wish to study internationally should consult the chair
of the department during the second semester of their first year.
Requirements for the French Cultural Studies Major
Wellesley offers an interdepartmental major in French Cultural Studies, which combines courses from the
Department of French with those in Africana Studies, Art, History, Music, Political Science or any other
department offering courses on France or Francophone countries. French Cultural Studies majors ordinarily
work closely with two advisors, one from the French Department and one from the other area of concentration.
The major in French Cultural Studies consists of a minimum of eight units. At least four units in the French
department above FREN 201 are required, including FREN 207 and one of the following: FREN 210, FREN 211
or FREN 212.
In special cases, an upper-level culture course in French approved by the program director may be substituted
for FREN 207. At least two units in French at the 300 level are required.
FRST 350, FRST 360 and FRST 370 do not normally count towards the minimum requirement of two 300-level
courses for the major. In exceptional cases this requirement may be waived by the FCS director and/or the
chair of the French department. No more than two courses taken credit/noncredit at Wellesley College may be
applied to the French Cultural Studies major. Students planning to major in French Cultural Studies should
consult with advisors to the major. For related courses for credit toward the FCS major, please see list below.
Honors in French Cultural Studies
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above
the 100 level; the department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5.
Students must complete a 300-level course or its equivalent before the fall of senior year. In addition, a 300level course is to be taken concurrently with FRST 360-FRST 370. See Academic Distinctions.
Teacher Certification in French Cultural Studies
Students interested in obtaining certification to teach French in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should
consult the chair of the Education Department.
Courses for Credit Toward the French Cultural Studies Major
AFR 242 / REL 214
New World Afro-Atlantic Religions
1.0
AFR 292 / ARTH 292
African Art: Powers, Passages, Performances
1.0
AFR 341
Africans of the Diaspora
1.0
AMST 231 / FREN 231
Americans in Paris: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the
City of Light
1.0
ARTH 100
The Power of Images: An Introduction to Art and its
Histories
1.0
ARTH 222
Network Analysis for Art History
1.0
ARTH 224
Modern Art to 1945
1.0
ARTH 225
Modern Art since 1945
1.0
ARTH 226 / CAMS 207
History of Photography: From Invention to Media Age
1.0
ARTH 259
The Art and Architecture of the European Enlightenment
1.0
ARTH 289
Nineteenth-Century European Art
1.0
CAMS 202
Aesthetics of Cinema and Media
1.0
CPLT 247 / ENG 247 /
MER 247
Arthurian Legends
1.0
CPLT 275 / ENG 275
Translation and the Multilingual World
1.0
CPLT 375 / ENG 375
Translation and the Multilingual World
1.0
HIST 205
The Making of the Modern World Order
1.0
HIST 221
The Renaissance
1.0
HIST 222
The Barbarian Kingdoms of Early Medieval Europe
1.0
HIST 240
Cities in Modern Europe
1.0
HIST 265
History of Modern Africa
1.0
HIST 279 or HIST 379
Heresy and Popular Religion in the Middle Ages
1.0
HIST 334
Seminar: World Economic Orders, 1918-2008
1.0
MES 270
Morocco: Language and Culture
1.0
MUS 200
Music History I: Musicke's Recreation - Studies in
Renaissance Music with an Emphasis on Performance
1.0
MUS 201
Music History II: The Classical and Romantic Symphony
1.0
MUS 230
Opera: Its History, Music, and Drama
1.0
PHIL 221
History of Modern Philosophy
1.0
POL2 202
Comparative Politics
1.0
POL2 306
Seminar: Revolution
1.0
FRST Courses
Course ID: FRST350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: FRST360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: FRST370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: FRST 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester. ;
Geosciences
Geoscience is the study of the Earth and all its systems. Interactions between the solid Earth, the hydrosphere,
atmosphere, and biosphere continually reshape the planet. Geoscientists investigate these interactions using
interdisciplinary approaches to address questions related to how the Earth formed, how it evolved over
geologic time, and how its continued evolution affects the environment in which we live.
Geosciences Major
Goals for our 100 level curriculum
Develop scientific literacy
Explore earth systems in the classroom, the lab, and in the field
Understand our local landscape, sustainability, and planetary limits
Collect, curate, and model data to create geological narratives
Goals for our 200-300 level curriculum
Understand the drivers of Earth processes from first principles
Experience content through inquiry based research projects, field work, analogue modeling and
engagement with Earth materials and scientific data
Apply the scientific method and use data to make interpretations about geologic processes
Collaborate with peers in a project based setting
Demonstrate written, oral, and visual communications skills to convey complex information to a range
of audiences.
Requirements for the Geosciences Major
The geosciences major includes three components: a set of three core requirements (100-200 level), a set of
five electives, three of which must be at the 300 level (one must be a Wellesley 300-level geoscience course
with lab, and one may be GEOS 350, GEOS 360 or GEOS 370) and a set of four cognate STEM courses. The
core requirements provide students with an introduction to the key elements of geosciences: Earth materials
and processes, scale, and deep time, as well as the development of system thinking skills. The electives (200300 level) allow students to develop an area of focus that reflects their particular interests and future goals. The
cognate STEM courses provide context, depth, and additional quantitative skills. A maximum of two approved
geoscience courses taken outside of Wellesley can count towards the major.
The core includes one 100 level course either GEOS 101, or GEOS 102, and two 200 level courses: GEOS 200
and GEOS 203. In addition, students are encouraged, in consultation with their advisors, to choose a "focus"
that lends depth and coherence to the major and can guide elective choices. Example foci might include 1)
Earth Materials and Tectonics, 2) Environmental Geosciences and Surface Processes, 3) Planetary Geology, 4)
Earth and Space Education. Four complementary (cognate) courses from mathematics, biological sciences,
chemistry, physics, and astronomy, computer science, or STEM focused environmental studies are also
required, and two must come from the same discipline. Most majors pursue research experiences as part of
their curriculum.
Honors in Geosciences
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above
the 100 level; the department may petition on behalf of the student if the GPA in the major is between 3.0 and
3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Graduate Study in Geosciences
Students considering graduate school are urged to take two semesters of mathematics, two of chemistry, two
of physics, and a geoscience field experience or summer research program. Students will choose an
appropriate set of complementary courses with the guidance of a departmental advisor.
Geosciences Minor
Requirements for the Geosciences Minor
A minor in geosciences consists of five courses, including any 100-level GEOS course and at least one course
at the 300 level. Students will choose an appropriate set of courses with the guidance of a departmental
advisor.
GEOS Courses
Course ID: ASTR223/GEOS223 Title: Planetary Atmospheres and Climates
Have you wondered what Earth's climate was like 3 billion years ago? What about weather patterns on Titan
and climate change on Mars? In this course, we'll explore the structure and evolution of atmospheres and the
climate on four worlds: the Earth, Mars, Venus, and Saturn's moon Titan. We'll examine the techniques and
tools that geologists use to learn about the history of Earth's climate and that planetary scientists use to learn
about the atmospheres and surface environments on other worlds. Students will also gain experience
simulating the climate system and computing atmospheric properties. Other topics include: the super-rotation
of Venus's atmosphere and its Runaway Greenhouse climate, the destruction of atmospheres on low-gravity
worlds, and the future of Earth's climate as the Sun grows steadily brighter.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: MATH 116 and PHYS 107 and one of the following (ES 101, ASTR
100, ASTR 107, GEOS 101, or GEOS 102), or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Watters; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ASTR303/GEOS313 Title: Advanced Planetary Geology and Geophysics
Spacecraft observations have revealed a breathtaking diversity of geologic features in the solar system, such
as the giant impact basins on Mars, towering thrust fault scarps on Mercury, coronae structures on Venus, and
active volcanoes on Io and Enceladus. From a comparative perspective, this course examines the physical
processes that drive the evolution of the planets and small bodies in the solar system. Topics include:
planetary shape and internal structure, mechanisms of topographic support, tectonics, impacts, volcanism,
and tides. Some class sessions are reserved for seminar-style discussions of journal articles. Students will
produce a final project that involves researching a topic of their choosing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level course in ASTR or GEOS in addition to at least one
of the following - PHYS 107, GEOS 203, GEOS 218, or GEOS 220. An introductory course in mechanics (e.g.,
PHYS 104 or PHYS 107) is not required but is strongly recommended.; Instructor: Watters; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES111/GEOS101 Title: Earth Processes and the Environment with Laboratory
Geologic processes both rapid (earthquakes and landslides) and slow (mountain building and sea level rise)
are intimately linked with sustaining the diversity of life on the planet. This course examines processes linked
with the flow of energy and mass between the atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere. Laboratory exercises,
and field work provide authentic experiences to develop the skills needed to observe and model processes
shaping our environment. Problem solving during class time fosters critical thinking and classroom debates
between larger teams focus on research and communications skills by examining current issues in
geosciences such as building and removing dams, and the science surrounding global climate change.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken ASTR 120 or a
100-level GEOS course.; Instructor: Brabander; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ES201/GEOS201 Title: Environmental, Health, and Sustainability Sciences with Laboratory
Problems in environmental, health, and sustainability sciences are inherently transdisciplinary and require a
diverse skill set to frame, analyze, and solve. This course will focus on developing a toolbox of skills including
systems level thinking, field and analytical methods, biogeochemical analysis (natural waters, soils, and other
environmental materials), and modeling with a goal of building a science-based foundation for the analysis of
complex issues at the interface between humans and the environment. Students will conduct semester-long
research projects and will present their results in a final poster session.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to students majoring in ES and GEOS, other
students by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Brabander; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GEOS102 Title: The Dynamic Earth with Laboratory
The Earth is a dynamic planet where change is driven by processes that operate within its interior and on its
surface. In this course we study these processes as well as interactions between the solid earth, the
hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere that together produce the environment we live in and
influence our daily lives. Topics covered include the origin and history of the Earth, plate tectonics, deep time,
the materials that make up the solid earth, the distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes, hydrology,
landscape evolution, and global climate. Hands-on work in class and laboratory sessions, along with project
work, and local field trips, provide opportunities to develop deeper learning of key concepts and to hone
observational and analytical skills.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken ASTR 120 or a
100-level GEOS course.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: GEOS200 Title: Earth Systems through Time with Field Laboratory
The geologic record, covering 4.6 billion years, provides us with a long-term perspective of the Earth system
and how it operates over time scales much longer than human history. Using Wellesley’s extensive rock and
fossil collection, geologic data sets and journal articles, we will reconstruct and interpret Earth's eventful past,
including periods of mountain building, dramatic climate changes, and the evolution and extinction of life on
our planet. This class should give students an understanding about deep time and that we live on an ever
changing planet. The lab component of this class will be entirely in the field. We will visit key geologic
outcrops that represent a large part of Earth history. We will explore the regional geology in New England and
Upstate New York during three weekends throughout the semester (one half day, one full day and one 2-day
trip). The class will conclude with a 5-day field trip to the southwestern United States in mid-May.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open only to Geoscience majors who have taken any 100-level
GEOS course, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Monecke; Distribution Requirements: LAB Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: GEOS203 Title: Earth Materials with Laboratory
This course provides those interested in any aspect of the Earth Sciences with the base necessary to
understand the physical and chemical properties of Earth Materials (e.g. minerals and rocks). The primary
focus of this course is to understand the concept of optical and chemical mineralogy in the broad context of
the geosciences, but the environmental and human health applications of Earth Materials will also be explored.
Our primary tools will be field and hand sample observations, petrographic analysis of minerals in thin section,
and x-ray and electron beam based analytical techniques.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Any 100-level GEOS course.; Instructor: Castro; Distribution
Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: GEOS208 Title: Oceanography
The Earth is an ocean planet. Covering 71 percent of the Earth's surface and holding 97 percent of the Earth's
water, the oceans are perhaps our planet's most distinctive feature. This course will address fundamental
questions about the oceans such as, why do we have oceans and ocean basins? Why do we have ocean
currents? How have the interactions among physical, chemical, and biological processes produced the ocean
we have today? Why should we strive to learn more about the oceans, and what are the links between the
oceans and Earth's climate? In-class exercises, case studies, and data analysis will emphasize fundamental
oceanographic processes and problem solving skills. A mandatory field trip to the coast will allow students to
explore coastal processes in action.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Any 100-level GEOS or ES course, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Davis; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: GEOS210 Title: Hydrogeology: Water and Pollutants with Laboratory
Clean water supply is a high priority for both developed and underdeveloped communities worldwide. Limits to
supply and their implications for an increasing population make a clear understanding essential for citizens.
Water sources and movement of water from the atmosphere through the earth's surface and subsurface will be
examined. Laboratory will include field and laboratory analyses of physical and chemical properties and
pollutant issues of local community supplies including the Wellesley campus, and Towns of Wellesley, Natick,
and Norwell.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Any 100-level GEOS course (except GEOS 111), or permission
of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GEOS218 Title: Geomorphology with Laboratory
The Earth's surface is constantly changing and is controlled by the interaction of topography and climate. In
this class we will investigate the major landforms that can be found on Earth's surface, the processes that have
shaped them, the delicate balance between landform and process, and the rates of geomorphic change.
Among other processes, we will explore glacial activity, coastal processes, landslides, and stream flow.
Topographic maps, surveying equipment, and geographic information systems (GIS) will be used to analyze
and interpret geomorphic features. A variety of landforms will be studied during outdoor lab exercises and two
one-day weekend field trips.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Any 100-level GEOS course.; Instructor: Monecke; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: GEOS220 Title: Volcanoes!
This course is an introduction to volcanoes and the larger field of volcanology. Volcanism is a fundamental part
of the Earth System and provides key insights into the inner workings of our planet as well as exerting a
fundamental control on climate and the environment. We will explore the tectonic and magmatic processes
that drive volcanism as well as volcanic structures, eruptions, products, and hazards. The course culminates in
a final group project where students present and discuss the scientific and societal aspects of a specific
eruptive or volcanic event.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Any 100-level GEOS course.; Instructor: Castro; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GEOS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: GEOS250G Title: Research or Group Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: GEOS250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: GEOS304 Title: Sedimentology and Stratigraphy with Laboratory
Sediments and sedimentary rocks cover most of the Earth's present surface. Sedimentology encompasses the
study of the origin, transport, deposition, and lithification of sedimentary rocks and is critical to accurate
interpretation of the geologic rock record. Observations of modern sedimentary processes illuminate past
environments; sedimentary strata record evidence of mountain building and seismic activity, glacial advances
and paleoclimate cycles, and preserve the fossil record. Natural resources including groundwater, coal, and
petroleum are found in sedimentary rocks. Society is impacted by sedimentary processes in popular human
habitats including coastlines and flood plains. Readings and discussions build students' familiarity with topics
such as sediment transport, stratigraphy, and modern and ancient depositional environments. A semester-long
project, laboratory exercises, and mandatory field trips emphasize field methods, rock identification, and data
collection, analysis, and interpretation.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: GEOS 200, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Monecke; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: GEOS315 Title: Environmental Geochemistry with Laboratory
This course introduces geochemical approaches, including mass balance, residence time, isotope
fractionation, and thermodynamic and kinetic modeling necessary to track the flow of materials in key earth
surface reservoirs including water, soil, and plants. This geochemical toolbox will then be used to analyze
complex earth systems including the linkages between tectonics and climate change and the fingerprinting of
anthropogenic pollutants in the built environment.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Two STEM courses above the 100-level from the following
disciplines - geosciences, chemistry, biological sciences, or environmental studies; and permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Brabander; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GEOS316 Title: Earthquakes and Tsunamis in the Geologic Record
Recent earthquakes and tsunamis dramatically highlight the vulnerability of human populations and
infrastructure to seismic hazards. Only a thorough understanding of the frequency and size of such events will
enable local communities to prepare for future disasters. The rapidly evolving field of paleoseismology tries to
answer such questions as: Where do earthquakes occur? How large might they be? How frequent are they? In
this seminar-style class we will discuss primary literature to examine earthquake-induced deformation in
various geologic archives and under different stress regimes. Through exercises and a research project
students will learn techniques to assess the seismic hazard and to prepare threatened communities. This class
includes a visit to the Weston Observatory and one weekend fieldtrip to examine evidence of the 1727
Newbury, MA earthquake.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: Any 200-level GEOS course, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Monecke; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GEOS317 Title: Tectonic History of New England with Laboratory: An Igneous and Metamorphic
Perspective
The metamorphic and igneous rocks that underlie much of New England record a complicated history of
mountain building, subduction, and failed rifting dating back to at least 1.2 Ga. This course will explore this
history from the earliest orogeny to the assembly and destruction of Pangea. To guide our exploration, we’ll
focus on three key questions:
1. How and why do igneous and metamorphic rocks form, and how are these processes related to plate
tectonics?
2. How can we use the geochemistry and structural geology of igneous and metamorphic rocks to reconstruct
past tectonic events?
3. How are stable cratons formed and why do they remain stable?
There will be one weekend day trip and one overnight weekend trip.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: (GEOS 101 or GEOS 102) and GEOS 203.; Instructor: Castro;
Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: GEOS318 Title: Tectonics and Structural Geology with Laboratory
This course is an overview of the relationship between plate tectonics and rock deformation. Students will
explore and discover the descriptive, kinematic and dynamic analysis of deformed rocks and the theoretical
treatment of stress and strain, rock rheology and other factors that control deformation. Classroom learning will
be supplemented by mandatory field trips that emphasize fundamental field methods, such as measuring and
mapping rock units and geologic structures.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: GEOS 200 or GEOS 203, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Castro; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical
Sciences Laboratory; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: GEOS320 Title: Isotope Geochemistry
This seminar-style course will use the primary literature to study state-of-the-art techniques in isotope
geochemistry. Radiogenic, cosmogenic, and stable isotope systematics will be explored with applications
ranging from geochronology, tectonics, fate and transport of pollutants, and the use of isotopes to trace
biogeochemical processes. Each student will have the opportunity to lead a seminar on a topic related to their
NSF styled research proposal which is the main course deliverable.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 200-level GEOS course, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Brabander; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GEOS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: GEOS350G Title: Research or Group Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: GEOS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: GEOS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GEOS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
German Studies
The Department of German Studies offers a varied curriculum that introduces students to a wide range of texts
and contexts in order to introduce the cultural heritage and contemporary life of Germany, Austria, and
German-speaking Switzerland. Language courses emphasize rapid acquisition of communication skills.
Because almost all upper-level courses are conducted in German, the advanced student can achieve a high
level of fluency.
Department of German Studies Information
The language of instruction above the 100 level is almost exclusively German unless otherwise noted.
Students thus have constant practice in hearing, reading, speaking, and writing the language.
The department reserves the right to place a new student in the course for which they seem best prepared,
regardless of background and number of units they offers for admission.
Individual Structured Major in German Studies
Goals for the Individual Structured German Studies Major
Students who major in German will be able to:
speak, understand, read, and write German with advanced proficiency
formulate a clear argument verbally or in written form
contextualize, assess, and critique different types of cultural production (literary, historical, journalistic,
musical, cinematic, scholarly, etc.)
identify and discuss key historical moments and representative German-language cultural production
from 1800 to the present
Requirements for the Individual Structured German Studies Major
The department offers an individual structured major in German Studies. Students will develop an
individualized plan in close consultation with their major advisor or the Department Chair.
German Studies Minor
Requirements for the German Studies Minor
The minor in German Studies requires students to complete 5 courses above GER 102. One course (taken
within or outside the department) may be taken in English.
GER Courses
Course ID: CAMS286/GER286 Title: Fantasy Factories: Film and Propaganda in Nazi Germany and Beyond
(in English)
This course examines the cinematic output of Nazi Germany as a test case for the development of film as
propaganda. We consider the cinematic medium as entertainment and as a cultural event with the potential to
influence a population. We trace the forebears of Nazi film, including WWI propaganda produced in Britain,
France and Germany and Soviet films made to serve the revolutionary agenda. We examine the ways in which
Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda deployed both overtly propagandist films and films that couched Nazi ideals
in narratives from melodrama to fantasy, and examine whether films could exceed their official aims and
become subversive. And we consider post-WWII developments: the continuing careers of producers of
propaganda and the ways that modern media shapes new forms of propaganda.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hans; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Every three
years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: GER101 Title: Beginning German I
An introduction to contemporary German with emphasis on communicative fluency. Extensive practice in all
four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Videos and Web-based activities introduce the student to
topics from contemporary culture in German-speaking countries. Three periods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hans, Nguyen; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: The department strongly urges all participants to
sign up for both semesters in order to achieve the full introduction to the language that both semesters
provide.;
Course ID: GER102 Title: Beginning German II
An introduction to contemporary German with emphasis on communicative fluency. Extensive practice in all
four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Videos and Web-based activities introduce the student to
topics from contemporary culture in German-speaking countries. Three periods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GER 101 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hans,
Nguyen; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: GER130 Title: Fairy Tales and Children's Literature: The Cultural Legacy of the Brothers Grimm (in
English)
This seminar focuses on fairy tales, their history, and their continued impact on contemporary culture. We
begin by studying the tales themselves, trying to uncover their original meanings and purposes. Out of what
historical moments and psychological needs did the tales arise? Why did the Brothers Grimm collect and
compile them in the first place? We then consider the ways in which they have been rescripted and
repurposed in everything from poetry to popular film, examining how cultural production appropriates these
fairy tale structures, even while radically straying from them. We read these texts against the backdrop of a
range of theoretical approaches to childhood and to literary and cultural criticism, in order to uncover their
significance in the past and today.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Hans; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GER201 Title: Intermediate German I
Strengthening and expanding of all language skills with special emphasis on idiomatic usage. Thorough
grammar review, written, oral, and aural practice. Readings on contemporary cultural topics. Three periods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GER 102 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Nguyen;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: GER202 Title: Intermediate German II
Strengthening and expanding of all language skills with special emphasis on idiomatic usage. Thorough
grammar review, written, oral, and aural practice. Readings on contemporary cultural topics. Three periods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GER 201 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Nguyen;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: GER202W Title: Intermediate German in Berlin
Like GER 202 on campus, this course strengthens and expands all language skills including idiomatic
grammar review, oral and listening practice, readings on contemporary and historical topics, and practice in
composition. This course will be taught as an intensive Wintersession course in Berlin and will feature an
important cultural component.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: GER 201 or permission of the instructor. Application required. Not
open to students who have taken GER 202.; Instructor: Nolden; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Winter; Notes: Not offered
every year. Wintersession offerings are subject to Provost's Office approval. This is a travel course, class will
meet on campus prior to departure.;
Course ID: GER231 Title: Once Upon a Time There Were Two Brothers: Fairy Tales, Genre, and Nation
Before Disney, there were the Brothers Grimm: in this course, we will learn about the origins of fairy tales in a
tradition of oral folklore, consider the tales' development in literature and culture, and examine their continuing
impact today. What were the functions of these often so ‘grim’ tales? Can we find them reappearing today as
foundational fictions by which children are taught to understand their world?
Primary readings will be in German. We will practice reading, writing, and discussion in German, and will
review select grammar topics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hans;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: GER234 Title: 'Anders als die Anderen': Minorities in Germany and Austria
What does it mean to be “different” in Germany and Austria, and, by extension, what does it mean to “be”
German or Austrian? In this class, we will consider the reciprocal relationship between those two positions and
examine how religion, race, sexual identity, and citizenship is implicated in defining the individual’s position.
Throughout history, minority groups have played key roles in shaping and (re)defining what “German” or
“Austrian” actually means. By considering the centuries-long roles of the Jewish community and Black
communities, the gay rights movement beginning in the late 19th century, and the history of the GermanTurkish population and of immigration more broadly, we will examine the ways in which difference was defined
at various points in history, trace the deep influence that those who might have been considered “outsiders”
played in shaping German-speaking cultures, and look at the ways forward that are currently being sketched
out by those working towards a broader and more inclusive society. We will focus on primary sources ranging
from literature and journalistic texts to visual works to podcasts, interviews, and talks, and will practice how to
understand and analyze these sources critically. The course will develop reading, comprehension, speaking,
and writing skills.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hans;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GER236 Title: Memory, Identity, and Nation in German Short Stories (1945-present)
This course focuses on short prose forms from the post-WWII period. Among the topics we will examine will be
how writers grappled with the German historical heritage and the events of the Third Reich, WWII, and the
Holocaust; how literature developed in the two Germanies and how certain texts might rescript historical
events in service of foundational fictions of resistance; how the women’s, students’, and other movements of
the 1960s impacted and found expression in literature; and how literature increasingly makes visible an ofthidden diversity in German-speaking society and culture. The course is designed to introduce great works of
recent German literature and methods of literary analysis, and to practice advanced language skills through
targeted grammatical review, analytical writing, and discussion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hans;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Every three years;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GER238 Title: Graphic Novels - Conversations About Germany Today
This conversation course will introduce students to important topics of recent German history, beginning with
the fall of the wall to present-day concerns about climate change. We will be basing our conversations on
graphic novels to learn how authors represent issues of societal concern by addressing primarily younger
German audiences. Appreciating the interplay of image and word, we will identify prominent patterns of
colloquial speech to inform our own conversational practice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Nolden;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: GER239 Title: Germany and Austria Today: Advanced Conversation and Composition
Intensive practice in oral and written communication and presentation; introduction to rhetorical strategies of
conversation and discussion; introduction to elements of German prose style; practice of various forms of
writing. Review of selected grammar topics. On the basis of newspaper and magazine articles, essays and
stories, television news, film clips, and website materials, we will discuss and write about current events and
issues in Germany and Austria. Designed for students who have completed four or five semesters of language
training or equivalent.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hans;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Taught in German.;
Course ID: GER250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: GER250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: GER338 Title: German Writing in the Face of Environmental Collapse
This course discusses the narrative challenges posed by the Anthropocene, the current era in history in which
the impact of humans on the environment imperils the very future of our planet. Reading fictional and critical
texts that have emerged in different parts of the world over the course of the last three decades, we will identify
the fictional tools and aesthetic strategies that writers are exploring to address the climate catastrophe. We
will discuss what the traditions of writing about biocide are to which contemporary authors can turn when
creating new narratives adequate to capture the environmental crisis. We will analyze the most prominent
genres involved in “green writing” and will pay close attention to the ways authors deal with the tensions
between the local and the global in their narratives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Two units taught in German above GER 202, or permission of the
instructor. Not open to students who have taken CPLT 238/ES 238.; Instructor: Nolden; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course meets with CPLT 238/ES 238 for two out of its three
meetings.;
Course ID: GER350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: GER350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: GER360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: GER370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: GER 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
History
Studying History at Wellesley College
Courses in the History Department at Wellesley College cover almost every region and era of the human past.
Every semester, students interested in history are invited to encounter a wide range of subjects and problems
in different time periods they can explore in our courses.
History is more than just learned knowledge about the past. Historical knowledge allows one to understand
societal developments and contradictions as products of longer processes with deep-rooted origins. In History
courses students learn to think about politics and government, economies, war and society, cultural and
intellectual life, race, class, sexuality, and gender, among other subjects, in broadly humanistic, rather than
narrow technocratic ways. This allows them to develop critical thinking skills and become effective writers by
crafting arguments that are based on evidence, are methodologically sound, and speak to broad audiences.
As such, the study of history provides excellent preparation for a wide range of careers in many fields, such as
law, business and finance, journalism, education, politics, public policy and government, grassroots
organizing, and the arts.
Historians in our department study and teach a wide range of subjects, from politics to economy, religion and
philosophy, gender and sexuality, race and class, popular, public, and high culture, empire and nation, war
and revolution, cultural and social change and exchange, urban transformations, and science and technology,
among others. What unites our work irrespective of our subjects of study is a rigorous shared methodology.
This methodology entails the close analysis of primary sources in dialogue with existing scholarship, as well as
the integration of findings and ideas from a variety of mediums ranging from publications in scholarly journals
to academic conference papers, and from public talks and lectures to podcasts.
History Major
Goals for the History Major
Successful history students can
A. Build KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING
1. Understand the process of change over time, both broadly (based on the study of human communities
in a variety of times and places) and deeply (based on the intensive study of human communities in at
least one time and place).
2. Discern the relationship between past and present, including especially the differences between them.
3. Demonstrate familiarity with the histories and historiographies of a range of cultures and chronological
periods.
4. Acquire proficiency in a specialized historical and historiographical knowledge about selected regions
or about comparative problems that span various cultures and times.
B. Develop ABILITIES and SKILLS
1. Generate sound arguments about historical causality.
2. Judge the soundness of historical arguments.
3. Read, understand, and critically assess scholarly articles and monographs, based on extensive training
and experience.
4. Collect, assess, and interpret primary sources and other evidence.
5. Craft concise analytical essays and longer research papers.
6. Communicate orally with confidence.
C. Learn ATTITUDES and VALUES
1. See, from a humanistic perspective, individuals and communities as part of a larger temporal stream.
2. See, from a social-scientific perspective, human societies and cultures as evolving systems.
3. Recognize a civic responsibility to understand, interpret, communicate, and preserve the historical
record.
Requirements for the History Major
The minimum major requires nine units of course work, including two 300-level units (2.0). Majors must include
at least one seminar in their program of two 300-level units. Seven of the nine units and all 300-level work must
be taken at Wellesley. For the purposes of major credit, courses taken at MIT are not Wellesley courses. AP
or IB credits may not be applied toward the major. Depending on the student's field of study, one course in a
related field outside history may be applied, with the approval of the adviser, to the major. One cross-listed
course may be counted toward the major, but a student may not count both a cross-listed and a related
course toward the major.
Majors in history are allowed great latitude in designing a program of study, but it is important for a program to
have breadth and depth. To ensure breadth, the program must include (1) at least one course (1.0 unit) in the
history of Africa, China, Japan, Latin America, the Middle East, or South Asia; (2) at least one course (1.0 unit)
in the history of Europe, the United States, or Russia; (3) at least one course (1.0 unit) in premodern history. To
encourage depth of historical understanding, we urge majors to focus eventually upon a special field of study,
such as:
1. A particular geographical area, country, or culture
2. A specific time period
3. A particular historical approach, e.g., intellectual and cultural history, social and economic history
4. A specific historical theme, e.g., the history of women, revolutions, colonialism
Honors in History
The only path to honors is the senior thesis. As specified in College legislation, candidates for honors must
have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher in courses applied to the major and must complete six (6) of the
nine (9) required units of course work, including, ordinarily, a 300-level seminar, before the end of their junior
year. Normally, an honors student will complete the History major by taking eight History courses (two of
which can be taken abroad or at MIT) in addition to the honors thesis (HIST 360 and HIST 370), which gives
them a 10-course major. For additional information, please consult the department website or ask at the
History department office (FND 202A).
Teacher Certification
Students interested in obtaining certification to teach history in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should
consult the chair of the Education Department.
Interdepartmental Majors
Students interested in a major combining history and international relations should consider the
interdepartmental major in International Relations - History.
History Minor
Requirements for the History Minor
The history minor consists of a minimum of five units of course work, of which at least one course (1.0 unit)
must be at the 300 level (excluding 350). Of these five courses, at least three courses (3.0 units) should
represent a coherent and integrated field of interest, such as American history, Medieval and Renaissance
history, or social history. Of the other courses, at least one course (1.0 unit) should be in a different field.
Normally at least four courses (4.0 units) must be taken at Wellesley, and related courses in other departments
will not count toward the minor.
HIST Courses
Course ID: CPLT364/HIST364/MES364 Title: Seminar: Film and Narratives of Social Change in the Modern
Middle East and North Africa
Filmmakers in the modern Middle East and North Africa have been at the forefront of intellectual engagement
with their societies’ major challenges. By narrating the lives of individuals caught in historical circ*mstances
not of their choosing, they have addressed issues such as incomplete decolonization and economic
exploitation, cultural and political dogmatisms, the politicization and policing of religious, gender and sexual
identities, foreign intervention and occupation, and dictatorship, civil war, and displacement. We will engage
with the form, content, and historical contexts of a range of films and analyze how they leverage aesthetic,
affective, and effective image, speech, and sound to persuade their audiences.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructors. At least one course in Middle Eastern
Studies (apart from Arabic language) will be required and preference will be given to Seniors and Juniors.;
Instructor: Aadnani (Middle Eastern Studies), Kapteijns (History); Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC252/HIST252 Title: The Modern Black Freedom Struggle
As popularly narrated, African Americans' modern freedom struggle is a social movement beginning in the
mid-1950s and ending in the late-1960s, characterized by the nonviolent protest of southern blacks and
facilitated by sympathetic (non-southern) whites. In this course, we explore the multiple ways-beyond protest
and resistance-that blacks in the twentieth-century United States struggled for their rights and equality using
resources at their disposal. This exploration will take us out of the South and consider actors and activities
often neglected in the narrations of the struggle. Throughout, we will return to the following questions: What
defines a movement? What constitutes civil rights versus Black Power activity? How and why are people and
institutions-then and now-invested in particular narratives of the black freedom struggle?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Greer; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG221/HIST221 Title: The Renaissance
This interdisciplinary survey of Europe between 1300 and 1600 focuses on aspects of politics, literature,
philosophy, religion, economics, and the arts that have prompted scholars for the past seven hundred years
to regard it as an age of cultural rebirth. These include the revival of classical learning; new fashions in
painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, and prose; the politics of the Italian city-states and Europe’s “new
monarchies”; religious reform; literacy and printing; the emerging public theater; new modes of representing
selfhood; and the contentious history of Renaissance as a concept. Authors include Petrarch, Vasari,
Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, Castiglione, Rabelais, Montaigne, Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare. Lectures
and discussions will be enriched by guest speakers and visits to Wellesley’s art and rare book collections.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Grote and Wall-Randell (English); Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES299/HIST299 Title: U.S. Environmental History
This course examines the relationship between nature and society in American history. The course will
consider topics such as the decimation of the bison, the rise of Chicago, the history of natural disasters, and
the environmental consequences of war. There are three goals for this course: First, we will examine how
humans have interacted with nature over time and how nature, in turn, has shaped human society. Second, we
will examine how attitudes toward nature have differed among peoples, places, and times, and we will
consider how the meanings people give to nature inform their cultural and political activities. Third, we will
study how these historical forces have combined to shape the American landscape and the human and natural
communities to which it is home. While this course focuses on the past, an important goal is to understand the
ways in which history shapes how we understand and value the environment as we do today.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Turner; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Wendy
Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: HIST114Y Title: First-Year Seminar: American Hauntings
The American past is crowded with ghosts. In this seminar, we will trace the evolution of supernatural belief in
America and analyze some of its most famous ghost stories. What about the nation’s history makes it such
fertile terrain for ghosts? What happens when the dead refuse to stay in the past, relegated to history? Why, in
short, is the American historical imagination so haunted? We’ll dig deeply into selected hauntings, drawn from
across historical North America, and encounter the spirits of French Detroit, the Gettysburg battlefield, and
colonial Jamaica, among others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST116Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Vladimir Putin: Personage, President, Potentate
With Russian military forces surging through Ukraine in an unprovoked and catastrophic war that few in Russia
or the West had predicted, as President Vladimir Putin threatens the annihilation of Ukraine’s statehood and
the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons, now is the time to plunge into a study of that authoritarian leader
of the world’s largest country. What are the causes and consequences of this catastrophic conflict? How did
Putin accumulate so much power? What have been his goals, values and operating principles? A product of
Leningrad’s “mean streets,” the young Putin sought glory in the KGB, and after the demise of the Soviet Union
—a collapse he rues to this day—moved into the heights of power. We will explore Vladimir Putin’s life path,
political strategies and policies, ideas about Russia’s identity and place in the world, and his image as the
epitome of both potent masculinity and the devil incarnate. We will also delve into Russian politics and society
in the era of this enigmatic, potent, and murderous leader.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Tumarkin; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: HIST200 Title: Roots of the Western Tradition
In this introductory survey, we will examine how the religious, political, and scientific traditions of Western
civilization originated in Mesopotamia and Egypt from 3500 B.C.E. and were developed by Greeks and
Romans until the Islamic invasions of the seventh century C.E. The course will help students to understand the
emergence of polytheism and the great monotheistic religions, the development of democracy and
republicanism, and the birth of Western science and the scientific method.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rogers; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST203 Title: Out of Many: American History to 1877
An introduction to American life, politics, and culture, from the colonial period through the aftermath of the Civil
War. Surveys the perspectives of the many peoples converging on North America during this era, and explores
the shifting fault lines of "liberty" among them. Because Early America was not inevitably bound toward the
creation of the "United States of America," we will ask how such an unlikely thing, in fact, happened. How did a
nation emerge from such a diverse array of communities? And how did various peoples come to claim
citizenship in this new nation? Emphasis, too, on the issues that convulsed the American colonies and early
republic: African slavery, revolutionary politics, immigration, westward expansion, and the coming of the Civil
War.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST204 Title: The United States History since 1865
The United States' past is one of making and remaking the nation—as a government, a place, and a concept.
This course surveys that dynamic process from the Reconstruction period through 9/11. Examining the
people, practices, and politics behind U.S. nation building, we will consider questions of how different groups
have defined and adopted "American" identities, and how definitions of the nation and citizenship shifted in
relation to domestic and global happenings. This will include considering how ideas of gender, race, ethnicity,
and citizenship intersected within projects of nation building. We will cover topics that include domestic race
relations, U.S. imperialism, mass consumption, globalization, and terrorism, and developments such as
legalized segregation, the Depression, World Wars I and II, and modern social progressive and conservative
movements.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Greer; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST205 Title: The Making of the Modern World Order
This foundational course in international history explores the evolution of trade, competition, and cultural
interaction among the world's diverse communities, from the Mongol conquests of the late thirteenth century
through the end of the twentieth century. Themes include: the centrality of Asia to the earliest global networks
of trade and interaction; the rise of European wealth and power in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries;
empires; imperialism and its impact; the evolution of the nation-state; scientific and industrial revolutions; and
"modernization" and the new patterns of globalization during the late twentieth century. Attention to agents of
global integration, including trade, technology, migration, dissemination of ideas, conquest, war, and disease.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Osorio (Fall), Giersch (Spring); Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: HIST207/LAST207 Title: Contemporary Problems in Latin American History
In this problem-centered survey of the contemporary history of Latin America we will critique and go beyond
the many stereotypes that have inhibited understandings between Anglo and Latin America, cultivating instead
a healthy respect for complexity and contradiction. Over the course of the semester we will examine key
themes in current history, including the dilemmas of uneven national development in dependent economies;
the emergence of anti-imperialism and various forms of political and cultural nationalism; the richness and
variety of revolution; ethnic, religious, feminist, literary, artistic, and social movements; the imposing social
problems of the sprawling Latin American megalopolis; the political heterodoxies of leftism, populism,
authoritarianism, and neoliberalism; the patterns of peace, violence, and the drug trade; the considerable U.S.
influence in the region, and finally, transnational migration and globalization.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST208 Title: Society and Culture in Medieval Europe
This course examines life in medieval Europe c. 750-1250 in all its manifestations: political, religious, social,
cultural, and economic. Topics to be studied include the political life of France, Germany, and Italy, economic
structures and their transformations, monks and monastic culture, the growth of papal power, the crusading
movement, intellectual life and theological debates, heresy and religious minorities, love and sex, and the
varied roles of women in medieval life. Students will learn to analyze and interpret primary sources from the
period, as well as to evaluate critically historiographical debates related to medieval history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ramseyer; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST211/LAST211 Title: The Empire of the Indies: Spanish Rule in America and the Philippines
(ca. 1500s – ca.1780s)
The Empire of the Indies or New World was part of the larger Spanish Empire, and comprised the American
continent, the Philippine and the Mariana Islands in the Pacific. At the height of its power in the seventeenth
century, the Spanish Empire was a global enterprise in which Portuguese, Aztec, Genoese, Chinese,
Japanese, Flemish, Inka and Romans played essential roles in its daily functioning and constitution. This
course traces the making and consolidation of the Empire of the Indies by examining the resources, peoples,
and ideas that it contributed to Spain’s overwhelming power ca. 1500s-1780s. It interrogates evolving
meanings and understandings of empire, colonialism, and modernity, and the cultural transformations of
native populations and Europeans in historic and geographical context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST212 Title: Atlantic Revolutions and the Birth of Nations
This course deals with the momentous social, political, and cultural transformations that characterized the
American, French, Haitian, and Spanish American Revolutions (the "Atlantic Revolutions"). Straddling the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (the "Age of Revolutions"), these social and political movements
constituted a watershed of violent change that ushered in the (many) problems and possibilities of the modern
world: the birth of the Nation, nationalism, and democracy, among others. We will seek answers to questions
such as, How did nationalism and universalism shape the nature and strategies of revolt and counterrevolution? What were the roles of slavery, race, women, religion, and geography in defining citizenship? How
did historical writing and revolution work to create the foundational myths of the modern nation?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST213 Title: Conquest and Crusade in the Medieval Mediterranean
This course examines Mediterranean history from the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth
centuries through the Latin Crusades of the Holy Land in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with a focus on the
religious, political, and cultural diversity of the medieval Mediterranean and the relationship between Christian,
Muslim, and Jewish communities. Topics of discussion include warfare and empire, the emergence and
development of Christianity and Islam, asceticism and the relationship between religion and philosophy,
Christian and Muslim concepts of holy war, conversion and the status of religious minorities, and the crusades
from both a Christian and Muslim perspective.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Ramseyer; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST214 Title: Medieval Italy
This course provides an overview of Italian history from the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the fifth
century through the rise of urban communes in the thirteenth century. Topics of discussion include the birth
and development of the Catholic Church, the volatile relationship between popes and emperors, the history of
monasticism and other forms of popular piety, the rise of heresy and dissent, the emergence of a multicultural
society in southern Italy, and the development and transformation of cities and commerce in the north that
made Italy one of the most economically advanced states in late medieval Europe. This course will also draw
attention to the important role of women as both political and religious leaders.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ramseyer; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST215 Title: Gender and Nation in Latin America
Since their invention in the early nineteenth century, nations and states in Latin America have been conceived
of in gendered terms. This has played a key role in producing and reproducing masculine and feminine
identities in society. This course examines the powerful relationship between gender and nation in modern
Latin America. Topics include patriarchal discourses of state and feminized representations of nation; the
national project to define the family as a male-centered nuclear institution; the idealization of motherhood as a
national and Christian virtue; the role of military regimes in promoting masculine ideologies; state regulations
of sexuality and prostitution; changing definitions of the feminine and masculine in relation to the emergence of
"public" and "private" spheres; and struggles over the definition of citizenship and nationality.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST218 Title: Dictatorship, Authoritarianism and Transition to Democracy in Spain and Latin
America
In the twentieth century, democracies in Spain and Latin America fell under the authoritarian boot of dictatorial
rule. In the 1930s a democratic republican government in Spain led to a devastating civil war and to the long
dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-1975). In Latin America, strong democracies fell to authoritarian rule in
Brazil (1964-1985), Chile (1973-1989), and Argentina (1976-1980). By examining the social, political and
cultural conditions that led to these dictatorial regimes, this course considers how political ideologies, parties
and their agendas aided their rise; the role of Catholicism, the Catholic Church, foreign intervention, and social
movements in their rise, consolidation, ultimate end, and resistance to such regimes; the challenges and
conditions of their post-dictatorial transitions back to democracy and the lessons for democratic rule more
generally.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST220 Title: United States Consumer Culture and Citizenship
We are a nation organized around an ethos of buying things. Throughout the twentieth century, the
government, media, big business, and the public increasingly linked politics and consumerism, and the
formulation has been a route to empowerment and exclusion. In this course, we study how and why people in
the United States theorized about, practiced, and promoted mass material consumption from the turn of the
twentieth century into the twenty-first. Topics will include: the rise of consumer culture; the innovations of
department stores, malls, freeways, and suburbs; developments in advertising and marketing; the global
position of the American consumer in the post-World War II United States; and the political utility of
consumption to various agendas, including promoting free enterprise, combating racism, and battling
terrorism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Greer; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST222 Title: The Barbarian Kingdoms of Early Medieval Europe
This course examines the Barbarian successor states established in the fifth and sixth centuries after the
disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West, including a long discussion about the varying opinions on
how and why the western Roman empire fell. It will focus primarily on the Frankish kingdom of Gaul, but will
also make forays into Lombard Italy, Visigothic Spain, and Vandal North Africa. In particular, the course will
look in depth at the Carolingian empire established c. 800 by Charlemagne, who is often seen as the founder
of Europe, and whose empire is often regarded as the precursor of today's European Union. Political, cultural,
religious, and economic developments will be given equal time.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ramseyer; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST223 Title: The Hand that Feeds: A History of American Food
Cooking, eating, growing—Food has always been a driving force in American history. Well before the hapless
colonists at Jamestown endured 1610’s horrific “starving time,” food—and the drive to eat—had begun
shaping the continent’s fate. This course investigates the place of food in American history and culture, from
reputed cannibalism in the American colonies to the rise of fast food in the twentieth century. In following the
evolution of American foodways, we will visit eighteenth-century coffee houses, antebellum slave quarters,
campfires of the American West, the slaughterhouses of the Chicago meat market, and—of course—
McDonald’s. Meetings may find us eating, as well as reading; course participants will take turns introducing
the group to a particular food or drink, situated historically. Each student will complete an original research
project on a topic of their choice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken HIST 320.; Instructor:
Grandjean; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300 level as HIST 320.;
Course ID: HIST228 Title: Swords and Scandals: Ancient History in Films, Documentaries, and Online
Films such as Gladiator, The Passion of the Christ, and 300, documentaries such as The Last Stand of the 300,
and Internet courses such as Alexander Online perhaps influence how the majority of people now understand
antiquity. But are these visual media historically reliable representations of the past? Or do they rather primarily
reflect changing artistic and societal concerns? How have the use of digital backlots, blue screens, and other
technical innovations affected how the past is being represented and understood? In this course we will
examine the representation of the ancient world in films, documentaries, and online media from the "Sword
and Sandal" classics of the past such as Ben-Hur to the present, within the scholarly frameworks of ancient
history and modern historiography.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rogers; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST229 Title: Alexander the Great: Psychopath or Philosopher King
Alexander the Great murdered the man who saved his life, married a Bactrian princess, and dressed like
Dionysus. He also conquered the known world by the age of 33, fused the Eastern and Western populations of
his empire, and became a god. This course will examine the personality, career, and achievements of the
greatest warrior in history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken HIST 329.; Instructor:
Rogers; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as HIST 329
with additional assignments.;
Course ID: HIST230 Title: Greek History from the Bronze Age to the Death of Philip II of Macedon
The origins, development, and geographical spread of Greek culture from the Bronze Age to the death of
Philip II of Macedon. Greek colonization, the Persian Wars, the Athenian democracy, and the rise of Macedon
will be examined in relation to the social, economic, and religious history of the Greek polis.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rogers; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: HIST231 Title: History of Rome
Rome's cultural development from its origins as a small city state in the eighth century B.C.E. to its rule over a
vast empire extending from Scotland to Iraq. Topics include the Etruscan influence on the formation of early
Rome, the causes of Roman expansion throughout the Mediterranean during the Republic, the Hellenization of
Roman society, the urbanization and Romanization of Western Europe, the spread of "mystery" religions, the
persecution and expansion of Christianity, and the economy and society of the Empire.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rogers; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST232 Title: The Transformation of the Western World: Europe from 1350 to 1815
This course surveys the transformation of medieval Europe into a powerful civilization whose norms,
institutions, and technology reached across the globe. Along the way, we use original sources, including
Wellesley's museum collections, to investigate major landmarks in Europe's political, cultural, social,
intellectual, and environmental history. These include the Black Death, the Renaissance, the creation of
seaborne empires and the discovery of new worlds, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, the Scientific
Revolution, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the coming of capitalism, a multitude of devastating
wars, and changes in urban and rural landscapes—all set against the backdrop of European people's ongoing
efforts to define their relationships to their own medieval and ancient forerunners and to the world's other
peoples.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Grote; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST233 Title: In Search of the Enlightenment
What was the Enlightenment? Of all eras, it has probably the greatest parental claim to the values, politics, and
sciences of the modern West. It witnessed the triumph of Newtonian physics and the demise of miracles;
devalued the authority of the Bible; legitimized democratic, nationalist, and feminist politics; dealt devastating
blows to the political prerogatives of monarchs, aristocrats and the clergy; attacked torture and the death
penalty; and powerfully defended religious toleration, freedom of the press, and human rights. To understand
these and other alleged accomplishments of the Enlightenment, we will study the works of the greatest
luminaries to frequent the coffeehouses, salons, and secret societies of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, including Kant, Rousseau, Locke, Diderot, Herder, Beccaria, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Spinoza.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Grote; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST234 Title: The Holy Roman Empire: Religion, Politics, and Culture from Luther to Napoleon
This course traces the tumultuous history of Europe's German lands in the three centuries between the Middle
Ages and the modern era, long identified with the origins of twentieth-century German militarism and antiSemitism. We focus on what makes this fascinating period distinctive: Germany's uniquely persistent political
diversity and the religious schism that gave Germany multiple national religions. Topics include the Protestant
Reformation, the Great Witch Panic, the devastating Thirty Years War that destroyed 150 years of economic
growth, Prussia and Frederick the Great, the Enlightenment, the Napoleonic Wars, and the demise of the
extraordinarily complex political system known as the Holy Roman Empire. Sources include treaties, treatises,
literature, autobiographical texts, visual art, and music, by, among others, Luther, Bach, Lessing, Mozart, and
Goethe.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Grote; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST244 Title: History of the American West: Manifest Destiny to Pacific Imperialism
With its sweeping landscapes, grand myths, and oversized egos, the American West has loomed large within
U.S. history. Since the nation's birth, Americans looked toward the horizon and imagined their destinies, a
gaze, since copied by historians, novelists, and filmmakers. Nevertheless, the history of this vast region is
much more fractured and complex. This course explores the West-as an idea and place-from the early
nineteenth century through World War I. While we will engage the ways that Americans conjured and
conquered the region, we will also look beyond their gaze toward the varied empires, peoples, and forces that
created the West. Topics covered include: Northern New Spain and Mexico; American Indians and U.S.
expansionism; transcontinental and trans-Pacific trade and (im)migration; race, gender, and identity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Quintana; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST245 Title: The Social History of American Capitalism from Revolution to Empire
There is perhaps no better time than the present to study the history of American capitalism, as political
leaders, pundits, bank and business executives, and workers across the world struggle to understand our
current economic situation. This course will explore the development of American capitalism from its birth in
the mercantile world of imperial Great Britain through the financial ruin of the Great Depression. This course
will closely examine the relationship between government, business, and society by engaging key moments in
nineteenth-century American economic history: the rise of the corporation, transportation and communication
innovations, industrialization, American slavery and commodity production, financial speculation and panics,
the development of American banking, immigration policy, and labor relations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Quintana; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST246 Title: Vikings, Icons, Mongols, and Tsars
A multicultural journey through the turbulent waters of medieval and early modern Russia, from the Viking
incursions of the ninth century and the entrance of the East Slavs into the splendid and mighty Byzantine
world, to the Mongol overlordship of Russia, the rise of Moscow, and the legendary reign of Ivan the Terrible.
We move eastward as the Muscovite state conquers the immense reaches of Siberia by the end of the
turbulent seventeenth century, when the young and restless Tsar Peter the Great travels to Western Europe to
change Russia forever. We will focus on khans, princes, tsars, nobles, peasants, and monks; social norms and
gender roles; icons and church architecture; and a host of Russian saints and sinners.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Tumarkin; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST247 Title: Splendor and Serfdom: Russia Under the Romanovs
An exploration of Imperial Russia over the course of two tumultuous centuries from the astonishing reign of
Peter the Great at the start of the eighteenth century, to the implosion of the Russian monarchy under the
unfortunate Nicholas II early in the twentieth, as Russia plunged toward revolution. St. Petersburg-the stunning
and ghostly birthplace of Russia's modern history and the symbol of Russia's attempt to impose order on a
vast, multiethnic empire-is a focus of this course. We will also emphasize the everyday lives of peasants and
nobles; the vision and ideology of autocracy; Russia's brilliant intelligentsia; and the glory of her literary canon.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Tumarkin; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST248 Title: The Soviet Union: A Tragic Colossus
The Soviet Union, the most immense empire in the world, hurtled through the twentieth century, shaping major
world events. This course will follow the grand, extravagant, and often brutal socialist experiment from its
fragile inception in 1917 through the rule of Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev, after which
the vast Soviet empire broke apart with astonishing speed. We will contrast utopian constructivist visions of the
glorious communist future with Soviet reality. Special emphasis on Soviet political culture, the trauma of the
Stalin years and World War II, and the travails and triumphs of everyday life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Tumarkin; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST249 Title: Cold War Culture and Politics in the United States
The Cold War was an era, a culture, and a set of policies defining U.S. domestic and foreign relations. This
course examines Cold War politics, culture, and foreign policies in relation to various national developments—
including the rise of social movements, changes in city landscapes, and the “birth of the cool"—and
international events, including the Cuban Missile Crisis and conflicts concerning Vietnam. Bearing on these
developments were opportunities and limitations that accompanied ideological struggles between the United
States and the Soviet Union, the rise of new cultural industries, and demographic shifts in the United States.
Broad topic areas include: U.S. foreign policies; conformity and deviation along lines of gender, race, and
sexuality; and domestic and foreign perceptions of the United States in a Cold War context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Greer; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores.; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: HIST250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores.; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: HIST251 Title: Roads to Power: The Transformation of Space in 19th Century North America
19th Century North American History revolves around the radical, and often violent transformation of space. It
is, in other words, the story of infrastructures—roads, canals, and railroads--imagined and built; of borders,
between and within nations, mapped and brutally maintained; of urban and rural spaces, conceived and
constructed; and, of indigenous lands expropriated and altered into a species of property through violence
and the law. This course examines that transformation of space, closely interrogating: the various means by
which governments and individuals asserted differential claims to territory; the evolving technologies of
property, cartography, construction, and transportation that were deployed to assert and maintain claims to
space; and, the various ways that seemingly marginalized peoples participated in, and challenged these
spatial claims. The course covers the era between the American Revolution and World War I.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Quintana; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST253 Title: First Peoples: An Introduction to Native American History
An introduction to the history of Native American peoples, from precontact to the present. Through a survey of
scholarly works, primary documents, objects, films, and Indian autobiographies, students will grapple with
enduring questions concerning the Native past. How should we define "Native America"? How interconnected
were Native peoples, and when? Can we pinpoint the emergence of "Indian" identity and understand how it
developed? This course confronts those questions and other issues in Native American history, through such
topics as the "discovery" of Europe and its effects, cultural and commercial exchange with Europeans,
removal, the struggle for the West, the "Indian New Deal," and the Red Power movement of the 1970s. Special
attention to the Native northeast.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST254 Title: The United States in the World War II Era
World War II was a uniquely defining moment in U.S. history, its sweeping influence forever altering the
nation's culture, economics, and global position. This course examines events surrounding U.S. involvement in
the Second World War from the Depression era through the early Cold War years. Our focus will be political,
social, and cultural developments on the "home front," which we will contextualize within broader world
dynamics. Topics include: domestic attitudes toward the war, the political and cultural significance of FDR's
"four freedoms," shifts in foreign policy, a reshaped workforce ("Rosie the Riveter," Bracero programs,
desegregation), sex and sexuality in the military, military personnel's experiences, wartime consumer trends,
scientific advances, and the nation's geopolitical concerns and objectives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Greer; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST255 Title: Black Lives Matter in Print
"The history of black liberation movements in the United States could be characterized as a struggle over
images,” claimed activist and scholar bell hooks. In this course, students study how, throughout U.S. history,
Black people – and their allies – have produced images of Black people and Black experiences as part of their
liberation and survival campaigns. Inherent to this exercise is the analysis of print materials in which these
pictures circulated. Therefore, in addition to learning how to analyze pictures as both images and historical
sources, students will draw on book studies practices, which treat books as objects, the physicality of which
holds clues to the past. The “books” – or material objects – of this course include newspapers, slave
narratives, pamphlets, magazines, photographs, and even iPhone videos. Whenever possible, we will do
hands-on analysis, using materials in Wellesley’s special collections and from the instructor’s personal archive.
Students will learn to read visuals and print objects for evidence of Black people’s circ*mstances and
resources, and for how existing materials and technologies enabled and limited Black freedom demands.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Greer; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST256 Title: Brave New Worlds: Colonial American History and Culture
This course considers America's colonial past. It is a bloody but fascinating history, with plenty of twists and
turns. We will investigate colonial American culture and ordinary life (including gender, family life, ecology, the
material world, religion, and magical belief), as well as the struggles experienced by the earliest colonists and
the imperial competition that characterized the colonial period. Between 1607 and 1763, a florid variety of
cultures bloomed on the North American continent. We will explore these, with an eye toward understanding
how the English colonies emerged from very uncertain beginnings to become-by the mid-eighteenth centurythe prevailing power on the continent.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST260 Title: Pursuits of Happiness: America in the Age of Revolution
Investigates the origins and aftermath of one of the most improbable events in American history: the American
Revolution. What pushed colonists to rebel, rather suddenly, against Britain? And what social struggles
followed in the war's wake? We will explore the experiences of ordinary Americans, including women and
slaves; examine the material culture of Revolutionary America; trace the intellectual histories of the founders;
and witness the creation of a national identity and constitution. Those who lived through the rebellion left
behind plenty of material: letters; pamphlets; teapots; runaway slave advertisem*nts; diaries. We will consider
these and more. Visits to Boston historic sites will take you back in time and space to the besieged, volatile city
that led the colonies into war.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST261/PEAC261 Title: Civil War and the World
This course examines the American Civil War, one of the central conflicts in US history, by placing it within the
broader context of the making of the modern world. The course will explore the roots, consequences, and
experiences of the war—the long history of slavery and emancipation, territorial expansion and
industrialization, and the everyday experience of modern warfare. The class will do so by considering those
events through the lens of global history. We scrutinize the political upheavals around the world that gave
broader meaning to the Civil War; the emergence of modern weaponry and tactics and their consequences;
and the development of the nation-state and colonialism, which resulted in new forms of governance and
coercion that emerged in the wake of emancipation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Quintana; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: HIST262 Title: The Life and Political World of Alexander Hamilton
A tour of early American politics and political culture, through the life of Alexander Hamilton. Using Hamilton as
our guide, we will study electoral politics, campaigning and electioneering, the politics of finance, social
movements and rebellion, federalism, and the rise of the party system. Beginning in the Caribbean, where
Hamilton was born, and visiting revolutionary New York and early national Philadelphia, among other places,
we will consider how Hamilton’s generation defined an American politics. Special attention to the presidencies
of Washington and Adams.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST263/PEAC224 Title: South Africa in Historical Perspective: Rereading the Past, Re-imagining
the Future
South Africa’s new constitution and dynamic forms of social activism and cultural expression represent
powerful forces for democracy and equality. However, the legacy of Apartheid and the constraints on the
transition to majority rule in 1991-1994 still negatively affect people’s living conditions along the lines of race,
class, and gender. This course traces South Africa’s history from 1652 to the present, with themes including:
the establishment of colonial rule; the destruction of pre-colonial polities; slavery and emancipation; White
nationalism and the establishment of Apartheid; African nationalist movements and other forms of resistance;
the fraught transition to majority rule, including the Truth and Reconciliation process; South Africa’s dynamic
popular and public culture, and ongoing efforts to counter poverty, public corruption, HIV-AIDS, gender-based
violence, and “xenophobia”.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: HIST264 Title: The History of Pre-Colonial Africa
Pre-colonial Africa encompasses ancient agrarian kingdoms (such as Egypt, Merowe, and Ghana), city-states
on the shores of sea and desert, and "nations without kings," with their own, unique social and political
institutions. Students will learn about the material bases of these societies, as well as their social relations and
cultural production, all the while familiarizing themselves with the rich array of written, oral, linguistic, and
archeological sources available to the historian of Africa. After 1500, in the era of the European expansion,
large parts of Africa were incorporated into the Atlantic tropical plantation complex through the trade in
enslaved people. The enormous impact on Africa of this unprecedented forced migration of Africans to the
Americas from 1500 to the 1880s will constitute the concluding theme.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: HIST265 Title: History of Modern Africa
Many of Africa's current characteristics are the legacy of colonial domination. We will therefore first study
different kinds of colonies, from those settled by White settlers to the "Cinderellas" in which colonial economic
intervention was (by comparison) minimal and the struggle for independence less bloody. For the postindependence period, we will focus on the historical roots of such major themes as neocolonialism, economic
underdevelopment, ethnic conflict and genocide, HIV/AIDS, and the problems of the African state. However,
Africa's enormous natural and human resources, its resilient and youthful population, and its vibrant popular
culture-a strong antidote against Afro-pessimism-will help us reflect on the future of this vast continent.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: HIST266/SAS266 Title: The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian History
This course examines the history of interaction of Africans, Arabs, Persians, and South Asians in the coastal
regions of East Africa, the Arabian/Persian Gulf, and India, which together enclose the western Indian Ocean.
In the period under study (1500 to the present), European imperial expansion and a globalizing economy
played an increasingly transformative role. We will read about the port cities connecting these shores; the
movements and networks of people; the objects and patterns of trade; the intensifying slave trade; shared
environmental and health hazards, and the exchange of legal and commercial practices, and religious and
political ideas.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to students with at least one course in either History or
African, Middle Eastern, or South Asian studies.; Instructor: Kapteijns and Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as HIST 367/SAS 367 with additional assignments.;
Course ID: HIST267 Title: Deep in the Heart: The American South in the Nineteenth Century
Perhaps no other region in the United States conjures up more powerful imagery than the American Southstately mansions with live oak avenues are juxtaposed with the brutal reality of slavery. Yet this same region
gave birth to other, perhaps more powerful, cultural legacies-jazz and the blues, the freedom struggle and Jim
Crow-a heritage both uniquely Southern and yet deeply American. To better understand this region that has
always seemed to stand apart, this course will examine the early history of the American South from the
Revolutionary War through the beginning of the twentieth century. Topics covered will include: African
American slavery and emancipation, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the spread of evangelical Christianity,
Indian Removal, African American culture, and the rise of Jim Crow segregation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Quintana; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST268 Title: Islamic Africa: A Historical Introduction
This history of Islamic Africa from the seventh to the twentieth century will focus especially on the Saharan and
Sudanic belts stretching across the continent from west to east and on the Swahili coast of East Africa. We will
study how Islam inspired religious, legal, and political reform (including state-formation) in the precolonial era
and shaped responses (including armed resistance) to the establishment of European colonial rule. Other
themes include: how Islam influenced African understandings of gender and race; the agency of women and
enslaved people in shaping everyday “lived” Islam; and African Muslim men and women’s contributions to a
long tradition of knowledge production as well as their diverse, often passionate and artistically accomplished,
expressions of faith.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST270 Title: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Decolonization in South Asia
The Mughal Empire in late seventeenth-century India was recognized as one of the richest and strongest
powers in the world. Yet by the early nineteenth-century, the British ruled the subcontinent. This course begins
by examining the colonization of India. Colonial rule meant important changes to Indian life, spurred by British
attempts to create private property, introduce social reforms, and spread English education. However, colonial
rule also led to nationalism and efforts to imagine India as a unified nation-state. The course considers leaders
such as Mohandas Gandhi and Mohammed Ali Jinnah's struggles against the British, culminating in
Independence but also Partition of the subcontinent in 1947. We consider a wide range of sources including
films, literature, and primary documents.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST272 Title: Political Economy of Development in Colonial and Post-Colonial South Asia
In 1947, India was partitioned into India and Pakistan. Since then, these countries have wrestled with issues of
governance and development, but colonial rule casts a long shadow over their efforts. This course introduces
students to the complex politico-economic landscape of the subcontinent by examining how the idea of
development changes in modern South Asian history. How are developmental efforts embedded in contexts of
politics, society, and culture? How do political systems affect decisions? This course considers these
questions by examining themes such as the colonial state's construction of railway and irrigation networks;
Gandhi's critique of industrialization; Nehru's vision of an industrial economy; the challenges posed by Partition
and militarization of Pakistan; the Green Revolution; and the onset of economic deregulation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST273 Title: Food, Sports, and Sex: Body Politics in South Asia
South Asian cultures posit that food serves to mediate between ourselves and the world around us. This
course examines connections between diet and physical activity in South Asia’s modern history. Topics
include: the connection between the body and the spiritual world as mediated by diet in pre-modern South
Asia; assumptions about food and colonial rule’s underlying opposition between a “manly” Europe and an
“effeminate” India; articulations of anti-colonial nationalism in sporting performance and experimentation with
diet; connections between anxieties about sexual performance, considerations of what one eats, and
conceptualizations of modern South Asian identities; the roles played by food politics and sports play in the
international relations of postcolonial South Asia.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST274 Title: China, Japan, and Korea in Comparative and Global Perspectives
Overview of each political/cultural community and their interactions from ancient times to 1912. Topics from
earlier periods include ancient mytho-histories and archaeological records, the rise of China's Han and Tang
empires, selective adaptations of Chinese patterns by indigenous polities and societies in Korea and Japan,
commercial and technological revolution in China and its international impact, Mongol "globalization," Japan in
the age of the samurai, and Korea in the heyday of the yangban. Topics from later periods include the growth
of international trade in East Asia and early modern developments in Ming-Qing China, Tokugawa Japan, and
Late Joseon Korea. Coverage extends through the first decade of the twentieth century to examine Europe's
expansion and the divergent trajectories of modern transformation in each society.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Giersch; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: HIST275 Title: The Emergence of Ethnic Identities in Modern South Asia
South Asian society has long been represented by rigid systems of hierarchy. Caste, most famously, has been
represented as an inexorable determinant of social possibility. Yet, what are the ways in which people actually
identify themselves, and to what extent is hierarchical identification a product of South Asia's modern history?
This course explores the problems of social and cultural difference in South Asia. How do modern institutions
such as the census and electoral politics shape the way in which these problems are perceived today? What
are the effects of the introduction of English education? How does migration and diaspora impinge upon
identity? In addition to caste, we also consider religion, class, gender, and migration in seeking to unravel the
complex notion of ethnicity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST276 Title: The City in Modern South Asia
South Asian cities are currently undergoing massive demographic and spatial transformations. These cannot
be understood without a consideration of both the specific history of South Asia and a broader account of
urban change. This course examines these changes in historical perspective and situates urban South Asia
within a global context. How did colonial rule transform old cities such as Delhi and Lahore? How were the
differing ideologies of India and Pakistan mapped onto new capitals such as Chandigarh and Islamabad? How
are ethnic pasts and techno futures reconciled in booming cities such as Bangalore and Mumbai? What are
the connections between the urban environment and political mobilization? We consider a range of sources,
including scholarly literature, films, and short stories.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST277 Title: China and America: Evolution of a Troubled Relationship
A survey of China's economic, cultural, and political interactions with the United States from 1784 to present
with a focus on developments since 1940. Principal themes include: post-imperial China's pursuit of wealth
and power, changing international conditions, military strategy, the influence of domestic politics and ideology,
and the basic misunderstandings and prejudices that have long plagued this critical relationship. Topics
include: trade throughout the centuries; American treatment of Chinese immigrants; World War II and the
Chinese Revolution; the Cold War; Taiwan; and the ongoing instability of relations since 1979. Sources include
the ever-increasing number of declassified U.S. documents as well as critical materials translated from the
Chinese.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Giersch; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST278 Title: Reform and Revolution in China, 1800 to the Present
From shattering nineteenth-century rebellions that fragmented the old empire to its emergence as a twenty-first
century superpower, few places have experienced tumult and triumph in the same massive measures as
modern China. To understand China today, one must come to terms with this turbulent history. This course
surveys China's major cultural, political, social, and economic transformations, including failed reforms under
the last dynasty; the revolutions of 1911 and 1949; the rise of the Communist Party and Mao's transformation
of society and politics; the remarkable market reforms of recent decades; the contentious issue of Taiwan's
democratic transition; and China's ongoing effort to define its position within East Asia and the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Giersch; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST279 Title: Heresy and Popular Religion in the Middle Ages
This course looks at popular religious beliefs and practices in medieval Europe, including martyrdom and
asceticism, saints and relics, shrines, miracles, and pilgrimage. It seeks to understand popular religion both
on its own terms, as well as in relationship to the church hierarchy. It also examines the varied and changing
roles of women in Christianity, Christian ideas regarding gender and asexuality, passionate same sex relations
in monastic culture, and saints associated with LGBTQ communities. It ends by examining the growth of
religious dissent in the 11th and 12th centuries, which led to religious repression and the emergence of what
some historians refer to as a persecuting society in 13th-century Europe.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken HIST 379.; Instructor:
Ramseyer; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as HIST 379 with additional assignments.;
Course ID: HIST280 Title: Topics in Chinese Commerce and Business
China's stunning economic growth and the increasing visibility of transnational businesses run by
entrepreneurs of Chinese descent have produced many efforts to explain the successes of “Chinese
capitalism” and the “Chinese model.” Central to many arguments are debatable approaches to culture and
history. Is there a uniquely Chinese way of doing business? Has mainland China developed a revolutionary
new path of economic development? This course engages these debates through influential works on Chinese
business and economic history, from the nineteenth century through the reform period (1978 to the present).
Topics include corporate governance and the financing of firms; the role of kinship and networking (guanxi);
changing political contexts of development; competition with foreign firms; the impact of globalization; and
debates over China's remarkable economic rise.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Giersch; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: HIST284 Title: The Middle East in Modern History
This course provides a survey of Middle Eastern history from c.1900 to the present, with an emphasis on the
Arab Middle East. It will focus on the historical developments of the period: the demise of the Ottoman Empire
at the end of World War I; the Armenian genocide; the establishment of European "mandates" in most of the
Arab world and the nationalist struggles for independence that ensued; the establishment of Israel and the
expulsion of Palestinians in 1948; the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990; the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979
and the rise of Islamist political movements elsewhere; the regime of Saddam Hussein; the occupation of
Kuwait and the Gulf War of 1990-1991; the failure of the Oslo peace process, Israeli settlements, and the
increasing political power of HAMAS and Hizbullah; the war in Iraq; the challenge of a potentially nuclear Iran,
and the impact of the war in Syria.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST285/REL266 Title: Ottoman State and Society (1300-1923)
This course explores the emergence of the Ottoman state from a frontier principality into a world empire.
Topics include pre-Ottoman Anatolia; frontier society; methods of conquest; centralization and organization of
power; religion, architecture, and literature; land regime and peasantry; urbanization; and relations with
European Empires as well as other Islamic states. Particular attention will be given to the institutionalization of
religion in Ottoman state and society, including the employment of Sharia in political decision-making and
legal judgments, and to the treatment of religious minorities in the empire. Readings from primary source texts
(in English) and their recent interpretations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or
Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST293/MES293 Title: Changing Gender Constructions in the Modern Middle East
Intertwined with the political history of the modern Middle East are the dramatic cultural and social changes
that have shaped how many Middle Easterners live their lives and imagine their futures. This course explores
the historical contexts of the changing constructions of femininity and masculinity in different Middle Eastern
settings from World War I to the present. Such contexts include nationalist and Islamist movements; economic,
ecological, and demographic change; changing conceptions of modernity and tradition, individual and family,
and public and private space; and state violence and civil war. Primary sources will focus on the selfrepresentations of Middle Eastern men and women as they engaged with what they considered the major
issues of their times.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST302 Title: Seminar: World War II as Memory and Myth
This seminar explores the many ways that victors and vanquished, victims and perpetrators, governments,
political groups, and individuals have remembered, celebrated, commemorated, idealized, condemned,
condoned, forgotten, ignored, and grappled with the vastly complex history and legacy of World War II in the
eight decades since the war's end. Our primary focus is the war in Europe, including Poland and Russia,
although we will also consider the United States and Japan. We will investigate the construction of individual
and collective memories about World War II and the creation and subsequent transformation of set myths
about the war experience. In addition to books and articles, sources will include memoirs, primary documents,
and films. We will also study the impact of war memories on international relations and analyze the
"monumental politics" of war memorials.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Tumarkin; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: HIST311 Title: Seminar: A New Birth of Freedom: Reimagining American History from Revolution
to Civil War
In the years between the Revolution and the Civil War the United States experienced dramatic change: rapid
geographic expansion, the growth and transformation of the market economy, the extension and evolution of
slavery and the movement for abolition, and a Civil War that nearly destroyed the nation. These topics and
others are long familiar to students of US history, but we will re-frame our analysis of this period: examining
expansion by re-centering Native Americans and competing imperial powers, considering the rise of the state
within the broader framework of world history, and re-imagining slavery in the context of global capitalism. In
considering these topics and others from a variety of perspectives, we will explore the continued significance
of the early national era in American History.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Quintana; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST312 Title: Seminar: Understanding Race in the United States, 1776-1918
This seminar explores the history of race from the American Revolution through the First World War. In this
seminar we will explore what race means in the United States by examining the varied ways that it has shapedand was shaped by-key moments in nineteenth century American history. Topics covered will include: slavery,
the conquest of the American West, immigration, citizenship and the nation-state, Social Darwinism, the Great
Migration, and American imperialism. Throughout the course we will seek to understand race in the United
States by exploring the following questions: What is "race"? If it is but a concept or idea, how and why has it
affected so many lives and dictated so much of our past?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Quintana; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST314 Title: Seminar: Fashion Matters: Dress, Style, and Politics in U.S. History
This course explores the history of fashion in U.S. social and political movements. How have people used
clothing and style to define themselves, demand recognition, challenge power, publicize injustice, and deflect
or attract attention? We will examine how ideologies and experiences of race, gender, sexuality, and
nationhood shaped uses of and reactions to fashion politics. Topics include the end of slavery, the rise of the
“New Woman,” the Second World War, the civil rights movement, the women's liberation movement, the rise of
hip hop, and the war on terror. Through these events, we will consider the political significance of hair,
uniforms, campaign fashion, and religious dress. We will also consider how authenticity, imitation,
appropriation, and commodification figure into this history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Greer; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST319 Title: Seminar: Fear and Violence in Early America
This seminar explores the terrors that stalked the inhabitants of colonial and early national America. How did
early Americans describe their fears? What did they find frightening? And what roles did fear and violence play
in shaping American society? In this seminar, we will first explore the language and psychology of fear, and
then study the many ways that terror intruded on early American lives. Topics include: the role of terror in early
American warfare; fear of the supernatural; domestic violence and murder; the specter of slave rebellion; and
fear and violence as entertainment in public executions and in early American literature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST320 Title: Seminar: The Hand that Feeds: A History of American Food
This seminar investigates the place of food in American history and culture, from reputed cannibalism in the
American colonies to the rise of fast food in the twentieth century. Through selected episodes and
commodities, we will explore the role of taste, competition for food, and capitalism in recasting American lives
and identities. Topics include: colonial hunger and violence; the development of taste and "refined" eating; the
role of food in defining race, class, and regional culture; the rise of mass production and its environmental
effects and the reshaping of American bodies. In following the evolution of American food ways, we will visit
eighteenth-century coffeehouses, antebellum slave quarters, campfires of the American West, the
slaughterhouses of the Chicago meat market, and, of course, McDonald's.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course
is also offered at the 200 level as HIST 223.;
Course ID: HIST321 Title: Seminar: Convicted: Crime and Punishment in Early America
This seminar explores how crime was defined, imagined, and punished, in colonial and early national America.
The origins of many current American attitudes and practices, regarding crime, lie here—in the earliest years of
settlement and state-making. In readings that visit the cobbled streets and cramped bedrooms of early
America, as well as courtrooms and the gallows, we will meet thieves, counterfeiters, murderers, legislators,
governors, vigilantes, and even America’s first policemen. Topics include: early theories of violence and
criminality; domestic violence and murder; the history of public execution; the role of race and slavery in
shaping criminal law; the evolution of American attitudes toward capital punishment; and the rise of the
penitentiary.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Grandjean; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST325 Title: "Veni; Vidi; Vici": The Life and Times of C. Iulius Caesar
C. Iulius Caesar was descended from the goddess Venus and the Roman King Ancus Marcius. He was one of
Rome’s greatest orators and Cicero said that every writer of sense steered clear of the subjects Caesar had
written about. His life was both scandalous and unprecedented in Roman History: Curio called him every
woman’s man and every man’s woman; Cato remarked that Caesar was the only sober man who tried to
wreck the constitution. After conquering Gaul Caesar became Rome’s first dictator for life, and finally a god,
after his assassination on the Ides of March of 44 BCE. This 300 level course will examine the life, death, and
legacies of the greatest Roman against the backdrop of the destruction of the Res Publica.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Normally open to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors who have
taken a 200-level unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Rogers;
Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST329 Title: Alexander the Great: Psychopath or Philosopher King
Alexander the Great murdered the man who saved his life, married a Bactrian princess, and dressed like
Dionysus. He also conquered the known world by the age of 33, fused the Eastern and Western populations of
his empire, and became a god. This course will examine the personality, career, and achievements of the
greatest warrior in history against the background of the Hellenistic world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
HIST 229.; Instructor: Rogers; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200level as HIST 229.;
Course ID: HIST330 Title: Seminar: Revolution and Rebellion in Twelfth-Century European Society
This course will examine the revolutionary changes that occurred in all facets of life in twelfth-century Europe.
The twelfth century represents one of the most important eras of European history, characterized by many
historians as the period that gave birth to Europe as both idea and place. It was a time of economic growth,
religious reformation, political and legal reorganization, cultural flowering, intellectual innovation, and outward
expansion. Yet the twelfth century had a dark side, too. Crusades and colonization, heresy and religious
disputes, town uprisings and mob violence also marked the century. Students will study the internal changes
to European society as well as the expansion of Europe into the Mediterranean and beyond, paying close
attention to the key people behind the transformations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Ramseyer; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST340 Title: Seminar: Seeing Black: African Americans and United States Visual Culture
This course explores black Americans' relationship to visual culture in the twentieth-century United States. We
will examine how African Americans have produced, used, and appeared in the visual media of news,
entertainment, and marketing industries, and evaluate the significance of their representation to both black and
non-black political and social agendas. Areas of inquiry will include the intersections between U.S. visual
culture and race relations, African Americans' use of visual culture as a means of self- and group-expression,
and the state's use of black media images. This exploration will take us through a study of Jim Crow politics,
black migrations and artistic movement, U.S. foreign relations and conflicts, and the development of marketing
and advertising.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Greer; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST341 Title: Seminar: Telling Stories: The Politics of Narrating the Black Freedom Struggle
When it comes to the modern black freedom movement, narration of “the struggle” bears heavily on African
Americans’ pursuits of civil rights, racial and economic equality, and national belonging. Popularly, the history
of “the struggle” is a story of good Americans triumphing over bad racists. The simplicity of this narrative
makes it ripe for appropriation; and individuals and institutions have put it to multiple uses, including: elevating
certain forms of protest, mobilizing political support, selling material goods, and rolling back civil rights
reforms. This seminar explores how historians have complicated the history of African Americans’ freedom
campaigns and considers how their interpretations shape perceptions of black activism, past and present.
Topics will include: Emmett Till, black funeral homes, the Black Panther Breakfast program, and
#BlackLivesMatter.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors or seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Greer; Distribution Requirements:
HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: HIST350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: HIST352 Title: Seminar: Mental Health in European History
What is mental health? This seminar examines the diversity of answers to this question across a variety of
European cultures and subcultures from the end of the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century. Our focus
will be on how particular communities’ conceptions of mental health informed their ethical principles,
behavioral norms, and modes of social control. Topics include meditation, confession of sins, journal-keeping,
and other spiritual practices; historical representations of mental illness as foolishness, madness, and
melancholy; the demise of humoral medicine and the rise of experimental psychology and neuroscience; the
emergence of asylums and social engineering; and the history of controversy over psychoanalytic, electric,
pharmaceutical, and other therapeutic techniques.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Grote; Distribution Requirements:
HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST354 Title: Seminar: King-Killers in Early Modern Britain and France
Popular fascination with kings and queens is alive and well, but European monarchs once enjoyed a mystical,
superhuman prestige far beyond mere celebrity. Why did they lose it? To find an answer, this seminar
investigates their enigmatic killers: perpetrators of cosmic cataclysm in the name of liberation from tyranny.
After examining the medieval legal foundations and ceremonial glamor of sacred kingship, we will analyze the
most sensational modern cases of king-killing: Charles I in the English Civil War and Louis XVI in the French
Revolution. Our analyses will encompass political maneuverings by individuals; bitter conflicts of class,
religion, and party; the subversive power of satirical literature; utopian yearnings for a more egalitarian society;
and the philosophical battles that produced modern concepts of the state.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Grote; Distribution Requirements:
HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST358 Title: Seminar: Pepper, Silver, and Silk: The Political Culture of Early Commodity
Circulation
In the sixteenth century for the first time the world became linked through networks of global trade. From
Lisbon to Calicut to Macao to Manila to Potosi to Antwerp, peoples and places became increasingly integrated
through labor systems, migration, and new economic and political relationships. Through the lens of the trade
in pepper, the circulation of silver, and the manufacture of silk from the 1480s to 1700, this course examines
the development of these relationships and their political and cultural implications. Rather than focusing on the
purely economic aspects of trade, we will examine the new technologies and knowledge(s) that made global
integration possible; the social and cultural revolutions fashioned by the production, consumption, and
circulation of these commodities; and the political transformations that accompanied such circulations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors who have
taken a 200-level unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Osorio;
Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST359 Title: Seminar: Speaking Ruins: Antiquity and Modernity in the History of the Spanish
World
This seminar examines the role of ruins (as both metaphors and material structures representative of antiquity)
in the construction of an urban Modern Spanish World from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries.
We will look at how architects, urban planners, imperial officials, philosophers, political writers and historians
looked to classical and American antiquity (Rome, Inka, Aztec) as sources for the construction and legitimation
of imperial and national histories (a deep past) and rule. And how ruins, as physical artifacts, became central in
the creation of the modern (a future) Spanish World. The Spanish Philippines will be a test case for
understanding the place of classical antiquity in American and Spanish European modernity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements:
HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: By permission of the department. See Academic Distinctions.;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: HIST365/MES368 Title: Seminar: From Casablanca to Cape Town: African Popular and Public
Cultures
This research seminar purposefully brings Africa north and south of the Sahara into a unified frame of study. It
focuses on African cultural expressions such as music, song, literature, fashion, photography and film, digital
creations, museums, and architecture in the period 1900 to the present. The themes structuring the syllabus
are: colonialism, nationalism, and modernity; constructions of gender; identities, and the changing
environment. You will learn about important concepts and themes in African historiography and cultural
studies, and a wide range of relevant texts. Explorations of African subjectivities and narrative agency in all
their complexity are central to the intellectual trajectory of this class. Research papers will engage with a
particular kind of text or form of African culture across regions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Normally open to juniors and
seniors who have taken a 200-level unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor:
Kapteijns and Aadnani (Middle Eastern Studies); Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST366/MES366 Title: Seminar: `Greater Syria’ under Ottoman and European Colonial Rule, c.
1850-1950
This is a research seminar about the history of “Greater Syria” (modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and
Israel/Palestinian Authority) from the perspective of its cities, especially Aleppo, Amman, Beirut, Damascus,
Haifa, and Jerusalem. Focus on the impact of the Ottoman Empire's mid-nineteenth-century Tanzimat (or
modernization) reforms; the Empire's demise after World War One, and European Mandate rule (French in
Lebanon and Syria, and British in Trans-Jordan and Palestine). Themes include: changes in governance and
the administration of Islamic law; localism, Arab nationalism, sectarianism, and changes in communal identities
and inter-communal relations; migration, urban and demographic growth, and the transformation of urban
space; Jewish nationalism and immigration, and the impact of World War Two.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: By permission of the instructor to students with some background
in History and the Middle East.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST367/SAS367 Title: The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian History
This course examines the history of interaction of Africans, Arabs, Persians, and South Asians in the coastal
regions of East Africa, the Arabian/Persian Gulf, and India, which together enclose the western Indian Ocean.
In the period under study (1500 to the present), European imperial expansion and a globalizing economy
played an increasingly transformative role. We will read about the port cities connecting these shores; the
movements and networks of people; the objects and patterns of trade; the intensifying slave trade; shared
environmental and health hazards, and the exchange of legal and commercial practices, and religious and
political ideas.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
HIST 266/SAS 266.; Instructor: Kapteijns and Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also
offered at the 200 level as HIST 266/SAS 266. At the 300-level, student writing assignments will encompass a
wider set of readings than at the 200-level of this course and include a short research paper. ;
Course ID: HIST369/MES369 Title: Seminar: Histories of "Ethnic" and "Religious" Violence
A crucial aspect of modern and contemporary international history is the large-scale violence against civilians
that has marked recent civil wars throughout the world, from former Yugoslavia to Rwanda, and from Ireland to
Sri Lanka and China. Though such violence is often labeled “ethnic” or “religious,” its causes are much
broader. This research seminar will focus on: the causes and consequences of both state-perpetrated and
communal violence; the scholarly (and legal) debates about how to approach political/social reconstruction in
the aftermath of such large-scale violence, and the ethics of the representation of violence by historians and
other authors/creators. Drawing on the conceptual readings and case studies of the syllabus, students will
design a research paper about a particular conflict chosen by them.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: For IR-History students, this course will fulfill the HIST 395 capstone
requirement.;
Course ID: HIST370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: HIST 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: HIST371 Title: Seminar: Legacies of Conquest: Empires in Chinese and World History
This course introduces in-depth study of powerful empires and their legacies. We focus on Qing-era China
(1644-1912) asking how its leaders built China’s most expansive, durable, and ethnically diverse empire. We
then consider the still incomplete efforts to reconfigure the empire as a Chinese nation, a process challenged
by Tibetan, Uyghur, and Hong Kong citizens. Topics include institutions for segregating and representing
diverse communities; the role of international commerce and technologies; the challenges of modern
nationalism and European colonialism; methods for envisioning a new, multiethnic China led by a Han
majority; and ways that Hong Kong, Islam, and Tibetan Buddhism are perceived as challenges. Readings in
Ottoman, American, and South Asian history bring comparative perspectives and prepare students for
research on world regions of their choice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject. Not open to students who have taken this
course as a topic of HIST 395.; Instructor: Giersch; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST375 Title: Seminar: Empire and Modernity: The Rise and Fall of Spanish World Power
This course traces the rise and fall of the first modern European Empire, the Spanish Empire. This first global
empire ca. 1500 ruled over parts of Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. This course provides a historical
understanding of early modern ideologies, the institutions and the cultural practices that enabled Spain to rule
over such vast territories. To this end we will examine the medieval precedents of early modern imperialism;
theories of empire and monarchy; ideologies of conquest and colonization; theories of modernity and empire;
models of conquest and colonial exploitation; the role of race and slavery in empire building abroad and at
home; the various ways in which the "conquered" colonized Europe and Europeans; and the long-term
consequences of these exchanges.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements:
HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST376 Title: Seminar: Medicine, Public Health and Nation Building in Latin America, 1890s2000s
No one history reflects the multiple paths followed by “Latin American” countries to develop medical and
public health national infrastructures. New public health programs in nineteenth-century Latin America
transformed debates about national culture, the state, and the role of the environment, race and disease
in achieving modernity and progress. Among others, this course examines: the professionalization of
medical practices; how foreign immigration and internal migration shaped health-related institutions and
understandings of disease, race and modernity; the role of local innovative research in parasitology,
herpetology, and tropical disorders in countering assumptions about racial and cultural inferiority; how a
foreign funding institution (i.e. Rockefeller Foundation) and U.S. health officials facilitated U.S. intervention;
how Cuba’s national health system today exports scientists, doctors, and epidemiologists to a world in crisis.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level unit in
history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST377 Title: Seminar: The City in Latin America
Urbanity has long been central to Latin American cultures. This seminar examines the historical development
of Latin American cities from the Roman principles governing the grid pattern imposed by the Spanish in the
sixteenth century through the development of the twentieth-century, postmodern megalopolis. The seminar's
three main objectives are to develop a theoretical framework within which to analyze and interpret the history,
and historical study of Latin American cities; to provide a basic overview of the historical development of cities
in the context of Latin American law, society, and culture; and to subject to critical analysis some of the
theoretical "models" (i.e., Baroque, Classical, Dependency, Modernism, and so on) developed to interpret the
evolution and workings of Latin American cities.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements:
HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST379 Title: Heresy and Popular Religion in the Middle Ages
This course looks at popular religious beliefs and practices in medieval Europe, including martyrdom and
asceticism, saints and relics, shrines, miracles, and pilgrimage. It seeks to understand popular religion both
on its own terms, as well as in relationship to the church hierarchy. It also examines the varied and changing
roles of women in Christianity, Christian ideas regarding gender and asexuality, passionate same sex relations
in monastic culture, and saints associated with LGBTQ communities. It ends by examining the growth of
religious dissent in the 11th and 12th centuries, which led to religious repression and the emergence of what
some historians refer to as a persecuting society in 13th-century Europe. This course may be taken as HIST
279 or, with additional assignments, as HIST 379.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Normally open to Juniors or Seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject. Not open to students who have taken HIST
279.; Instructor: Ramseyer; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as HIST 279.;
Course ID: HIST383 Title: Seminar: 1947: Partition in History and Memory in South Asia
In the years leading to 1947, nationalist activism against the British and tensions between Hindus and Muslims
escalated in the Indian subcontinent. This culminated in Partition and the emergence of the nations of India
and Pakistan. Independence was marred, however, by the bloodshed accompanying the mass movements of
Muslims into Pakistan and Hindus into India. What were the factors leading to this juxtaposition of triumphal
Independence with shameful Partition? How have memories of Partition continued to affect powerfully politics
and culture in the subcontinent? This seminar investigates such questions using a wide variety of materials,
including novels, such as Bapsi Sidhwa's Cracking India; feature films, such as Deepa Mehta's 1947; and
documentary films, such as Sabiha Sumar's Silent Waters.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor: Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS
- Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST395 Title: International History Seminar
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level
unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Students
who need to fulfill the IR capstone requirement must register in the spring for HIST 369 in place of HIST 395
[not offered in 2024-2025].This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the
topic is different each time.;
International Relations - Economics
An Interdepartmental Major
International relations is an interdisciplinary field concerned with understanding global interactions, both in the
historical past and in the present. The major is designed to expose students to a wide range of viewpoints and
analytical methodologies in their study of such fields as diplomacy and foreign policy, peace, war and security,
international political economy and development, and human rights.
The International Relations major is an interdepartmental major organized into three tracks: International
Relations-Economics; International Relations-History; and International Relations-Political Science. All three
tracks of the major share a set of five common “core” courses.
The majors are administered by their “home” departments, and interested students should contact the relevant
department chair or contact person for guidance on choosing an advisor and completing the major.
Advisors for 2024-2025:
Economics: Akila Weerapana
History: Lidwien Kapteijns
Political Science: Stacie Goddard and Paul MacDonald
Students who elect one of these International Relations majors may not combine it with a second major in their
track department—e.g., students may not double major in International Relations-Economics and Economics.
Other double majors are permitted, but generally inadvisable. Also, keep in mind that you cannot count the
same course towards both a major AND a minor (or two majors).
International Relations Major
Goals for the International Relations-Economics Major
A student who completes a major in international relations will acquire the depth of knowledge and
intellectual skills equivalent to completing a major in one of the three component disciplines
(economics, history, political science).
The student will also acquire the breadth of knowledge about the other two component disciplines
necessary for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of international relations.
The student will demonstrate advanced competence in the reading, writing, and speaking of a
language other than English.
International Relations-Economics majors will acquire a more in-depth understanding of international
trade, development or finance, as well as a familiarity with empirical research done in one of these
three areas.
Requirements for the International Relations Major
International Relations majors consist of 14 units of course work—five core courses plus nine courses in one of
the three tracks. In addition to this course work, all International Relations students are required to
demonstrate advanced academic proficiency in a modern language, normally defined as two units of language
study beyond the minimum required by the College. Language courses do not count toward the minimum 14
courses. Students who studied in a secondary system where the primary language of instruction was a
language other than English have met the language requirement for the IR major. If you intend to fulfill your
language requirement this way, please provide your advisor with a signed statement attesting to the above
under the honor code.
Five core courses: All students majoring in International Relations-Economics must take the following courses:
ECON 101 or ECON 101P; ECON 102 or ECON 102P; ECON 213 or ECON 214 or ECON 220; HIST 205;
POL3 221.
It is strongly recommended that students complete all core courses by the end of the sophom*ore year.
Nine courses in Economics:
Students who elect the International Relations-Economics major take the following courses in addition
to the International Relations core:
ECON 103/SOC 190, ECON 201, ECON 202, and ECON 203.
At least two of the following electives:
ECON 311, ECON 312, ECON 313, ECON 314, ECON 320, or ECON 328. These courses must be
completed at Wellesley.
One intermediate or advanced history course dealing with a country or region outside the United States
or with international or diplomatic history
One 300-level political science course in an area related to economic issues or policies
One additional course in Africana Studies, Anthropology, History, Political Science, Sociology or
Women’s and Gender Studies, dealing with a particular country or region, or with relations among
nations, or with transnational institutions or phenomena
Honors in International Relations
The policies governing eligibility for honors work in International Relations-Economics, International RelationsHistory, or International Relations-Political Science are set by the individual departments. Students interested
in pursuing honors should consult the relevant departmental entry in the Bulletin.
Advanced Placement Policy in International Relations
The International Relations program’s policy about AP/IB credits follows that established by the relevant
department. Please consult directions for election in the departments of Economics, History, and Political
Science. In no case do AP credits count toward the minimum major in International Relations.
International Study in International Relations
International Relations majors are strongly encouraged to spend at least one semester in an international study
program. Transfer credits from international study programs must be approved by the appropriate department
chair. Students are strongly encouraged to seek the relevant approval before studying abroad. At least two
300-level units must be completed at Wellesley.
IREC Courses
Course ID: IREC350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: IREC360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: IREC370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: IREC 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
International Relations - History
An Interdepartmental Major
International relations is an interdisciplinary field concerned with understanding global interactions, both in the
historical past and in the present. The major is designed to expose students to a wide range of viewpoints and
analytical methodologies in their study of such fields as diplomacy and foreign policy, peace, war and security,
international political economy and development, and human rights.
The International Relations major is an interdepartmental major organized into three tracks: International
Relations-Economics; International Relations-History; and International Relations-Political Science. All three
tracks of the major share a set of five common “core” courses.
The majors are administered by their “home” departments, and interested students should contact the relevant
department chair or contact person for guidance on choosing an advisor and completing the major.
Advisors for 2024-25:
Economics: Akila Weerapana
History: Lidwien Kapteijns
Political Science: Stacie Goddard and Paul MacDonald
Students who elect one of these International Relations majors may not combine it with a second major in their
track department—e.g., students may not double major in International Relations-Economics and Economics.
Other double majors are permitted, but generally unadvisable.
International Relations Major
Goals for the International Relations Major
A student who completes a major in international relations will acquire the depth of knowledge and
intellectual skills equivalent to completing a major in one of the three component disciplines
(economics, history, political science).
The student will also acquire the breadth of knowledge about the other two component disciplines
necessary for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of international relations.
The student will demonstrate advanced competence in the reading, writing, and speaking of a
language other than English.
International Relations-History majors will acquire specific knowledge about the history of modern
international relations, an appreciation of the importance of culturally and geographically localized
historical knowledge in the analysis of global change, and an understanding, through case studies, of
the relevance of history to contemporary international issues.
Requirements for the International Relations Major
International Relations majors consist of 14 units of course work—five core courses plus nine courses in one of
the three tracks. In addition to this course work, all International Relations students are required to
demonstrate advanced proficiency in a modern language, normally defined as two units of language study
beyond the minimum required by the College. Language courses do not count toward the minimum 14
courses. Students who studied in educational systems requiring them to read, write, and speak a language
other than English have met the language requirement for the IR major. If you intend to fulfill your language
requirement this way, please provide your advisor with a signed statement attesting to the above under the
honor code.
Five core courses: All students majoring in International Relations must take the following courses:
ECON 101; ECON 102; ECON 213 or ECON 214 or ECON 220; HIST 205; POL3 221.
It is strongly recommended that students complete all core courses by the end of the sophom*ore year.
Nine courses in History:
Students who elect the International Relations-History major take the following courses in addition to the
International Relations core:
Two history courses dealing with the era before ca.1900
Three history courses dealing with the modern history of countries or regions
Two courses dealing with modern international history to be selected in consultation with the advisor
HIST 395: International History Seminar - HIST 369 will fulfill the HIST 395 capstone requirement for the
academic year 2024-25.
(Three of these eight History courses listed above, including one pre-1900 course, must focus on one region of
the world; at least three courses must deal with the non-Western world; and at least two must be at the 300
level.)
One additional 200 or 300-level course in Africana Studies, Anthropology, Economics, Political Science,
Sociology, or Women’s and Gender Studies
At least two 300-level units must be completed at Wellesley
Honors in International Relations
The policies governing eligibility for honors work in International Relations-Economics, International RelationsHistory, or International Relations-Political Science are set by the individual departments. Students interested
in pursuing honors should consult the relevant departmental entry in the Bulletin.
Advanced Placement Policy in International Relations
The International Relations program’s policy about AP/IB credits follows that established by the relevant
department. Please consult directions for election in the departments of Economics, History, and Political
Science. In no case do AP credits count toward the minimum major in International Relations.
International Study in International Relations
International Relations majors are strongly encouraged to spend at least one semester in an international study
program. Transfer credits from international study programs must be approved by the appropriate department
chair. Students are strongly encouraged to seek the relevant approval before studying abroad. At least two
300-level units must be completed at Wellesley.
International Relations - Political Science
An Interdepartmental Major
International relations is an interdisciplinary field concerned with understanding global interactions, both in the
historical past and in the present. The major is designed to expose students to a wide range of viewpoints and
analytical methodologies in their study of such fields as diplomacy and foreign policy, peace, war and security,
international political economy and development, and human rights.
The International Relations major is an interdepartmental major organized into three tracks: International
Relations-Economics; International Relations-History; and International Relations-Political Science. All three
tracks of the major share a set of five common “core” courses.
The majors are administered by their “home” departments, and interested students should contact the relevant
department chair or contact person for guidance on choosing an advisor and completing the major.
Advisors for 2024-25:
Economics: Akila Weerapana
History: Lidwien Kapteijns
Political Science: Stacie Goddard and Paul MacDonald
Students who elect one of these International Relations majors may not combine it with a second major in their
track department—e.g., students may not double major in International Relations-Economics and Economics.
Other double majors are permitted, but generally unadvisable.
International Relations Major
Goals for the International Relations Major
A student who completes a major in international relations will acquire the depth of knowledge and
intellectual skills equivalent to completing a major in one of the three component disciplines
(economics, history, political science).
The student will also acquire the breadth of knowledge about the other two component disciplines
necessary for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of international relations.
The student will demonstrate advanced competence in the reading, writing, and speaking of a
language other than English.
International Relations-Political Science majors will be familiar with the historical study of international
relations across both world regions and centuries, complete at least five courses in the International
Relations subfield, and engage in intensive research, writing, and interaction with a faculty member.
Requirements for the International Relations Major
International Relations majors consist of 14 units of course work—five core courses plus nine courses in one of
the three tracks. In addition to this course work, all International Relations students are required to
demonstrate advanced proficiency in a modern language, normally defined as two units of language study
beyond the minimum required by the College. Language courses do not count toward the minimum 14
courses. Students who studied in educational systems requiring them to read, write, and speak a language
other than English have met the language requirement for the IR major. If you intend to fulfill your language
requirement this way, please provide your advisor with a signed statement attesting to the above under the
honor code.
Five core courses: All students majoring in International Relations must take the following courses:
ECON 101; ECON 102; ECON 213 or ECON 214 or ECON 220; HIST 205; POL3 221.
It is strongly recommended that students complete all core courses by the end of the sophom*ore year.
Nine courses in Political Science:
Students who elect the International Relations-Political Science major take the following courses in addition to
the International Relations core:
Five political science courses in international relations (i.e., POL3 courses or POL2 courses that the
director agrees may count as POL3), at least two of which must be at the 300 level and one of which
must be a seminar
Two political science courses in comparative politics:
Either POL2 202 or POL2 204, and one of the following area studies courses: POL2 205, POL2
206 [2009-10], POL2 207, POL2 208, POL2 209 [2008-2009], or POL2 211
One political science course in American politics or in political theory or statistics and data analysis
One additional 200- or 300-level course in Africana Studies, Anthropology, Economics, History,
Sociology, or Women’s and Gender Studies
Honors in International Relations
The policies governing eligibility for honors work in International Relations-Economics, International RelationsHistory, or International Relations-Political Science are set by the individual departments. Students interested
in pursuing honors should consult the relevant departmental entry in the Bulletin.
Advanced Placement Policy in International Relations
The International Relations program’s policy about AP/IB credits follows that established by the relevant
department. Please consult directions for election in the departments of Economics, History, and Political
Science. In no case do AP credits count toward the minimum major in International Relations.
International Study in International Relations
International Relations majors are strongly encouraged to spend at least one semester in an international study
program. Transfer credits from international study programs must be approved by the appropriate department
chair. Students are strongly encouraged to seek the relevant approval before studying abroad. At least two
300-level units must be completed at Wellesley.
IRPS Courses
Course ID: IRPS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: IRPS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: IRPS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: IRPS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: IRPS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Italian Studies
Italian Studies is a vast field, covering at least 10 centuries and featuring master works in every artistic and
literary genre. Whether in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, or the modern world, Italian culture has always
been in the forefront of innovation and excellence. Many of the great names of world culture in the fields of art,
literature, political science, philosophy, and cinema are Italian. However, many of Italian culture’s lesser-known
names and works are equally rich and worthwhile studying. Our courses expose students to the wealth of
Italian culture, allowing them access to and familiarity with the nation’s cultural heritage and its contemporary
life. As all our upper-level courses and most of our intermediate-level ones are conducted in Italian, students
have ample opportunity to hone their language skills.
All courses, unless otherwise listed, are conducted in Italian.
Qualified students are encouraged to spend their junior year in Italy on the Wellesley-Bologna program. See
the Office of International Studies website for further information.
The Department offers both a major and a minor. See Requirements for the Major.
Italian Studies Major
Goals for the Italian Studies Major
Students who major or minor in Italian Studies:
Will speak and understand Italian at the advanced level, as detailed in the ACTFL proficiency
guidelines.
Will develop knowledge of the major authors and works from a variety of genres - poetry, prose,
theatre, cinema - that form, but also contest, Italy's literary tradition and cultural heritage.
Will be aware of the crucial moments and events of Italian history, starting in the Middle Ages and on to
the present.
Will acquire the critical thinking skills and the methodological and theoretical grounding that will serve
them well should they opt to pursue their interest in Italian Studies at the graduate school level, such as
how to conduct archival and bibliographical research, how to quote sources, and how to write scholarly
essays.
Students who study only the language will speak and understand Italian at the intermediate level, as detailed in
the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.
Students will acquire analytical and critical skills in speaking and writing as a result of being exposed to Italian
films, literature, history, social and legal issues. They will complete the language requirement with a solid
knowledge of grammar and critical understanding of Italian culture.
Requirements for the Italian Studies Major
The major in Italian Studies offers students the opportunity to acquire fluency in the language and
knowledge of the culture of Italy in a historical perspective. Students are strongly urged to begin Italian in
their first year. ITAS 101, ITAS 102, ITAS 103 count toward the degree, but not the major. Students majoring in
Italian are required to take nine units above the 100 level. One of these courses must be ITAS 209, ITAS 210,
ITAS 220, ITAS 270, ITAS 271, ITAS 272, ITAS 273, or ITAS 274. Two of the nine courses must be at the 300
level and be taken in the department. The requirement to take two courses at the 300 level may not be met by
taking ITAS 350 (Research or Individual Study), ITAS 360 (Senior Thesis Research), or ITAS 370 (Senior
Thesis). One course may be taken outside of the department, on a related topic to be decided by the student
and her major advisor. No more than two courses taken credit/noncredit at Wellesley College may be applied
to the major. Students are encouraged to consult with the chair about the sequence of courses they will take.
Courses given in translation count toward the major. Qualified students are encouraged to spend their junior
year in Italy on the Eastern College Consortium program in Bologna (of which Wellesley is a participant), or on
another approved program.
Honors in Italian Studies
For the achievement of honors in Italian Studies, students must write and defend a senior thesis. Honors
candidates must complete at least one 300-level course, or its equivalent, before the fall of their senior year. In
addition, a 300-level course is to be taken concurrently with ITAS 360-ITAS 370.
Requirements:
1. Grade point average of 3.5 in the major, above the 100-level.
2. Recommendation of Department's Honors Committee when project is submitted.
3. A 300-level course, or its equivalent, before the fall semester of senior year.
ITAS 360 and ITAS 370 do not count towards the minimum requirement of two 300-level courses for the
major.
Italian Studies Minor
Requirements for the Italian Studies Minor
The minor in Italian Studies requires five units above the 100 level. Courses offered in translation count toward
the minor. One course must be at the 300 level. No more than one course taken credit/noncredit at Wellesley
College may be applied to the minor. In addition, at least three of the five courses must be in Italian (and can
include ITAS 201, ITAS 202, and ITAS 203).
ITAS Courses
Course ID: CAMS224/ITAS212 Title: Italian Women Film Directors: The Female Authorial Voice in Italian
Cinema (in English)
This course examines the films of a number of major Italian women directors across two artistic generations:
Cavani and Wertmüller from the 1960s to the 1970s; Archibugi, Comencini, and others from the 1990s to the
2010s. Neither fascist cinema nor neorealism fostered female talents, so it was only with the emergence of
feminism and the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s that a space for female voices in Italian cinema
was created. The course will explore how women directors give form to their directorial signatures in film,
focusing on their films' formal features and narrative themes in the light of their socio-historical context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Laviosa; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS101 Title: Beginning Italian I
This course employs the latest language teaching methodology to provide students with an interactive learning
experience. Students will be introduced to the basics of the Italian language, as well as to contemporary Italy
and its culture. In class, students will practice the four skills - speaking, listening, reading and writing - through
a variety of activities.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Bartalesi-Graf, Laviosa; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Winter; Fall;
Course ID: ITAS102 Title: Beginning Italian II
This course employs the same language teaching methodology used in ITAS 101. Students will advance their
language proficiency and their knowledge of contemporary Italian society through daily practice, both in the
classroom and on their own. In addition, they will watch and discuss an Italian contemporary film, and read
some short stories in Italian. Oral presentations are also incorporated in the curriculum.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ITAS 101 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Laviosa;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ITAS103 Title: Intensive Elementary Italian
This innovative course is designed for complete beginners who wish to advance fast in their language
proficiency, and complete their language requirement in one year. Through the daily practice and
reinforcement of all language skills, students will reach an intermediate level mastery of the Italian language
and a basic understanding of modern Italian society in one semester, since this course is the equivalent of 101
& 102, and qualifies students for 201 or 203 (201 & 202 combined). ITAS103 employs the latest teaching
technology tools to provide students with an interactive learning experience Methods employed include inclass conversation and role-playing activities, as well as the latest technology in blended learning. No
textbook necessary: the course employs an online platform that provides free access to all course materials
(videos, readings, grammar charts, as well as self-corrected exercises and tests).
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Bartalesi-Graf; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ITAS104Y Title: First-Year Seminar: The Cities of Italy: An Introduction to Italian Culture (in English)
This seminar is dedicated to the representation of Italian cities in Italian literature, art, and cinema from the
Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. By presenting cities as spatial narratives, we will introduce students to
some of the most important moments in Italian history and will invite them to examine the representation of
urban landscape as a privileged vantage point to understand Italian culture. The seminar is designed to
introduce students to the field of Italian Studies and to provide them with a solid background in Italian history
and culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Parussa; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: ITAS201 Title: Intermediate Italian I
The aim of this course is to develop students' fluency in spoken and written Italian. The reading of short stories,
articles from Italian newspapers, and selected texts on Italian culture as well as the writing of compositions are
used to promote critical and analytical skills. Listening is practiced through the viewing of Italian films. Both
reading and listening activities are followed by in-class discussions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ITAS 101- ITAS 102, or ITAS 103.; Instructor: Laviosa, Staff; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ITAS202 Title: Intermediate Italian II
The aim of this course is to develop students' fluency in spoken and written Italian. The reading of short stories,
articles from Italian newspapers, and selected texts on Italian culture as well as the writing of compositions are
used to promote critical and analytical skills. Listening is practiced through the viewing of Italian films. Both
reading and listening activities are followed by in-class discussions. Three periods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ITAS 201; Instructor: Laviosa; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ITAS202W Title: Intermediate Italian in Rome
This intensive three-week course is a rigorous linguistic and a valuable full-immersion cultural experience in
Italy. Like ITAS 202 on campus, the course consists of a fast-paced grammar review with practice of all
language skills through readings of literary texts and newspaper articles, oral discussions, presentations on
Italian current events, and compositions on cultural topics examined in class. The course includes a rich
program of guest speakers, both Italian university professors and artists, and attendance at film screenings
and theatre performances.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: ITAS 201. Application required. Not open to students who have
taken ITAS 202.; Instructor: Laviosa; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Winter; Notes: Not offered every year. Wintersession
offerings are subject to Provost's Office approval.;
Course ID: ITAS203 Title: Intensive Intermediate Italian
This course is for students who have taken ITAS 103 or both ITAS 101 and ITAS 102. The course covers the
same material as ITAS 201 and ITAS 202, and employs an online platform that provides free access to all
course materials (videos, films, readings, grammar charts, as well as self-corrected exercises and tests). The
aim of the course is to improve and strengthen the skills acquired in Elementary Italian through the study of
various themes in contemporary Italian society. This is an intensive course developed especially for students
with a strong interest in Italian Studies. No textbook necessary: all materials are available and downloadable
online.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Either ITAS 103, or ITAS 101 and ITAS 102.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ITAS209/JWST211 Title: Jewish Italian Literature (in English)
This course offers an overview of Italian Jewish culture and literature from the Middle Ages to the present.
Students will read prose and poetry, essays and articles, as well as watch films that address issues such as
religious and cultural identity, the right to difference, anti-Semitism and the Shoah. The course will also give
students an overview of the formation and transformation of the Jewish community in Italian society. In
addition to well-known Jewish Italian writers like Primo Levi and Giorgio Bassani, students will read pertinent
works by non-Jewish writers like Rosetta Loy and Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS210/PEAC210 Title: Queer Italy: LGBTQ+ Culture in Italy from Dante to Pasolini and Beyond
Considered since the Renaissance as a hom*oerotic haven, Italy was for a long time the favorite destination of
many gay writers in flight from the rigid sexual mores of their home countries. In Italy’s warmer Mediterranean
climate, rich and sensuous figurative arts, and ancient costumes, they found a culture that seemed more at
ease with a nuanced idea of human sexuality. After all, Italy is the country that gave birth to famous artists who
became icons of LGBTQ+ culture, such as the painter Caravaggio and the poet Pasolini, and that, unlike other
Western nations, never had laws criminalizing hom*oeroticism. Today, paradoxically, Italy is the Western
European country which is most lagging behind in passing legislation in support of LGBTQ+ rights. From the
lack of a full legal recognition of gay marriage and adoption rights to the failure to approve a hate-crime bill for
the protection of LGBTQ+ individuals, Italian society still shows great reluctance to grant full equal rights to
LGBTQ Italians. With these historical contradictions in the background, this course will retrace the steps of the
rich, complex, and often tortuous path of LGBTQ+ culture in Italy from the early representations of sodomy,
during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in works by Dante and Poliziano, to the shaping of a political and
social discourse around hom*osexuality in literary texts by twentieth century writers, such as Saba, Bassani,
Ginzburg, and Morante, to the emergence of a political debate on current LGBTQ+ issues, such as AIDS,
hom*ophobia, transgender and transexual rights, in works by contemporary artists, such as Tondelli, Bazzi, and
Lavagna.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ITAS220 Title: The Landscape of Italian Poetry (in English)
This course is dedicated to the representation and exploration of landscape in the Italian poetic tradition. By
studying how the varied and beautiful Italian landscape found expression in the literary works of major poets,
students will be exposed to a rich body of work and the tradition it both follows and renews. In particular, the
course will focus on a series of specific themes, giving special attention to language and style. These will
include: the opposition between rural and urban landscapes; the tension between dialects and the national
language; the complex dynamics of tradition and innovation; issues of sustainability in the representation of
Italian landscape. Through initial exposure to selected classical poets, including Dante and Petrarch, students
will gain in-depth knowledge of the main formal structures of Italian poetry, from the classical sonnet, going on
to free verse. In addition, we will read poems by the Italian greats of the twentieth century, i.e., Ungaretti, Saba
and Montale, as well as works by contemporary poets, such as Bassani, Caproni, Sereni, Cavalli and Valduga,
which deal with issues of preservation of the Italian natural landscape.
The course will be taught in English.
Students who wish to take the course to fulfill the major or minor in Italian should register for ITAS 320.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken ITAS 320.; Instructor:
Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as ITAS 320 with an
extra weekly meeting in Italian.;
Course ID: ITAS223/MUS223 Title: Italian Popular Song (in English)
Throughout its history, the Italian language has expressed itself optimally through song. In this interdisciplinary
course, we explore the connections between song and lyrical poetry in works from the Middle Ages through
hip-hop. Students will gain an overview of Italian history and culture, and will learn how poetry and music have
contributed to the shaping of Italian national identity. In addition to field trips to hear an Italian opera and to
work with rare prints and manuscripts in Special Collections, students will analyze poetry and its musical
enhancement, and manipulate digital humanities resources. No previous knowledge of music or Italian is
required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: No previous knowledge of music or Italian is required. Not open to
students who have taken ITAS 123/MUS 123.; Instructor: Parussa, Fontijn; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS224 Title: The Literature of Rights and the Rights of Literature (in English)
The course explores the theme of human rights in Italian society during the twentieth and the twenty-first
centuries. First, it is designed to discuss the rights of literature, i.e., the role that literature can play in the
understanding of human rights. Second, it will provide students with a survey of the discussion of human rights
in Italian literature. By presenting literary texts as narratives that have contributed to the debate on human
rights, the course will introduce students to the most important moments in the history of human rights in Italy,
from the first political organizations which fought for equal rights for factory workers, to the struggle of the
feminist movement for women's emancipation throughout the twentieth century, to the approval of laws that
legalized divorce and abortion during the 1970s and 80s, up to the new legislation on domestic violence,
marriage, and adoption rights for LGBT people, and today’s debate on the issue of citizenship for immigrants.
The course will be taught in English. Students who wish to take the course to fulfill the major or minor in Italian
should register for ITAS 324. The course will provide reading and writing assignments in Italian, as well as
individual discussion sessions in Italian, for students who are taking the course at the 300-level.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken ITAS 324.; Instructor:
Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300 level as ITAS 324, with
readings and writing assignments in Italian.;
Course ID: ITAS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ITAS250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ITAS261 Title: Italian Cinema (in English)
A survey of the directors and film styles that paved the way for the golden age of Italian cinema, this course
examines, first, Italian cinema of the first two decades of the twentieth century, going on to fascist cinema
before embarking on an in-depth journey into the genre that made Italian cinema famous, namely, neorealism.
We will analyze major films by Rossellini, Visconti, and De Sica (among others) with a view to understanding
the ethical, social, political, and philosophical foundations of the neorealist aesthetic.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ward; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS263/MER263 Title: Dante's Divine Comedy (in English)
This course is devoted to one of the most important masterpieces of world literature, the Divine Comedy by
Florentine poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). Designed as a journey across the Christian afterlife, the Comedy
has redefined the understanding of morality, political engagement, and the sacred across the centuries. We
will analyze and discuss the Comedy in its entirety focusing on Dante’s own dilemmas: What does it mean to
love a person, one’s community, or an idea? Is there a logic to the universe? How can we reconcile justice,
curiosity, and desire? And why should we care? Our interdisciplinary discussion will explore fields such as
literature, history, ethics, and theology. No previous knowledge of Italian literature or medieval studies is
required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ITAS270 Title: Italy in the Twenty-First Century
The course is designed to introduce students to the literature, film, politics, history and social issues of twentyfirst century Italy. In addition to reading and viewing representative texts and films, the course will also pay
close attention to contemporary events through on-line newspapers, magazines and TV channels.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ITAS 202 or ITAS 203, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS271 Title: The Construction of Italy as a Nation
The course aims, first, to give students who wish to continue their study of Italian the chance to practice and
refine their skills, and second, to introduce students to one of the major themes of Italian culture, namely, the
role played by Italian intellectuals in the construction of Italy as a nation. We will read how Dante, Petrarch, and
Machiavelli imagined Italy as a nation before it came into existence in 1860; how the nation came to be unified;
and how the experience of unification has come to represent a controversial point of reference for twentieth-
century Italy. Other figures to be studied will include Bembo, Castiglione, Foscolo, Gramsci, Tomasi di
Lampedusa, D'Annunzio, Visconti, Levi, Blasetti, and Rossellini.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ITAS 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS272 Title: Small Books, Big Ideas. A Journey Through Italian Identities (in English)
Unlike other European literatures, contemporary Italian literature lacks a major work of fiction representing the
nation’s cultural identity. Rather, Italian literature boasts the small book, brief unclassifiable narratives that
express the variety and complexity of Italian culture. Realistic novels or philosophical short stories, memoirs or
literary essays, these works are a fine balance between a number of literary genres and, as such, are a good
entranceway into the multifaceted and contradictory identity of Italy as a nation. The course will combine a
survey of contemporary Italian literature with a theoretical analysis of how Italian identity has been represented
in works by Calvino, Bassani, Ginzburg, and others. The course will be taught in English.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS273 Title: Italy in the 1960s
The 1960s was a period of great change in Italy. The major consequence of the economic boom of the late
1950s was to transform Italy from a predominantly agricultural to an industrialized nation. Through a study of
literary and cinematic texts, the course will examine this process in detail. Time will also be given to the
consequences of the radical changes that took place: internal immigration, consumerism, the new role of
intellectuals, resistance to modernity, neo-fascism, student protest. Authors to be studied will include Italo
Calvino, Luchino Visconti, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ermanno Olmi, Umberto Eco, and authors from the Neo-Avant
Garde movement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ITAS 202 or ITAS 203.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements:
LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ITAS274 Title: Women in Love: Portraits of Female Desire in Italian Culture
This course is dedicated to the representation of female desire in Italian culture. From Dante's Francesca da
Rimini to Pasolini's Medea, passing through renowned literary characters such as Goldoni's Mirandolina,
Manzoni's Gertrude, and Verdi's Violetta, the course will explore different and contrasting voices of female
desire: unrequited and fulfilled, passionate and spiritual, maternal and destructive, domestic and transgressive.
In particular, the varied and beautiful voices of women in love will become privileged viewpoints to understand
the changes that occur in Italian culture in the conception of desire and other intimate emotions, as well as in
the notion of gender and sexuality. Students will read texts by men and women from a wide variety of literary
genres and artistic forms including not only prose and poetry, but also theatre, opera, and cinema. They will
also read important theoretical essays on the conception of love in Western cultures by Barthes, de
Rougemont, Giddens, and Nussbaum.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ITAS 201 or ITAS 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS310 Title: Fascism and Resistance in Italy
This course examines the two fundamental political and cultural experiences of twentieth-century Italy: the 20year fascist regime and the resistance to it. We will study the origins of fascism in Italy's participation in World
War I and its colonial ambitions, and then follow the development of fascism over the two decades of its
existence and ask to what extent it received the consensus of the Italian people. We will go on to examine the
various ways in which Italians resisted fascism and the role the ideals that animated antifascist thinking had in
the postwar period. Authors to be studied include: Marinetti, D'Annunzio, Pascoli, Croce, Gobetti, Rosselli,
Bassani, Ginzburg, Carlo and Primo Levi, and Silone.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ITAS 271, ITAS 272, ITAS 273, or ITAS 274.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS315 Title: Italian Mysteries
Italian Mysteries introduces students to the Italian tradition of mystery and detective writing of the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries with particular attention paid to its philosophical and semiotic dimensions. It also
exposes students to some of the political mysteries that have characterized Italy since the end of World War II
and which have become the subject of much contemporary mystery writing, films, and documentaries. From
an aesthetic standpoint, we will ask why a new generation of young writers has been drawn to these mysteries
as subjects of their writings and examine the variety of narrative forms they use to investigate them. Authors to
be studied will include Carlo Emilio Gadda, Umberto Eco, Carlo Luccarelli, Dario Fo, Simone Sarasso,
Giuseppe Genna, and the writing collectives known as Luther Blisset and Wu Ming.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ITAS 271, ITAS 272, ITAS 273 or ITAS 274.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS320 Title: The Landscape of Italian Poetry
This course is dedicated to the representation and exploration of landscape in the Italian poetic tradition. By
studying how the varied and beautiful Italian landscape found expression in the literary works of major poets,
students will be exposed to a rich body of work and the tradition it both follows and renews. In particular, the
course will focus on a series of specific themes, giving special attention to language and style. These will
include: the opposition between rural and urban landscapes; the tension between dialects and the national
language; the complex dynamics of tradition and innovation; issues of sustainability in the representation of
Italian landscape. Through initial exposure to selected classical poets, including Dante and Petrarch, students
will gain in-depth knowledge of the main formal structures of Italian poetry, from the classical sonnet, going on
to free verse. In addition, we will read poems by the Italian greats of the twentieth century, i.e., Ungaretti, Saba
and Montale, as well as works by contemporary poets, such as Bassani, Caproni, Sereni, Cavalli and Valduga,
which deal with issues of preservation of the Italian natural landscape.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: ITAS 202 or permission of the instructor. Not open to students
who have taken ITAS 220.; Instructor: Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered
at the 200-level as ITAS 220. The course will meet with ITAS 220 for a portion of the weekly meetings which will
be taught in English. ITAS 320 will have an additional weekly discussion session in Italian, and provide reading
and writing assignments in Italian. Students who wish to take the course to fulfill the major or minor in Italian
should register for ITAS 320. ;
Course ID: ITAS324 Title: The Literature of Rights
The course explores the theme of human rights in Italian society during the twentieth and the twenty-first
centuries. First, it is designed to discuss the rights of literature, i.e., the role that literature can play in the
understanding of human rights. Second, it will provide students with a survey of the discussion of human rights
in Italian literature. By presenting literary texts as narratives that have contributed to the debate on human
rights, the course will introduce students to the most important moments in the history of human rights in Italy,
from the first political organizations which fought for equal rights for factory workers, to the struggle of the
feminist movement for women's emancipation throughout the twentieth century, to the approval of laws that
legalized divorce and abortion during the 1970s and 80s, up to the new legislation on domestic violence,
marriage, and adoption rights for LGBT people, and today’s debate on the issue of citizenship for immigrants.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Four semesters of Italian, or equivalent.; Instructor: Parussa;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200 level as ITAS 224, in English.;
Course ID: ITAS349 Title: Seminar: The Function of Narrative
Beginning with Boccaccio and going on to Manzoni, Verga, and beyond, the course introduces students to the
major figures of the Italian narrative tradition. We then go on to study twentieth-century narrative texts, all the
time seeking answers to the question of why narrative is such a fundamental human need. Why, for example,
do we narrate our experience of life and the sense we have of ourselves, even in the form of diaries? Do the
stories we tell faithfully reflect reality or do they create it? The course concludes with a reflection on narrative
technique in cinema illustrated by the films of Antonioni. Other authors to be studied may include Calvino,
Ceresa, Rasy, Pasolini, Celati, and Benni.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ITAS 271, ITAS 272, ITAS 273, or ITAS 274.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ITAS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ITAS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ITAS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Jewish Studies
An Interdepartmental Major and Minor
The major in Jewish Studies is designed to acquaint students with the many facets of Jewish civilization
through an interdisciplinary study of Jewish religion, history, philosophy, art, literature, social and political
institutions, and cultural patterns.
Jewish Studies Major
Goals for the Jewish Studies Major
Developing an understanding of the breadth and diversity of Jewish civilization through interdisciplinary
learning in the arts, humanities, and social sciences
Learning to contextualize Jewish civilization within its broader milieu
Understanding the foundation texts and central ideas and institutions of Judaism
Building specialized knowledge in one area: e.g., among others, Biblical studies; ancient, medieval,
early modern or modern Jewish history; European or Eastern Jewry; Hebrew language and literature;
Israel studies
Establishing proficiency (equivalent to two years of undergraduate instruction) in Hebrew, either
Biblical or modern, or if relevant Yiddish, Arabic or Spanish, or Ladino
Interpreting primary texts critically, developing writing skills, and learning to identify essential links
among disciplines and cultures
Jewish Studies Major
For the nine-course major in Jewish Studies, students must take courses pertaining both to the ancient and
modern worlds and show proficiency in a Jewish language (equivalent to at least two semesters at the secondyear level).
Required courses: Majors must take JWST 102/REL 102, Introduction to Jewish Studies, by the end of their
junior year, as well as two 300-level courses.
Concentration: Students are expected to concentrate in some area or aspect of Jewish Studies (such as
religion, European Jewish history, American Jewish studies, Sephardic studies, or comparative literary studies)
by taking four courses above the 100 level, including at least one 300-level course. Majors devise their own
concentrations in consultation with the director of the Jewish Studies program and another faculty member
with expertise in a relevant area.
Language proficiency: Students are expected to show proficiency (equivalent to at least two semesters at the
intermediate level) in a language relevant to their concentration. Most typically the language counted will be a
Jewish one (Hebrew, Yiddish, or Ladino), but in certain cases, non-Jewish languages (such as Arabic, French,
Spanish, or German) may be accepted, where relevant to the student’s concentration, in consultation with the
student’s major advisor. Up to two language courses at the intermediate level can count toward the Jewish
Studies major.
Courses outside of Wellesley: Up to three relevant courses taken outside of Wellesley—at Brandeis or other
institutions in greater Boston, during study abroad, or in accredited summer programs—may be counted
toward the major.
Honors: The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be
admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the
major field above the 100 level; the program may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0
and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Courses for Credit Toward the Jewish Studies Major
AMST 241 / SOC 241
A Nation in Therapy
1.0
AMST 251 / SOC 251
Racial Regimes in the United States and Beyond
1.0
AMST 258 / ENG 258
Gotham: New York in Literature & Art
1.0
CLCV 240 / REL 240
Romans, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire
1.0
ECON 311
Economics of Immigration
1.0
ENG 272
The Nineteenth-Century Novel
1.0
FREN 232
Occupation and Resistance: The French Memory and
Experience of World War II
1.0
GER 385
Seminar: Cultural Production in the Berlin Republic
1.0
HIST 213
Conquest and Crusade in the Medieval Mediterranean
1.0
HIST 233
In Search of The Enlightenment
1.0
HIST 242
After Fascism: Germany since 1945
1.0
HIST 245
The Social History of American Capitalism from
Revolution to Empire
1.0
HIST 254
The United States in the World War II Era
1.0
HIST 284
The Middle East in Modern History
1.0
HIST 285 / REL 266
Ottoman State and Society (1300-1923)
1.0
HIST 302
Seminar: World War II as Memory and Myth
1.0
HIST 364 / MES 364
Seminar: Film and Narratives of Social Change in the
Modern Middle East and North Africa
1.0
HIST 366 / MES 366
Seminar: 'Greater Syria' under Ottoman and European
Colonial Rule, c. 1850-1950
1.0
HIST 369 / MES 369
Histories of “Ethnic” and “Religious” Violence
1.0
MER 248 / SPAN 248
Cordoba: City and Myth
1.0
MES 358 / PEAC 358 /
POL2 359
Palestinian Israeli Peace Prospects
1.0
MUS 209
A History of Jazz
1.0
MUS 276
American Popular Music
1.0
MUS 300
Music and the Holocaust
1.0
MUS 309
A History of Jazz
1.0
PEAC 217 / POL2 217
Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
1.0
REL 105
Study of the New Testament
1.0
REL 111Y
First Year Seminar: Jesus of Nazareth: Fact, Faith,
Fiction, and Film
1.0
REL 242
Archaeology of the Biblical World
1.0
REL 243
Women in the Biblical World
1.0
REL 244
Jerusalem: The Holy City
1.0
REL 342
Archaeology of the Biblical World
1.0
REL 345
Seminar: Enslavement and the Bible
1.0
SPAN 252
The Making of Spain: Christians, Jews, and Moslems
1.0
THST 200
That's What She Said: Trailblazing Women of American
Comedy
1.0
Jewish Studies Minor
Requirements
A minor in Jewish Studies consists of five units of which at least one must be at the 300 level and no more than
two can be at the 100 level. JWST 102/REL 102, Introduction to Jewish Studies, is required. In consultation
with the director of the program in Jewish Studies, students devise their own programs.
HEBR Courses
Course ID: HEBR250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: HEBR350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.;
Instructor: Chalamish; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring;
JWST Courses
Course ID: CAMS233/JWST233 Title: American Jews and the Media
This course examines Jews’ roles in the development of the American mass media and popular culture, as well
as representations of Jewishness in a range of media from the turn of the 20th century to the present. We will
focus on print, recorded, and broadcast media—including magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, record
albums, radio, film, and television—and study some of the crucial figures in the histories of these cultural
forms, while considering how Jewishness has been packaged for and presented to American audiences.
Cultural productions studied will include Abie the Agent, The Jazz Singer, The Goldbergs, MAD Magazine,
Annie Hall, Seinfeld, the New Yorker, and This American Life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT290/ENG290/JWST290 Title: Jews, African-Americans, and Other Minorities in U.S. Comics
and Graphic Novel
Comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels have throughout their history in the United States had a
complex relationship with members of minority groups, who have often been represented in racist and
dehumanizing ways. Meanwhile, though, American Jews played influential roles in the development of the
medium, and African-American, Latinx, Asian-American, and LGBTQ artists have more recently found
innovative ways to use this medium to tell their stories. In this course, we will survey the history of comics in
the U.S., focusing on the problems and opportunities they present for the representation of racial, ethnic, and
sexual difference. Comics we may read include Abie the Agent, Krazy Kat, Torchy Brown, Superman, and Love
& Rockets, as well as Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, Alison Bechdel’s
Fun Home, and Mira Jacob’s Good Talk.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG270/JWST270 Title: Jews and Jewishness in American Literature
The roles played by Jews in the development of modern American literature are complex and contradictory.
Influential American authors expressed anti-Semitic views in their correspondence and work, and prejudice
excluded Jews from many literary and cultural opportunities well into the 20th century. Nonetheless Jewish
publishers, editors, critics, and writers were extraordinarily influential in the development of the field, founding
leading publishing houses, supporting freedom of expression and movements like modernism and
postmodernism, and writing some of the most influential and lasting works in the tradition. In this course, we
will explore the ways Jews have been represented in American literature and their roles in modernizing and
expanding the field. Fulfills the English Department’s Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: ENG274/JWST274 Title: The Diversification of U.S. Literature, 1945-2000
What was at stake in the production and consumption of literature in the age of television and nuclear
proliferation? We will read and analyze U.S. fiction, drama, and poetry produced after 1945, a period during
which minority voices, particularly (but not only) those of American Jews, became central in U.S. literary
culture. We will explore the tension between literature as just another form of entertainment (or even a
pretentious instrument of exclusion) and literature as a privileged site of social analysis, critique, and minority
self-expression. Authors considered may include Chester Himes, Saul Bellow, Flannery O’Connor, Lorraine
Hansberry, Tillie Olsen, Fran Ross, Thomas Pynchon, Raymond Carver, Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, Susan
Sontag, Alejandro Morales, Kathy Acker, Shelley Jackson, Tony Kushner, and Lan Samantha Chang. Fulfills
the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG275/JWST275 Title: Representation and Appropriation in U.S. Video Game Narratives
What stories do U.S. video games tell us, and whose stories are they to tell? In this course, we will survey the
history of narrative video games in the U.S., from the 1980s to the present, paying particular attention to how
games represent gender, ethnicity, religion, and class. We will explore the way that games allow for
identification across difference; the significant contributions of American Jewish game developers; and the
prevalence of exoticism, cultural appropriation, and misogyny in the history of the medium. Games we will
consider, in whole or in part, include Silas Warner’s Castle Wolfenstein (1981) and its many sequels, Jordan
Mechner’s Karateka (1984) and The Prince of Persia (1989), Freedom! (1993), Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
(2004), Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin’s The Walking Dead (2013), David Cage's Detroit: Become Human
(2018); Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross’ The Last of Us, Part 2 (2020), Zak Garriss’ Life Is Strange: True
Colors (2021), and Meredith Gran’s Perfect Tides (2022). We will consider game studies scholarship and
criticism by Akil Fletcher, Jacob Geller, Cameron Kunzelman, Julian Lucas, Soraya Murray, Gene Park,
Amanda Phillips, and Anita Sarkeesian, among others, and students will be expected to write several analytical
or research essays. Fulfills the English Department’s Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: ITAS209/JWST211 Title: Jewish Italian Literature (in English)
This course offers an overview of Italian Jewish culture and literature from the Middle Ages to the present.
Students will read prose and poetry, essays and articles, as well as watch films that address issues such as
religious and cultural identity, the right to difference, anti-Semitism and the Shoah. The course will also give
students an overview of the formation and transformation of the Jewish community in Italian society. In
addition to well-known Jewish Italian writers like Primo Levi and Giorgio Bassani, students will read pertinent
works by non-Jewish writers like Rosetta Loy and Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JWST102/REL102 Title: Introduction to Jewish Studies
This course exposes students to major approaches to the interdisciplinary field of Jewish Studies. We will
focus our attention, in sequence, on different objects of analysis: Jews, Jewish languages, Jewish texts,
Jewish politics, and Jewish cultural expression. In each case, we will ask what it means to call that kind of
object (a person, word, political idea, work of culture, etc.) Jewish, and we will examine some of the most
influential answers that have been presented, from antiquity to modernity. By the end of the semester, students
will have a solid grounding in the field as a whole and a roadmap for pursuing the study of Jews, Judaism, and
Jewish culture at Wellesley (and beyond).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: JWST104/REL104 Title: Study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Critical introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, studying its role in the history and culture of ancient
Israel and its relationship to ancient Near Eastern cultures. Special focus on the fundamental techniques of
literary, historical, and source criticism in modern scholarship, with emphasis on the Bible's literary structure
and compositional evolution.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: JWST106/REL106 Title: Queer Bible
An introduction to the Bible at the intersection of queer theory, biblical interpretation, and the historical study of
the ancient Middle East. Through an examination of queer readings of the biblical canon and the canon of
contemporary queer theory, the class explores the social construction of gender and examines how people in
the biblical world and ancient Middle East maintained and contested gender roles. Using primary texts and
iconographic evidence, we will consider not only the complex interaction between the categories of gender
and sexual orientation, but also how contemporary expectations about “biological sex”, patriarchal structures,
and the biblical world impede our capacity to understand the biblical text, explore the experiential varieties of
gender in the ancient world, and appreciate the inherent queerness of gender. This is an introductory course;
no previous knowledge of the Bible is required or presumed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JWST201/REL201 Title: The Bible and Popular Culture
Topic for Spring 2023: Satan
Topics in this course explores the Bible and its uses in contemporary popular culture. In Spring 2023, we will
focus on Satan and popular culture. We will examine related concepts of demons and spirit possession in the
biblical world along with their history of interpretation. Key biblical texts include the book of Job, Jesus’s
temptation in the wilderness, and apocalyptic literature. In addition to the (re)creation of Satan in the medieval
and early modern period, we will also cover popular case studies including Lil Nas X, Southpark, DMX,
Hellboy, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Rick & Morty, and The Simpsons. This class has no prerequisites; no previous
knowledge of the Bible is presumed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a
topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: JWST209/REL209 Title: The Bible & Film
This course explores the use of biblical stories and themes in cinema. We will begin with films based on
selected biblical texts including the creation accounts, the exodus, the books of Ruth and Job, the life of
Jesus. We will then examine cinematic treatments of biblical themes: roles of women and children,
apocalypse, monsters, and suffering. No previous knowledge of film or the Bible is assumed; the course offers
an introduction to key modes of biblical interpretation including historical criticism, feminist, womanist, literary
and comparative approaches. Films include East of Eden, Moonlight, Prince of Egypt, The Shape of Water,
The Color Purple, Get Out, Apocalypse Now, and JoJo Rabbit.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: JWST210/REL210 Title: Seminar: Joy Vey: Humor and Positive Emotions in Judaism
Scholars of Jewish Studies tend to focus on moments of hardship and pain. But do disasters and the despair
tell the whole story? What gets missed when we prioritize despair and misery and cast aside allegedly lighter
and more positive themes? Such questions are the engine that runs this seminar. We will rethink the cultural
roles of joy in Judaism, take Jewish humor seriously, and ponder whether happiness in Judaism is distinct
from what we find in other religious traditions. Throughout the semester, through careful readings of primary
sources (in translation) and contemporary theories, we will explore how so-called positive emotions, moods,
and affects are inextricable from the most serious aspects of religion, politics, and the human experience, such
as identity formation, violence, gender norms, and power.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: DeGolan; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: JWST212/REL212 Title: People of the Body: A Sensory History of Judaism
Traditionally, the study of Judaism has neglected the senses, the body, and emotions as worthy objects of
inquiry. This course aims to fill this gap in our conception of Judaism by surveying key Jewish traditions from
antiquity to the present through the lenses of sensory studies, new materialism, and affect theory. We will
explore, for instance, the centrality of pleasant and foul odors to premodern Israelite religiosity, notions of
attention as a bodily experience in medieval Jewish mysticism, and modern debates about love and shame as
determining factors in Jewish law. To appreciate the sensory, somatic, and affective realms of Jewish history,
we will engage analytical tools that focus on texts’ representation of textures of lived experiences and apply
these methods to sources such as the biblical Song of Songs, the talmudic tractate Berakhot (“prayers and
blessings”), hassidic tales of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, and Noah Kahan’s Twitter feed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: DeGolan; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: JWST245/REL245 Title: The Holocaust and the Nazi State
An examination of the origins, character, course, and consequences of Nazi antisemitism during the Third
Reich. Special attention to Nazi racialist ideology, and how it shaped policies that affected such groups as
the Jews, the disabled, the Roma, Poles and Russians, Afro-Germans, and gay men. Consideration of the
impact of Nazism on women and on the German medical and teaching professions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Geller; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: JWST250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: JWST250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: JWST277/SPAN277 Title: The Jewish Women Writers of Latin America
This course will explore the vibrant literary culture of Jewish women writers of Latin America from the 1920s to
the present. We will examine selected works by these authors, daughters of immigrants, whose various literary
genres reveal the struggle with issues of identity, acculturation, and diasporic imagination. Writers include
Alicia Steimberg of Argentina, Clarice Lispector of Brazil, and Margo Glantz of Mexico, as well as a new
generation of writers who explore issues of multiculturalism and ethnicity.
This course is taught in Spanish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or SPAN 242 or
equivalent (AP 5) or by permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken JWST 377/SPAN
377.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the
300-level as JWST 377/SPAN 377.;
Course ID: JWST344/REL344 Title: Gods of Stone: Monuments and the Sacred
Why do people build monuments? How do they help and whom do they hurt? This seminar introduces
approaches and case studies related to sacred monuments, monumentality, and memory from the ancient
Mediterranean to the Confederate South. We will review current research in biblical studies, classics,
archaeology, and sociology with a focus on physical monuments in the Bible, and in the ancient Near East,
Greco-Roman antiquity, and up through the present. Case studies include historical monuments and artifacts
such as the Law of Hammurabi, Confederate monuments, and obelisks of Mussolini; literary descriptions of
artifacts including the Ten Commandments, cultic statues, and the Dead Sea Scrolls; and monument
desecration and destruction including Roman condemnations of memory and #BlackLivesMatter protests.
Possible trips to the MFA, and Harvard Art and Semitic Museums.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: A course in a relevant subject area such as religion, art history,
Africana studies, Jewish studies, classics, American studies, sociology, or by permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JWST350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: JWST350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: JWST360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the program.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in
the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient
progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: JWST370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: JWST 360 and permission of the program.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: JWST377/SPAN377 Title: The Jewish Women Writers of Latin America
This course will explore the vibrant literary culture of Jewish women writers of Latin America from the 1920s to
the present. We will examine selected works by these authors, daughters of immigrants, whose various literary
genres reveal the struggle with issues of identity, acculturation, and diasporic imagination. Writers include
Alicia Steimberg of Argentina, Clarice Lispector of Brazil, and Margo Glantz of Mexico, as well as a new
generation of writers who explore issues of multiculturalism and ethnicity.
Students in JWST 227/SPAN 277 and JWST 377/SPAN 377 will all get the same material, but students taking
the 300-level version of the course will have additional assignments, including formal presentations and longer
writing and independent work.
This course is taught in Spanish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to Junior and Senior majors or by permission of the
instructor. Not open to students who have taken JWST 277/SPAN 277.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as JWST 277/SPAN 277.;
Course ID: JWST380 Title: Special Topics in Jewish Studies
This course is designed as a capstone experience for the Jewish Studies major. Each Jewish Studies major
will meet with the Director of the Jewish Studies Program at the end of her junior year. Together they will
develop a reading list and course of study designed to situate the student's prior coursework within the
broader field of Jewish Studies. The Jewish Studies Director will then arrange for appropriate faculty to meet
with students during the academic term to supervise their reading and facilitate weekly discussions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Jewish Studies majors only.; Distribution Requirements:
HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Latin American Studies
An Interdepartmental Major and Minor
Latin American Studies provides students with a broad understanding of the Latin American experience
through an interdisciplinary program of study.
Latin American Studies Major
Learning outcomes for the Latin American Studies Major
Students will comprehend and speak either Spanish or Portuguese at an advanced level, as detailed in
the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.
Students will demonstrate foundational knowledge of Latin America's history, cultures, economies, and
literatures. Students will demonstrate specialized knowledge in at least one discipline of the social
sciences and one discipline of the humanities.
Students will compare and critique the modes of inquiry - including theories, methods, and/or data used by Latin Americanists in at least three disciplines of the social sciences and humanities.
In at least two disciplines, students will apply modes of inquiry to evaluate existing research, synthesize
its findings, and carry out new research on Latin American topics.
Students will demonstrate their knowledge and skills in lucid writing and clear oral presentations.
Requirements for the Latin American Studies Major
The Latin American Studies major requires a minimum of nine units in at least three departments. Before
declaring a major, students should consult with a faculty advisor and the Director of Latin American Studies;
both must approve the major plan. Requirements include:
Two language units at the level of SPAN 241 or higher, or PORT 241 or higher.
Two regional survey units, chosen from ANTH 245/LAST 245, ECON 241/LAST 241, HIST 207/LAST
207, HIST 211/LAST 211, LAST 101, LAST 217/POL2 207, LAST 273/SPAN 273, or LAST 275/SPAN
275. When it is offered, students are strongly encouraged to take LAST 101. With the director’s
permission, students may take one regional survey at MIT (chosen from 17.55J or 21H.171).
Five elective units, including at least two units of approved humanities courses (at least one of which
must be at the 300 level), and at least two units of approved social science courses (at least one of
which must be at the 300 level). Some approved courses require students to complete a paper on Latin
America as a condition of approval; students may take no more than two units of such courses.
Honors in Latin American Studies
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis on Latin America and passing an oral examination. To
be admitted to the honors program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the
major field above the 100-level; the program may petition on behalf of a student whose GPA in the major is
between 3.0 and 3.5. If a student is eligible and intends to complete a thesis, she should meet with her major
advisor and the director during Spring Semester of her junior year.
International Study and Transfer Credit in Latin American Studies
Majors are strongly encouraged to spend at least one semester studying in Latin America. Wellesley-in-Chile
offers students the option of studying at several universities in Santiago or Valparaiso. Students should consult
the Office of International Study for information on Wellesley-in-Chile and other approved study abroad
programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. In order to obtain major or minor credit for courses taken at
another college or university, students must obtain the director’s approval. Majors and minors are advised to
consult the director prior to choosing courses. In general, courses taken abroad will not be transferred at the
300 level. With the director’s permission, MIT courses may be counted for credit towards the major or minor.
Humanities Courses for Credit Toward the Latin American Studies Major and Minor
AFR 242 / REL 214
New World Afro-Atlantic Religions
1.0
AFR 256 / PORT 256
Cultures of the Portuguese-Speaking World through
Film, Music and Fiction (In English)
1.0
ARTH 237
Seminar: Who Was Frida Kahlo?
1.0
ARTH 339
Seminar: Who Was Frida Kahlo?
1.0
CAMS 240 / WGST 240
Gendering the Bronze Screen: Representations of
Chicanas/Latinas in Film
1.0
LAST 221H
Memories of Cuba: Intersections between History and
Culture on the Island
0.5
LING 270 / SPAN 270
Language, Sociopolitics, and Identity: Spanish in the
United States
1.0
MUS 314 / PORT 314
Brazilian Music and the Politics of Culture
1.0
PORT 241
Introduction to Lusophone Studies
1.0
SPAN 257
The Word and the Song: Contemporary Latin American
Poetry
1.0
SPAN 279
Female Fashion in Colonial Latin America
1.0
SPAN 299
Affect and Emotions in Latin American Literature and
Film
1.0
SPAN 303
Seminar: Argentine Women Filmmakers
1.0
SPAN 309
Seminar: Between Paradise and Prison: Cuban Literature
and Culture in Transition
1.0
SPAN 329
Seminar: Chile: Literature and the Arts
1.0
SPAN 335
Seminar: Asia in Latin America: Literary and Cultural
Connections
1.0
Upon enrollment in the following courses for credit toward the major or minor, the student must notify the
instructor that the course is to be counted for Latin American Studies and that, as such, the student will be
required to write a paper with a focus on Latin America.
AFR 242
Social Science Courses for Credit Toward the Latin American Studies Major and Minor
AFR 299
Seminar: Caribbean Culture
1.0
AFR 341
Africans of the Diaspora
1.0
AMST 225 / SOC 225
Life in the Big City: Urban Studies and Policy
1.0
AMST 323
Seminar: Bad Bunny; Race, Gender, and Empire in
Reggaeton
1.0
ANTH 231 / PEAC 231
Anthropology In and Of the City
1.0
ANTH 346
Seminar: Doing Well, Doing Good?: The Political Lives of
NGOs
1.0
ECON 241 / LAST 241
Poverty and Inequality in Latin America
1.0
EDUC 321 / PEAC 312 /
SOC 312
Seminar: De-Centering and Re-Centering: Social Theory
Across the Globe
1.0
HIST 207 / LAST 207
Contemporary Problems in Latin American History
1.0
HIST 244
History of the American West: Manifest Destiny to Pacific
Imperialism
1.0
HIST 358
Seminar: Pepper, Silver, and Silk: The Political Culture of
Early Commodity Circulation
1.0
LAST 217 / POL2 207
Politics of Latin America
1.0
POL4 345
Seminar: Black Liberation from Haiti to Black Lives
Matter
1.0
Upon enrollment in the following courses for credit toward the major or minor, the student must notify the
instructor that the course is to be counted for Latin American Studies and that, as such, the student will be
required to write a paper with a focus on Latin America.
AFR 341, AMST 225/SOC 225, ANTH 231/PEAC 231, ANTH 346, EDUC 321/PEAC 312/SOC 312, HIST
244, POL4 345
Other Courses for Credit Toward the Latin American Studies Major and Minor
ENGR 120
Making a Difference through Engineering
1.0
Upon enrollment in the following courses for credit toward the major or minor, the student must notify the
instructor that the course is to be counted for Latin American Studies and that, as such, the student will be
required to write a paper with a focus on Latin America.
ENGR 120
Latin American Studies Minor
Requirements for the Latin American Studies Minor
The Latin American Studies minor requires a minimum of five units in at least three departments. Before
declaring a minor, students should consult with a faculty advisor and the Director of Latin American Studies;
both must approve the minor plan. Requirements include:
One regional survey unit, chosen from ANTH 245/LAST 245, ECON 241/LAST 241, HIST 207/LAST 207,
HIST 211/LAST 211, LAST 101, LAST 217/POL2 207, LAST 273/SPAN 273, or LAST 275/SPAN 275.
When it is offered, students are strongly encouraged to take LAST 101.
Four elective units, including two units of approved humanities courses and two units of approved
social science courses. At least one of the units must be at the 300 level. Some approved courses
require students to complete a paper on Latin America as a condition of approval; students may take
no more than one unit of such courses.
LAST Courses
Course ID: ANTH245/LAST245 Title: Culture, Politics, and Power: Anthropological Perspectives on Latin
America
This course explores contemporary issues in Latin America from an anthropological perspective. We will
discuss legacies of colonialism and Cold War power struggles, as well as the central role social movements
are playing in crafting Latin American futures. We will trace the ways the region is enmeshed in transnational
processes and migrations and analyze the intersection of culture, race, gender, and class in shaping urban
centers, rural hinterlands, and livelihood strategies within them. In particular, we will discuss how ethnographic
research – the long-term fieldwork conducted by anthropologists – can enrich our understanding of hotly
debated issues such as statecraft, borders, and shifting meanings of citizenship; in/security, human rights, and
democratization; and, illicit economies, extractive industries, and critical approaches to development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Instructor: Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH378/LAST378 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Museums Speak:
Communication and Controversy
Art and anthropology museums tell stories about the past and its relevance to the present, but what stories
they tell, who gets to tell them, and which objects should—or should not—be considered are not always selfevident. In this writing-intensive seminar, you will learn how texts—wall labels, press releases, exhibition
reviews—engage audiences within and beyond the museum’s walls. The course consists of writing
assignments related to artworks made in the Americas before Independence, from the ancient Maya to
colonial Peru, many on exhibit at the Davis Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Through these
case studies, we will learn how to convert visual images and academic arguments into appealing, jargon-free
prose. In keeping with the structure of the Calderwood seminar, weekly deadlines in this class are firm so as to
allow classmates time to reflect on such arguments and comment on each other’s ideas. Take on the role of
museum curator and learn how texts help us navigate controversies over the acquisition, provenance, and
display of artworks from distant cultures and places.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least two 100- or 200-level courses in Art History or
Anthropology.; Instructor: Oles; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Every three
years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON241/LAST241 Title: Poverty and Inequality in Latin America
The course is a survey of economic development in Latin America, with an emphasis on public policies aimed
at reducing poverty and inequality. How can we define and measure development? How did Latin American
governments pursue development over the 20th century and into the 21st? How does contemporary social
and education policy contribute to the reduction of poverty and inequality? The course introduces students to
policy evaluation, with a focus on understanding and writing about field experiments in Latin America.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P.; Instructor: McEwan; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST207/LAST207 Title: Contemporary Problems in Latin American History
In this problem-centered survey of the contemporary history of Latin America we will critique and go beyond
the many stereotypes that have inhibited understandings between Anglo and Latin America, cultivating instead
a healthy respect for complexity and contradiction. Over the course of the semester we will examine key
themes in current history, including the dilemmas of uneven national development in dependent economies;
the emergence of anti-imperialism and various forms of political and cultural nationalism; the richness and
variety of revolution; ethnic, religious, feminist, literary, artistic, and social movements; the imposing social
problems of the sprawling Latin American megalopolis; the political heterodoxies of leftism, populism,
authoritarianism, and neoliberalism; the patterns of peace, violence, and the drug trade; the considerable U.S.
influence in the region, and finally, transnational migration and globalization.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST211/LAST211 Title: The Empire of the Indies: Spanish Rule in America and the Philippines
(ca. 1500s – ca.1780s)
The Empire of the Indies or New World was part of the larger Spanish Empire, and comprised the American
continent, the Philippine and the Mariana Islands in the Pacific. At the height of its power in the seventeenth
century, the Spanish Empire was a global enterprise in which Portuguese, Aztec, Genoese, Chinese,
Japanese, Flemish, Inka and Romans played essential roles in its daily functioning and constitution. This
course traces the making and consolidation of the Empire of the Indies by examining the resources, peoples,
and ideas that it contributed to Spain’s overwhelming power ca. 1500s-1780s. It interrogates evolving
meanings and understandings of empire, colonialism, and modernity, and the cultural transformations of
native populations and Europeans in historic and geographical context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Osorio; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAST101 Title: Introduction to Latin American Studies
An introduction to the study of Latin America from multiple disciplinary perspectives. The course will expose
students to contemporary topics in the region and methodologies of study. Topics will include the challenges
of democracy and economic development, poverty and income inequality, the environment, popular and
urban culture, Afro-descendent and indigenous identities, social movements, religion, U.S.-Latin American
relations, and immigration. The course will feature guest lectures from faculty experts at the college.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. Juniors and Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Contreras; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: LAST217/POL2207 Title: Politics of Latin America
Despite significant differences in the political and economic development of countries across Latin America
and the Caribbean region, important commonalities include colonial legacies, revolutions and revolutionary
movements, military rule, the rise of populism, import-substituting industrialization, neoliberal economic
reform, as well as democratic transition, consolidation, and backsliding. This course offers an introductory
understanding of such trends. We will analyze political and economic changes through theoretical
perspectives such as political culture, dependency, and institutionalism. We will also examine contemporary
forces shaping politics in the region today, such as citizenship, intersectional identities, sexual and
reproductive rights, the environment, and the changing role of external forces.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Instructor: Contreras; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAST221H Title: Memories of Cuba: Intersections between History and Culture on the Island
One of the most unique aspects of Cuba is its incredible diversity as a result of a long history of encounters
between Europe, Africa and Asia. The hybrid nature of Cuban identity can be manifested through a number of
forms, such as art, music, literature and religion. As Cuba begins a new phase in history, a comprehensive
understanding of its cultural heritage is more pressing than ever. Rather than focus on political issues, this
course will use on-site visits to explore different experiences of cultural intersections or syncretism (known as
“transculturation”) on the island. A strong command of Spanish is required as the bulk of the course will be
taught in the target language in order to better understand Cuban history and culture. Some of the student
activities include preliminary readings, lectures, videos, interviews, and a travel log.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Knowledge of Spanish at
the level of one course beyond SPAN 241/SPAN 242 (or 5th semester) is required.; Instructor: Hagimoto;
Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Winter; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Winter; Notes: This is a travel course, not offered every year (subject to approval by Provost's
Office). Class will meet on campus prior to departure.;
Course ID: LAST250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Two units of course work in Latin American studies.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: LAST250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Two units of course work in Latin American studies.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: LAST273/SPAN273 Title: Latin American Civilization
An introduction to the multiple elements constituting Latin American culture. An examination of the principal
characteristics of Spanish colonialism and Creole nationalism will inform our general understanding of Latin
American culture today. Readings and class discussions will cover such topics as military and spiritual
conquest, the Indian and African contributions, the emergence of criollo and mestizo discourses, and gender
and race relations. Readings will include the works of Latin American writers, filmmakers, and historians.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or SPAN 242 or
equivalent (AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Guzauskyte; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAST275/SPAN275 Title: The Making of Modern Latin American Culture
An examination of the principal characteristics of the search for identity and independence of the emerging
Latin American nations as expressed in literary, historical, and anthropological writing. We will examine the
experience of each of four distinct regions: Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, the Andean countries,
and the Southern Cone. Readings will include the works of contemporary Latin American writers, filmmakers,
and historians. Special attention will be given to the relationship between social issues and the evolution of
literary form.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or SPAN 242 or
equivalent (AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Selimovic; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAST287/SPAN287 Title: Creativity and Imagination: Twentieth Century Women Poets of Spain
and Latin America
Beginning with Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin-American Nobel Laureate for Literature, this course focuses on
the leading women poets in both Spain and the Americas. Central to this production are themes of human
rights and social justice, gender, and the expression of love and desire. While the class will examine
connections between women poets on both sides of the Atlantic, differences in terms of negotiating a maledominated publication infrastructure will be examined. Other than Mistral, poets will include Concha Méndez,
Rosa Chacel, Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Clara Janés, Cristina Peri Rossi, Gloria Fuertes, and from the Americas,
Delmira Agustini, Alfonsina Storni, Idea Villarino, Violeta Parra and others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Students who have completed Spanish 241 and Spanish 242, or
AP 5, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAST317/SPAN317 Title: Seminar: Intermedial Pleasures in Latin American Film
This course centers on connections between recent Latin American films and other media, especially music,
literature, and television. We will explore how such connections critique certain sociopolitical and cultural
milieus that the selected films spring from, seek to represent, or both. Interdisciplinary readings will anchor our
discussions as we focus on illuminating the films’ nuanced commentaries on local particularities—but also
foreign influences—through the intersections of politics, agency, gender, and race. Alejandro González
Iñárritu, Juan José Campanella, Fabián Bielinsky, Martín Rejtman, Paula Markovitch, Paz Encina, Jayro
Bustamente, and Lucrecia Martel will be at the heart of the course, for their films have reconfigured
contemporary Latin American cinema in unexpected ways.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to Senior and Junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Selimovic; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAST350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Latin American Studies and Spanish majors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: LAST350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to Latin American Studies and Spanish majors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: LAST360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department. See Academic Distinctions.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in
Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a
faculty member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: LAST370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: LAST 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Mathematics
Mathematics has a fascinating dual nature. Many study it as an object of endless beauty, interest, and
intellectual challenge, while others are motivated by its applications to real-world problems. Increasingly,
mathematics is an essential tool for modeling phenomena in the physical, biological, and social sciences.
Mathematical literacy is the key to surviving and thriving in the world of technology. At its heart, mathematics is
the study of patterns: it is a creative art as well as a logical system. Mathematics has always been a part of the
liberal arts core at Wellesley College. One way our students continue this tradition is by combining
mathematics with a minor or a double major in another field such as economics, English, classics, or
chemistry. Mathematics is excellent preparation for a lifetime of discovering, learning, and applying new
knowledge. Most courses meet for three periods weekly or for two periods weekly with a third period
approximately every other week.
The mathematics department Web page (www.wellesley.edu/Math) has more detailed course descriptions and
information for majors and minors.
Mathematics Major
Goals for Math Major/Minor and the Stats Minor
Students will learn to
1. Perform mathematical calculations, implement numerical algorithms, and use computational software
or programming language to produce viable solutions, and gain facility in selecting the appropriate
tool.
2. Draw from existing knowledge and extend it, applying concepts to solve novel problems in new
contexts.
3. Use mathematical and statistical structures to represent real world phenomena, gain insight, extract
patterns, and answer questions.
4. Identify, describe, and explain patterns. Connect ideas across disparate contexts, within one course as
well as through sequential courses.
5. Write and present logical arguments clearly and concisely to a variety of audiences. This includes
writing for mathematical scholarship as well as communicating to collaborate and also creating a
narrative to present the development of an idea to their peers.
6. Appreciate the intellectual development of mathematics. Majors understand mathematics as a powerful
tool and a dynamic, growing body of knowledge. Students recognize the progression to mastery, via
experimenting to identify patterns, and that sometimes the way to uncover the right solution is through
learning from wrong attempts. Students see the role of creativity and appreciate the beauty of deep
mathematical ideas and connections.
Requirements for the Mathematics Major
Students majoring in mathematics must complete MATH 115 and one of MATH 116/MATH 120 (or the
equivalent) and at least eight units of 200-level and 300-level courses. These eight units must include MATH
205, MATH 206, MATH 302, MATH 305, and two additional 300-level courses. The courses counting towards
the major must come from MATH or from among the following STAT courses: STAT 218, STAT 220, STAT 221,
STAT 228, STAT 260, STAT 318, STAT 320.
Majors are also required to present one classroom talk in either their junior or senior year. This requirement
can be satisfied with a presentation in the student seminar, but it can also be fulfilled by giving a talk in one of
the courses whose catalog description says "Majors can fulfill the major presentation requirement in this
course." In addition, a limited number of students may be able to fulfill the presentation requirement in other
courses, with permission of the instructor.
Students expecting to major in mathematics should complete the prerequisites for MATH 302 and MATH 305
before the junior year. Students may wish to consult the chair of the Department of Mathematics or their
current mathematics instructor in deciding when to take MATH 302 and MATH 305. Independent study units
(MATH 350, MATH 360, MATH 370) may NOT count as one of the 300-level courses required for the major.
Students expecting to do graduate work in mathematics should elect MATH 302, MATH 305, and at least four
other 300-level courses, possibly including a graduate course at MIT. They might also consider acquiring a
reading knowledge of one of the following languages: French, German, or Russian.
Honors in Mathematics
The department offers the following options for earning honors in the major field:
1. Completion of MATH 302, MATH 305, and four other 300-level courses, and two written
comprehensive examinations
2. Two semesters of thesis work (MATH 360 and MATH 370).
An oral examination is required for both programs.
To be admitted to the honors program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in
the major field above the 100 level; the department may submit a petition for a student if her GPA in the major
is between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Teacher Certification in Mathematics
Students interested in teaching mathematics at the secondary-school level should consult the chair of the
mathematics department and the chair of the education department. Students interested in taking the actuarial
science examinations should consult the chair of the mathematics department.
Placement in Courses and Exemption Examinations in Mathematics
The mathematics department reviews interested calculus students and places them in MATH 115, MATH 116,
MATH 120, or MATH 205 according to their previous courses and summer placement results. Please refer to
the descriptions for these courses.
Students may receive course credit toward graduation through the AP tests in mathematics and the IB Higher
Level mathematics exam. Students with scores of 4 or 5 on the AB Examination or an AB-subscore of 4 or 5 on
the BC Examination, or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the IB Higher Level mathematics exam receive one unit of credit
(equivalent to MATH 115) and are eligible for MATH 116 or MATH 120. Those entering with scores of 4 or 5 on
the BC Examination receive two units (equivalent to MATH 115 and MATH 116/MATH 120) and are eligible for
MATH 205. Students with a 5 on the AP examination in statistics receive one unit of credit. Neither AP credits
nor IB credits may count toward the major or minor.
Transfer Credit in Mathematics
In order to obtain Wellesley credit for any mathematics course taken at another institution, during the summer
or the academic year, approval must be obtained from the chair of the department, preferably in advance.
Normally, the core courses Math 206, 302, and 305 should be taken at Wellesley. Advanced students are
encouraged to elect MIT courses that are not offered by the Wellesley College mathematics department.
Mathematics Minor
Requirements for the Mathematics Minor
The mathematics minor is recommended for students whose primary interests lie elsewhere but who wish to
take a substantial amount of mathematics beyond calculus. Option I (five units) consists of (A) MATH 205,
MATH 206 and (B) MATH 302 or MATH 305 and (C) two additional units, at least one of which must be at the
200 or 300 level. Option II (five units) consists of (A) MATH 205, MATH 206 and (B) three additional 200- or
300-level courses. Those STAT courses which may be counted toward the math major may be counted toward
the math minor. A student who plans to add the mathematics minor to a major in another field should consult a
faculty advisor in mathematics.
Statistics Minor
Statistics is the science of drawing inferences from data. The statistics minor is recommended for students
who wish to gain experience in both the theoretical foundations of statistics and applied data analysis. The
study of statistics prepares students for graduate study in statistics, biostatistics, or a related field; research in
applied science or social science; or work in business, medicine, technology, law, finance, and many other
fields.
The minor in statistics consists of five units:
(A) Foundation in probability theory: MATH 220/STAT 220
(B) Foundation in computing: CS 111, or CS 115
(C) Foundation in modeling: Either QR 260/STAT 260 or STAT 318
(D) Two electives from the following list, including at least one STAT elective:
Introductory statistics:
At most one introductory statistics course can count toward the minor. See “Entry Points” below for guidance.
STAT 160 Fundamentals of Statistics
STAT 218 Introductory Statistics and Data Analysis
BISC 198 Statistics in the Biosciences
ECON 103/SOC 190 Introduction to Probability and Statistical Methods
POL 299 Introduction to Research Methods in Political Science
PSYC 105 Introduction to Data Analysis in Psychological Science
Statistical theory:
STAT 221 Statistical Inference
Intermediate and advanced applied statistics:
STAT 219 Spatial Statistics
STAT 228 Multivariate Data Analysis
STAT 260/QR 260 Applied Data Analysis and Statistical Inference
STAT 309/QR 309 Causal Inference
STAT 318 Regression Analysis and Statistical Models
STAT 320 Introduction to Bayesian Methods
ECON 203 Econometrics
ECON 303 Advanced Econometrics
Other STAT electives when offered.
The minor is open to students from any major, including mathematics, recognizing that no course may count
toward both the major and the minor. Students whose majors overlap with these requirements should consult
a statistics faculty advisor and a major advisor. A certificate from the Quantitative Analysis Institute Summer
Program meets requirement (C) but does not count toward the five units for the statistics minor; students
should take either STAT 318 from (C) or an extra stat elective. A student may count both STAT 260/QR 260 and
STAT 318, one toward the modeling requirement and the other as an elective. Note that MATH 205 is a
prerequisite for STAT 220 but does not count toward the minor; other courses listed above similarly have
prerequisites that cannot be counted.
Entry Points
Students should complete calculus through MATH 205 in order to take STAT 220.
The computing requirement can be met at any time.
A student who completes MATH 205 before taking any of the courses listed under (D) is encouraged to
begin the applied courses with STAT 218.
A student who completes an introductory statistics course other than STAT 218 can begin the applied
courses with STAT 260.
STAT 150 does not count towards the statistical minor. Students who wish to minor in statistics should
take one of the introductory statistics courses above.
MATH Courses
Course ID: MATH115 Title: Calculus I
Introduction to differential and integral calculus for functions of one variable. The heart of calculus is the study
of rates of change. Differential calculus concerns the process of finding the rate at which a quantity is changing
(the derivative). Integral calculus reverses this process. Information is given about the derivative, and the
process of integration finds the "integral," which measures accumulated change. This course aims to develop a
thorough understanding of the concepts of differentiation and integration, and covers techniques and
applications of differentiation and integration of algebraic, trigonometric, logarithmic, and exponential
functions. MATH 115 is an introductory course designed for students who have not seen calculus before.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Not open to students who have completed MATH 116, MATH 120,
MATH 205 or the equivalent. Not open to students whose placement is MATH 205 or MATH 206.; Instructor:
Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Summer; Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MATH115P Title: Calculus I
Introduction to differential and integral calculus for functions of one variable. The heart of calculus is the study
of rates of change. Differential calculus concerns the process of finding the rate at which a quantity is changing
(the derivative). Integral calculus reverses this process. Information is given about the derivative, and the
process of integration finds the "integral," which measures accumulated change. This course aims to develop a
thorough understanding of the concepts of differentiation and integration, and covers techniques and
applications of differentiation and integration of algebraic, trigonometric, logarithmic, and exponential
functions. In addition to the material from Math 115, this course spends additional time strengthening students'
precalculus skills, covering topics such as proportions and percents, linear and exponential growth, and
logarithms. MATH 115P is an introductory course designed for students who have not seen calculus before
and who would benefit from extra academic support on precalculus topics.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Diesl; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MATH115Z Title: Applied Calculus I
This class will offer a treatment of first-semester calculus aimed at students interested in the biological and
social sciences. The course material is motivated by real-life problems in laboratory and data-driven studies.
Students will be expected to work in groups both in and out of class, give presentations at the chalkboard, and
submit work in both problem set and project formats. Topics include: functions, limits, continuity, differentiation
and an introduction to integration.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Not open to students who have completed MATH 116, MATH 120,
MATH 205 or the equivalent. Not open to students whose placement is MATH 205 or MATH 206.; Instructor:
Diesl; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH116 Title: Calculus II
The course begins with applications and techniques of integration. It probes notions of limit and convergence
and adds techniques for finding limits. Half of the course covers infinite sequences and series, where the basic
question is, What meaning can we attach to a sum with infinitely many terms and why might we care? The
course can help students improve their ability to reason abstractly and also teaches important computational
techniques. Topics include integration techniques, l'Hôpital's rule, improper integrals, geometric and other
applications of integration, infinite series, power series, and Taylor series. MATH 116 is the appropriate first
course for many students who have had AB calculus in high school.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 115 or Math 115Z, or the equivalent. Not open to students
who have completed MATH 120 or MATH 205. Not open to students whose math placement is MATH 206.;
Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical
Periods Offered: Summer; Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH120 Title: Calculus IIA
This course is a variant of MATH 116 for students who have a thorough knowledge of the techniques of
differentiation and integration, and familiarity with inverse trigonometric functions and the logarithmic and
exponential functions. It includes a rigorous and careful treatment of limits, sequences and series, Taylor's
theorem, approximations and numerical methods, Riemann sums, improper integrals, l'Hôpital's rule, and
applications of integration.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Open by permission of the department to students who have
completed a year of high school calculus. Students who have studied Taylor series should elect MATH 205.
Not open to students who have completed MATH 116, MATH 205 or the equivalent.; Instructor: Yacoubou
Djima; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MATH123/PEAC123 Title: Mathematics and Politics
How can a candidate in a political race win the majority of votes yet lose the election? How can two competing
candidates interpret the same statistic as being in their favor? How can the geometry of the voting district
disenfranchise entire groups of voters? Can we quantify the power the President of the United States has? In
this course, we will look at the mathematics behind these and related questions that arise in politics. We will
study topics such as fairness, voting paradoxes, social choice, game theory, apportionment, gerrymandering,
and data interpretation. The goal of the class will be to illustrate the importance of rigorous reasoning in
various social and political processes while providing an introduction to some fascinating mathematics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Volic; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: MATH124Y Title: First Year Seminar: Discrete Mathematics
This course is a first-year seminar for students in the Wellesley Plus program. It will introduce students to
important basic mathematical concepts as set theory, proof techniques, propositional and predicate calculus,
graph theory, combinatorics, probability, and recursion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: S. Chang; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MATH201Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Euler
This seminar surveys the work of Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), one of the most influential and prolific
mathematicians of all time. It is geared toward students who would like a broad overview of what advanced
mathematics (beyond calculus) is about, and how it got that way. Topics are drawn from a wide range of areas
in pure and applied mathematics, such as algebra, number theory, analysis, and geometry. Highlights include
the Basel problem, complex exponentials, the calculus of variations, the Euler line, and the bridges of
Königsberg. The seminar is discussion-based: students retrace Euler's steps by making definitions, proposing
conjectures, generating examples, and crafting and critiquing proofs, ever attentive to the balance between
intuitive ingenuity and rigorous argument.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: MATH203 Title: Mathematics for Economics and Finance
This course is intended for students who are interested in mathematics and its applications in economics and
finance. The following topics will be covered: mathematical models in economics, market equilibrium, first and
second order recurrences, the cobweb model, profit maximization, derivatives in economics, elements of
finance, constrained optimization, Lagrangians and the consumer, microeconomic applications, business
cycles, European and American options, call and put options, Black-Scholes analysis.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 116 or the equivalent.; Instructor: Bu; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: MATH205 Title: Multivariable Calculus
Most real-world systems that one may want to model, whether in the natural or in the social sciences, have
many interdependent parameters. To apply calculus to these systems, we need to extend the ideas and
techniques of single-variable Calculus to functions of more than one variable. Topics include vectors, matrices,
determinants, polar, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates, curves, partial derivatives, gradients and directional
derivatives, Lagrange multipliers, multiple integrals, vector calculus: line integrals, surface integrals,
divergence, curl, Green's Theorem, Divergence Theorem, and Stokes’ Theorem.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 116 or MATH 120, or the equivalent.; Instructor: Diesl, Kerr,
Hirschhorn (Fall); Kerr, Schultz (Spring); Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH206 Title: Linear Algebra
Linear algebra is one of the most beautiful subjects in the undergraduate mathematics curriculum. It is also
one of the most important with many possible applications. In this course, students learn computational
techniques that have widespread applications in the natural and social sciences as well as in industry, finance,
and management. There is also a focus on learning how to understand and write mathematical proofs and an
emphasis on improving mathematical style and sophistication. Topics include vector spaces, subspaces,
linear independence, bases, dimension, inner products, linear transformations, matrix representations, range
and null spaces, inverses, and eigenvalues.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 205 or MATH 215; or, with permission of the instructor,
MATH 116, MATH 120, or the equivalent. ; Instructor: S. Chang, Lauer (Fall); Trenk, Yacoubou Djima (Spring);
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH207Y Title: First Year Seminar: Knots, Molecules, and the Universe
What can we know about the shape of the universe? When is a molecule left- or right-handed and what does
that mean? How can an inhabitant of a one- or two- or three-dimensional universe figure out the shape
(geometry and topology) of their universe? This course provides an elementary introduction to mathematical
topology (sometimes described as rubber-sheet geometry), and the tools to address questions such as
these. In this context, the notions of knot invariants and geodesics (shortest paths) arise, and students learn
how to use these tools to classify knots, and to classify all closed surfaces. Applications of topology and
geometry to chemistry and molecular biology will be discussed.
Students will learn about fundamental topological and geometric ideas and develop their visual intuition, which
can provide a valuable framework for MATH 302 and MATH 307.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 116 or the equivalent. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor:
Kerr; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other Categories: FYS First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH215 Title: Differential Equations with Applied Linear Algebra
This course is designed to examine the degree to which a function can be determined by an algebraic
relationship it has with its derivative(s) --- a so-called ordinary differential equation (ODE). For instance, can
one completely catalog all functions which equal their own derivative? In service of developing techniques for
solving certain classes of differential equations, some fundamental notions from linear algebra and complex
numbers are presented. Differential equation topics include modeling with and solving first- and second-order
ODEs, separable ODEs, and a discussion of higher order and non-linear ODEs; linear algebra topics include
solving systems via elementary row operations, bases, dimension, determinants, column space, and
eigenvalues/vectors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 116 or MATH 120, or the equivalent. ; Instructor: H. Wang
(Fall); Fernandez, Yacoubou Djima (Spring); Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and
Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH220/STAT220 Title: Probability
Probability is the mathematics of uncertainty. We begin by developing the basic tools of probability theory,
including counting techniques, conditional probability, and Bayes's Theorem. We then survey several of the
most common discrete and continuous probability distributions (binomial, Poisson, uniform, normal, and
exponential, among others) and discuss mathematical modeling using these distributions. Often we cannot
calculate probabilities exactly, and we need to approximate them. A powerful tool here is the Central Limit
Theorem, which provides the link between probability and statistics. Another strategy when exact results are
unavailable is simulation. We examine Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, which offer a means of simulating
from complicated distributions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 205; Instructor: Tannenhauser; Distribution Requirements:
MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MATH223 Title: Number Theory
Number theory is the study of the most basic mathematical objects: the natural numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). It
begins by investigating simple patterns: for instance, which numbers can be written as sums of two squares?
Do the primes go on forever? How can we be sure? The patterns and structures that emerge from studying the
properties of numbers are so elegant, complex, and important that number theory has been called "the Queen
of Mathematics." Once studied only for its intrinsic beauty, number theory has practical applications in
cryptography and computer science. Topics include the Euclidean algorithm, modular arithmetic, Fermat's and
Euler's Theorems, public-key cryptography, quadratic reciprocity. MATH 223 has a focus on learning to
understand and write mathematical proofs; it can serve as valuable preparation for MATH 305.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: One of the following - MATH 116, MATH 120, or CS 230 with
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Trenk; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and
Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: MATH223Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Number Theory
Number theory is the study of the most basic mathematical objects: the natural numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). It
begins by investigating simple patterns: for instance, which numbers can be written as sums of two squares?
Do the primes go on forever? How can we be sure? The patterns and structures that emerge from studying the
properties of numbers are so elegant, complex, and important that number theory has been called "the Queen
of Mathematics." Once studied only for its intrinsic beauty, number theory has practical applications in
cryptography and computer science. Topics include the Euclidean algorithm, modular arithmetic, Fermat's and
Euler's Theorems, public-key cryptography, quadratic reciprocity. MATH 223 has a focus on learning to
understand and write mathematical proofs; it can serve as valuable preparation for MATH 305.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Lange; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH225 Title: Combinatorics and Graph Theory
Combinatorics is the art of counting possibilities: for instance, how many different ways are there to distribute
20 apples to 10 kids? Graph theory is the study of connected networks of objects. Both have important
applications to many areas of mathematics and computer science. The course will be taught emphasizing
creative problem-solving as well as methods of proof, such as proof by contradiction and induction. Topics
include: selections and arrangements, generating functions, recurrence relations, graph coloring, Hamiltonian
and Eulerian circuits, and trees.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 116 or MATH 120, or the equivalent; or CS 230 together
with permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Schultz, Trenk (Fall ), C. Chan, Hirschhorn (Spring); Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MATH302 Title: Elements of Analysis I
Real analysis is the study of the rigorous theory of the real numbers, Euclidean space, and calculus. The goal
is to thoroughly understand the familiar concepts of continuity, limits, and sequences. Topics include
compactness, completeness, and connectedness; continuous functions; differentiation and integration; limits
and sequences; and interchange of limit operations as time permits.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 205 and MATH 206.; Instructor: H. Wang (Fall), S. Chang
(Spring); Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH303 Title: Topics in Analysis
Topic for 2023-2024: PDEs and Geometric Analysis
This course is an introduction to Geometric Analysis through the study of partial differential equations (PDEs).
The focus is on studying the properties of solutions. Topics covered include: the Laplace and Heat equation,
maximum principles, gradient flows, and the role of non-smoothness in PDEs. In the second half of the
course we study geometric PDEs such as the minimal surface equation and curve shortening flow in the plane.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 302.; Instructor: S. Chang; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as
the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: MATH305 Title: Abstract Algebra
In this course, students examine the structural similarities between familiar mathematical objects such as
number systems, matrix sets, function spaces, general vector spaces, and mod n arithmetic. Topics include
groups, rings, fields, hom*omorphisms, normal subgroups, quotient spaces, isomorphism theorems, divisibility,
and factorization. Many concepts generalize number theoretic notions such as Fermat's little theorem and the
Euclidean algorithm. Optional subjects include group actions and applications to combinatorics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 206; Instructor: Schultz (Fall), Lange (Spring); Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH306 Title: Topics in Abstract Algebra
Topic for Spring 24: Galois Theory
This course offers a continued study of the algebraic structures introduced in MATH 305, culminating in the
Fundamental Theorem of Galois Theory, a beautiful result that depicts the circle of ideas surrounding field
extensions, polynomial rings, and automorphism groups. Applications of Galois theory include the
unsolvability of the quintic by radicals and geometric impossibility proofs, such as the trisection of angles and
duplication of cubes. Cyclotomic extensions and Sylow theory may be included in the syllabus.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 305; Instructor: Diesl; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This is a
topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: MATH307 Title: Topology
This course covers some basic notions of point-set topology, such as topological spaces, metric spaces,
connectedness and compactness, Heine-Borel Theorem, quotient spaces, topological groups, groups acting
on spaces, hom*otopy equivalences, separation axioms, Euler characteristic, and classification of surfaces.
Additional topics include the study of the fundamental group (time permitting).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 302. Co-requisite - MATH 305.; Instructor: Hirschhorn;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MATH309 Title: Foundations of Mathematics
This course will introduce students to aspects of set theory and formal logic. The notion of set is one of the
fundamental notions of modern mathematics. In fact, other mathematical notions, such as function, relation,
number, etc., can be represented in terms of purely set theoretical notions, and their basic properties can be
proved using purely set theoretic axioms. The course will include the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms for set theory,
the Axiom of Choice, transfinite arithmetic, ordinal numbers, and cardinal numbers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 302 or MATH 305.; Instructor: S. Chang; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH310 Title: Complex Analysis
Complex analysis is the study of the differential and integral calculus of functions of a complex variable.
Complex functions have a rich and tightly constrained structure: for example, in contrast with real functions, a
complex function that has one derivative has derivatives of all orders and even a convergent power series. This
course develops the theory of complex functions, leading up to Cauchy's theorem and its consequences,
including the theory of residues. While the primary viewpoint is calculus, many of the essential insights come
from geometry and topology, and can be used to prove results such as the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 302; Instructor: Fernandez; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MATH312 Title: Differential Geometry
Differential geometry has two aspects. Classical differential geometry, which shares origins with the beginnings
of calculus, is the study of local properties of curves and surfaces. Local properties are those properties which
depend only on the behavior of the curve or the surface in a neighborhood of a point. The other aspect is
global differential geometry: here we see how these local properties influence the behavior of the entire curve
or surface. The main idea is that of curvature. What is curvature? It can be intrinsic or extrinsic. What's the
difference? What does it mean to have greater or smaller (or positive or negative) curvature? We will answer
these questions for surfaces in three-space, as well as for abstract manifolds. Topics include curvature of
curves and surfaces, first and second fundamental forms, equations of Gauss and Codazzi, the fundamental
theorem of surfaces, geodesics, and surfaces of constant curvature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 302.; Instructor: Tannenhauser; Distribution Requirements:
MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: MATH313/PHYS313 Title: Differential Geometry and General Relativity
Einstein's general theory of relativity conceives of gravity as a manifestation of the geometry of spacetime. In
John Archibald Wheeler's summary: "Spacetime tells matter how to move; matter tells spacetime how to
curve." Differential geometry supplies the mathematical language for describing curvature. We begin by
defining and building up the relevant mathematical ideas: manifolds, tensors, covariant derivatives, geodesics,
and the Riemann tensor. We then apply these ideas to the physics, developing the Einstein field equation and
some of its consequences, including the Schwarzschild solution and black holes, cosmology, and gravitational
waves.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: At least one 300-level course in mathematics or physics, or
permission of the instructor. MATH 302 or MATH 305 is recommended. Students can receive major credit for
both MATH 312 and MATH 313.; Instructor: Tannenhauser; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical
Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH314 Title: Pi
This course examines the number 𝝅 from various points of view in pure and applied mathematics. Topics may
include: (1) Geometry: Archimedes’ estimates; volume and surface area of spheres in arbitrary dimensions;
Buffon’s needle (and noodle); Galperin’s colliding balls; the isoperimetric inequality; triangles in spherical and
hyperbolic geometry; Descartes’s theorem on total angular defect (discrete Gauss-Bonnet). (2) Digit hunting:
Viète’s infinite product; Wallis’s product and related ideas (the Gaussian integral and its multidimensional
extension, saddle point approximation, Stirling’s approximation); the Leibniz-Gregory formula and Machin-type
formulae; spigot algorithms and the Bailey-Borwein-Plouffe formula; elliptic integrals, the arithmetic-geometric
mean, and the Brent-Salamin algorithm. (3) Analysis: complex exponentials; Fourier series; the Riemann zeta
function, dilogarithms, Bernoulli numbers, and applications to number theory (means of arithmetic functions).
(4) Algebra: the irrationality and transcendence of e and 𝝅.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: MATH 302 or MATH 305; open to students with advanced
background in physics, computer science, or related fields with permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Tannenhauser; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH316 Title: Algebraic Geometry
Geometry is concerned with the properties of rigid shapes (either planar, or in higher dimensions). When
confronted with a geometric question (e.g. computing a tangent line to a curve), one often thinks first of using
the tools of calculus. However, this is not the only option. Many of the most common geometric objects (e.g.
lines, circles, etc.) can be defined by polynomial equations, and can therefore be studied using algebra. In this
course, we will explore this connection. Specifically, we will see how one can associate a certain ring to such a
geometric object, and how questions about geometry can then be translated into questions about the algebra
of this ring. This course will expand upon the material learned in Math 305, with a view toward such
connections to geometry. Both computational and theoretical topics will be addressed.
Students can NOT satisfy the presentation requirement in this course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 305.; Instructor: Diesl; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH322 Title: Advanced Linear Algebra
Linear algebra at this more advanced level is a basic tool in many areas of mathematics and other fields. The
course begins by revisiting some linear algebra concepts from MATH 206 in a more sophisticated way, making
use of the mathematical maturity picked up in MATH 305. Such topics include vector spaces, linear
independence, bases, and dimensions, linear transformations, and inner product spaces. Then we will turn to
new notions, including dual spaces, reflexivity, annihilators, direct sums and quotients, tensor products,
multilinear forms, and modules. One of the main goals of the course is the derivation of canonical forms,
including triangular form and Jordan canonical forms. These are methods of analyzing matrices that are more
general and powerful than diagonalization (studied in MATH 206). We will also discuss the spectral theorem,
the best example of successful diagonalization, and its applications.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 305.; Instructor: S. Chang; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH325 Title: Graph Theory
Graph Theory has origins both in recreational mathematics problems (i.e., puzzles and games) and as a tool to
solve practical problems in many areas of society. Topics covered will include trees and distance, connectivity
and paths, network flow, graph coloring, directed graphs, and tournaments. In addition, students will gain a
sense of what it means to do research in graph theory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 225 and either MATH 305 or MATH 302; or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Trenk; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes:
Majors can fulfill the major presentation requirement in this course in 2023-24.;
Course ID: MATH326 Title: Advanced Combinatorics
This course covers questions of enumerations, existence, and construction in combinatorics, building on the
fundamental ideas introduced in MATH 225. Topics include: famous number families, combinatorial and
bijective proofs, counting under equivalence, combinatorics on graphs, combinatorial designs, error-correcting
codes, and partially ordered sets.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 225. Co-requisite - MATH 305.; Instructor: S. Chang;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Majors can fulfill the major presentation
requirement in this course in Spring 2024.;
Course ID: MATH340 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Explaining Mathematics
In this course, students will leverage their prior mathematical knowledge to communicate complex
mathematical ideas to audiences ranging from the general public to other mathematicians. Each week,
students will research a new topic and produce a piece of writing explaining this topic in a specific context.
Assignments may include research abstracts, book reviews, interviews with mathematicians, newspaper
articles, and technical documentation. Class time will be devoted to discussing the mathematical content
behind each assignment as well as workshopping students' writing. This course will give students the
opportunity to ground (and expand on) the mathematics they have learned and make connections across the
discipline. Moreover, this course's unique format will help students develop their research and independent
learning skills.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: MATH 302 and MATH 305, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Lange; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Other
Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MATH349 Title: Selected Topics
Topic for Fall 2023: Introduction to Applied Harmonic Analysis
This course aims to introduce students to harmonic analysis, in particular Fourier series and wavelets, which
are the foundations of modern mathematical techniques used in various areas ranging from signal processing
in engineering to medicine and finance. We will start from the philosophy of harmonic analysis: analyze a
function by decomposing it into a linear combination of elementary, oscillatory building blocks such as sines
and cosines. The first part of the course will be dedicated to Fourier analysis: Fourier series, the Discrete
Fourier Transform, the Fast Fourier Transform, and continuous Fourier integrals (including convolution,
Plancherel’s formula, sampling, and the uncertainty principle). Then, we will introduce other orthogonal sets of
functions, particularly wavelets and Haar bases, and the powerful concept of a multiresolution analysis. Next,
we will discuss the applications of these orthogonal sets in fields such as approximation theory, signal and
image analysis, and differential equations. Finally, time permitting, we will consider machine learning
applications in dimensionality reduction and manifold learning.
Two 75-min class sessions + 50 min class for the computational lab. We will use Matlab or Mathematica for
biweekly labs.
Topic for Spring 2024: Knot Theory
Topology deals with the properties of an object that no amount of bending, twisting, stretching, or shrinking
can change (unlike geometry, which deals with the rigid properties of objects, such as length and angles).
Take a piece of string, tie a knot in it, and glue the ends together. The result is a knot. Knot theory is a branch
of topology that deals with knots and links in three-dimensional space. Given a knot, how do you decide if it
can be untangled? Given two knots, how do you decide if one can be made to look like the other, using only
bending, twisting, stretching, or shrinking? The study of knots is over 100 years old, and some of the most
exciting results have occurred in the last ten years. Knot theory has evolved from an area in "pure"
mathematics to include applications in molecular biology, chemistry, fluid dynamics, and quantum mechanics.
This course is an introduction to the theory of knots. Among other topics, we will cover methods of knot
tabulation, surfaces applied to knots, polynomials associated to knots, and applications of knot theory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 302 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Yacoubou
Djima; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more
than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time. ;
Course ID: MATH350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MATH355 Title: Thesis Research
The first course in a two-semester investigation of a significant research project, culminating in the preparation
of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Mathematics department. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with thesis research (365) in the second semester. This
route does not lead to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the Department. GPA in Mathematics Courses
above 100-level must exceed 3.0.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: MATH365 Title: Thesis
The second course a two-semester investigation of a significant research project, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis and defense of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the Mathematics
department. This route does not lead to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 355 and permission of the Department.; Instructor: Staff;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MATH370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: MATH 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
STAT Courses
Course ID: MATH220/STAT220 Title: Probability
Probability is the mathematics of uncertainty. We begin by developing the basic tools of probability theory,
including counting techniques, conditional probability, and Bayes's Theorem. We then survey several of the
most common discrete and continuous probability distributions (binomial, Poisson, uniform, normal, and
exponential, among others) and discuss mathematical modeling using these distributions. Often we cannot
calculate probabilities exactly, and we need to approximate them. A powerful tool here is the Central Limit
Theorem, which provides the link between probability and statistics. Another strategy when exact results are
unavailable is simulation. We examine Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, which offer a means of simulating
from complicated distributions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 205; Instructor: Tannenhauser; Distribution Requirements:
MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: QR150/STAT150 Title: Introduction to Data Literacy: Everyday Applications
This course is intended to provide students with the skills necessary to digest, critique, and express every-day
statistics and to use statistical thinking to answer questions in their own lives. Students will be exposed to and
produce descriptive statistics, including measures of central tendency & spread, as well as common visual
representations of data. The bulk of the class will be devoted to giving students the tools needed to analyze
and critique statistical claims, including an understanding of the dangers of confounding variables and bias,
the advantages and limitations of various study designs and statistical inference, and how to carefully read and
parse claims which attempt to use numbers to sway their audience. The class will examine this material in
authentic contexts such as political polling, medical decision making, online dating, and personal finance. This
course is primarily aimed at students whose majors do not require mathematics or statistics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have completed another
introductory statistics course at Wellesley, including STAT 160, STAT 218, BISC 198, ECON 103/SOC 190,
POL 299, PSYC 105 or PSYC 205. Not open to students who have received AP credit in Statistics.; Instructor:
Bu, Schultz; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Note that this course
cannot be used as a prerequisite for upper-level courses in statistics or econometrics including STAT 260 and
ECON 203.;
Course ID: QR260/STAT260 Title: Applied Data Analysis and Statistical Inference
This is an intermediate statistics course focused on fundamentals of statistical inference and applied data
analysis tools. Emphasis on thinking statistically, evaluating assumptions, and developing practical skills for
real-life applications to fields such as medicine, politics, education, and beyond. Topics include t-tests and
non-parametric alternatives, multiple comparisons, analysis of variance, linear regression, model refinement
and missing data. Students can expect to gain a working knowledge of the statistical software R, which will be
used for data analysis and for simulations designed to strengthen conceptual understanding. This course can
be counted as a 200-level course toward the major or minor in Mathematics, Statistics, Economics,
Environmental Studies, Psychology or Neuroscience. Students who earned a Quantitative Analysis Institute
Certificate are not eligible for this course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Any introductory statistics course (BISC 198, ECON 103/SOC 190,
STAT 160, STAT 218, POL 299, PSYC 105 or PSYC 205).; Instructor: Pattanayak; Distribution Requirements:
MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: QR309/STAT309 Title: Causal Inference
This course focuses on statistical methods for causal inference, with an emphasis on how to frame a causal
(rather than associative) research question and design a study to address that question. What implicit
assumptions underlie claims of discrimination? Why do we believe that smoking causes lung cancer? We will
cover both randomized experiments – the history of randomization, principles for experimental design, and the
non-parametric foundations of randomization-based inference – and methods for drawing causal conclusions
from non-randomized studies, such as propensity score matching. Students will develop the expertise
necessary to assess the credibility of causal claims and master the conceptual and computational tools
needed to design and analyze studies that lead to causal inferences. Examples will come from economics,
psychology, sociology, political science, medicine, and beyond. Previous exposure to the statistical software R
is expected; students who have not previously coded in R may enroll but should expect to put in additional
effort to learn this skill.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any one of QR 260/STAT 260, STAT 318, ECON 203, SOC 290,
PSYC 305 or a Psychology 300-level R course; or a Quantitative Analysis Institute Certificate; or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Pattanayak; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: STAT160 Title: Fundamentals of Statistics
An introduction to the fundamental ideas and methods of statistics for analyzing data. Topics include
descriptive statistics, inference, and hypothesis testing. This course introduces statistical concepts from the
perspective of statisticians and mathematicians, with concepts illustrated by simulation. Students will engage
with statistics using the data analysis software R. Designed for students who plan to continue to study statistics
and/or apply statistical methods to future work in the sciences or other fields. The course is accessible to those
who have not yet had calculus.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH
205, STAT 218, STAT 220, ECON 103/SOC 190, PSYC 105, PSYC 205, BISC 198, POL 299, QR 260/STAT 260,
STAT 318,; Instructor: A. Joseph (Fall); C. Cochran (Spring); Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical
Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: STAT218 Title: Introductory Statistics and Data Analysis
This is a calculus-based introductory statistics course. Topics covered include data collection, data
visualization, descriptive statistics, linear regression, sampling schemes, design of experiment, probability,
random variables (both discrete and continuous cases), Normal model, statistical tests and inference (e.g.
one-sample and two-sample z-tests and t-tests, chi-square test, etc). Statistical language R will be used
throughout the course to realize data visualization, linear regression, simulations, and statistical tests and
inference.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 205. Not open to students who have taken or are
taking STAT 160, ECON 103/SOC 190, POL 199, PSYC 105, PSYC 205, or QR 260/STAT 260.; Instructor: W.
Wang (Fall), A. Joseph, J. Lauer (Spring); Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and
Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: ;
Course ID: STAT219 Title: Spatial Statistics
Spatial data is becoming increasingly available in a wide range of disciplines, including social sciences such
as political science and criminology, as well as sciences such as geosciences and ecology. This course will
introduce methods for exploring and analyzing spatial data. We will cover methods to describe and analyze
three main types of spatial data: areal, point process, and point-referenced (geostatistical) data. We will also
introduce tools for working with spatial data in R.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Any introductory statistics course (BISC 198, ECON 103/SOC 190,
STAT 160, STAT 218, POL 299) or permission of instructor.; Instructor: Kelling; Distribution Requirements: MM
- Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: STAT221 Title: Statistical Inference
This course introduces the theory of statistical inference: given a data set, how do we estimate the parameters
of probabilistic models like those introduced in MATH 220/STAT 220? What is the optimal way to make use of
the information in our data? Topics include the theories that underlie traditional hypothesis testing and
confidence intervals, such as maximum likelihood inference and sufficiency. The course will also cover
Bayesian techniques for point and interval estimation and resampling approaches, such as the bootstrap.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: MATH 220/STAT 220.; Instructor: Tannenhauser; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: STAT228 Title: Multivariate Data Analysis
This is a course in multivariate data analysis. Students will be introduced to modern multivariate techniques,
their applications and interpretations, and will learn how to use these methods to understand relationships
between variables, extract patterns, or identify clusters or classifications in a rich data set involving multiple
variables. Topics covered during the semester include both dependence techniques (e.g. multiple linear
regression, binary logistic regression, multinomial logistic regression, principal component analysis, linear
discriminant analysis, decision trees, etc) and interdependence techniques (e.g. factor analysis, cluster
analysis, etc). A selection of topics in machine learning and data mining are also introduced during the
semester. Statistical language R is used in this class.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: MATH 205 and (STAT 218 or STAT 260 or STAT 318).; Instructor:
W. Wang; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: STAT250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: STAT318 Title: Regression Analysis and Statistical Models
This is an applied regression analysis course that involves hands-on data analysis. Topics covered during the
semester include simple and multiple linear regression models, model diagnostics and remedial measures,
matrix representation of linear regression models, model comparison and selection, generalized linear
regression models (e.g. binary logistic regression, multinomial logistic regression, ordinal logistic regression,
and Poisson regression), and basic time-series autoregressive AR(p) models. Statistical language R will be
used throughout the course to realize fitting linear (or generalized linear) regressions models, model
diagnostics, model comparison and selection, and simulations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: STAT 218 and MATH 205 and MATH 206. (STAT 218 can be
replaced by STAT 160, ECON 103/SOC 190, or QR 260/STAT 260.); Instructor: W. Wang (Fall); A. Joseph
(Spring); Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: STAT320 Title: Introduction to Bayesian Statistical Methods
This course is an introduction to Bayesian theory and applications. Bayesian methods provide a powerful
alternative to classical (frequentist) statistical methods. In this course we emphasize the development of
Bayesian inference and conduct hands-on data analysis within the Bayesian framework. We begin with a brief
overview of essential distinctions between classical and Bayesian methods and progress through the following
topics: conjugate families of distributions; posterior simulation and analysis when the posterior is intractable;
Bayesian regression and classification; and hierarchical models.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MATH 205, an introductory statistics course at Wellesley (STAT
160, STAT 218, ECON 103/SOC 190, PSYC 205, BISC 198, POL 299, or QR 150) or a statistical modeling
course (QR 260/STAT 260 or STAT 318 or the QAI Summer Course). MATH 220/STAT 220 (may be taken
concurrently).; Instructor: Joseph; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: STAT350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Media Arts and Sciences
An Interdepartmental Major
The Departments of Art and Computer Science offer an interdepartmental major in media arts and sciences
that explores the artistic, cultural, and scientific applications of new media technologies. The program focuses
on media production that balances artistic sensibility with analytical reasoning within the rich tradition of the
liberal arts environment. Areas of study include: digital imaging and design; Web-connected database
architectures; three-dimensional visualization and modeling; digital composition in audio/video; analog and
digital print and photographic processes; computer graphics and animation;
Media Arts and Sciences Major
Goals for the Media Arts and Sciences Major
The Media Arts and Sciences major provides a well-rounded understanding of art and computer science.
Graduates of the program are expected to be able to:
Describe and debate the broader impact of digital media on individuals, communities and society at
large.
Collaborate effectively with a multidisciplinary team to invent and to problem solve.
Identify the larger historical and contemporary tendencies shaping the development of digital media
applications
Demonstrate iterative design competency, and technical proficiency with haptic and digital tools.
Recognize indicators, context, and characteristics, for assessing the impact and reliability of digital
information
Conduct an evidence-based inquiry into the impact, context, and reliability of digital information.
Examine, analyze, interpret and critique digital media, applications, and art.
Produce digital project work that is conceptually, aesthetically, and technically competent.
Requirements for the Media Arts and Sciences Major
A major in Media Arts and Sciences requires 12 units of course work, at least eight of which must be above the
100 level and at least two of which must be at the 300 level. No more than one unit of MAS 350 or MAS 360
work can be counted towards completion of the major. All MAS majors are required to take: three introductory
courses, six core courses (at least three core studio courses and three core computer science courses) and
three additional units of approved work for the major. The 12 units should include at least one capstone course
(for students entering the college in Fall '23 and beyond.) All MAS majors are required to develop and present
an online portfolio by the final semester of their senior year.
Overview of the MAS major
3 units: Intro
3 units: ARTS/MUS
3 units: CS
3 units: a selection of three additional courses that are approved for credit towards the MAS major
Flexibility has been built into the major to allow students to weight their overall plan of study towards a
concentration in either Media Arts or Media Sciences if they wish. Majors are encouraged to integrate at least
one approved Media Culture course as well as an Advanced Projects (*) course into their overall plan of study.
Students may count towards the major some offerings available through the MIT Media Lab, the MIT
Comparative Media Studies program, or the Olin College of Engineering. An FAQ section can be found at the
program’s website: www.wellesley.edu/MAS/ along with a Google Form to help students plan their major in
active consultation with their major advisor and program director.
Honors in the Major
Senior MAS majors intending to pursue Departmental Honors should follow the College's Honors Thesis
requirements and this timeline:
Spring of 3rd year: begin a conversation with a Wellesley faculty member who has expertise in your
proposed research area and who is available to advise senior thesis projects in MAS.
Summer between 3rd and 4th year: Consult with your advisor as you develop your thesis proposal and
identify a potential committee of MAS affiliated faculty who will assess your progress over the senior
year.
If the proposal is approved mid August, you will be allowed to enroll in MAS 360 as the fall semester
begins. Students developing an MAS major with a Media Arts concentration should plan to enroll in
ARTS 317H /ARTS 318H sequence as well
Fall of 4th year: Prepare for and satisfactorily pass a mid-semester review organized by your thesis
advisor.
End of Fall of 4th year: Mid-year review of ARTS 360 work. Your Thesis Advisor must confirm that you
are making satisfactory progress before you can enroll as a MAS 370 student to complete the project.
Spring of 4th year: Work with your Thesis Advisor and committee to schedule an orals exam at the end
of the Spring term (students pursuing Media Arts concentration are encouraged to prepare for the May
Senior Art exhibition through their enrollment in ARTS 317H and ARTS 318H)
Advanced Placement Policy in Media Arts and Sciences
Students may receive a maximum of one unit of college credit for a score of 5 on the Computer Science A or
AB AP exam. This unit can count toward the Media Arts and Sciences major.
Media Arts and Sciences Approved Introductory Courses
Three introductory courses are required for all MAS majors: at least one must involve visual analysis (in Art
History or CAMS), one must be a Studio foundation class, and one must be an introductory Computer Science
course. The options are:
ARTH 100 or WRiT 107
The Power of Images: An Introduction to Art and its
Histories
1.0
ARTS 105
Drawing I
1.0
ARTS 108
Photo I: Introduction to Photography
1.0
ARTS 109
Two-Dimensional Design
1.0
ARTS 110
4D Design Intro to New Media
1.0
ARTS 113
Three-Dimensional Design
1.0
ARTS 165
Introduction to the Moving Image
1.0
CAMS 100
Introduction to Media and Screen Culture
1.0
CAMS 101
Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies
1.0
CS 115 / MAS 115
Computing for the Socio-Techno Web
1.0
Core Courses Approved for the Media Arts and Sciences Major
All students majoring in Media Arts and Sciences must complete at least three core studio courses and at least
three core computer science courses. Those wishing to declare a concentration in Media Arts may elect two
more studio courses, wihile those leaning towards with a Media Sciences concentration may elect two more
computer science core courses. The approved core courses are:
ARTS 205 / MAS 205
Mediated Drawing
1.0
ARTS 207
Sculpture I
1.0
ARTS 208 / CAMS 238
Intermediate Photography: The Digital/Analog Rift
1.0
ARTS 216
Spatial Investigations
1.0
ARTS 219
Print Methods: Lithography/Screenprint
1.0
ARTS 220
Print Methods: Intaglio/Relief
1.0
ARTS 221 / CAMS 239
Digital Imaging
1.0
ARTS 223
Alternative Print Methods: Hand and Machine
1:0
ARTS 255 / CAMS 255
Dynamic Interface Design
1.0
ARTS 260 / CAMS 230
Moving Image Studio
1.0
ARTS 265 / CAMS 235
Intermediate Film/Video Production
1.0
ARTS 307
Advanced Sculpture
1.0
ARTS 308 / CAMS 338
Photography III
1.0
ARTS 313 / CAMS 313
Virtual Form
1.0
ARTS 317H and ARTS
318H
Advanced Independent Senior Projects (two 0.5 credit
courses typically taught Fall/Spring; 1.0 credits all
together)
1.0
ARTS 321 / CAMS 321
Advanced New Media*
1.0
ARTS 323
Advanced Graphic Projects*
1.0
ARTS 322
Advanced Print Concepts*
1.0
ARTS 336 / MUS 336
From Mark to Sound, From Sound to Mark: Music,
Drawing, and Architecture*
1.0
ARTS 365 / CAMS 335
Advanced Projects in Lens-Based Media*
1.0
ARTS 366 / CAMS 366
Advanced Projects in Film and Architecture*
1.0
CS 111
Computer Programming and Problem Solving
1.0
CS 121
Intro to Game Design
1.0
CS 203
Computer Music
1.0
CS 204
Introduction to Front-End Web Development
1.0
CS 220
Human-Computer Interaction
1.0
CS 221
Digital Worlds for Gaming
1.0
CS 230
Data Structures
1.0
CS 232
Artificial Intelligence
1.0
CS 304
Databases with Web Interfaces
1.0
CS 305
Machine Learning
1.0
CS 307
Computer Graphics
1.0
CS 315
Data and Text Mining for the Web
1.0
CS 317
Mobile App Development
1.0
CS 320
Tangible User Interfaces
1.0
CS 321
Mixed and Augmented Reality
1.0
CS 323
Social Computing
1.0
CS 365 / MAS 365
Advanced Projects in Playable Media*
1.0
CS 366 / MAS 366
Advanced Projects in Interactive Media*
1.0
MUS 275
Computer Music: Synthesis Techniques and
Compositional Practice
1.0
MUS 277
Interactive Sound Art with Electronics
1.0
Capstone Courses
Beginning with students who enter Wellesley College in Fall 2023, at least one of the Capstone Courses is required. These courses
are typically taken in senior year, but may be taken in a student's 3rd year, especially if they are planning to do a 360/370 thesis in
their senior year.
ARTS 321 / CAMS 321
Advanced New Media
1.0
ARTS 322
Advanced Print Concepts
1.0
ARTS 365 / CAMS 335
Advanced Projects in Lens-Based Media
1.0
ARTS 366 / CAMS 366
Advanced Projects in Film and Architecture
1.0
CS 365 / MAS 365
Advanced Projects in Playable Media
1.0
CS 366 / MAS 366
Advanced Projects in Interactive Media
1.0
Recommended Media Culture Courses for the Media Arts and Sciences Major
Students majoring in Media Arts and Sciences are strongly to encourage to enroll in least one media culture
course beyond the introductory level. Some options are:
ARTH 225
Modern Art Since 1945
1.0
ARTH 226 / CAMS 207
History of Photography: From Invention to Media Age
1.0
ARTS 391
Persuasive Images
1.0
CAMS 218
Theories of Media from Photography to the Internet
1.0
CAMS 222
"Being There": Documentary Film and Media
1.0
CAMS 314
Seminar Virtual Realities Realism and Reality in the
Digital Age
1.0
CS 334 / PHIL 322
Seminar: Methods for Ethics of Technology
1.0
PHIL 222
Ethics of Technology
1.0
PSYC 218
Sensation and Perception
1.0
Advanced Production Work *
At least one unit of Advanced Production is recommended for all MAS Majors. In most cases these projects are
developed in the designated Advanced Courses* listed above, but MAS majors may also propose
independent or group projects:
MAS 250
Research or Individual Study
1.0
MAS 250H
Research or Individual Study
0.5
MAS 350
Research or Individual Study
1.0
MAS 350H
Research or Individual Study
0.5
MAS 360
Senior Thesis Research
1.0
MAS 370
Senior Thesis
1.0
Honors may be supervised by members of the departments associated with the major in accordance with the
requirements of the host department. Supervisors from other departments can be arranged by permission of
the directors.
Related Courses for MAS Credit
The courses listed below are representative of other Wellesley and MIT courses that examine topics relevant to
the Media Arts and Sciences major. Students may include these and other courses not listed below in their
plan of study with permission of the program directors.
ANTH 232 / CAMS 232
Anthropology of Media
1.0
ANTH 246 / MAS 246
Digital Anthropology
1.0
ARTH 222 / MAS 222
Network Analysis for Art History
1.0
ARTH 373 / CLCV 373
Antiquities Today: The Politics of Replication
1.0
CAMS 208 / ENG 208
Writing for Television
1.0
CAMS 234 / ENG 204
The Art of Screenwriting
1.0
CS 231
Fundamental Algorithms
1.0
CS 234
Data, Analytics, and Visualization
1.0
CS 242
Computer Networks
1.0
CS 332
Visual Processing by Computer and Biological Vision
Systems
1.0
MUS 213
Video Games: Composition and Criticism
1.0
MUS 276
American Popular Music
1.0
MUS 300
History, Theory, Analysis and Ethnomusicology: Music
and Sound in Video Games
1.0
PHIL 203
Philosophy of Art
1.0
THST 200
That's What She Said: Trailblazing Women of American
Comedy
1.0
THST 207
Stagecraft
1.0
THST 209
Scenic Design as Collaborative Art
1.0
MIT Courses
The MIT Media Lab and the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program offer a large variety of courses that may
be appropriate for a Media Arts and Sciences major. These offerings vary per semester; please consult the MIT
catalog at student.mit.edu/catalog/mMASa.html and student.mit.edu/catalog/mCMSa.html.
Olin Courses
The Olin College of Engineering offers the following courses that may be appropriate for a Media Arts and
Sciences major:
ENGR 2250 User-Oriented Collaborative Design
Online Portfolio
In consultation with faculty, MAS majors are required to develop and present an online portfolio in the final
semester of their senior year. This website is designed to show the student's best work while at Wellesley while
providing a platform for future media based projects. Portfolios should include an "about" section and/or artist
statement (if applicable) and a CV or other professional information.
MAS Courses
Course ID: ANTH246/MAS246 Title: Digital Anthropology: Cultural Heritage and the Future of Digital
Humanities
How can the complexities of Cultural Heritage be captured in digital form? Can advanced media visualizations,
such as Augmented and Virtual Reality, give new insights on diverse global cultures? Can public dissemination
of research using gamification positively impact our lives in the present? What ethical responsibilities do
scholars have when digitizing material from ancient and contemporary communities? How can we ensure that
our digital cultural achievements last as long as pyramids built in stone? This course will pair readings on the
theory, practice, and ethics of visual and public digital humanities cultural heritage projects. Online archival
resources for cultural heritage are at the forefront of developing public digital humanities. The digital archive
resources used in class will be used to critique current trends in digital data capture and open access
resources. The final project will be the creation of a new digital cultural heritage resource, presenting content
created by students through a digital platform: an interactive archive, augmented or virtual reality, locationbased games, or a combination thereof. Students will be offered a choice of visual and textual cultural heritage
archive data from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, UC Berkeley Hearst Museum of Anthropology, and the
National Museum of Sudan, or can identify their own open-access cultural heritage archival source of interest.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Norton; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARTH222/MAS222 Title: Network Analysis for Art History
In the past decade, historians of art have increasingly turned to network analysis as a tool to investigate the
production and reception of visual and material culture. Combining analytical readings with hands-on tutorials,
this course introduces students to the conceptual and technical frameworks of network analysis as they apply
to artifacts, works of art, and popular visual culture, as well as the people who made and experienced these
images, objects, and monuments. Students will learn to model and analyze networks through the lens of art
historical and material culture case studies. Topics may include social networks, geospatial networks, similarity
networks, and dynamic networks. Case studies will range from arts of the Ancient Americas to manuscript
workshops in Mughal India and Medieval France.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. ARTH 100 recommended.; Instructor: Brey; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ARTS205/MAS205 Title: The Graphic Impulse: Mediated Drawing
An intermediate studio course addressing a range of contemporary drawing methods, with considerable
attention put towards color, graphic sequencing and pictorial space. Project work integrates print and digital
design tools with sustained freehand drawing in wet and dry media. Weekly drawing assignments, readings,
and studio discussions consider the graphic conventions of reproducible media, such as the hatched mark,
halftone screen, and color separation layer. Building on fundamental concepts introduced at the 100 level, this
course helps students strengthen and expand their personal drawing practice and connect it to a wider range
of creative disciplines and topics. Following a series of coordinated drawing projects, each student assembles
a final portfolio and presents an independent final project.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one 100-level ARTS course taken at Wellesley.; Instructor:
McGibbon; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is repeatable one time for
additional credit.;
Course ID: CS110/MAS110 Title: Sociotechnical Dimensions of Computing in the Age of AI
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way we work, interact, and make
decisions. AI is integrated into applications and devices that are woven into our daily lives. How does AI work?
What impact will AI have on individuals, communities, and our global society?
This course aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to become informed digital citizens in the
age of AI, ready to navigate the digital landscape. Students will gain fundamental technical understanding of
how computers, the Web, and AI work, and will study three programming languages: HTML5, CSS, and
JavaScript. Students will also examine and discuss societal and ethical issues related to the Web and AI
technologies, and consider responsible and future use of these technologies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 40; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. No prior background with computers is expected.;
Instructor: Shaer; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: CS110L/MAS110L Title: Laboratory: Sociotechnical Dimensions of Computing in the Age of AI
CS 110L/MAS 110L is a required co-requisite lab for CS 110/MAS 110.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. No prior background with computers is expected.;
Instructor: Melnick; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS121/MAS121 Title: Intro to Game Design
Video games are a popular form of interactive media that engage players in dynamic experiences through
unprecedented combinations of storytelling, visualization, interactivity, and multi-sensory immersion. This
course will introduce students to video game production and concepts. We will develop a framework for
critically analyzing this medium, learn to identify effective strategies for creating games and describe what
elements of design impact the final experience of a game. We’ll also identify the function of user agency in this
medium to better understand how players are affected by representation in video games. Throughout the
course, students will be asked to apply these concepts while building their own games and become familiar
with the fundamentals of video game design.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. Juniors and Seniors
by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Tynes; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling
and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring;
Course ID: CS221/MAS221 Title: Digital Worlds for Gaming
Digital games visualize compelling worlds that can resemble real-life environments and imagine other-worldly
spaces. These virtual realms frame our experience of games and their design dramatically impacts our
interpretation of their narratives and mechanics. Designers code environments to shape player agency and
weave complex relationships between game characters. This course will teach students to create digital worlds
and critically assess them as politically rich spaces that convey meaning. Students will build both 2D and 3D
digital environments, coding elements such as interactivity and non-player entities, crafting game experiences
that tell meaningful stories. CS221 continues to explore the Unity Game Engine and topics introduced by
CS121, but enrollment is suitable for any student with 100-level coding experience and an interest in game
design.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Any 100-level CS course.; Instructor: Tynes; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS365/MAS365 Title: Advanced Projects in Playable Media
Students with a deep personal interest in digital game design and other forms of playable media will work in
collaborative units to explore all aspects of the game development process while contributing to a semesterlength project of their own devising. This course will require students to explore an ethical approach to game
development that will introduce new practices for ideation, pitching, designing, playtesting, and versioning
through an iterative process that will result in a finished game. This course is specifically designed for students
who have moderate experience with game development through either curricular activities or by working on
projects of their own. Students will be expected to have moderate levels of experience with the Unity Game
Engine.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One of the following - CS 321, CS 221/MAS 221, CS 220, CS 320,
or (CS 121/MAS 121 and CS 230), or permission of the instructor (portfolio must be able to demonstrate some
previous experience with game development).; Instructor: Tynes; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course may be used to fulfill the capstone requirement for the MAS major.;
Course ID: CS366/MAS366 Title: Advanced Projects in Interactive Media
Students with deep interest in interactive media will drive cutting-edge research that shapes and examines
novel user experiences with technology. Students will work in small groups to identify a direction of research,
explore and iterate over designs, prototype at varying fidelities, build working systems, consider ethical
implications, conduct evaluative studies, and report findings. This course is designed for students who have
experience in designing and implementing interactive media through either curricular activities or by working
on projects. Students will be expected to have moderate levels of experience with front-end web development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One of the following - CS204, CS220, CS320 or CS323.; Instructor:
Shaer; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course may be used to fulfill the capstone
requirement for the MAS major.;
Course ID: MAS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MAS250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MAS260 Title: Invento-logical: A Creative Problem-Solving Seminar
How can we use “Art” to make lemonade life’s proverbial lemons into lemonade? Where do imagination, social
justice, and personal expression intersect? What can we invent to transform our lives and those around us?
And how can we bring those inventions to fruition when the physics and facts of life test our tenacity at every
turn? Using skills from multiple-disciplines we will study/read/view trajectories of invention, test and practice
cognitive strategies for overcoming own innate neuro-biological hurdles, and strive to create solutions using
our collective powers. Drawing, painting, and writing exercises will strengthen observational muscles, both
internal and external; divergent thinking exercises will help with ideation. Each student will produce a tangible
or conceptual invention that addresses one of their deepest concerns, be it personal, political, or hybrid. The
invention may be delivered as a proposal/blueprint for production; it may be the object itself. The group will
collectively decide on parameters for deliverables.
Requirements: Sense of humor, compassion, and an open mind.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Lapp; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Summer;
Course ID: MAS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MAS350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MAS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: MAS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 35; Prerequisites: MAS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Medieval/Renaissance Studies
An Interdepartmental Major
The major in Medieval/Renaissance Studies enables students to explore the richness and variety of European
and Mediterranean civilization from later Greco-Roman times through the Renaissance and Reformation, as
reflected in art, history, literature, music, and religion. It has a strong interdisciplinary emphasis; we encourage
students to make connections between the approaches and subject matters in the different fields that make up
the major. At the same time, the requirements for the major encourage special competence in at least one
field.
Medieval/Renaissance Studies Major
Goals for the Medieval/Renaissance Studies Major
The Medieval/Renaissance major seeks to develop the following areas of knowledge and skills:
Engage with the Middle Ages and the Renaissance through a multidisciplinary approach, integrating
coursework from a variety of subject areas, such as History, Art History, Religion, English, Philosophy,
and World Languages and Literatures, Music and Book Studies into a deep and unified understanding
of the era.
Show familiarity with foundational works and events of this period.
Analyze and critique primary and secondary source material across humanistic disciplines.
Produce sophisticated analytical arguments based on humanistic approaches.
Conduct original research in medieval and Renaissance Studies.
Recognize and explain both the unity and diversity of European and Mediterranean cultures in the
Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Identify major shifts within the fields of history, religion, philosophy, art, music and/or literature.
Achieve in-depth understanding and special competence in at least one area of disciplinary or thematic
specialization in the medieval and/or Renaissance periods.
Students must take at least nine units of course work from the following list. Of these, at least four must be
above the 100 level in an area of concentration, a single department, a geographical location, a topic or theme.
A major in Medieval/Renaissance Studies will normally select her major advisor from the department or area in
which she is concentrating. Two units of course work must be at the 300 level, and under normal
circ*mstances, both of these courses must be taken at Wellesley College. Normally, credit/noncredit courses
do not count for the major.
Honors in Medieval/Renaissance Studies
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above
the 100-level; the department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See
Academic Distinctions.
Graduate Study and Careers in Medieval/Renaissance Studies
Majors who are contemplating postgraduate academic or professional careers in this or related fields should
consult faculty advisors to plan a sequence of courses that will provide them with a sound background in the
language and critical techniques essential to further work in their chosen fields. We make every effort to
accommodate individual interests and needs through independent study projects (350s and senior theses)
carried out under the supervision of one or more faculty members and designed to supplement, or substitute
for, advanced seminar-level work.
Advanced Placement Policy in Medieval/Renaissance Studies
The Medieval/Renaissance Studies program does not accept Advanced Placement credits to replace course
work in the major.
Transfer Credit in Medieval/Renaissance Studies
Under normal circ*mstances, no more than two courses taken outside of Wellesley College may be counted
toward the major, and neither of these can be the required 300-level course for the major.
International Study in Medieval/Renaissance Studies
There are numerous opportunities for international study for those who wish to broaden their experience and
supplement their research skills through direct contact with European and Mediterranean culture. Under
normal circ*mstance, up to two courses in accredited programs abroad may be counted toward the major. Up
to three courses in accredited programs abroad may be counted toward the major.
Collegium Musicum
By participating in the Collegium Musicum, students can learn to perform Medieval and Renaissance music;
see the departmental entry for Music.
Courses for Credit Toward the Medieval/Renaissance Studies Major
ARTH 110Y
Seminar: Michelangelo: Artist and Myth
1.0
ARTH 201
Medieval Art and Architecture, 400-1400
1.0
ARTH 222
Network Analysis for Art History
1.0
ARTH 227
Art in the Age of Crusades: Visual Cultures of the
Mediterranean 1000-1400
1.0
ARTH 229
Islamic Arts of the Book
1.0
ARTH 235 / HIST 235
Epidemics in Early Modern Europe: Art, History, Life, and
Death
1.0
ARTH 244
Art, Patronage, and Society in Sixteenth-Century Italy
1.0
ARTH 246
Collectors, Saints, and Cheese-Eaters in Baroque Italy
1.0
ARTH 247
Islamic Art and Architecture, 650-1500
1.0
ARTH 251
The Arts in Renaissance Italy Before and After the Black
Death
1.0
ARTH 252
Art and Love in Venice
1.0
ARTH 299
History of the Book from Manuscript to Print
1.0
ARTH 313
Seminar: Eurasia: Empires, Merchants, and Missionaries
(1600 - 1800)
1.0
ARTH 325
Seminar: Strong Women in Renaissance and Baroque
Italuy
1.0
ARTH 326
Art and Plague in Early Modern Europe
1.0
ARTH 328
Dining with Michelangelo
1.0
ARTH 331
Seminar: Italian Renaissance Art
1.0
ARTH 331
Seminar: Rembrandt
1.0
ARTH 347
Seminar: Beyond Iconoclasm: Seeing the Sacred in
Islamic Visual Cultures
1.0
CPLT 247 / ENG 247 /
MER 247
Arthurian Legends
1.0
CHIN 211
Dream of the Red Chamber in Chinese Literature and
Culture (in English)
1.0
CHIN 220
The Fall of the Ming in 1644, An Event in World Culture
(In English)
1.0
ENG 112
Introduction to Shakespeare
1.0
ENG 210
History of the English Language
1.0
ENG 211 / MER 211
Women in Medieval Literature, 500-1500 CE
1.0
ENG 212 / MER 212
Monsters, Villains, and Wives
1.0
ENG 213
Chaucer: Community, Dissent, and Difference in the Late
Middle Ages
1.0
ENG 214 / MER 214
Global Middle Ages: Stories, Ideas, Communities
1.0
ENG 221 / HIST 221
The Renaissance
1.0
ENG 222
Renaissance Literature
1.0
ENG 223
Shakespeare Part I: The Elizabethan Period
1.0
ENG 224
Shakespeare Part II: The Jacobean Period
1.0
ENG 227
Milton
1.0
ENG 311 / MER 311
Women in Medieval Literature, 500-1500 CE
1.0
ENG 315
Advanced Studies in Medieval Literature
1.0
ENG 316
Dead Poetry Society
1.0
ENG 317
The Black, the Lady and the Priest: Medieval Romance
and the Politics of Race
1.0
ENG 324
Advanced Studies in Shakespeare
1.0
ENG 325
Advanced Studies in 16th- and 17th-Century Literature
1.0
FREN 210
From the Middle Ages through the Enlightenment
1.0
FREN 217
Books of the Self
1.0
FREN 224
Versailles and the Age of Louis XIV
1.0
FREN 278
Court, City, Salon: Early Modern Paris—A Digital
Humanities Approach
1.0
FREN 303
Advanced Studies in Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Centuries
1.0
FREN 333
French Classical Tragedy: Corneille versus Racine:
Rethinking the Parallel
1.0
HIST 208
Society and Culture in Medieval Europe
1.0
HIST 211 / LAST 211
The Empire of the Indies: Spanish Rule in America and
the Philippines
1.0
HIST 213
Conquest and Crusade in the Medieval Mediterranean
1.0
HIST 214
Medieval Italy
1.0
HIST 222
The Barbarian Kingdoms of Early Medieval Europe
1.0
HIST 232
The Transformation of the Western World: Europe from
1350 to 1815
1.0
HIST 234
The Holy Roman Empire: Religion, Politics, and Culture
from Luther to Napoleon
1.0
HIST 246
Vikings, Icons, Mongols, and Tsars
1.0
HIST 279
Heresy and Popular Religion in the Middle Ages
1.0
HIST 330
Seminar: Revolution and Rebellion in Twelfth-Century
European Society
1.0
HIST 352
Seminar: Mental Health in European History
1.0
HIST 354
Seminar: King-Killers in Early Modern Britain and France
1.0
HIST 358
Seminar: Pepper, Silver, and Silk: The Political Culture of
Early Commodity Circulation
1.0
HIST 379
Heresy and Popular Religion in the Middle Ages
1.0
ITAS 263
Dante's Divine Comedy (in English)
1.0
ITAS 274
Women in Love: Portraits of Female Desire in Italian
Culture
1.0
MES 261 / REL 261
Cities in the Islamic World
1.0
MES 271 / REL 271
Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian
Literature and Film
1.0
MES 359 / REL 359
Religion, Power and Legitimacy in Muslim Societies
1.0
MES 363 / REL 363
Law and Community in Muslim Societies
1.0
MES 365 / REL 365
Cities in the Islamic World
1.0
MES 367 / REL 367
Muslim Travelers
1.0
MES 371 / REL 371
Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian
Literature and Film
1.0
MUS 200
Early Music
1.0
PHIL 200
Philosophy and Witchcraft
1.0
PHIL 221
History of Modern Philosophy
1.0
PHIL 300
Seminar: Philosopher Misfits, Philosopher Queens
1.0
PHIL 325
Seminar: The Free Will Problem
1.0
REL 216
Christian Thought anCities in the Islamic Worldd Practice
100-1600
1.0
REL 225
Women in Christianity
1.0
REL 226
The Virgin Mary
1.0
REL 262
The Formation of the Islamic Tradition
1.0
REL 270
Religions of the Silk Road
1.0
REL 364
Seminar: Sufism: Islamic Mysticism
1.0
SPAN 241
Spanish Around the World: The Marvelous in Latin
American Literature and Culture
1.0
SPAN 252
Christians, Jews, and Moslems: The Spirit of Spain in Its
Literature
1.0
SPAN 262
Passion and the Lyric: An Introduction to Spanish Poetry
1.0
SPAN 278
Writing Women, Early Modern Spain
1.0
SPAN 302
Cervantes
1.0
SPAN 307
Seminar: Clothing and Nakedness in Colonial Latin
America
1.0
SPAN 308
Masculinities in Medieval and Golden Age Spanish
Literature
1.0
SPAN 311
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
1.0
SPAN 318
Seminar: Love and Desire in Spain's Early Literature
1.0
SPAN 325
Seminar: Candid Cuisine: Food in Latin American
Literature and Culture
1.0
WRIT 141
Love Manuals: Medieval and Modern
1.0
WRIT 143
The Persistent Mystery of Beowulf
1.0
WRIT 147
Medieval to Modern: Queens, Knights, and Magical
Beasts in the Contemporary
World
1.0
WRIT 149
Sex in the Middle Ages
1.0
WRIT 153
Shakespeare in Performance Across the Globe
1.0
WRIT 167
Saints and Sinners in the Middle Ages
1.0
WRIT 172
The Medieval Body: An Examination
1.0
WRIT 187
From Miracles to Mesmerism: The Cultural History of the
Scientific Revolution
1.0
Medieval/Renaissance Studies Minor
Requirements for the Medieval/Renaissance Studies Minor
For a Medieval/Renaissance Studies minor, students must take at least five units of course work from the
preceding and following course listings. Of these, at least one must be at the 300 level and no more than one
may be at the 100 level.
MER Courses
Course ID: CPLT247/ENG247/MER247 Title: Arthurian Legends
The legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, with their themes of chivalry, magic, friendship,
war, adventure, corruption, and nostalgia, as well as romantic love and betrayal, make up one of the most
influential and enduring mythologies in our culture. This course will examine literary interpretations of the
Arthurian legend, in history, epic, romance, and fiction, from the sixth century through the sixteenth, following
the characters and motifs through their evolution. We will also consider some later examples of Arthuriana, in
novels, comics, TV and movies, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Wall-Randell; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG212/MER212 Title: Monsters, Villains, and Wives
This course will select its monsters, villains, and wives from early English, French, and Anglo-Norman
literature, ranging from the giant Grendel (and his mother) in Beowulf to the arch-villain Ganelon in The Song
of Roland, from the faithless queen Guinevere to the seductive wife of the enigmatic Green Man in Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight. We will finish by considering the survival of magical monsters in the modern-day fantasy
classic The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, and in The Mere Wife, by Maria Dahvana Headley. We will also trace
Tolkien’s career as a medievalist himself and especially as a Beowulf scholar.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken WRIT 143 in Fall
2022.; Instructor: Lynch; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS263/MER263 Title: Dante's Divine Comedy (in English)
This course is devoted to one of the most important masterpieces of world literature, the Divine Comedy by
Florentine poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). Designed as a journey across the Christian afterlife, the Comedy
has redefined the understanding of morality, political engagement, and the sacred across the centuries. We
will analyze and discuss the Comedy in its entirety focusing on Dante’s own dilemmas: What does it mean to
love a person, one’s community, or an idea? Is there a logic to the universe? How can we reconcile justice,
curiosity, and desire? And why should we care? Our interdisciplinary discussion will explore fields such as
literature, history, ethics, and theology. No previous knowledge of Italian literature or medieval studies is
required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MER248/SPAN248 Title: Cordoba: City and Myth
Few cities are as imbued with history, culture and myth as is Cordoba in the south of Spain. As of 2018 it can
boast even more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other city in the world. As “City of Three Cultures” it
witnessed the convergence over centuries of the three main monotheistic religions, a commingling that, while
unique in medieval civilization, was rarely completely harmonious and may have oftentimes been overly
idealized. Print materials (including philosophical and literary production), recent educational media (including
digital architectural reconstructions) and samples of dance and music will offer students the opportunity to see
how cultural cross pollination resulted in significant and lasting contributions to the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Instructor: Vega; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MER350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MER360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: MER370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MER 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Middle Eastern Studies
An Interdepartmental Major and Minor
The major in Middle Eastern Studies offers an interdisciplinary course of study of the languages, literatures,
histories, religions, arts, social and political institutions, and cultural patterns of the region known as the Middle
East. Study of Middle Eastern communities living in diaspora may also be counted toward the major.
The Middle Eastern Studies program offers both a major and a minor.
Middle Eastern Studies Major
Goals for the Middle Eastern Studies Major
Majors in Middle Eastern Studies will:
Demonstrate knowledge of the histories, ecologies, social, political and cultural systems, and religious
traditions and communities of the Middle East and North Africa
Apply the necessary linguistic skills and methodological tools to pursue advanced and more
specialized study
Develop an in-depth field of study in a particular area (examples include modern Arabic literature; art
and architecture of the Middle East; literature and film; Islamic studies; history of religion in the Middle
East; the Middle East in the twentieth century; North African studies; Iranian studies; women and
gender in the Middle East)
Acquire the skills required in each of the contributing departments (Anthropology, Art, History, Political
Science, Religion, Women's and Gender Studies), including:
Formulate and test ideas and hypotheses
Adduce and evaluate evidence of various kinds
Identify, summarize, and criticize arguments in primary and secondary textual and other
materials
Write with clarity and precision
Requirements for the Middle Eastern Studies Major
The major in Middle Eastern Studies requires nine units. Students must demonstrate proficiency in Arabic
(equivalent to at least two semesters at the second-year level). No credit toward the major is given for the first
year of language study. Exceptionally, another Middle Eastern language (for example, Persian, Turkish,
Hebrew) may be substituted for Arabic. The substitution of a language other than Arabic for the major requires
the approval of the advisory committee. A student who wishes to substitute a language other than Arabic
should consult their advisor and, with their advisor’s approval, submit a written request to the director. If the
request is approved, one year of Arabic study will still be required for the major in almost all cases. For
students who are exempt from the language requirement, nine units are still necessary for the completion of
the major. Students are required to concentrate in some area or aspect of Middle Eastern Studies (for
example, Arabic language and literature; religion; the pre-modern Middle East; the modern Middle East;
political science, women and gender) by taking four courses above the 100 level, including at least two at the
300 level, one of which must normally be a seminar. As long as they have secured the program’s approval,
students may apply two courses taken away from Wellesley to the major. In exceptional cases, students who
wish to count an additional course taken away from Wellesley to their majors may, after consultation with their
advisors, submit a request for approval to the director. For the minor, only one course taken away from
Wellesley may be counted.
Majors devise their own programs of study in consultation with an appropriate faculty member from the
student’s area of concentration.
In addition to Wellesley courses, students are encouraged to take relevant courses at Brandeis University, Olin
College, and MIT. These courses must be approved toward the major, in advance, by the corresponding
department at Wellesley.
Honors in Middle Eastern Studies
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above
the 100 level; the Advisory Committee may petition on behalf of the student if their GPA in the major is between
3.0 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions. A student who wishes to be admitted to the honors program should
discuss their plans with their advisor well before the application is due, and should normally have completed at
least two courses within the discipline or department of the advisor.
Courses for Credit Toward the Middle Eastern Studies Major and Minor
ARAB 310 / MES 310
Resistance & Dissent North Africa & Middle East
1.0
ARTH 203
Iraq's Antiquities, Then and Now
1.0
ARTH 241
Egyptian and Nubian Art and Archaeology
1.0
ARTH 247
Introduction to Islamic Art and Architecture
1.0
CLCV 240 / REL 240
Romans, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire
1.0
CPLT 275
Translation and the Multilingual World (if major work
done in Arabic)
1.0
CPLT 364 / HIST 364 /
MES 364
Seminar: Film and Narratives of Social Change in the
Modern Middle East and North Africa
1.0
HIST 266 / SAS 266
The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian
History
1.0
HIST 284
The Middle East in Modern History
1.0
HIST 293 / MES 293
Changing Gender Constructions in the Modern Middle
East
1.0
HIST 365 / MES 368
Seminar: From Casablanca to Cape Town: African
Popular and Public Cultures
1.0
HIST 366 / MES 366
Seminar: 'Greater Syria' under Ottoman and European
Colonial Rule, c. 1850-1950
1.0
HIST 367 / SAS 367
The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian
History
1.0
HIST 369 / MES 369
Seminar: Histories of "Ethnic" and "Religious" Violence
1.0
JWST 104 / REL 104
Study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
1.0
MES 260 / REL 260
Religion and Culture in Muslim Societies
1.0
MES 261 / REL 261
Cities in the Islamic World
1.0
MES 262 / REL 262
The Formation of the Islamic Tradition
1.0
MES 263 / REL 263
Islam in the Modern World
1.0
MES 267 / REL 267
Muslim Ethics
1.0
MES 270H
Morocco: Language and Culture (Wintersession in
Morocco)
0.5
MES 271 / REL 271
Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian
Literature and Film
1.0
MES 312
From the Blue Caftan to Harraga: North African Film &
Fiction As Inclusive Spaces of Representation
1.0
MES 347 / REL 347
Muslim Ethics
1.0
MES 358 / PEAC 358 /
POL2 359
Palestinian Israeli Peace Prospects
1.0
MES 359 / REL 359
Seminar: Power, Authority and Legitimacy in Muslim
Societies
1.0
MES 361 / REL 361
Seminar: Studying Islam and the Middle East
1.0
MES 363 / REL 363
Seminar: Law and Community in Muslim Societies
1.0
MES 365 / REL 365
Cities in the Islamic World
1.0
MES 367 / REL 367
Muslim Travelers
1.0
MES 371 / REL 371
Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian
Literature and Film
1.0
PEAC 217 / POL2 217
Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
1.0
PEAC 330 / REL 330*
Seminar: Religion and Violence
1.0
REL 105
Study of the New Testament
1.0
REL 242
Archaeology of the Biblical World
1.0
REL 243
Women in the Biblical World
1.0
REL 244
Jerusalem: The Holy City
1.0
REL 268
Religion and Culture in Egypt
1.0
REL 269
Religion and Culture in Iran
1.0
REL 270
Religions of the Silk Road
1.0
REL 342
Archaeology of the Biblical World
1.0
REL 345
Seminar: Enslavement and the Bible
1.0
REL 348
Religion and Culture in Egypt
1.0
REL 364
Seminar: Sufism: Islamic Mysticism
1.0
SPAN 252*
The Making of Spain
1.0
*PEAC/REL 330 and SPAN 252: require the permission of the director and the instructor if the course is to be
counted for Middle Eastern studies.
Middle Eastern Studies Minor
Requirements for the Middle Eastern Studies Minor
A minor in Middle Eastern Studies consists of five units, of which at least one should be at the 300 level
(excluding MES 350). Units must be taken in at least two departments; only one course at the 100 level can be
counted toward the minor. Second-year Arabic may be counted toward the minor. All courses for the minor
must be taken at Wellesley.
ARAB Courses
Course ID: ARAB101 Title: Elementary Arabic
An introduction to the Arabic language. The course takes a comprehensive approach to language learning and
emphasizes the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students are introduced to the principles
of grammar, taught how to read and write in the Arabic alphabet, and trained in the basics of everyday
conversation. Through the use of a variety of written, video, and audio materials, as well as other resources
made available through the Web, the course emphasizes authentic materials and stresses the active
participation of students in the learning process.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Zitnick; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARAB102 Title: Elementary Arabic
An introduction to the Arabic language. The course takes a comprehensive approach to language learning and
emphasizes the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students are introduced to the principles
of grammar, taught how to read and write in the Arabic alphabet, and trained in the basics of everyday
conversation. Through the use of a variety of written, video, and audio materials, as well as other resources
made available through the Web, the course emphasizes authentic materials and stresses the active
participation of students in the learning process.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARAB 101 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Zitnick;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARAB103 Title: Intensive Introductory Arabic
An introduction to the Arabic language in an intensive course. The course takes a comprehensive approach to
language learning and emphasizes the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students are
introduced to the principles of grammar, taught how to read and write in the Arabic alphabet, and trained in the
basics of everyday conversation. Through the use of a variety of written, video, and audio materials, as well as
other resources made available through the Web, the course emphasizes authentic materials and stresses the
active participation of students in the learning process. Students who complete this course will be ready and
eligible to enroll in ARAB 201.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Zitnick; Typical Periods Offered: Summer;
Course ID: ARAB201 Title: Intermediate Arabic
A continuation of ARAB 101-ARAB 102. The course takes students to a deeper and more complex level in the
study of the Arabic language. While continuing to emphasize the organizing principles of the language, the
course also introduces students to a variety of challenging texts, including extracts from newspaper articles, as
well as literary and religious materials. Students will be trained to work with longer texts and to gain the
necessary communicative skills to prepare them for advanced-level Arabic.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARAB 102, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Aadnani;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARAB202 Title: Intermediate Arabic
A continuation of ARAB 201. The course takes students to a deeper and more complex level in the study of the
Arabic language. While continuing to emphasize the organizing principles of the language, the course also
introduces students to a variety of challenging texts, including extracts from newspaper articles, as well as
literary and religious materials. Students will be trained to work with longer texts and to gain the necessary
communicative skills to prepare them for advanced-level Arabic.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARAB 201 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Aadnani;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARAB205 Title: Conversational Arabic
This course further develops students’ listening and speaking skills in Arabic, with special emphasis on
achieving familiarity with a variety of Arabic dialects from across the Arab World. The primary focus will be on
practicing conversation, as the curriculum will utilize a variety of materials, including videos, short stories, and
films for discussion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: ARAB 202 or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Zitnick;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ARAB250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARAB 201-ARAB 202 or equivalent and permission of the
instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ARAB250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ARAB 201-ARAB 202 or equivalent and permission of the
instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ARAB301 Title: Advanced Arabic I
Continuation of ARAB 201-ARAB 202. Involving further development of students' skills in listening, speaking,
reading, and writing, this course exposes students to a variety of authentic Arabic materials, including print and
online sources, incorporating MSA and diglossia. Focus on enhanced communication skills in Arabic and
attention to the use of language in its sociocultural context. Appropriate for students who have completed
ARAB 201-ARAB 202 at Wellesley or the equivalent in summer courses or international study programs.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARAB 201-ARAB 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Zitnick; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARAB302 Title: Advanced Arabic II
Further development of all linguistic skills with special attention to reading, writing, and discussion. The course
also introduces students to modern Arabic literature. Focus on enhanced communication skills in Arabic and
attention to the use of language in its sociocultural context. Appropriate for students who have completed
ARAB 202 at Wellesley or the equivalent in summer courses or international study programs.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARAB 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Zitnick;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARAB305 Title: Arabic Translation Workshop
Study of the techniques and problems involved in translating from Arabic into English. Although the focus will
be on text-to-text translation of short stories, poems and other types of literary texts, students will also
experiment with speech-to-speech translation, text-to-speech translation, and speech-to-text translation. The
aim of these varied activities is to help students acquire a deeper understanding of the Arabic language and to
further their proficiency in the four linguistic skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Students will also
discuss a range of methods and options for tackling and translating challenging linguistic formulations and
transferring meaning from the original context to the English-speaking context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ARAB 201 - ARAB 202 or permission of the instructor.; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARAB307 Title: Readings in Classical Arabic Literature
Close readings and study of selected prose and verse from the rich repertoire of Classical Arabic literature.
Readings will be selected in part in response to the interests of students enrolled in the course, but are likely to
include some of the following: readings from sacred texts and the traditional scholarly traditions, mystical and
philosophical writings, historiographical and geographical writings, collections of stories, travelers' accounts,
letters and diaries, and various kinds of poetry. All readings will be in Arabic, with discussion and written
assignments mostly in English.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: ARAB 201-ARAB 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Marlow; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ARAB310/MES310 Title: Resistance & Dissent North Africa & Middle East
An exploration of themes of resistance and dissent in the literatures and cultures of North Africa and the Middle
East since the early 1980s. Topics include the rise of democratic movements, such as political parties,
associations, and NGOs; the role and importance of Islam to the identity of contemporary nation-states in the
region; the status of women and minorities in the ideologies of the movements under study; and the status and
implications of dissent. Materials studied include works of fiction and nonfiction, films, speeches, song lyrics,
and online publications.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Aadnani; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARAB350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ARAB350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
MES Courses
Course ID: ARAB310/MES310 Title: Resistance & Dissent North Africa & Middle East
An exploration of themes of resistance and dissent in the literatures and cultures of North Africa and the Middle
East since the early 1980s. Topics include the rise of democratic movements, such as political parties,
associations, and NGOs; the role and importance of Islam to the identity of contemporary nation-states in the
region; the status of women and minorities in the ideologies of the movements under study; and the status and
implications of dissent. Materials studied include works of fiction and nonfiction, films, speeches, song lyrics,
and online publications.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Aadnani; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CPLT364/HIST364/MES364 Title: Seminar: Film and Narratives of Social Change in the Modern
Middle East and North Africa
Filmmakers in the modern Middle East and North Africa have been at the forefront of intellectual engagement
with their societies’ major challenges. By narrating the lives of individuals caught in historical circ*mstances
not of their choosing, they have addressed issues such as incomplete decolonization and economic
exploitation, cultural and political dogmatisms, the politicization and policing of religious, gender and sexual
identities, foreign intervention and occupation, and dictatorship, civil war, and displacement. We will engage
with the form, content, and historical contexts of a range of films and analyze how they leverage aesthetic,
affective, and effective image, speech, and sound to persuade their audiences.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructors. At least one course in Middle Eastern
Studies (apart from Arabic language) will be required and preference will be given to Seniors and Juniors.;
Instructor: Aadnani (Middle Eastern Studies), Kapteijns (History); Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical
Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST293/MES293 Title: Changing Gender Constructions in the Modern Middle East
Intertwined with the political history of the modern Middle East are the dramatic cultural and social changes
that have shaped how many Middle Easterners live their lives and imagine their futures. This course explores
the historical contexts of the changing constructions of femininity and masculinity in different Middle Eastern
settings from World War I to the present. Such contexts include nationalist and Islamist movements; economic,
ecological, and demographic change; changing conceptions of modernity and tradition, individual and family,
and public and private space; and state violence and civil war. Primary sources will focus on the selfrepresentations of Middle Eastern men and women as they engaged with what they considered the major
issues of their times.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HIST365/MES368 Title: Seminar: From Casablanca to Cape Town: African Popular and Public
Cultures
This research seminar purposefully brings Africa north and south of the Sahara into a unified frame of study. It
focuses on African cultural expressions such as music, song, literature, fashion, photography and film, digital
creations, museums, and architecture in the period 1900 to the present. The themes structuring the syllabus
are: colonialism, nationalism, and modernity; constructions of gender; identities, and the changing
environment. You will learn about important concepts and themes in African historiography and cultural
studies, and a wide range of relevant texts. Explorations of African subjectivities and narrative agency in all
their complexity are central to the intellectual trajectory of this class. Research papers will engage with a
particular kind of text or form of African culture across regions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Normally open to juniors and
seniors who have taken a 200-level unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.; Instructor:
Kapteijns and Aadnani (Middle Eastern Studies); Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST366/MES366 Title: Seminar: `Greater Syria’ under Ottoman and European Colonial Rule, c.
1850-1950
This is a research seminar about the history of “Greater Syria” (modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and
Israel/Palestinian Authority) from the perspective of its cities, especially Aleppo, Amman, Beirut, Damascus,
Haifa, and Jerusalem. Focus on the impact of the Ottoman Empire's mid-nineteenth-century Tanzimat (or
modernization) reforms; the Empire's demise after World War One, and European Mandate rule (French in
Lebanon and Syria, and British in Trans-Jordan and Palestine). Themes include: changes in governance and
the administration of Islamic law; localism, Arab nationalism, sectarianism, and changes in communal identities
and inter-communal relations; migration, urban and demographic growth, and the transformation of urban
space; Jewish nationalism and immigration, and the impact of World War Two.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: By permission of the instructor to students with some background
in History and the Middle East.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST369/MES369 Title: Seminar: Histories of "Ethnic" and "Religious" Violence
A crucial aspect of modern and contemporary international history is the large-scale violence against civilians
that has marked recent civil wars throughout the world, from former Yugoslavia to Rwanda, and from Ireland to
Sri Lanka and China. Though such violence is often labeled “ethnic” or “religious,” its causes are much
broader. This research seminar will focus on: the causes and consequences of both state-perpetrated and
communal violence; the scholarly (and legal) debates about how to approach political/social reconstruction in
the aftermath of such large-scale violence, and the ethics of the representation of violence by historians and
other authors/creators. Drawing on the conceptual readings and case studies of the syllabus, students will
design a research paper about a particular conflict chosen by them.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution
Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: For IR-History students, this course will fulfill the HIST 395 capstone
requirement.;
Course ID: MES250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MES250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MES260/REL260 Title: Religion and Culture in Muslim Societies
Historical survey of Muslim-majority societies and the diverse cultural forms produced within them from the
seventh century to the beginnings of the modern period. Topics include literary and artistic expression,
architecture, institutions, philosophical and political thought, religious thought and practice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Normally alternates with REL 262.;
Course ID: MES261/REL261 Title: Cities in the Islamic World
An exploration of urban forms and culture in Muslim societies from Islamic late antiquity to the present. The
course examines and critiques concepts of 'the Arab city' and ‘the Islamic city' while focusing on elements of
continuity and change in particular cities, such as Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, Istanbul, Isfahan, Samarqand,
Lucknow and Lahore. Topics include migration, settlement, and the construction of new cities; conversion; the
emergence of ‘holy cities' as centres for pilgrimage, religious education and Islamic legal scholarship; sacred
space and architecture; religious diversity in urban environments; the impact of colonialism; post-colonial
developments; modern and contemporary environmental issues; renewal and preservation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken MES 365/REL 365.;
Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as
MES 365/REL 365.;
Course ID: MES262/REL262 Title: The Formation of the Islamic Tradition
Historical study of the Islamic tradition, from its beginnings in Arabia through its shaping in the seventh to tenth
centuries in the diverse and newly integrated regions of Western and Central Asia and North Africa. Topics
include the sacred sources of the Islamic religious tradition, the Prophet and the Qur'an; the formulation of
religious law, ethics, theology, and philosophy; varied patterns of piety and mysticism; and the development of
Sunni and Shi'i understandings of Islam and Islamic history. Particular attention to the diversity within the
Islamic tradition, its intercultural contacts, and its continuing processes of reinterpretation. The course also
addresses approaches, methods, issues, and new directions in the study of Islam and Muslim societies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Normally alternates with REL 260.;
Course ID: MES263/REL263 Title: Islam in the Modern World
A study of the modern history of the Islamic religion and its interaction with historical forces in shaping
developments in Muslim-majority societies from the late eighteenth century to the present. The course
explores the emergence and evolution of religious movements and discourses in the context of the colonial
and postcolonial periods, with particular attention to the histories of modern nation-states, such as Morocco,
Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia. Readings encompass a variety of perspectives and address a
range of topics, including religious practice, modes of interpretation, matters of governance and the state,
economic issues, gender and gender relations, and the participation of women in various arenas of public life.
Islam is explored as a diverse and dynamic religious tradition that is responsive to change, and enquires into
the divergent understandings of religion represented in a variety of modern and contemporary contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES267/REL267 Title: Muslim Ethics
How have Muslims, over the course of a millennium and a half and in strikingly different environments and
circ*mstances, conceived of human nature, moral conduct and responsibility, and the good life; and how have
they formulated, debated and applied ethical principles? This course explores these questions with reference
to the rich materials that have informed the religious cultures of Muslim communities, including the sacred
sources of the Qur'an and the Prophet's example, the reception, interpretation and development of late antique
moral philosophies and wisdom literatures, the evolving corpora of legal and theological scholarship, and the
elaboration of rationally based ethical systems. Issues include charity, the environment, animal welfare,
economics, gender and sexuality, medicine and bio-ethics, conflict and dispute resolution.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken MES 347/REL 347.;
Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as MES 347/REL 347.;
Course ID: MES270H Title: Morocco: Language and Culture
This course is a fast paced experiential introduction to the rich cultural and literary history of Morocco. In
addition to language classes in Classical Arabic and Moroccan Arabic, students will get a basic introduction to
the Amazigh language and its alphabet in order to enable them to read street signs and decipher some of the
graffiti art. Students will also attend lectures given by at least a dozen scholars on topics such as: linguistic
diversity and national identity, postcolonial literature, gender and women issues, Moroccan Jewish heritage
and history, Amazigh activism, and the complexities of contemporary schools of thought within Islam. Students
will also have a chance to travel to southern and central Morocco in order to put the texts they are reading in
context and engage with local scholars in small discussion seminars.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Three semesters of Arabic or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Aadnani; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Winter;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Winter; Notes: Not offered every year. Subject to Provost's Office
approval.;
Course ID: MES271/REL271 Title: Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian Literature and Film
Love in its myriad manifestations constitutes a central and perennial theme in the literary and artistic
repertoires of Arabic- and Persian-speaking societies. This course explores the varied, subtle vocabulary and
the versatile, multivalent imagery linked with the themes of love and longing in Arabic- and Persian-language
literature and film. In different times and places, how have men and women writers and directors used the
themes of love and longing to depict and critique concepts of gender and gender relations, and social and
political inequalities? How have men and women writers and filmmakers in the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries both continued and disrupted earlier literary and poetic discourses of love? How have modern
filmmakers engaged with and reworked classical stories of transgressive love? Divided roughly equally
between literary and cinematic works, the course explores treatments of love and longing in, for example, early
Arabic poetry and the Quranic text, philosophical and medical treatises, narrative cycles (for example the
Thousand and One Nights), epic (notably the Persian Shahnameh or ‘Book of Kings’), lyric poetry (Rumi,
Saadi, Hafez), modern verse, and film, including films by Dariush Mehrjui, Youssef Chahine, Mohsen
Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, Rakhshan Bani-Etamad and Shirin Neshat.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken MES 371/REL 371.;
Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also
taught at the 300-level as MES 371/REL 371.;
Course ID: MES312 Title: From The Blue Caftan to Harraga: North African Film & Fiction As Inclusive Spaces
of Representation
This course examines how trailblazing, subversive and iconoclastic writers and directors in North Africa made
space in their oeuvre to shed light on the lived experiences of marginalized groups. Focusing on a selection of
texts, both literary and cinematic, covering the period from the late 1960s to the present from Algeria, Egypt,
Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia, we will explore how these writers and filmmakers engage with
marginalized communities in their societies. The course will focus on questions of decolonization, indigenous
rights, gender and sexuality, politics, and artistic expression.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one course in literature or film.; Instructor: Aadnani;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Summer;
Course ID: MES347/REL347 Title: Muslim Ethics
How have Muslims, over the course of a millennium and a half and in strikingly different environments and
circ*mstances, conceived of human nature, moral conduct and responsibility, and the good life; and how have
they formulated, debated and applied ethical principles? This course explores these questions with reference
to the rich materials that have informed the religious cultures of Muslim communities, including the sacred
sources of the Qur'an and the Prophet’s example, the reception, interpretation and development of late antique
moral philosophies and wisdom literatures, the evolving corpora of legal and theological scholarship, and the
elaboration of rationally based ethical systems. Issues are likely to include charity, the environment, animal
welfare, economics, gender and sexuality, medicine and bio-ethics, conflict and dispute resolution.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken at least one unit in
Middle Eastern Studies or Religion, and permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
MES 267/REL 267.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
This course is also offered at the 200-level as MES 267/REL 267.;
Course ID: MES350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MES350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MES358/PEAC358/POL2359 Title: Palestinian Israeli Peace Prospects
This course provides an in-depth exploration of the Palestinian Israeli conflict from a comparative and social
justice perspective. Our goal is to provide an analysis of events to engage in constructive academic debates.
The class begins by contextualizing the study of the Middle East within the broader scope of comparative
politics and Peace and Justice studies. Next, we focus on the origins of the conflict: the debate about 1948, the
consolidation of the Israeli state, and the development of Palestinian and Israeli political and military
organizations. The course then delves into different dimensions of the conflict: regional geopolitics,
international relations, environmental debates, gender activism, terrorism, and the “Wall.” The last portion of
the class considers peace negotiations, conflict mediation, compromise, and solutions: the refugee question,
Jerusalem, TRCs, and the role of the United States.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PEAC 104 or PEAC 217/POL2 217 or PEAC 204 or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Hajj; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES359/REL359 Title: Seminar: Power, Authority and Legitimacy in Muslim Societies
How have Muslims understood the relationship between religion and politics at different moments in Islamic
history? This seminar explores the interplay of religious principles and ritual practices with discourses of
political legitimation and socio-political dissent in Muslim contexts. With examples drawn from the earliest
period of Islamic history to the present day, the course examines religious authority and political leadership in
Sunni and Shi'i contexts; the evolving religious-political meanings of the caliphate and the imamate; concepts
of justice and injustice; power, authority and gender; dynastic rule and monarchy; and the position of Muslims
living in non-Muslim-majority states. Particular attention to twentieth- and twenty-first-century responses to and
appropriations of the pre-modern Islamic religious and political heritage.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one course in Religion, Middle Eastern Studies, History or
Political Science, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: MES361/REL361 Title: Seminar: Studying Islam and the Middle East
An exploration of the study and representation of Islam and West Asia/the Middle East in European and
American scholarship, literature, arts, and journalism, from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics, studied in
historical context, include medieval European images of Islam, translations of sacred texts and literary works,
religious polemic, colonial histories and correspondence, Orientalism and post-Orientalism, new and emerging
scholarship, the modern press and popular culture. Students will participate in focused discussion of primary
sources and works of criticism, including Edward Said's Orientalism, and will undertake individual and groupbased research projects.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to Seniors, Juniors and Sophom*ores who have taken at
least one unit of Middle Eastern studies, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES363/REL363 Title: Seminar: Law and Community in Muslim Societies
An exploration of law in theory and practice in Muslim communities from the early Islamic period to the present
day. How have Muslim societies developed legal principles, discourses and practices? How have different
kinds of law – the religious law or shari'a, legal rulings issued by the state, customary law – interacted at
different times and in different localities? What have been the roles of scholars, jurists and judges? How have
legal discourses and local practices interacted with issues of social and economic status, gender and
sexuality? Areas of concentration include law in the diverse societies of the early modern empires (Ottoman,
Safavid, Mughal), the legal interventions of colonial powers and their legacies, and contemporary legal
discourses among Muslims in Muslim-majority and non-Muslim majority settings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One unit at the 200 level in Religion, Middle Eastern Studies,
History, Political Science or a related field.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES365/REL365 Title: Cities in the Islamic World
An exploration of urban forms and culture in Muslim societies from Islamic late antiquity to the present. The
course examines and critiques concepts of 'the Arab city' and ‘the Islamic city' while focusing on elements of
continuity and change in particular cities, such as Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, Istanbul, Isfahan, Samarqand,
Lucknow and Lahore. Topics include migration, settlement, and the construction of new cities; conversion; the
emergence of ‘holy cities' as centres for pilgrimage, religious education and Islamic legal scholarship; sacred
space and architecture; religious diversity in urban environments; the impact of colonialism; post-colonial
developments; modern and contemporary environmental issues; renewal and preservation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One unit in Middle Eastern Studies or Religion, or permission of
the instructor. Not open to students who have taken MES 261/REL 261.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as MES 261/REL 261.;
Course ID: MES367/REL367 Title: Seminar: Muslim Travelers
An exploration of the experiences and writings of Muslim travelers from the Middle Ages to the present in West,
South, East, and Central Asia, North Africa, Europe, and America. Focus on the wide range of cultural
encounters facilitated by journeys for purposes of pilgrimage, study, diplomacy, exploration, migration, and
tourism, and on the varied descriptions of such encounters in forms of literary expression associated with
travel, including poetry, pilgrimage manuals, narrative accounts, letters, memoirs, and graffiti. Authors include
al-Biruni, Ibn Jubayr, Ibn Battuta, Evliya Çelebi, al-Tahtawi, Farahani, Abu Talib Khan, Asayesh.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors, students who have taken at least one
unit in Middle Eastern studies, and by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MES370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: MES 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: MES371/REL371 Title: Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian Literature and Film
Love in its myriad manifestations constitutes a central and perennial theme in the literary and artistic
repertoires of Arabic- and Persian-speaking societies. This course explores the varied, subtle vocabulary and
the versatile, multivalent imagery linked with the themes of love and longing in Arabic- and Persian-language
literature and film. In different times and places, how have men and women writers and directors used the
themes of love and longing to depict and critique concepts of gender and gender relations, and social and
political inequalities? How have men and women writers and filmmakers in the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries both continued and disrupted earlier literary and poetic discourses of love? How have modern
filmmakers engaged with and reworked classical stories of transgressive love? Divided roughly equally
between literary and cinematic works, the course explores treatments of love and longing in, for example, early
Arabic poetry and the Quranic text, philosophical and medical treatises, narrative cycles (for example the
Thousand and One Nights), epic (notably the Persian Shahnameh or ‘Book of Kings’), lyric poetry (Rumi,
Saadi, Hafez), modern verse, and film, including films by Dariush Mehrjui, Youssef Chahine, Mohsen
Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, Rakhshan Bani-Etamad and Shirin Neshat.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: At least one course in Religion or Middle Eastern Studies, or
permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken MES 271/REL 271.; Instructor: Marlow;
Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also taught at the 200-level as
MES 271/REL 271.;
Music
The Music Department offers both a highly regarded academic program and a wide range of outstanding
performance activities, providing an ideal environment for students who seek to combine serious musical
study with a traditional liberal arts curriculum. For students who wish to undertake focused exploration of
music history, theory, composition, ethnomusicology, digital media, experimental music and performance
practice, our academic curriculum includes programs for a music major or music minor. For those who wish to
expand their knowledge of music without making it a central focus of their college education, numerous course
offerings require no special background.
Music Major
Goals for the Music Major
The Music Department at Wellesley College offers students a program that integrates performance, research,
critical thinking, and the creative process. We strive to enhance students’ knowledge and understanding of
diverse musical cultures, and to guide them in applying that understanding to their engagement with music.
Recognizing how contemporary innovations in technology and digital media are affecting musical performance
and compositional practices in the 21st century, we also provide students with opportunities to study computer
music as well as interdisciplinary new media that draw on visual arts and film studies. Music majors study the
global and historical contexts, literatures, aesthetics, and critical and practical theories of music. They work
closely with the materials of music, becoming fluent in analyzing and interpreting both written and heard
music. We require majors to cultivate aural and keyboard fluency as well as perform in ensembles, and we
offer opportunities for independent projects in research, performance, composition, and/or improvisation.
Through this critical and applied approach, music majors learn new ways of reading, writing, performing, and
thinking about sound.
Learning Outcomes for the Music Major
1. Develop musical literacy and aural skills.
2. Cultivate a scholarly voice through writing and speaking about music and/or composing.
3. Identify and contextualize a variety of musical styles and traditions.
4. Build collaborative skills through participation in ensembles.
5. Discover one’s unique style within a performance medium.
6. Initiate ways to use music for social advocacy and community building.
Requirements for the Music Major
The major in Music is a program of at least 10 units.
Beginning with students who enter Wellesley College in Fall 2024, the department has the following
requirements:
Music Theory: 3 units
Music History, Cultures, Composition, Sound Media, and Musicianship: 4 units
Elective: 1 unit
Capstone Seminar (300 or 301): 1 unit
2 Years of Ensembles: 1 unit
Requirement for at least one: Thesis, Full Recital, Lecture-Recital, or other Formal Presentation or
Performance
For students who entered Wellesley College prior to Fall 2024, the department offers three areas of
concentration in fulfilling the Music major: Western Classical Music, Jazz and World Music, and Digital
Media/Experimental Music. In addition, a student may elect to fulfill a Self-Designed Major, which they will plan
in consultation with their major advisor.
The course requirements for each area of concentration are listed below.
MUS 100: Musical Literacies is an introductory gateway course that can be counted toward the Music major,
unless a student exempts MUS 100 on the Music Theory Placement Evaluation (discussed in more detail
below). If a student also exempts MUS 122, they will need to pursue other Music courses to add up to 10
units.
Students who declare a music major are required to participate in their choice of the department’s performing
music ensembles for at least two academic years. AP and International Baccalaureate credit does not count
towards the Music Major.
Music majors develop their musicianship through the acquisition of basic keyboard skills, ear training, private
instruction in practical music, and involvement in the various performance ensembles of the department.
The specific course requirements for each concentration in the Music Major are as follows:
Western Classical Music
MUS 122 - Harmonic Concepts in Tonal Music
MUS 252 - Voices: Counterpoint through the Ages and Around the World
MUS 200 - Music History Topics I
MUS 201 - Music History Topics II
MUS 202 - Music History Topics III
MUS 300 - Music Capstone Major Seminar and/or MUS 301 Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing
MUS 315 - Advanced Harmony
3 electives (one of which may be MUS 100, or a full year’s lesson credit from MUS 149, 199, 249, 299, or
MUS 344)
Two years of participation in department ensembles (MUS 260 or MUS 270)
Jazz and World Music
MUS 209 / MUS 309 - A History of Jazz
MUS 220 - Jazz and Popular Music Theory
MUS 245 / MUS 345 - Introduction to Ethnomusicology
2 among the following courses: MUS 200, MUS 201, MUS 202, MUS 210, MUS 215
MUS 276 - American Popular Music
MUS 398 - Performing Music (Jazz and World Improvisation)
2 electives which could include: MUS 100, MUS 122, ITAS/MUS 223, MUS 250/MUS 350, MUS 275,
AMST 217.
MUS 300 - Music Capstone Major Seminar and/or MUS 301 Calderwood Seminar in Public
Writing and/or MUS 314 Brazilian Music and the Politics of Culture
Two years of participation in Jazz and World Music Ensembles (MUS 260 or MUS 270)
Digital Media/Experimental Music
MUS 122 - Harmonic Concepts in Tonal Music
MUS 202 - Music History Topics III
MUS 275 - Introduction to Electronic and Computer Music: Histories and Practices
MUS 277 - Interactive Sound Art with Electronics
CS 111 - Computer Programming and Problem Solving
1 course in Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS) and 1 course in Media Arts and Sciences (MAS)
2 electives (one of which may be MUS 100)
MUS 300 - Music Capstone Major Seminar and/or MUS 301 Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing
Two years of participation in department ensembles (MUS 260 or MUS 270).
Self-Designed Major
A student may elect to create a self-designed major in consultation with their major advisor.
Honors in Music
The department offers a choice of three programs for honors: Program I, a research thesis; Program II, a
composition or sound art project; or Program III, a performance-based project. All of these programs exist
under the catalog numbers 360/370; honors students normally elect the two units in succession during the
senior year. Eligibility for these programs requires a GPA of 3.5 in the major. Under Program I, the honors
candidate carries out independent research leading to a written thesis and an oral examination. Under
Program II, honors in composition, the 360 and 370 units culminate in a composition of substance and an oral
examination on the honors work. Program III, honors in performance, culminates in a recital, a lecturedemonstration, and a shorter thesis on some aspect of performance. MUS 344 or MUS 398 must be taken in
the senior year as a component of the MUS 360/MUS 370 sequence, and not for separate course credit.
Music Minor
Requirements for the Music Minor
The music minor is a program of at least five units. One unit must come from music theory (MUS 100, MUS
122, MUS 220, or MUS 252), and another from Music History and Cultures (MUS 200, MUS 201, MUS 202,
MUS 209/MUS 309, MUS 230, MUS 235/MUS 335, MUS 275, MUS 276, MUS 277). One of the five units may
come from earning one credit through performing music lessons taken for Fall and Spring of one academic
year (MUS 149, MUS 199, MUS 249, MUS 299, MUS 344, MUS 398) or through completing two years in an
ensemble (MUS 260 or MUS 270). In order to shape a program to suit diverse musical interests, students
minoring in music should plan to select the remaining two or three courses in consultation with their chosen
advisor in the process of declaring a music minor. Not more than one academic course taken credit/noncredit
may be counted toward the minor.
Music minors are encouraged to develop musicianship through the acquisition of basic keyboard skills, and
through ear training, private instruction in practical music, and involvement in the various performing
organizations of the Department of Music.
Music Performance
Private Instruction in Music
The department offers private classical instruction in voice, keyboards (piano, fortepiano, harpsichord, organ,
carillon, accordion), strings (harp, violin, baroque violin, viola, cello, double bass, viola da gamba, classical
guitar, lute, guzheng), winds and brass (flute, baroque flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, recorder, saxophone,
trumpet, french horn, trombone, tuba), percussion and marimba. The department also offers private jazz
instruction in voice, piano, strings (fiddle, violin, viola, electric and upright bass, guitar), winds (saxophone,
trumpet, trombone and low brass), and percussion (drumset, vibraphone, congas/hand percussion).
All students who wish to receive private instruction are advised to take the Music Theory Placement Evaluation,
offered during Orientation Week. Information concerning auditions and course requirements for credit study is
given under the listings for 149, 199, 249, 299, 344 and 398. With the exception of MUS 344, auditions and the
Placement Evaluation are ordinarily given at the start of the Fall semester.
Lessons are arranged during Orientation and/or the first week of the Fall semester. Lessons are generally a
full-year commitment (two semesters), however students may begin private lessons at the start of the Spring
semester with approval from the department.
The department's MUS 149, 199, 249, 299, and 398 course offerings are made possible by the estate of Elsa
Graefe Whitney, Class of 1918.
Advanced Performance Seminar (MUS 344)
The Advanced Performance Seminar is directed each year by two members of the performance faculty. It
offers advanced students an opportunity to perform frequently in an informal setting before fellow students and
faculty, to discuss repertoire and interpretation, and to receive constructive comments. The work in this class
culminates with the student presenting a full recital at the end of the academic year.
Advanced Jazz Recital Workshop (MUS 398)
The Advanced Jazz Recital Workshop offers a few workshops each semester directed by members of the
performance faculty in conjunction with the MUS 398 lessons. It offers advanced students an opportunity to
perform and prepare for their full recital at the end of the academic year.
Musicianship Skills Instruction in Music
Group instruction in basic keyboard skills, including keyboard harmony, sight-reading, ear training, and score
reading, is provided free to all students enrolled in any music theory course (including MUS 100 with the
instructor’s permission and if space is available).
Private Music Instruction (For Credit): MUS 149, 199, 249, 299:
Credit for performing music at the 149, 199, 249, and 299 levels is granted only for study with the department's
performance faculty, not with outside instructors; the final decision for acceptance is based on the student's
audition. One unit of credit is granted for a full year (2 semesters) of study in either 149, 199, 249, or 299. One
academic music course must be taken each year as a corequisite in order to receive one credit in performing
music. If a student must take MUS 100 as a result of the Placement Evaluation, this course counts as the
corequisite for the first year of lessons. Please note: lessons are a full-year (two semesters) commitment.
Unless a student receives special permission, both semesters of performing music must be satisfactorily
completed before credit can be counted toward the degree. While the performance music courses (149, 199,
249, 299, 344, 398) may be repeated without limit, no more than four units of credit in these courses may be
counted toward the Wellesley degree. Students who wish to take two or more simultaneous courses in
performing music for credit must obtain special permission from the department.
Lesson Evaluations
There are two performance evaluations over the course of the academic year. These evaluations are required
for students taking lessons for credit. The evaluation forms will include a list of the criteria for judging the
student’s performance. Feedback from various members of the performance faculty will be provided to the
student.
Music Theory Placement Evaluation
The Music Theory Placement Evaluation (MTPE) is designed to assess students' current knowledge of music
theory in order to help determine which music courses would be best to start with. Students may be placed
into or exempted from MUS 100 based on the results of this informal online evaluation. Although the MTPE is
voluntary, all are encouraged to attempt it even if they have had little or no theory study. The evaluation
includes questions covering major and minor scales, intervals, chords, rhythms, dictation, simple harmonic
analysis and 4-part writing. Students may leave those portions of the evaluation blank containing questions
with which they are unfamiliar. Students do not need to complete the MTPE in order to enroll in music lessons
or courses. Students who answer the first page questionnaire without completing the MTPE will automatically
be recommended for MUS 100.
Group Instruction in Music (MUS 099G)
Weekly group lessons in voice, acoustic guitar, and violin are available. Groups meet once a week for 10
weeks each semester at a cost of $150.
Performing Ensembles in Music
The following ensembles, all directed by faculty members, are vital extensions of the academic program of the
Department of Music. Students may elect to participate for credit (MUS 260/270).
The Wellesley College Choir
The College Choir, consisting of approximately 70 singers, has a rich history of dedication to great choral
literature and inspiring performances. Endowed funds provide for annual collaborative concerts with men’s
choirs from such institutions as the University of Virginia, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers, Harvard, and
Cornell. The choir regularly commissions and premieres new compositions as well as performs a great variety
of repertoire for women’s chorus. In addition to staging local performances of works for choir and orchestra
and singing at annual college events throughout the year, the choir tours both nationally and internationally.
Auditions are held during Orientation.
The Wellesley College Chamber Singers
A select ensemble of about 20 vocalists, the Chamber Singers perform concerts on and off campus. The
Chamber Singers are often invited to perform with local instrumental ensembles, on professional concert
series, and as part of choral festivals. Specializing in music for women’s voices, the repertoire ranges from
medieval to contemporary literature.
Choral Scholars
As part of the Choral Program, students may audition to join the Choral Scholars. Open to all students and
effective for the full academic year, the scholarships are awarded to singers and conductors who have a
serious interest in choral music. The recipients will be expected to participate in one or more of the choral
ensembles; serve as section leaders and/or assistant conductors; meet weekly as a group for coaching and
research; and take voice or conducting lessons. Applications are available at the start of the fall semester.
The Collegium Musicum
The Collegium Musicum specializes in the performance of Western music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance,
and Baroque periods on original instruments. This ensemble of singers and instrumentalists is open to
Wellesley College students, faculty, staff, and members of the local community. Weekly rehearsals include
instruction in viola da gamba, lute, Renaissance flute, recorder, and violin. Wellesley’s unique collection of
early instruments, made available for student use, includes eight viole da gamba. The work of the ensemble
will culminate in informal concerts at the end of each semester.
The Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
The Orchestra is composed of students, faculty, staff, and associates of Wellesley College and Brandeis
University. Observing the high standard of excellence associated with these institutions, the Orchestra is
dedicated to bringing inspiring performances of the great orchestral literature—past and present—to a new
generation of musicians and audiences. The Orchestra gives four to five concerts a year; one concert features
the winners of the annual Concerto Competition, which is open to students taking lessons and participating in
department ensembles. Rehearsals are two and one-half hours long and held on Thursday evenings
alternating at the Brandeis and Wellesley campuses with one-hour sectional rehearsals at Wellesley on
Tuesday evenings on an ad-hoc basis. Membership is based on auditions held at the start of each semester.
Chamber Music Society
Chamber Music Society provides an opportunity for interested instrumentalists and vocalists to prepare and
perform works for small ensembles. Each chamber group receives weekly coachings from a member of the
Wellesley College Music Department, and performs on one of several concerts held at the end of each
semester.
Wellesley BlueJazz
The Wellesley BlueJazz Ensemble Program includes Wellesley BlueJazz Big Band and Wellesley BlueJazz
Strings and Combos. Faculty-directed rehearsals encourage the development of fluency in jazz improvisation.
The ensembles perform throughout the year on campus and also collaborate with other colleges in the Boston
area to present joint concerts. The Wellesley BlueJazz experience includes workshops and master classes with
visiting guest artists and WBJ Nights Out attending jazz performances in the Boston area.
Yanvalou Drumming and Dance Ensemble
Yanvalou is a faculty-directed ensemble that performs the folkloric music and dance of Africa as it exists today
throughout the African Diaspora, particularly in Haiti. Students perform on authentic instruments, experience a
variety of cultures through their music, and present several concerts during the academic year.
Guild of Carillonneurs
Members are selected through an application process, and they receive weekly lessons and bi-weekly
masterclasses on the 32-bell carillon in Galen Stone Tower. The guild hosts open concerts and events for the
local community, and members travel to other carillons for wider performance possibilities. On campus, guild
members perform solo concerts on the college carillon between classes and for special events in the college
community.
MUS Courses
Course ID: ANTH235/MUS245 Title: Introduction to Ethnomusicology: The Anthropology of Music
What happens when we study music and sound from an anthropological framework? Ethnomusicology, or the
cultural study of music and sound, seeks to do just that. Through a hands-on approach to music research, this
course has three aims: 1) to give students the opportunity of doing ethnographic research in a local
community; 2) to explore key concepts pertaining to ethnomusicology and the anthropology of sound; 3) to
work together to create a good working atmosphere in which students can share ongoing research with each
other. Students will gain experience doing fieldwork as participant observers; taking notes and writing up field
journals; recording and transcribing interviews; and conducting secondary research online and in the library.
Each student will conduct regular visits to a local music group or community of their choice. Past projects have
focused on Senegalese drumming, musical healing circles, and hip-hop dance groups. The semester will
culminate in a final presentation and paper (8-10 pages) based on the student’s research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Goldschmitt; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH345/MUS345 Title: Introduction to Ethnomusicology: The Anthropology of Music
What happens when we study music and sound from an anthropological framework? Ethnomusicology, or the
cultural study of music and sound, seeks to do just that. Through a hands-on approach to music research, this
course has three aims: 1) to give students the opportunity of doing ethnographic research in a local
community; 2) to explore key concepts pertaining to ethnomusicology and the anthropology of sound; 3) to
work together to create a good working atmosphere in which students can share ongoing research with each
other. Students will gain experience doing fieldwork as participant observers; taking notes and writing up field
journals; recording and transcribing interviews; and conducting secondary research online and in the library.
Each student will conduct regular visits to a local music group or community of their choice. Past projects have
focused on Senegalese drumming, musical healing circles, and hip-hop dance groups. The semester will
culminate in a final presentation and paper (15 pages) based on the student’s research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Goldschmitt;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTS336/MUS336 Title: From Mark to Sound, From Sound to Mark: Music, Drawing, and
Architecture
This advanced, project-based course is aimed at students able to work independently in one of two broad
categories of contemporary art-making: Drawing (including visual art, new media art, architecture, sculpture,
and/or art theory) and Sound (composition, performance, analog or digital sound production, and/or sound
studies). Together we will explore elements such as rhythm, line, space, and composition from the
perspectives of sound studies and drawing, focusing in particular on the graphic mark. Students will interact
with several visiting artists, and will visit working artists in their studios and observe relevant art installations
and performances. Students will develop semester-long studio projects, which will be supplemented by
discussions, critiques, and readings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Any of the following - ARTS 105, ARTS 109, ARTS 113, MUS 100,
MUS 122, ARTH 100, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Rivera; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ITAS223/MUS223 Title: Italian Popular Song (in English)
Throughout its history, the Italian language has expressed itself optimally through song. In this interdisciplinary
course, we explore the connections between song and lyrical poetry in works from the Middle Ages through
hip-hop. Students will gain an overview of Italian history and culture, and will learn how poetry and music have
contributed to the shaping of Italian national identity. In addition to field trips to hear an Italian opera and to
work with rare prints and manuscripts in Special Collections, students will analyze poetry and its musical
enhancement, and manipulate digital humanities resources. No previous knowledge of music or Italian is
required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: No previous knowledge of music or Italian is required. Not open to
students who have taken ITAS 123/MUS 123.; Instructor: Parussa, Fontijn; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MUS099G Title: Performing Music - Group (without academic credit)
Weekly group lessons in voice, violin and classical guitar.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 100, or exemption by Music Theory
Placement Exam; audition required.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Lessons meet once a week for 10 weeks. For further information,
including fees, see Performance, Private Instruction in Music. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: MUS100 Title: Musical Literacies
This course is designed to provide an immersion in the world of music to improve listening, reading, and
general comprehension skills. The focus is on the fundamentals of music (notation, rhythm, melody, scales,
chords, and formal plans) and listening examples will be drawn from a wide variety of genres, styles, and
cultural traditions. Individual members of the academic faculty will visit regularly to introduce students to the
rich diversity of approaches to the field of music. No prior musical knowledge is expected. Students may
choose to take the Music Theory Placement Exam to see if they can exempt MUS 100 and go directly into
MUS 200, MUS 201, MUS 202, MUS 122, or MUS 220. A musicianship lab supplements the three class
meetings. May be counted toward the major or the minor.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Collins, Russell, Moya; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MUS104 Title: Composition
In this course we will begin the process of learning the techniques of music composition. Through the writing
of exercises, and projects, we will learn the fundamentals of musical syntax and composition. In the process,
we will unlock our creativity, learn how to discuss other people’s music, and learn about how music can aid in
the telling of a story. By the end of the semester, students will have attained the skills necessary for writing an
original piece of music that can be played by other musicians. Students will have learned how to compose
their own melodies, how to harmonize these melodies in a variety of ways, and how to create compelling
musical textures with many different combinations of musical instruments and timbres. Students will be
encouraged to develop their own unique compositional “voice” by drawing upon intensive studies of both
musical works they already know and enjoy, and musical works they may never have heard before.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Moya; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: MUS105Y Title: First Year Seminar: The Inner-Workings of Pop and World Music: Listening to
Rhythm and Form
One of the most fundamental ways that music moves us is through rhythm and the emotional highs and lows
of musical form. This first year seminar will focus on the musical materials that aid in critically analyzing
popular music and world music: rhythm and song form. In this seminar, students will hone their ability to hear
the structures that make up the music in our daily lives through group discussion, guided listening journals,
and practice with analysis. The semester will culminate in an analysis of a listening experience, such as an
album, playlist, DJ set, or concert. Students need no prior experience with formal musical training: they need
only to have the means to listen to music in private.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Goldschmitt;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: FYS - First
Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: MUS122 Title: Harmonic Concepts in Tonal Music
Beginning with a comprehensive review of musical terminology and basic materials, MUS 122 explores the
fundamentals of tonal harmony, voice-leading, phrasing, and form. Topics include harmonic functions and
phrase structure, cadence formation, voice-leading and figured bass, and tonal analysis. Regular ear-training
practice complements written exercises. One musicianship lab per week.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Open to all students who have completed MUS 100 or exempted it
by the Music Theory Placement Evaluation.; Instructor: Tang (Fall); Moya (Spring); Distribution Requirements:
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Normally followed by MUS 252 or MUS 315.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Bass, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Henry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Bassoon
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: McGinnis; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Cello
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Russell, Thornblade; Distribution Requirements: ARS
- Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Clarinet
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Matasy; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Double Bass, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Henry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Drumset
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Langone; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Flute, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Boyd; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Flute, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Brandao; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: French Horn
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Aldrich; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Guitar, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Kirby; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Guitar, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Kirby; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Guzheng
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Weng; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Harp
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Huhn; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Harpsichord
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: E. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Lute
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Liddell; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Oboe
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hida-Battaglia; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Organ
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: E. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Percussion
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Mcnu*tt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Percussion, Caribbean and West African
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Washington; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Piano, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Akahori, Hodgkinson, Shapiro, Tang, Nishikawa;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit.
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Piano, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hoffmann, D. Johnson; Distribution Requirements:
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Saxophone, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Matasy; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Saxophone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Miller; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Trombone, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Trombone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Trumpet, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Duprey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Trumpet, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Duprey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Tuba
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Vibraphone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Greenblatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Viola da Gamba
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Jeppesen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Viola, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Bossert-King, Diaz, Starkman; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit.
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Viola, Jazz/Fiddle
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Zeitlin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Violin, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Starkman, Bossert-King, Diaz; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit.
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Violin, Jazz/Fiddle
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Zeitlin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Voice, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Tengblad, Selig, Lawler; Distribution Requirements:
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Voice, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Adams; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS149 Title: Private Music Instruction 1: Carillon
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester. Prior to registration, students must obtain confirmation from
the instructor.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None. Co-requisite - MUS 100; or, if exempted, any MUS
course earning 1 unit of credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS
270, Performance Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Angelini; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Bass, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M01. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Henry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Bassoon
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M02. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded). ; Instructor: McGinnis; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Cello
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M03. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Russell, Thornblade; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Clarinet
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M04. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Matasy; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Double Bass, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M05. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Henry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Drumset
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M06. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Langone; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Flute, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M07. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Boyd; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Flute, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M08. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Brandao; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: French Horn
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M09. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Aldrich; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Guitar, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M10. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Kirby; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Guitar, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M11. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Kirby; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Guzheng
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M12. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Weng; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Harp
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M13. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Huhn; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Harpsichord
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M14. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: E. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Lute
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M15. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Liddell; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Oboe
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M16. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hida-Battaglia; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Organ
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M17. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: E. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Percussion
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M18. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Mcnu*tt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Percussion, Caribbean and West African
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M19. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Washington; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Piano, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M20. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Akahori, Hodgkinson, Shapiro, Tang, Nishikawa; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit.
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Piano, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M21. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hoffmann, D. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Saxophone, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M22. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Matasy; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Saxophone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M23. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Miller; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Trombone, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M24. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilto; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Trombone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M25. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Trumpet, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M26. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Duprey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Trumpet, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M27. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Duprey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Tuba
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M28. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Vibraphone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M29. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Greenblatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Viola da Gamba
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M30. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Jeppesen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Viola, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M31. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Bossert-King, Diaz, Starkman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Viola, Jazz/Fiddle
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M32. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Zeitlin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Violin, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M33. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Starkman, Bossert-King, Diaz; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Violin, Jazz/Fiddle
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M34. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Zeitlin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Voice, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M35. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Tengblad, Selig, Lawler; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Voice, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M36. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Adams; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS199 Title: Private Music Instruction 2: Carillon
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 149-M37. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Angelini; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS200 Title: Topics in Music History I
Not offered in 2024-2025.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or exemption from MUS 100.; Instructor: Fontijn;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more
than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: MUS201 Title: Topics in Music History II
Topic for Fall 2024: The Symphony in the World
The Austrian composer, Gustav Mahler, argued that “a Symphony must be like the world; it must embrace
everything.” This course takes Mahler’s statement as a springboard for examining the rich and varied sounds
of the Symphony in the Western European classical tradition. Students will build on their skills in music
analysis and criticism through close listening to famous symphonies by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert,
Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler. We will learn about the cultural, stylistic, and aesthetic nuances of
these works from a variety of intellectual standpoints (including feminist theory, queer theory, and sound
studies). A highlight of this course will be a field trip to a performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. All
students are welcome.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or exemption via the Music Theory Placement
Evaluation.; Instructor: Bhogal; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This is a topics course
and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: MUS202 Title: Topics in Music History III
Topic for Fall 2024: Expressing Race and Gender through New Music
This course takes its spark from recent global and on-campus conversations around race and anti-racism in
relation to the arts, particularly music composed and created during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Students will become familiar with “canonical works” by (predominantly male, some female, and mostly white
Euro-American) composers. However, the primary focus is on the creative achievements of under-represented
composers and musicians identifying as Black, Latinx, East Asian, and Native American. This course inverts
the balance by privileging the artistic accomplishments of composers and musicians who usually reside at the
margins of “central” conversations. Our goal is to understand what the traditional category of “modernism and
music” reveals about history and society from typically less represented cultural/racial/gendered perspectives.
Students will undertake critical listening/viewing/reading assignments and reflect on live performances through
writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or exemption from MUS 100.; Instructor: Russell;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once
for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: MUS209 Title: A History of Jazz
The influence of jazz on music in the twentieth century and beyond has been so profound that it has gone from
being a feared public scourge to “America's Classical Music.” Ever since its origins among African Americans
in the 1910s, jazz has challenged distinctions between “art” and “popular,” at times even playing a key role in
social protest. Today, it is an internationally respected art form that is revered by musicians as varied as hiphop artists and classical composers. This course will cover the history of jazz through critically engaging with
recorded performances, source readings and popular reception, and evidence of its broader influence in
popular culture. We will also learn about jazz's role in international music scenes, including approaches from
Europe, Asia, and throughout the African Diaspora.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken MUS 309.; Instructor:
Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; HS - Historical Studies;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also
offered at the 300-level as MUS 309 with additional work.;
Course ID: MUS210 Title: Music and the Global Metropolis
Metropolises bring together diverse groups of people in concentrated locations all over the world. Along with
heightened crime and poverty, they are also home to an astounding variety of musical innovations. This course
offers an exploration of disparate musical cultures in major metropolises of the world. Throughout the
semester, we will study major cities, the major musical developments to come from them, and the cultural
conflicts and celebrations that emerge in contemporary urban life. In addition to local styles, we will discuss
such global styles as hip-hop, punk, pop, dancehall, rock, roots music, “world music,” and electronic dance
music, and how they relate to the urban environments where they were developed and where they continue to
thrive.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Goldschmitt; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: MUS213 Title: Video Games: Composition and Criticism
This course examines the expressive ways in which music and sound function within the medium of video
games. The “criticism” component of the course draws on recent scholarship from the fields of music, media
studies, sound studies, film, and video games, asking students to interrogate the role of music and sound in
relation to play. The “composition” component of the course invites students to create original video game
music and sound. Together, these varied approaches will allow students to reflect on their experiences as
players whose immersive experience is shaped by sonic cues, and as critics whose intellectual engagement
with the act of gaming finds points of intersection with a larger world of ideas and their relationship to the
sensory process.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MUS214H Title: Experiencing the Music, Dance, and Culture of Haiti
In this Wintersession course, which brings together ethnomusicology and anthropology, students will study the
folkloric music, dance, and culture of Haiti. During Wintersession, there will be workshops, lectures,
discussions, and site visits to multiple locations within the country, including Port-au-Prince, Gonaives, Jacmel,
and Saut d'Eau. C-CLAK, a cultural center and school in Mirebalais, will be home base. Students will gain
wide-ranging exposure to multiple aspects of Haitian culture in their field research with folkloric artists in
different regions, expanding their cultural knowledge and experience of life in Haiti and working on their French
and Kreyòl skills. Appropriate readings will be assigned before Wintersession begins and discussed
throughout the course. A final paper is expected.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Washington, Professor Emeritus Gerdès
Fleurant, Peniel Guerrier (Guest Choreographer); Typical Periods Offered: Winter; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MUS215 Title: Experiencing (Virtually) the Music, Dance, and Culture of Haiti
This is an adaptation of Wintersession Course MUS 214H, re-envisioned for remote summer session only. We
will study the traditional and folkloric music, dance, and culture of Haiti, using the ethnomusicological lenses of
bi-musicality and applied ethnomusicology. Students will participate in lectures, discussions, and experiential
lab sessions that will reveal the multiple styles and techniques of the folkloric arts of the Central and Southern
regions of Haiti: Port-au-Prince, Gonaives, Jacmel, Lascohobas, Saut d’Eau, and Mirebalais, where the
Leocardie and Alexandre Kenscoff Cultural Center (C-CLAK), founded by Professor Emeritus Gerdès Fleurant,
is located. The work of Professor Fleurant’s C-CLAK will provide for us a case study of applied
ethnomusicology. Through virtual engagements with Professor Fleurant, students will gain an understanding of
applied ethnomusicology as community engagement, support, promotion, and service in the various projects
of the Center, including the Gawou Ginou King Foundation School and Holistic Center, and will be asked to
envision their own contributions to C-CLAK, in final projects.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Washington; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MUS219/REL219 Title: Christian Ritual and the Sacred Arts
Ritual is a fundamental and often controversial aspect of the Christian tradition. It is also a remarkably complex
form of religious expression that integrates language, tone, gesture, image, and design. This course examines
the major forms of Christian ritual, their expression in art, architecture, music, and literature, and the methods
used in interpreting them in contemporary scholarship. We will examine Christianity’s principal rituals from
their beginnings in baptism (initiation) and the eucharist (communion), through monastic chant and the Roman
mass, to Protestant liturgies, sacred song, and revivalism, and ritual in contemporary social media. As a
special feature, we will study specific sites from various historical periods in order to learn about how art,
architecture, and music articulated these ritual forms, using theoretical models from the emerging field of Ritual
Studies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MUS220 Title: Jazz and Popular Music Theory
This course is based on an immersion approach, exploring the language of jazz and contemporary music, and
fostering a close connection between theory and practice. Learn the basics: scales and modes, chords, forms,
rhythmic structures, and jazz styles. You will learn how to listen to jazz and contemporary music, and define
and describe what you hear. You will practice improvisation techniques in class. Ear training is a key
component: singing bass lines and jazz solos, and practicing harmonic dictation, learning to “hear the
changes”. We explore the fundamentals of jazz and popular music harmony, including tune analysis, the II-V
progression, secondary dominants, re-harmonization, and jazz piano voicings. We also put these concepts
into practice, completing jazz compositions and transcriptions, and using music software to publish
assignments. Musicianship lab supplements the class meeting.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MUS 100 (or exempted by the Music Theory Placement
Evaluation).; Instructor: Miller; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MUS226 Title: Survey of Choral Music
This course charts the history of choral music beginning with Byzantine Chant in the 4th century to present day
compositions. We will study developments in style, form, text setting and the musical imagination that defines
this art form. Students will become familiar with scores and composers throughout history on a global scale,
gaining insight on their relationship to visual art, architecture, social movements, and historical events.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Graham;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: MUS228 Title: Film Music
This course will consist of a survey of the history of music in film from its beginnings in the silent era to modern
times. The class will look at a diverse handful of films. This narrower focus will allow a deeper exploration of the
techniques of soundtrack, and their evolution throughout the different eras and regions of film production. The
course will explore the role of music in storytelling, including its precedents in opera, and ballet. Musical
semiotics will be discussed in an effort to understand how meaning is derived in a film through the aid of
music. We will also explore the evolution of recording and filming technology for film, and how these changes
made an impact on soundtracks. Some of the films studied will be Alfred Hitchco*ck’s Vertigo and Psycho
(score composed by Bernard Hermann), Akira Kurosawa’s Ran (score by Toru Takemitsu), Bong Joon Ho’s
Parasite (score by: Jung Jae II), Jordan Peele’s Get Out!, Us, and Nope (all scored by Michael Abels), Rosen
Martin and John Hubley. Watership Down (score by: Angela Morley), Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be
Blood (score by Jonny Greenwood), and Amores perros (scored by Gustavo Santoalalla).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. MUS 100 preferred.; Instructor: Moya; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: MUS230 Title: Opera: Its History, Music, and Drama
This course offers a comprehensive chronological survey of the history and evolution of opera, from 1600 to
the present. Lectures will examine historical background, the subgenres of operatic literature (opera seria,
opera buffa, music drama), and complete operas by major composers representing a number of periods and
styles (including Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi, and Berg). We will also study librettos, relevant novels, and other
source materials in order to establish connections between musical structure and dramatic expression. Two
class meetings, with additional sessions required for viewing operas in their entirety.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Bhogal; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MUS235 Title: Topics in Instrumental Music
No Topics Offered for AY2024-2025
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bhogal;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as MUS 335. This is a topics
course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: MUS240 Title: Opera and Musical Theater Workshop
This course focuses on the preparation and presentation of opera and musical theater solos and ensembles.
Students will receive extensive musical and dramatic coaching to enhance musicality, text expression, and
stage savvy. Over the course of the Wintersession, students will learn about complete role preparation and
creating a dynamic and genuine characterization. To further deepen our study, we will discuss selected
readings and performances. Assigned repertoire will feature a range of styles intended to highlight and amplify
the class participants’ skills. The course will culminate in a live performance at the end of January, with a
reprisal in the spring semester. Students must be enrolled in voice lessons, and individual coaching outside of
class time will take place at a mutually convenient time for student and coach. Permission of the Instructor
required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Voice Faculty; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Bass, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M01. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Henry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Bassoon
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M02. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: McGinnis; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Cello
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M03. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Russell, Thornblade; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Clarinet
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M04. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Matasy; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Double Bass, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M05. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Henry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Drumset
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M06. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Langone; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Flute, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M07. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Boyd; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Flute, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M08. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Brandao; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: French Horn
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M09. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Aldrich; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Guitar, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M10. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Kirby; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Guitar, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M11. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Kirby; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Guzheng
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M12. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Weng; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Harp
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M13. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Huhn; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Harpsichord
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M14. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: E. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Lute
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M15. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Liddell; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Oboe
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M16. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hida-Battaglia; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Organ
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M17. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: E. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Percussion
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M18. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Mcnu*tt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Percussion, Caribbean and West African
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M19. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Washington; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Piano, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M20. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Akahori, Hodgkinson, Shapiro, Tang, Nishikawa; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit.
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Piano, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M21. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hoffmann, D. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Saxophone, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M22. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Matasy; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Saxophone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M23. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Miller; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Trombone, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M24. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Trombone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M25. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Trumpet, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M26. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Duprey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Trumpet, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M27. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Duprey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Tuba
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M28. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Vibraphone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M29. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Greenblatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Viola da Gamba
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M30. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Jeppesen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Viola, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M31. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Bossert-King, Diaz, Starkman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Viola, Jazz/Fiddle
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M32. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Zeitlin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Violin, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M33. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Starkman, Bossert-King, Diaz; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Violin, Jazz/Fiddle
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M34. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Zeitlin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Voice, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M35. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Tengblad, Selig, Lawler; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Voice, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M36. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Adams; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS249 Title: Private Music Instruction 3: Carillon
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 199-M37. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Angelini; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MUS252 Title: Voices: Counterpoint through the Ages and Around the World
The course focuses primarily on melodic writing and the coming together of various strands of musical activity
to create a rich texture. Beginning with a grounding in 16th and 18th century contrapuntal music in Europe, the
course expands to include explorations of 20th century counterpoint in both Western Classical as well as
popular and jazz music. Finally, the course questions and explores the concept of “Polyphony” beyond the
Western European construction. We explore ways in which music can have multiple strands occurring
simultaneously, such as Indonesian Gamelan, West African Drumming, African hocketing traditions, Eastern
European polyphonic singing, Afro-Cuban music, etc.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MUS 122.; Instructor: Moya; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MUS260 Title: Performing Ensemble: BlueJazz Big Band
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Miller; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is open to qualified students by permission
of the individual ensemble director. One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters)
of participation in any one of the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 260 in the
Spring semester only. This course may be repeated once for additional credit (the course can be taken a total
of 2 times). Students who continue with performance ensembles may register for MUS 270 in their Junior
and/or Senior year. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS260 Title: Performing Ensemble: BlueJazz Combos and Strings
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Zeitlin; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is open to qualified students by permission
of the individual ensemble director. One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters)
of participation in any one of the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 260 in the
Spring semester only. This course may be repeated once for additional credit (the course can be taken a total
of 2 times). Students who continue with performance ensembles may register for MUS 270 in their Junior
and/or Senior year. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS260 Title: Performing Ensemble: Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: This course is open to qualified students by permission of the
individual ensemble director. ; Instructor: Hampton; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of
participation in any one of the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 260 in the Spring
semester only. This course may be repeated once for additional credit (the course can be taken a total of 2
times). Students who continue with performance ensembles may register for MUS 270 in their Junior and/or
Senior year. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS260 Title: Performing Ensemble: Chamber Music Society
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: This course is open to qualified students by permission of the
individual ensemble director. ; Instructor: Russell and Tang; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring
semesters) of participation in any one of the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 260
in the Spring semester only. This course may be repeated once for additional credit (the course can be taken a
total of 2 times). Students who continue with performance ensembles may register for MUS 270 in their Junior
and/or Senior year. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS260 Title: Performing Ensemble: Chamber Singers
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: This course is open to qualified students by permission of the
individual ensemble director. ; Instructor: Graham; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of
participation in any one of the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 260 in the Spring
semester only. This course may be repeated once for additional credit (the course can be taken a total of 2
times). Students who continue with performance ensembles may register for MUS 270 in their Junior and/or
Senior year. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS260 Title: Performing Ensemble: Collegium Musicum
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: This course is open to qualified students by permission of the
individual ensemble director. ; Instructor: Jeppesen; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of
participation in any one of the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 260 in the Spring
semester only. This course may be repeated once for additional credit (the course can be taken a total of 2
times). Students who continue with performance ensembles may register for MUS 270 in their Junior and/or
Senior year. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS260 Title: Performing Ensemble: Guild of Carillonneurs
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: This course is open to qualified students by permission of the
individual ensemble director. ; Instructor: Angelini; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of
participation in any one of the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 260 in the Spring
semester only. This course may be repeated once for additional credit (the course can be taken a total of 2
times). Students who continue with performance ensembles may register for MUS 270 in their Junior and/or
Senior year. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS260 Title: Performing Ensemble: Wellesley College Choir
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: This course is open to qualified students by permission of the
individual ensemble director. ; Instructor: Graham; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of
participation in any one of the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 260 in the Spring
semester only. This course may be repeated once for additional credit (the course can be taken a total of 2
times). Students who continue with performance ensembles may register for MUS 270 in their Junior and/or
Senior year. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS260 Title: Performing Ensemble: Yanvalou
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: This course is open to qualified students by permission of the
individual ensemble director.; Instructor: Washington; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of
participation in any one of the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 260 in the Spring
semester only. This course may be repeated once for additional credit (the course can be taken a total of 2
times). Students who continue with performance ensembles may register for MUS 270 in their Junior and/or
Senior year. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS270 Title: Performing Ensemble: BlueJazz Big Band
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 260-M01. Open to Juniors and Seniors (First-Years and
Sophom*ores are eligible to enroll in MUS 260 each Spring). This course is open to qualified students who
have completed 2 years of ensemble performance by permission of the individual ensemble director.;
Instructor: Miller; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Onehalf unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of participation in any one of the
department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 270 in the Spring semester only. This course
may be repeated for credit (the course can be taken a total of 2 times). Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS270 Title: Performing Ensemble: BlueJazz Combos and Strings
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 260-M02. Open to Juniors and Seniors (First-Years and
Sophom*ores are eligible to enroll in MUS 260 each Spring). This course is open to qualified students who
have completed 2 years of ensemble performance by permission of the individual ensemble director.;
Instructor: Zeitlin; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Onehalf unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of participation in any one of the
department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 270 in the Spring semester only. This course
may be repeated for credit (the course can be taken a total of 2 times). Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS270 Title: Performing Ensemble: Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 260-M03. Open to Juniors and Seniors (First-Years and
Sophom*ores are eligible to enroll in MUS 260 each Spring). This course is open to qualified students who
have completed 2 years of ensemble performance by permission of the individual ensemble director.;
Instructor: Hampton; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of participation in any one of the
department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 270 in the Spring semester only. This course
may be repeated for credit (the course can be taken a total of 2 times). Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS270 Title: Performing Ensemble: Chamber Music Society
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 260-M04. Open to Juniors and Seniors (First-Years and
Sophom*ores are eligible to enroll in MUS 260 each Spring). This course is open to qualified students who
have completed 2 years of ensemble performance by permission of the individual ensemble director.;
Instructor: Russell and Tang; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Notes: One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of participation in any one of
the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 270 in the Spring semester only. This course
may be repeated for credit (the course can be taken a total of 2 times). Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS270 Title: Performing Ensemble: Chamber Singers
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 260-M05. Open to Juniors and Seniors (First-Years and
Sophom*ores are eligible to enroll in MUS 260 each Spring). This course is open to qualified students who
have completed 2 years of ensemble performance by permission of the individual ensemble director.;
Instructor: Graham; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of participation in any one of the
department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 270 in the Spring semester only. This course
may be repeated for credit (the course can be taken a total of 2 times). Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS270 Title: Performing Ensemble: Collegium Musicum
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 260-M06. Open to Juniors and Seniors (First-Years and
Sophom*ores are eligible to enroll in MUS 260 each Spring). This course is open to qualified students who
have completed 2 years of ensemble performance by permission of the individual ensemble director.;
Instructor: Jeppesen; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of participation in any one of the
department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 270 in the Spring semester only. This course
may be repeated for credit (the course can be taken a total of 2 times). Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS270 Title: Performing Ensemble: Guild of Carillonneurs
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 260-M07. Open to Juniors and Seniors (First-Years and
Sophom*ores are eligible to enroll in MUS 260 each Spring). This course is open to qualified students who
have completed 2 years of ensemble performance by permission of the individual ensemble director.;
Instructor: Angelini; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of participation in any one of the
department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 270 in the Spring semester only. This course
may be repeated for credit (the course can be taken a total of 2 times). Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS270 Title: Performing Ensemble: Wellesley College Choir
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 260-M08. Open to Juniors and Seniors (First-Years and
Sophom*ores are eligible to enroll in MUS 260 each Spring). This course is open to qualified students who
have completed 2 years of ensemble performance by permission of the individual ensemble director.;
Instructor: Graham; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of participation in any one of the
department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 270 in the Spring semester only. This course
may be repeated for credit (the course can be taken a total of 2 times). Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS270 Title: Performing Ensemble: Yanvalou
Ensemble participation gives students (including both Music majors and non-majors) the opportunity to
develop their musicality and technical skills in a group setting, prepare and perform repertoire together instead
of just on their own. Students will hone their musicianship skills (such as ear training, active listening, intensive
study of scores, theoretical analysis, technical abilities for one’s instrument). Active participation will build a
student’s confidence in performance settings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts outside of
rehearsal and come ready to solve problems together so as to realize a cohesive and unified performance, an
experience which fosters a strong bond and sense of community.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 260-M09. Open to Juniors and Seniors (First-Years and
Sophom*ores are eligible to enroll in MUS 260 each Spring). This course is open to qualified students who
have completed 2 years of ensemble performance by permission of the individual ensemble director.;
Instructor: Washington; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Notes: One-half unit of credit is granted for a full year (Fall and Spring semesters) of participation in any one of
the department-sponsored ensembles. Students register for MUS 270 in the Spring semester only. This course
may be repeated for credit (the course can be taken a total of 2 times). Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS275 Title: Introduction to Electronic and Computer Music: Histories and Practices
An overview of the fundamental concepts, techniques, and literature of electronic and computer music. Topics
include analog and digital electronic instruments, MIDI programming, sound-synthesis techniques, live
processing, and the history of electronic music. Students will compose two original pieces (one fixed and one
live), and will learn the basics of Logic Pro, Max, and Ableton Live.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: MUS276 Title: American Popular Music
"Popular music" denotes a variety of idioms-including R&B, rock, soul, funk, and hip-hop-linked to the youth
culture and social movements that developed in the United States after World War II. With a foundation in
African American genres (especially blues and gospel), popular music has also absorbed strong influences
from rural white Protestant communities, Latin America, and Europe, and its sounds are indelibly linked to
twentieth-century technologies (the electric guitar, multitrack recording, turntables). With an emphasis on the
1940s to the 1970s, our historical survey of American popular music will bring us from the 1800s to the present
day. Using close listening as a starting point, we will learn how to decode sounds to reveal their complex
social histories as we assess popular music's role in America's tumultuous twentieth century.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: MUS277 Title: Interactive Sound Art with Electronics
A continuation of MUS 275, Introduction to Electronic Music, this course offers intermediate and advanced
instruction in digital sound design for live performance, film, or installation work. Students will continue to
develop fluency in the digital audio software applications Logic Pro, Ableton Live, and Max and will develop
semester-long projects involving either a live musical performance with electronics or a site-specific
interactive audio installation. In addition to building individual sound projects, students will also have the
opportunity to engage with visiting artists, to read and discuss recent scholarship on multi-media art, and to
develop a fundamental understanding of acoustics and critical theories of sound.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Bass, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M01. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Henry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Bassoon
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M02. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: McGinnis; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Cello
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M03. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Russell, Thornblade; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Clarinet
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M04. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Matasy; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Double Bass, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M05. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Henry; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Drumset
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M06. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Langone; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Flute, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M07. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Boyd; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Flute, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M08. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Brandao; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: French Horn
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M09. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Aldrich; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Guitar, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M10. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Kirby; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Guitar, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M11. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Kirby; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Guzheng
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M12. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Weng; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Harp
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M13. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Huhn; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Harpsichord
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M14. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: E. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Fall; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Lute
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M15. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Liddell; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Oboe
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M16. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hida-Battaglia; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Fall; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Organ
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M17. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: E. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Fall; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Percussion
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M18. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Mcnu*tt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Percussion, Caribbean and West African
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M19. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Washington; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Piano, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M20. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Akahori, Hodgkinson, Shapiro, Tang, Nishikawa; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit.
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Piano, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M21. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hoffmann, D. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Saxophone, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M22. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Matasy; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Saxophone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M23. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Miller; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film
and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Trombone, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M24. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Trombone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M25. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Trumpet, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M26. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Duprey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Trumpet, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M27. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Duprey; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Tuba
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M28. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Hamilton; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Vibraphone, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M29. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Greenblatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Viola da Gamba
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M30. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Jeppesen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Viola, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M31. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Bossert-King, Diaz, Starkman; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Viola, Jazz/Fiddle
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M32. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Zeitlin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Violin, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M33. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Starkman, Bossert-King, Diaz; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Violin, Jazz/Fiddle
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M34. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Zeitlin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Voice, Classical
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M35. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Tengblad, Selig, Lawler; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Voice, Jazz
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M36. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Adams; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS299 Title: Private Music Instruction 4: Carillon
Through individual instruction, students will work to develop their musical and technical proficiencies using
repertoire and other materials to be determined by the instructor. 5-6 hours of weekly practice is required.
Performance evaluations are held each semester.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: MUS 249-M37. Co-requisite - any MUS course earning 1 unit of
credit taken in either Fall or Spring of the same academic year (MUS 260 and MUS 270, Performance
Ensembles, are excluded).; Instructor: Angelini; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: May be repeated once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS300 Title: Seminar Topics
Topic for Fall 2024: Global Music Industries
Have you ever wondered how the music you love gets transformed from its inception to a product for eager
audiences around the world? Discovering new music is often a combination of personal taste, the influence of
our social cohort, and the limitations of what is available through live performance in our neighborhood and
online digital music services. This seminar will take a critical exploration of the different routes that we use to
find the music we love. We will cover a vast array of topics ranging from the ways musical taste changes in
time, the use and abuse of streaming digital media, and the mining of musical ideas from the developing world
in recent pop music trends. All students in the seminar will have an opportunity to design a term project on
the role of listening among Wellesley students.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or exemption via the Music Theory Placement
Evaluation.; Instructor: Goldschmitt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and
Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than
once for credit as long as the topic is different each time, with permission from the department.;
Course ID: MUS301 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: The Power of Music
This course challenges students to think critically about music, and writing about music, in the public sphere.
Students explore the relationship between their specialized academic knowledge and their experiences as
day-to-day consumers of music. The core material of the course consists of a series of writing and editing
exercises for an imagined audience of non-specialists—including reviews of recordings and lectures, program
notes for concerts, an interview with a prominent musician—and discussions of controversial issues in
academic music. This course addresses a variety of issues, such as how to write about the experience of live
performance or how to assess music as a kind of social activism. By translating the technical vocabulary of
academic music into a language accessible to the public, students find that they listen and think musically in
new and unanticipated ways.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: MUS 100. Open to Juniors and Seniors.; Instructor: Fontijn;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: MUS308 Title: Conducting
The study of conducting is a synthesis of all skills important to a musician's craft, and the art of communicating
a specific musical vision to bring a composer's written intentions to life. The physical gestures are expressive of
a full understanding of both the score and the instruments and/or voices performing the work. This course is a
study of the techniques that transform written music into sound, including score preparation and reading,
baton technique, and rehearsal methods. Development of aural and interpretive ability as well as leadership
skills are explored in the process. Students will have the opportunity to take their skills outside the classroom
and conduct one of the College's musical ensembles as part of their work in the course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Graham; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: MUS309 Title: A History of Jazz
The influence of jazz on music in the twentieth century and beyond has been so profound that it has gone from
being a feared public scourge to “America's Classical Music.” Ever since its origins among African Americans
in the 1910s, jazz has challenged distinctions between “art” and “popular,” at times even playing a key role in
social protest. Today, it is an internationally respected art form that is revered by musicians as varied as hiphop artists and classical composers. This course will cover the history of jazz through critically engaging with
recorded performances, source readings and popular reception, and evidence of its broader influence in
popular culture. Through leading a class discussion and completing a term paper, students in MUS 309 will
learn to connect the technical language of jazz analysis to socio-cultural context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: MUS 122 or MUS 220, or permission of the instructor. Not open to
students who have taken MUS 209.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as MUS 209.;
Course ID: MUS314/PORT314 Title: Brazilian Music and the Politics of Culture
From the dawn of the 20th century, Brazil has promoted itself to the world as a particularly musical country. In
addition to samba, the country is the birthplace of many well-loved genres including choro, bossa nova, and
funk carioca. Brazilian popular song is considered by many to be a literary genre where songwriters such as
Vinicius de Morais and Arnaldo Antunes describe themselves as poets and their lyrics are major topics of
study by scholars of Portuguese literature. In this course, we will uncover the historical and cultural origins of
many of the major musical developments in Brazil and explore how they express polemics around citizenship,
social activism, and cosmopolitanism. Students familiar with Portuguese will have the option of additional,
focused study of Portuguese lyrics and will be encouraged to compose their writing assignments in
Portuguese.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or permission of the instructor. Students with prior
experience with World Music, Portuguese, or Latin American Studies courses are especially encouraged to
register.; Instructor: Goldschmitt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MUS315 Title: Advanced Harmony
Beginning with traditional four-part chorale writing, MUS 315 explores the more advanced concepts inherent to
tonal harmony, voice-leading, and formal analysis. Topics include diatonic and chromatic modulations,
embellishments, mode mixture, variation, development procedures such as diatonic and chromatic
sequences, and the relationship between harmony and tonal form. Over the course of the semester, students
will be introduced to basic theory terminology and modes of analysis. In addition to listening to and analyzing
a number of tonal works inside and outside of the classical canon, students will complete weekly assignments
in writing in the tonal idiom and several composition projects. Musicianship lab supplements the class
meetings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MUS 122 or permission of instructor.; Instructor: Moya; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MUS335 Title: Topics in Instrumental Music
No Topics Offered for AY2024-2025
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bhogal;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200 level as MUS 235. This is a topics
course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Advanced Performance Seminar
Music 344 offers an exciting opportunity for accomplished performing music students to develop their artistry
and performance skills on a high level. Qualified students participate in this weekly performance class in
addition to their weekly one-hour lessons (MUS 344-M) with their private instructors, and develop their abilities
by performing frequently in class and receiving constructive feedback. Students also grow as musicians by
listening to other students perform, by being exposed to the broad range of repertoire presented in class, and
by participating in the process of constructive criticism. In conjunction with their in-class performances,
students are asked to provide brief, written background information about their repertoire to enhance their
understanding of the music and to prepare for writing program notes. Students should plan on a time
investment of about 14 hours per week. Students enrolled for the full year, as is strongly encouraged, perform
a jury in the Fall and full recital in the Spring. Students who choose Honors in Performance (Honors Program
III) must take MUS 344 as part of their MUS 360 and MUS 370 thesis work, the two components counting as 1
unit of credit per semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: A written recommendation from their instructor in Performing
Music. Co-requisite - students must complete an additional 200- or 300-level music course during each year
they are enrolled in MUS 344. Permission to elect subsequent units is granted only to a student who has
fulfilled all co-requisite requirements and whose progress in MUS 344 is judged excellent. A maximum of four
units of MUS 344 may be counted toward the degree. Each semester of MUS 344 earns one unit. Two
semesters of MUS 344 can be counted toward one unit of the music major.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: This is the only credit course in classical
performance that can be counted toward the music major.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Bassoon
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: McGinnis; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Cello
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Russell, Thornblade; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Clarinet
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Matasy; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Double Bass, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Henry; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Flute, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Boyd; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: French Horn
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Aldrich; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Guitar, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Kirby; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Guzheng
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Weng; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Harp
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Huhn; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Harpsichord
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: E. Johnson; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Lute
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Liddell; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Oboe
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Hida-Battaglia; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Organ
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: E. Johnson; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Percussion
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Mcnu*tt; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Percussion, Caribbean and West African
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Washington; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Piano, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Akahori, Hodgkinson,
Shapiro, Tang, Nishikawa; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Saxophone, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Matasy; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Trombone, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Hamilton; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Trumpet, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Duprey; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Tuba
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Hamilton; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Viola da Gamba
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Jeppesen; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Viola, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Bossert-King, Diaz,
Starkman; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Violin, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Starkman, Bossert-King,
Diaz; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Voice, Classical
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Tengblad, Selig, Lawler;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS344 Title: Private Lessons: Carillon
Private lesson instruction taken in conjunction with MUS 344 (Advanced Performance Seminar). Students
invited to enroll in MUS 344 are required to have weekly one-hour lessons with their private instructors.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 100; Prerequisites: Co-requisite - MUS 344.; Instructor: Angelini; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: MUS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Students enrolled in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester carry out independent work under the
supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370)
in the second semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: MUS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 99; Prerequisites: MUS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Bass
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Henry;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Drumset
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Langone;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Flute
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Brandao;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Guitar
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Kirby;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Percussion, Caribbean and West African
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor:
Washington; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Piano
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Hoffmann,
D. Johnson; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Saxophone
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Miller;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Trombone
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Hamilton;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Trumpet
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Duprey;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Vibraphone
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor:
Greenblatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Viola/Fiddle
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Zeitlin;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Violin/Fiddle
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Zeitlin;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: MUS398 Title: Jazz Recital Workshop: Voice
A one-hour private lesson per week. Students who have completed at least MUS 199 or MUS 249 or who are
advanced players may qualify for this upper-level performance course. MUS 398 incorporates theory and
practice of jazz improvisation as well as written repertoire. Students are required to perform a full recital in the
Spring. This course can be counted toward the major in music.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the jury panel. Co-requisite - one
academic music course must be taken in either semester during enrollment in MUS 398.; Instructor: Adams;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Neuroscience
An Interdepartmental Major
Neuroscience explores how the nervous system develops and how it functions to generate behavior, emotion,
and cognition. Neuroscience is highly interdisciplinary, integrating biology, psychology, chemistry, physics,
and computer science. Exploring the complexity of the nervous system requires analyses at multiple levels.
Neuroscientists investigate how genes and molecules regulate nerve cell development and function
(cellular/molecular neuroscience), explore how neural systems produce integrated behaviors (behavioral
neuroscience), seek to understand how neural substrates create mental processes and thought (cognitive
neuroscience), and use mathematics and computer models to comprehend brain function (computational
neuroscience). In studying how the brain and nervous system function normally and during disease states,
neuroscientists also hope to better understand devastating neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Neuroscience Major
Goals for the Neuroscience Major
Develop a "STEM identity"--that is, identify as a scientist.
Recognize and describe the interdisciplinarity of neuroscience.
Describe and apply major neuroscientific experimental methods and approaches.
Demonstrate the ability to interpret and critically evaluate the neuroscience literature.
Apply analytical and statistical methods to interpret, evaluate, and critique experimental data.
Use the scientific method to design original experiments that advance current knowledge, while
adhering to ethical standards.
Develop confidence and demonstrate fluency with oral and written communication for scientific and
general audiences.
Collaborate effectively with peers.
Explain the societal relevance of discoveries in neuroscience and their translational potential for
improving human health and well-being.
We anticipate that fulfillment of these goals will provide the intellectual and technical skills necessary for the
successful pursuit of graduate school, medical school, and careers in neuroscience-related fields.
Requirements for the Neuroscience Major
The major consists of the following courses:
Five Core Courses: 1) NEUR 100; 2) NEUR 200; 3) NEUR 300; 4) BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC 112, BISC 112Y,
or BISC 116; 5) And one of the following PSYC 105, PSYC 205, STAT 160, STAT 218 or ECON 103/SOC 190.
Three 200-Level Courses* from at least two of the three areas of concentration:
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience: BISC 219, BISC 220, CHEM 211, CHEM 223, CHEM 227
Cognitive Neuroscience: PSYC 215, PSYC 216, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PHIL 215
Systems and Computational Neuroscience: CS 232, MATH 215, PHYS 210, PHYS 216 (For students
who entered Fall 2019 or earlier), QR/STAT 260
*Note that many of these courses have specific prerequisites.
Three 300-Level Courses from at least two of the three areas of concentration, at least one of which must be a
laboratory course taken at Wellesley:
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience: BISC 302+L, BIOC 325/CHEM 325, NEUR 305+L, BISC
306/NEUR 306, BISC 315/NEUR 315, NEUR 332
Cognitive Neuroscience: PSYC 314R, PSYC 315R, PSYC 316, PSYC 317, PSYC 319, PSYC 328, CLSC
348/PSYC 348
Systems and Computational Neuroscience: NEUR 310+L, NEUR 325 or NEUR 325+L, NEUR 335+L,
CS 305, CS 332
NEUR 240, NEUR 250, NEUR 250H, NEUR 340, NEUR 350, NEUR 350H, NEUR 360, and NEUR 370 do not
count toward the minimum major. A minimum of eight courses toward the major requirements (including one
300-level laboratory course) must be taken at Wellesley. Normally no more than three units in neuroscience
taken at other institutions may be counted toward the major. Additional information is also available at
wellesley.edu/neuroscience/major.
Transfer Credit in Neuroscience
To obtain Wellesley credit for any neuroscience course taken at another institution, approval must be obtained
from the chair of the department prior to enrolling in the course. Instructions and additional information are
available at wellesley.edu/neuroscience/major/transfer-credits. In general, courses taken at two-year colleges
will not be accepted. These restrictions apply to courses taken after enrollment at Wellesley. Transfer students
wishing to obtain credit for courses taken prior to enrollment at Wellesley should consult the chair of the
department.
Honors in Neuroscience
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis based on laboratory research (NEUR 360/NEUR 370)
and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point
average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level. The department may petition on a
student's behalf if the student's grade point average in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. Projects may be
supervised by members of the various departments associated with the major. Students considering the senior
thesis option are advised to consult with the chair of the department during the fall of their junior year. See
Academic Distinctions.
Graduate Study in Neuroscience
Students wishing to attend graduate school in neuroscience are strongly encouraged to talk to their major
advisors about additional courses that are recommended, as these vary depending upon the focus of specific
graduate programs. For programs focused on 1) cell and molecular neuroscience, biochemistry (BIOC 223) is
likely among the recommended courses, 2) cognitive neuroscience, research methods in cognitive
psychology (PSYC 314R) may be recommended and 3) computational neuroscience, computational and
computer science courses (including CS 112, MATH 115, MATH 116) and physics (through PHYS 106 or
PHYS 108) may be recommended. Your major advisor can help you define courses that are tailored to your
specific graduate school interests.
NEUR Courses
Course ID: BISC315/NEUR315 Title: Neuroendocrinology
Hormones act throughout the body to coordinate basic biological functions such as development,
differentiation, and reproduction. This course will investigate how hormones act in the brain to regulate
physiology and behavior. We will study how the major neuroendocrine axes regulate a variety of functions,
including brain development, reproductive physiology and behavior, homeostasis, and stress. The regulation
of these functions by hormones will be investigated at the molecular, cellular, and behavioral levels.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: NEUR 200; or one of the following (BISC 110, BISC 110P, BISC
112, or BISC 112Y) and BISC 203; or BISC 116, CHEM 116 and BISC 203; or permission of the instructor.
Open to Juniors and Seniors only.; Instructor: Tetel; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and
Cognition; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: NEUR100 Title: Brain, Behavior, and Cognition: An Introduction to Neuroscience
This course will provide a broad introduction to neuroscience, focusing on examples and approaches from
cellular and molecular, cognitive, behavioral, systems, and computational neuroscience. The lecture aspect of
the course will be accompanied by a 75-minute practicum in which students will engage directly in
experimental neuroscience.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 32; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Bauer, Marshall, Quinan, Wasserman, Tetel;
Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: NEUR125Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Brains, Minds, and Machines: Intelligence and
Consciousness
How is intelligent behavior produced by the brain and how can it be replicated in machines? What role, if any,
does our conscious experience play in producing intelligent behavior? This seminar explores human
intelligence through the perspectives of neuroscience, cognitive science, and computer science, integrating
studies of the brain, the mind, and the computations needed to create intelligent machines. This
interdisciplinary approach has accelerated the pace of research aimed at understanding how intelligent agents
use vision to recognize objects and events; navigate through a complex, dynamic environment; use language
to communicate; and develop a conscious awareness of the world. Through exploration of current research
and hands-on computer activities, students will learn about methods used to probe neural circuits and
visualize brain activity; investigate human performance and behavior; and build computer models that capture
the remarkable abilities of biological systems.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Wiest; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: NEUR200 Title: Neurons, Networks, and Behavior with Laboratory
This course will build on basic concepts in neuroscience that were introduced in NEUR 100. Current issues will
be examined within a broad framework that includes readings in cellular and molecular, cognitive, behavioral,
and computational neuroscience. Topics such as sensory systems, learning, memory, and cognition will be
covered. The accompanying laboratory is designed to expose students to basic methods and experimental
approaches in neuroscience.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: NEUR 100 and one of the following (BISC 110, BISC 110P,
BISC 112, BISC 112Y, BISC 116/CHEM 116). Not open to First-Years.; Instructor: Gobes, Wiest, Quinan;
Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; EC - Epistemology and Cognition;
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: NEUR240 Title: Group Neuroscience Research
A guided group research project focusing on selected topics from the literature and experimental research
methods of neuroscience. Specific topics will vary with each instructor and semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 8; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Intended for First-Years and
Sophom*ores.; Instructor: Gobes; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: This course may
be repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: NEUR250 Title: Research or Individual Study
NEUR 250, NEUR 250H, NEUR 350, and NEUR 350H provide students with an opportunity to engage in
research with a faculty member. More information is available on the Research and Internship Opportunities
tab on the Neuroscience Department website. Registration takes place via the Registrar's Independent Study
App.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: NEUR250H Title: Research or Individual Study
NEUR 250, NEUR 250H, NEUR 350, and NEUR 350H provide students with an opportunity to engage in
research with a faculty member. More information is available on the Research and Internship Opportunities
tab on the Neuroscience Department website. Registration takes place via the Registrar's Independent Study
App.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: NEUR300 Title: Capstone Seminar in Neuroscience
In this capstone seminar for neuroscience majors, students will give group presentations of articles on cutting
edge areas of neuroscience research. The authors of these articles will be invited to campus to present their
research and meet with the class. Potential topics to be discussed include: developmental neuroscience,
computational and systems neuroscience, neuroendocrinology, cognitive neuroscience, learning and memory,
and neurodegenerative disorders. In addition, students will write a grant on a neuroscience topic of their
choice, and careers in neuroscience will be discussed. Neuroscience majors are required to take this course in
the fall of their senior year.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 7; Prerequisites: NEUR 200. Open only to senior Neuroscience majors.; Instructor:
Gobes, Marshall, Tetel; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; NPS - Natural and
Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This
course is Letter Graded only.;
Course ID: NEUR305 Title: Excitation, Plasticity and Disease with Laboratory
Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. In this course,
you will become familiar with the functions of glutamate in healthy neurotransmission, plasticity, and disease
including stroke, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and drug abuse. In addition, you will continue to improve your ability
to critically read scientific literature. This course is designed to be interactive, and lectures will be
supplemented by in-class activities and discussions. In the laboratory portion of this course, you will have the
opportunity to study the role of glutamate receptor mutations on C. elegans behavior, and study the role of
glutamate receptors in long-term potentiation. Through these experiences you will improve your reading,
critical thinking, writing, problem solving, and oral presentation skills.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: NEUR 200.; Instructor: Bauer, Quinan; Distribution
Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: NEUR310 Title: Neuroethology of Decision Making: The Genes, Neurons, and Circuits that
Modulate Behavior, with Laboratory
What are the neuronal mechanisms and computations that allow an animal to translate sensory information
into appropriate decisions and behavior? Neuroethology seeks to understand how a nervous system translates
information from the external and internal environment to behavior by examining the whole animal in its natural
state. Topics will be introduced via textbook and primary literature and reviewed in lecture, followed by
student-led presentations and discussions. What are the moral and societal implications of gaining a better
understanding of how the brain controls behavior? We will end with an introduction to the neuroscience of
morality and philosophy. This is a Maurer Public Speaking course and will offer multiple opportunities to learn
and practice skills for speaking for a technical and non-technical audience.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: NEUR 200 or permission of the instructor. Not open to FirstYears. ; Instructor: Wasserman; Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory;
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and
Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Spring; Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course. No programming experience required.;
Course ID: NEUR310X Title: Neuroethology of Decision Making: The Genes, Neurons, and Circuits that
Modulate Behavior
What are the neuronal mechanisms and computations that allow an animal to translate sensory information
into appropriate decisions and behavior? Neuroethology seeks to understand how a nervous system translates
information from the external and internal environment to behavior by examining the whole animal in its natural
state. Topics will be introduced via textbook and primary literature and reviewed in lecture, followed by
student-led presentations and discussions. What are the moral and societal implications of gaining a better
understanding of how the brain controls behavior? We will end with an introduction to the neuroscience of
morality and philosophy. This is a Maurer Public Speaking course and will offer multiple opportunities to learn
and practice skills for speaking for a technical and non-technical audience.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: NEUR 200 or permission of the instructor. Not open to First-Years.;
Instructor: Wasserman; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking
Intensive Course. No programming experience required.;
Course ID: NEUR320 Title: Current Trends in Neurodegenerative Disease Research with Laboratory
This course will examine primary literature on neurodegenerative diseases. We will discuss primary research
articles on various topics including, but not limited to, the underlying pathological mechanisms and clinical
symptoms of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Throughout the course we will address aberrant protein
aggregation, genetic variants, and therapeutic treatments associated with these two neurodegenerative
diseases. The course will consist of student-led presentations of primary research articles, in-class
discussions, writing assignments, and a video essay. Learning goals for this course include enhancing
scientific literacy, critically examining research inequities, building teamwork skills, and practicing selfreflection.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: NEUR 200.; Instructor: Marshall; Distribution Requirements:
LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; EC - Epistemology and Cognition; NPS - Natural and
Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: NEUR325 Title: Neurobiology of Sleep, Learning and Memory with Laboratory
Although we spend a major part of our lives sleeping, we understand surprisingly little about sleep and
dreaming. In this course we will discuss recent advances made in the field of neuroscience of sleep. Course
topics include basic neurobiology of sleep (what is sleep, how is it regulated) as well as specialized
discussions of sleep-related learning and memory investigated in different model systems. You will get familiar
with these topics through a combination of in-depth review sessions, in-class activities and student
presentations of the primary literature. In the laboratory section of this course, we will design and execute a
complete, novel, experiment with a small group. We will investigate sleep, learning and memory in different
model organisms. The project groups will write up their results in a research article to be submitted to the
undergraduate journal "Impulse". Assignments are given to hone presentation and writing skills and to give
students the opportunity to explore their favorite topic in more detail. In this Maurer Public Speaking Intensive
course, we will build towards presenting in front of a larger audience through multiple public speaking
assignments.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: NEUR 100. Not open to First-Years.; Instructor: Gobes;
Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; EC - Epistemology and Cognition;
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: NEUR332 Title: Neuropharmacology
Neuropharmacology is the study of how drugs act on the nervous system. In this course, you will learn the
molecular mechanisms of drug action, increase your depth of knowledge of the various neurotransmitter
systems, and apply this knowledge to understand how drugs are used to treat disorders of the nervous system
including pain, sleep disorders, affective disorders, addiction, schizophrenia, neurodegeneration, seizures,
and stroke. You will have the opportunity to discuss primary literature, lead class discussions, and investigate
the properties of drugs that appear in the popular press. Through these experiences you will improve your
reading, critical thinking, writing, and oral presentation skills.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: NEUR 200 or permission of the instructor. Not open to First-Years.;
Instructor: Bauer; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: NEUR335 Title: Computational Neuroscience with Laboratory
The electrical activities of neurons in the brain underlie all of our thoughts, perceptions, and memories.
However, it is difficult to measure these neural activities experimentally, and also difficult to describe them
precisely in ordinary language. For these reasons, mathematical models and computer simulations are
increasingly used to bridge the gap between experimental measurements and hypothesized network function.
This course will focus on the use of mathematical models and computer simulations to describe the functional
dynamics of neurons in a variety of animals. Topics will range from single neuron biophysics to the analysis of
circuits thought to underlie sensory perception and memory. Topics will be introduced by background
lectures, followed by student-led presentations of primary literature and construction of a computer model of
the system studied. Lab will introduce students to computer programming of mathematical models in MATLAB
and the neuron-simulator NEURON.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: NEUR 200 and calculus at the level of MATH 115, or permission
of the instructor.; Instructor: Wiest; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: No programming experience is
required.;
Course ID: NEUR340 Title: Research or group independent study: Behavioral Neurobiology
A guided group research project focusing on selected topics from the literature and experimental research
methods of neuroscience. Specific topics will vary with each instructor and semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 8; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Intended for Juniors and
Seniors.; Instructor: Gobes; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: This course may be
repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: NEUR350 Title: Research or Individual Study
NEUR 250, NEUR 250H, NEUR 350, and NEUR 350H provide students with an opportunity to engage in
research with a faculty member. More information is available on the Research and Internship Opportunities
tab on the Neuroscience Department website. Registration takes place via the Registrar's Independent Study
App.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: NEUR350H Title: Research or Individual Study
NEUR 250, NEUR 250H, NEUR 350, and NEUR 350H provide students with an opportunity to engage in
research with a faculty member. More information is available on the Research and Internship Opportunities
tab on the Neuroscience Department website. Registration takes place via the Registrar's Independent Study
App.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: NEUR360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Peace and Justice Studies
An Interdepartmental Major
The Peace and Justice Studies Department provides a program of study that integrates the many areas of
intellectual inquiry relating to the historical and contemporary search for a peaceful and just society and world.
Peace and Justice Studies Major
Peace and Justice Studies Department Purpose and Learning Objectives
The Peace and Justice Studies Department offers students an engaged intellectual focus on diminishing
violence, transforming conflict, making and building peace, and achieving justice. It combines the social
scientific analysis of conflict with the multidisciplinary study of strategies for promoting peace and justice.
Areas of major focus in the Department are international and intra-national conflict and peacemaking in the
United States and elsewhere; forms of conflict transformation; inequities of race, class and gender; the political
economy of conflict and peacebuilding; human rights; grassroots organizing; justice; and nonviolence. The
core of the Department consists of five courses: an introductory course, three mid-level courses, and a
capstone seminar. Peace and Justice Studies includes coursework, research opportunities, advising,
experiential and co-curricular opportunities, including field-based courses and a wintersession course in India.
The Department equips students to:
1. Recognize, articulate, analyze, and assess the nature and sources of large-scale as well as small-scale
violence, conflict, conflict transformation, and perspectives about peace and justice.
2. Analyze and apply general theories of conflict and conflict transformation to specific cases, regions,
and issues.
3. Engage and put into practice theories of social justice, peace, and conflict transformation in the outside
world, through externships, internships, field-study-based courses, and through the cultivation of
intelligent compassion and a sense of justice.
4. Apply the knowledge, skills, and values acquired in P&J studies to enhance their capability in their
areas of concentration and interest.
5. Use concepts from multiple disciplines to examine the causes of violence and conflict, to transform
conflict, and to seek justice.
6. Make ethical decisions based upon critical thinking, empathy, and responsibility.
Requirements for the Peace and Justice Studies Major (starting with class of 2028)
The major and the concentration should be designed in consultation with the Department Chair. Students are
expected to complete nine (9) units of coursework.
The major consists of the following:
5 required units:
PEAC 104
Introduction to the Study of Conflict, Justice, and Peace
1.0
PEAC 204
Conflict Transformation in Theory and Practice
1.0
PEAC 332
Capstone Seminar: Civic Engagement in Theory and
1.0
Practice
Two additional PEAC courses above the 100 Level (1.0 each)
Four units above the 100 level in an area of concentration, including at least one at the 300 level. Students
must elect a concentration in consultation with the Department Chair and a faculty member knowledgeable in
the area of concentration, and demonstrate the intellectual coherence of the concentration.
Students majoring in Peace and Justice Studies must also undertake an experiential education component at
the same time or prior to enrolling in the capstone seminar (PEAC 332). This component is intended to provide
students with experience that complements and extends their theoretical learning in PEAC 332. It should be
discussed with the major advisor and may include Wintersession, summer or yearlong internships, courserelated experiential education, or community service projects.
Honors in Peace and Justice Studies
The Peace and Justice Studies Department offers majors two programs for pursuing honors
Eligibility
In order to be able to participate in the honors program, students must have a 3.5 GPA in courses above the
100-level that are listed on their major declaration form. If the GPA falls between 3.0 and 3.5, the Department
may petition CCAP on the student’s behalf, if it supports the student’s honors work. In addition, students must
have completed PEAC 104, PEAC 204 and at least two PEAC courses at the 200 level or above before the
project commences. Students interested in pursuing honors should discuss their plans with one or more
potential advisors and the Peace and Justice Studies Department Chair during the semester prior to the start
of the project.
Program I: Senior Honors Thesis
Students pursuing departmental honors under program I enroll in a full year sequence (PEAC 360/PEAC 370)
in which they write a senior thesis. Engaging in the completion of an honors thesis in Peace & Justice Studies
enables students to examine a number of questions that they co-discover working closely with their advisor(s)
during the course of an entire academic year. Peace & Justice Studies students seeking to undertake a thesis
will work closely with one or two Peace & Justice Studies faculty members throughout their thesis process,
who will supervise the thesis.
Program II: Independent Action/Reflection Study (PEAC 350) and Written Exam
Under this program, seniors Peace & Justice Studies majors qualify for honors on the basis of a project carried
out in the context of a one-semester PEAC 350. The project has both an action and a reflection component.
For the action component, students in consultation with their faculty advisor undertake a Wintersession,
summer, semester, or yearlong internship, experiential education program, or community service project. The
reflection component consists of a research project and final paper related to the student’s internship and area
of concentration (PEAC 350), conducted under the supervision of a Peace & Justice Studies faculty member in
the fall of the student’s senior year. In the spring semester, the student will take a written self-scheduled
examination in the broad field of Peace & Justice Studies that includes the topics covered in the PEAC 350
project and internship and also the field in general and the student's area of concentration. Receiving honors
depends upon satisfactory performance in the PEAC 350 and internship projects as well as the written
examination.
Peace and Justice Studies Minor
The minor in Peace & Justice Studies consists of five units of coursework. The five units of course work must
include the following:
PEAC 104 Introduction to the Study of Conflict, Justice, and Peace (1.0)
PEAC 204 Conflict Transformation in Theory and Practice (1.0)
PEAC 332 Capstone Seminar: Civic Engagement in Theory and Practice (1.0)
Two additional courses above the 100 level (1.0 unit each) in the student’s individual area of concentration, to
be chosen in consultation with the minor advisor.
PEAC Courses
Course ID: AFR243/PEAC243 Title: The Black Church
This course examines the development of the Black Church and the complexities of black religious life in the
United States. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this course explores the religious life of African Americans
from twin perspectives: 1) historical, theological dimensions, and 2) the cultural expression, particularly music
and art. Special emphasis will be placed on gospel music, Womanist and Black Liberation theologies as forms
of political action and responses to interpretations of race in the context of American religious pluralism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST225/PEAC227/SOC225 Title: Life in the Big City: Urban Studies and Policy
This course will introduce students to core readings in the field of urban studies. While the course will focus on
cities in the United States, we will also look comparatively at the urban experience in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America and cover debates on “global cities.” Topics will include the changing nature of community, social
inequality, political power, socio-spatial change, technological change, and the relationship between the built
environment and human behavior. We will examine the key theoretical paradigms driving this field since its
inception, assess how and why they have changed over time, and discuss the implications of these shifts for
urban scholarship and social policy. The course will include fieldwork in Boston and presentations by city
government practitioners.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST290/PEAC290 Title: Afro-Latinas/os in the U.S.
This course examines the experiences and cultures of Afro-Latinas/os, people of both African and Latin
American descent, in the United States. We will consider how blackness intersects with Latina/o identity, using
social movements, politics, popular culture, and literature as the bases of our analysis. This course addresses
these questions transnationally, taking into account not only racial dynamics within the United States, but also
the influence of dominant Latin American understandings of race and national identity. We will consider the
social constructions of blackness and Latinidad; the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the
Latina/o community; immigration and racial politics; representations of Afro-Latinas/os in film, music, and
literature; and African American-Latino relations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rivera-Rideau; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: ANTH220/PEAC220 Title: Epidemics and Pandemics: Biopolitics, and disparities in historical and
cultural perspective
The course will examine epidemics and pandemics and how they shape society and culture. It will explore
catastrophic disease events such as the 4th century BC Ancient Greek plague, the Black Death of Medieval
Europe, the European infectious diseases that killed native populations of the Americas, the Spanish flu of
1918, the AIDS/HIV epidemic in the late 20th century, and the present-day coronavirus pandemic. Key
questions that will guide the course are: 1. Who holds the bio-political power to guide the population through
the danger of widespread morbidity, and how is this power used and/or abused? 2. What kind of
socioeconomic, gender, ethnic ,and racial disparities are perpetuated and constructed in times of disease? 3.
How do individual political entities cooperate and coordinate in their efforts to curtail disease? 4. How is the
rhetoric of “war” employed to describe epidemic and pandemic diseases? 5. What are the effects of actual
war, violence, and genocide that often follow epidemics? 6. What are the uses and the limitations of
international public health organizations in addressing pandemics?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Karakasidou; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ANTH231/PEAC231 Title: Anthropology In and Of the City
This course serves as an introduction to urban anthropology. It is organized around four particular places on
the cityscape that stand as symbolic markers for larger anthropological questions we will examine throughout
the course: the market stall, the gated community, the barricade, and the levee. We will explore the rise of
global cities, including the role of labor migration, squatter settlements, and institutions of global capitalism,
and interrogate the aesthetic practices that inscribe social exclusion onto the urban built environment. We will
approach the city as contested space, a stage on which social, economic, and political struggles are waged.
And, we will ask how those experiences shape our understanding of contemporary forms of social, political,
and economic inequality, and how people “made do” and make claims to their right to the city.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Ellison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: ECON222/PEAC222 Title: Games of Strategy
Should you sell your house at an auction where the highest bidder gets the house, but only pays the secondhighest bid? Should the U.S. government institute a policy of never negotiating with terrorists? The effects of
decisions in such situations often depend on how others react to them. This course introduces some basic
concepts and insights from the theory of games that can be used to understand any situation in which
strategic decisions are made. The course will emphasize applications rather than formal theory. Extensive use
is made of in-class experiments, examples, and cases drawn from business, economics, politics, movies, and
current events.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 21; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P. Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and
Seniors.; Instructor: Skeath; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive
Course.;
Course ID: EDUC207/PEAC207/SOC207 Title: Schools and Society
Does education in the United States encourage social mobility or help to reproduce the socioeconomic
hierarchy? What is the hidden curriculum—the ideas, values, and skills that students learn at school that are
not in the textbook? Who determines what gets taught in school? How do schools in the US compare to
school systems in other countries? What makes school reform so hard to do?
Questions like these drive this course. It offers students an introduction to the sociology of education by
broadly exploring the role of education in American society. The course covers key sociological perspectives
on education, including conflict theory, functionalism, and human and cultural capital. Other topics include
schools and communities; the role of teachers, students, parents, mentors, and peers in educational
inequalities (including tracking and measures of achievement), school violence, school reform, and knowledge
production. We also look comparatively at education systems across the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC215/PEAC215 Title: Educational Inequality and Social Transformation in Schools
In this course students will engage with a spectrum of historic and contemporary school reform efforts across
different contexts in the United States. Making use of a diverse array of texts from articles to podcasts and
videos, students will struggle with both the promise of education as a tool for remedying race- and class-based
inequalities and the stubborn reality that too often schools reflect and reproduce injustice. The structure of the
course session and activities prompts students to learn about and experience alternative educational
possibilities. Working in groups, pairs, and as individuals, students will explore scholarship and cases in
educational anthropology, sociology, history, and critical theory, while questioning the purposes, processes,
and products of schooling. Central to the course is the community students create with the instructor for
mutual learning support and debate. All members of the course are engaged in a learning stance that centers
a discipline of hope and engages with the proposition that communities can organize their own struggle to
define and demand a humanizing and liberatory education. Students also have multiple opportunities to
explore their own educational experiences and design their own research or educational initiatives to act on
their learning.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 22; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores and Juniors. Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: D'Andrea Martinez; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC321/PEAC312/SOC312 Title: Seminar: De-centering and Re-centering: Social Theory Across
the Globe
Cultural and intellectual life is still dominated by the West. Although we recognize the importance of globalizing
scholarship, our research and teaching still prioritizes western canons and frameworks. Cultural and
intellectual inequality are part and parcel of socioeconomic inequality. If we don’t do better at one, we will not
do better at the other. We need to master a broader range of methods, tools, and ways of knowing. In this
class, Wellesley College students work with students and faculty from Latin America, Asia, and Africa to
explore what it means to produce, disseminate, teach about, and act upon knowledge more equitably in
different parts of the world. Our goals are to (1) learn to read power in physical, intellectual, virtual, and cultural
spaces by witnessing, evaluating, and then acting, (2) gain exposure to ways of asking and answering
questions outside the West, (3) reread classical theories in context to explore how we can reinterpret their
usefulness and meaning, (4) understand and develop new engaged and critical pedagogies and forms of
education, and (5) promote a decentered attitude, that charts more equitable and inclusive forms of intellectual
engagement and collaboration.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least two 200-level or above courses in the social sciences
including Peace and Justice Studies.; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG259/PEAC259 Title: Bearing Witness: Conflict, Trauma, and Narrative in Africa and the African
Diaspora
This course explores the role of written and cinematic narratives along with photography in response to
traumatic historic events, focusing on select regions of Africa and on African Diaspora societies in the U.S. and
Caribbean. We’ll explore the roles of (and relationships between) narrator, witness, audience and victim, both
historically and in light of new social media, and discuss how these relationships give rise to particular
representations of perpetrators, victims and saviors. Topics to be considered in relation to such narratives
might include: colonization, genocide, apartheid, the continuing impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and
systemic racism on African-American and Caribbean societies. Works might include Joseph Conrad, Heart of
Darkness; Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart or No Longer at Ease; Chimamanda Adiche, Half of a Yellow Sun;
Toni Morrison, Beloved; Junot Diaz, The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao; short fiction of the Apartheid Era;
short fiction/essays by James Baldwin; Films: Fruitvale Station, 13th, Kinyarwanda, Lumumba. Students will
be introduced to postcolonial literary theory and trauma narrative theory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Not open to student who have taken ENG 388/PEAC 388.;
Instructor: Cezair-Thompson; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ENG277/PEAC277 Title: Representing War
As author Viet Thanh Nguyen notes, “All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time
in memory.” The ways armed conflicts are represented play a determining factor not only our collective
memory of them, but also in the way we conduct ourselves. This course will explore a range of approaches to
representing war in the twentieth century. Among the questions we will ask are: When does war begin, and
when does it end? At what distance do we sense war, and at what scale does it become legible? What are the
stakes of writing, filming, or recording war, or for that matter, studying its representations? We will address
these issues through units on violence, trauma, apocalypse, mourning, repair, visuality, and speed. Texts will
include novels, short stories, Supreme Court cases, poetry, graphic novels, films, journalism, and theory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rich; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG334/PEAC334 Title: Seminar: Imagining Justice in Law and Literature: Rights, Reparations,
Reconciliation
This course explores the complex relationship between literature and law, focusing on how each represents
and responds to violence and its aftermath, especially in terms of memory and repair. Our goal will not be to
judge the efficacy of literary and legal projects, but rather to study how they imagine and enact issues of
testimony, commemoration, apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation. We will seek to understand how different
forms of life correspond to the various legal theories and codes we’ll encounter, and how literature challenges
or corroborates these specifically legal subjects, life worlds, and behaviors. We will also ask whether there are
cases in which literature intervenes in jurisprudence, imagining or demanding its own model of law. The class
will explore these issues in relation to existing twentieth-century juridical paradigms such as postwar military
trials, human rights, reparations, and reconciliation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one literature course in any department or by permission
of the instructor to other qualified students.; Instructor: Rich; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ENG388/PEAC388 Title: Trauma, Conflict, and Narrative: Tales of Africa and the African Diaspora
This course explores the role of narratives in response to mass trauma, focusing on regions of Africa and
African Diaspora societies. Drawing on the emerging fields of trauma narrative, we will examine the
effectiveness of oral, written and cinematic narratives in overcoming legacies of suffering and building peace.
Topics include: violence in colonial and postcolonial Central Africa, the Biafran war, South Africa during and
after Apartheid and Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. We will also explore the trans-Atlantic slave trade and its impact
on African-American and Caribbean societies. Types of narrative include novels, memoirs, films, plays, and
data from truth and reconciliation commissions. Students will be exposed to trauma narrative not only as text
but as a social and political instrument for post-conflict reconstruction.
Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: At least one literature course in any department or by permission
of the instructor to other qualified students.; Instructor: Cezair-Thompson (English); Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: ENGR305/PEAC305 Title: Intersections of Technology, Social Justice, and Conflict
This course explores the intersections between social justice, conflict, and engineering using an
interdisciplinary, hands-on, case study approach. We will explore four technologies (drones, cell phones,
cookstoves and water pumps), exploring in each case both the embodied engineering concepts and the
ethical and political implications of using the technology. The case studies will inform our discussions of the
following big ideas: technology is directly linked to social justice and can have both highly beneficial and?
highly problematic results for the development and transformation of conflicts; understanding technology at a
deeper level is critical to understanding the justice impact on communities and people; media communication
about technology and technological innovations' benefits can be hyperbolic and requires a critical lens. Peace
and Justice Studies majors must register for PEAC 305. Students in other majors may register for either PEAC
305 or ENGR 305 depending on their preparation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: For PEAC 305 - PEAC 104 and PEAC 204, or permission of the
instructor (Confortini). For ENGR 305 - one ENGR course, or a comparable course at another institution, or
permission of the instructor (Banzaert).; Instructor: Confortini, Banzaert; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not
satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ES125H/PEAC125H Title: The Climate Crisis and the Liberal Arts
The humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences are indispensable to understanding the climate
crisis. Drawing on perspectives from across the liberal arts, the course instructors will plumb the depths of the
climate crisis and imagine the possible ways of responding to it. What can the role of climate in human history
reveal about our uncertain future? How do social constructions, including race and gender, shape our
understanding of this problem? How have diverse cultures of the world related to nature and climate and how
can our own relationships to nature and climate inform our responses? Can the arts help us to reconceive the
crisis? How can the sciences help us assess and adapt to our future climate? Can we leverage psychological
processes to change individual attitudes toward the environment? By examining such questions, we aim for
deeper knowledge, both of the climate crisis and of the power of liberal arts education.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 80; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Banzaert, Brabander, Kulik-Johnson, Morari,
Shukla-Bhatt, Turner; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: FREN235/PEAC235 Title: Antislavery Literature and Abolition in Nineteenth-Century France (in
English)
This course examines the development of antislavery thought in French literature from the end of the
eighteenth century through the first half of the nineteenth century. We will analyze the imagery, narratives and
presuppositions on which authors relied and in turn reproduced to express antislavery sentiment. We will pay
attention to how the Haitian Revolution; French abolition of the slave trade and other models of abolition
shaped a culture of moral repugnance at France’s ongoing economic dependence on the practice of chattel
slavery. Referring to this context, we will consider the particular voice of antislavery literature in producing
abolitionist arguments. On what grounds did French authors understand and denounce colonial slavery? How
did antislavery texts participate in a movement towards abolition? How did authors depict enslaved individuals
and how did these texts contribute to nineteenth-century discourses on gender and race in France? These
questions will lead students to confront the ambiguous and complicitous intersections between abolition,
antislavery literature, imperial expansion and racism prior to the definitive abolition of slavery in 1848 and the
establishment of France’s Second Empire.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lee; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST261/PEAC261 Title: Civil War and the World
This course examines the American Civil War, one of the central conflicts in US history, by placing it within the
broader context of the making of the modern world. The course will explore the roots, consequences, and
experiences of the war—the long history of slavery and emancipation, territorial expansion and
industrialization, and the everyday experience of modern warfare. The class will do so by considering those
events through the lens of global history. We scrutinize the political upheavals around the world that gave
broader meaning to the Civil War; the emergence of modern weaponry and tactics and their consequences;
and the development of the nation-state and colonialism, which resulted in new forms of governance and
coercion that emerged in the wake of emancipation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Quintana; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: HIST263/PEAC224 Title: South Africa in Historical Perspective: Rereading the Past, Re-imagining
the Future
South Africa’s new constitution and dynamic forms of social activism and cultural expression represent
powerful forces for democracy and equality. However, the legacy of Apartheid and the constraints on the
transition to majority rule in 1991-1994 still negatively affect people’s living conditions along the lines of race,
class, and gender. This course traces South Africa’s history from 1652 to the present, with themes including:
the establishment of colonial rule; the destruction of pre-colonial polities; slavery and emancipation; White
nationalism and the establishment of Apartheid; African nationalist movements and other forms of resistance;
the fraught transition to majority rule, including the Truth and Reconciliation process; South Africa’s dynamic
popular and public culture, and ongoing efforts to counter poverty, public corruption, HIV-AIDS, gender-based
violence, and “xenophobia”.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Kapteijns; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ITAS210/PEAC210 Title: Queer Italy: LGBTQ+ Culture in Italy from Dante to Pasolini and Beyond
Considered since the Renaissance as a hom*oerotic haven, Italy was for a long time the favorite destination of
many gay writers in flight from the rigid sexual mores of their home countries. In Italy’s warmer Mediterranean
climate, rich and sensuous figurative arts, and ancient costumes, they found a culture that seemed more at
ease with a nuanced idea of human sexuality. After all, Italy is the country that gave birth to famous artists who
became icons of LGBTQ+ culture, such as the painter Caravaggio and the poet Pasolini, and that, unlike other
Western nations, never had laws criminalizing hom*oeroticism. Today, paradoxically, Italy is the Western
European country which is most lagging behind in passing legislation in support of LGBTQ+ rights. From the
lack of a full legal recognition of gay marriage and adoption rights to the failure to approve a hate-crime bill for
the protection of LGBTQ+ individuals, Italian society still shows great reluctance to grant full equal rights to
LGBTQ Italians. With these historical contradictions in the background, this course will retrace the steps of the
rich, complex, and often tortuous path of LGBTQ+ culture in Italy from the early representations of sodomy,
during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in works by Dante and Poliziano, to the shaping of a political and
social discourse around hom*osexuality in literary texts by twentieth century writers, such as Saba, Bassani,
Ginzburg, and Morante, to the emergence of a political debate on current LGBTQ+ issues, such as AIDS,
hom*ophobia, transgender and transexual rights, in works by contemporary artists, such as Tondelli, Bazzi, and
Lavagna.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Parussa; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MATH123/PEAC123 Title: Mathematics and Politics
How can a candidate in a political race win the majority of votes yet lose the election? How can two competing
candidates interpret the same statistic as being in their favor? How can the geometry of the voting district
disenfranchise entire groups of voters? Can we quantify the power the President of the United States has? In
this course, we will look at the mathematics behind these and related questions that arise in politics. We will
study topics such as fairness, voting paradoxes, social choice, game theory, apportionment, gerrymandering,
and data interpretation. The goal of the class will be to illustrate the importance of rigorous reasoning in
various social and political processes while providing an introduction to some fascinating mathematics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Volic; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: MES358/PEAC358/POL2359 Title: Palestinian Israeli Peace Prospects
This course provides an in-depth exploration of the Palestinian Israeli conflict from a comparative and social
justice perspective. Our goal is to provide an analysis of events to engage in constructive academic debates.
The class begins by contextualizing the study of the Middle East within the broader scope of comparative
politics and Peace and Justice studies. Next, we focus on the origins of the conflict: the debate about 1948, the
consolidation of the Israeli state, and the development of Palestinian and Israeli political and military
organizations. The course then delves into different dimensions of the conflict: regional geopolitics,
international relations, environmental debates, gender activism, terrorism, and the “Wall.” The last portion of
the class considers peace negotiations, conflict mediation, compromise, and solutions: the refugee question,
Jerusalem, TRCs, and the role of the United States.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PEAC 104 or PEAC 217/POL2 217 or PEAC 204 or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Hajj; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC104 Title: Introduction to the Study of Conflict, Justice, and Peace
An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of conflict, justice, and peace. The course engages students in
developing an analytical and theoretical framework for examining the dynamics of conflict, violence, and
injustice and the strategies that have been employed to attain peace and justice, including balance of power,
cooperation, diplomacy and conflict resolution, law, human rights, social movements, social justice (economic,
environmental, and race/class/gender), interpersonal communication, and religiously inspired social
transformation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores, and Juniors.; Instructor:
Confortini, Hajj; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; REP - Religion, Ethics, and
Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PEAC119Y/REL119Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Yasukuni Shinto Shrine
Discussion based seminar deals with Japan both as a victim and as a victimizer during and in the aftermath of
the World War II. It probes what drove Japan to aspire toward world domination; how the "ultimate bomb to
end all wars" was used twice on Japan in August 1945; and how the Japanese "war criminals" are enshrined
today at Yasukuni as "divine beings"; and how Yasukuni Shinto Shrine remains a major barrier in establishing
peace between Japan and its Asian neighbors. The seminar is intended for students interested in the
comparative and historical study of religion, Peace and Justice Studies, and East Asian Studies.
Requirements: active participation in discussion, joint paper writing and presentation; no exams.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories:
FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC201/WGST221 Title: Gender, Race, and the Carceral State
What is the carceral state? What do girls, women, and transgender individuals’ experiences of policing and
punishment in 21st century America reveal about its shifting dimensions? Despite public concerns about mass
incarceration in the United States and calls for criminal justice reform, mainstream commentators rarely
account for the gendered, racialized, and class dimensions of punishment, nor address the growing ranks of
girls, women, poor and gender nonconforming individuals that experience carceral control and oversight.
Interdisciplinary in scope, this course critically examines how race, gender, sexuality and class intersect and
shape people’s experience with systems of punishment and control. It further explores the economic, social,
and political factors that have influenced the development of the contemporary American carceral state and
scholarly, activist, and artistic responses to it.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One WGST course or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Melchor Hall; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PEAC204 Title: Conflict Transformation in Theory and Practice
This course provides the student with an in-depth study of conflict and its resolution. We will explore the basic
theoretical concepts of the field and apply this knowledge as we learn and practice skills for analyzing and
resolving conflicts. The course seeks to answer the following questions at both the theoretical level and the
level of engaged action: What are the causes and consequences of conflict? How do we come to know and
understand conflict? How do our assumptions about conflict affect our strategies for management, resolution,
or transformation? What methods are available for waging and resolving conflicts productively rather than
destructively?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PEAC 104 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hajj;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PEAC205/POL3236 Title: Gender, War and Peacebuilding
In this course we explore the gendered dimensions of war and peace, including how gender as a symbolic
construct configures how we makes sense of war making and peacebuilding; how differently gendered people
experience war and peace; and how peace and war are co-constitutive with gender relations. We pay
particular attention to the “continuum of violence”, from the “private” to the “public” sphere, from militarization
of everyday living to overt violent conflict. We address issues such as the political economy of war, sexualized
violence, the militarization of gendered bodies, and gendered political activism. Finally, we reflect on the
implications of gendered wars for the building of peace, looking at the gendered aspects of “post-conflict”
peacebuilding and gendered forms of resistance to political violence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Confortini; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: PEAC206/POL2220 Title: Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences
This is an introductory course for students interested in using qualitative methods in their research and
studies. By qualitative methods, I mean methods that involve small numbers of intensive observations, and
that do not rely on statistical tests for drawing causal inference. The course is designed to help students
develop proficiency in the use of qualitative methods in two respects. The first is to understand and be able to
articulate assumptions about empirical reality and arguments about knowledge production. Next, the course
will address practical considerations by helping students develop basic knowledge of principal techniques
used by qualitative researchers like: navigating the IRB process and ethics of research, conducting in depth
interviews, engaging in participant observation, and tracing archival and historical research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One other course that satisfies the Social/Behavioral Analysis
requirement.; Instructor: Hajj; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC217/POL2217 Title: Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
How do Arab-Islamic history and culture shape politics in the contemporary Middle East and North Africa? Why
is the Arab world-despite its tremendous oil-wealth-still characterized by economic underdevelopment and
acute gaps between rich and poor? How have the events of September 11 and the U.S.-led "war on terror"
affected the prospects for greater freedom and prosperity in the Middle East in the future? What do the 2011
revolts mean for the existing regimes and prospects for democracy? These are some of the questions we will
examine in this course. In readings, lectures, and class discussions, the analysis of general themes and trends
will be integrated with case studies of individual Arab states.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 35; Prerequisites: One unit in Political Science.; Instructor: Hajj; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC219/SOC209 Title: Social Inequality: Race, Class and Gender
This course examines the distribution of social resources to groups and individuals, as well as theoretical
explanations of how unequal patterns of distribution are produced, maintained, and challenged. Special
consideration will be given to how race, ethnicity, and gender intersect with social class to produce different
life experiences for people in various groups in the United States, with particular emphasis on disparities in
education, health care, and criminal justice. Consideration will also be given to policy initiatives designed to
reduce social inequalities and alleviate poverty.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rutherford; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC221/POL3232 Title: Global Health Governance
This interdisciplinary course investigates the role of international organizations, governments,
nongovernmental organizations, the media, advocacy groups, and individuals, to consider how and under
what circ*mstances the international community comes together to address transnational health issues.
Questions we will address include: What role should different actors play? What should be the ethical bases
for promoting health? To what extent do global actors’ interventions promote health equity? Focusing on a set
of health challenges that have particular impact upon the poor (HIV/AIDS, Ebola, TB, maternal mortality,
mental health, and NCDs), we will disentangle the relationships between health, politics, ethics, and the
international community, and consider some of the fundamental difficulties in health governance, including
expanding health coverage, governing global health, and setting global health priorities.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Confortini; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC223 Title: Digital Justice
Is the digital dream darkening? This course examines social justice movements and digital technologies in the
age of surveillance capitalism. We will focus on the early promises and contemporary perils of the digital age
by examining social movements and struggles for social justice around the world. Are inequalities based on
race, ethnicity, gender, and class being exacerbated by digital technologies? Could new technologies create
opportunities for advancing social justice?
We will first analyze the early cyber manifestos and imagined techno futures with the advent of the digital
world. The second part of the course will focus on contemporary surveillance pressures on individuals and
social movements by governments and private corporations with examples from around the world. We will also
discuss cyber crimes. The final part of this course will discuss the possibilities and methods of building
alternative futures of social justice by employing digital technologies. Our topics will include border
surveillance, digital colonialism, platform-based labor, algorithmic biases, data justice, pharmaceutical patents,
copyright restrictions, pirate parties, and green technologies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC225/SAS225 Title: Gandhi in His Indian Contexts
PEAC/SAS 225 is a combined fall/Wintersession course, focusing on Mohandas Gandhi as a figure of global
significance, and also one deeply rooted in Indian history and cultures. During the fall at Wellesley, students
will study the sprawling and diverse cultural/political history of India; the many cultural and religious currents
that influenced Gandhi's thought; his model of nonviolent action (Satyagraha); various models of
contemporary grassroots organizing in India; and the art/skills of travel journaling. Then, during the winter,
students will travel to Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Coimbatore, residing and studying for then days at FLAME
University in Pune. The remaining ten days will be divided between Chennai and Coimbatore, where we will
partner with Praxis- Institute for Participatory Practices- an organization working on social justice issues with a
commitment to equity and participatory governance for poor and marginalized sectors of society. Students will
keep an extensive travel journal during their time in India. This course will meet every other week. First day of
the course will be Friday, September 14th.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: PEAC 104; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt, Confortini; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC240/WGST240 Title: U.S. Public Health
A quarter century ago the Institute of Medicine defined the work of public health as "what we as a society do
collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy." Historically rooted in a commitment to
social justice, U.S. public health is now renewing this commitment through 1) an epidemiological shift to
examine the social, economic, and political inequities that create disparate health and disease patterns by
gender, class, race, sexual identity, citizenship, etc., and 2) a corresponding health equity movement in public
health practice. This broad-ranging course examines the debates shaping the above as well as the moral and
legal groundings of public health, basic epidemiology, and the roles of public and private actors. Highlighted
health topics vary year to year.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors and Seniors, or by permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Harrison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PEAC244/POL4243 Title: Democracy and Difference
One of democracy’s greatest strengths is that it gives political power to the people. But what happens when
“the people” is a diverse group with identities, interests, and desires that pull in many directions? Does
democracy function best when everyone is treated the same? As if there are no differences among them? But
what if some people are marginalized, subordinated, or stigmatized? Could pretending these stratifications
don't exist actually weaken democracy? This course explores how democracy grapples with differences
through texts in contemporary Western political theory. We will begin with liberal theories of democracy. Then
we will study feminist, critical-race, queer, and other theorists to understand democracy from the perspectives
of marginalized, subordinated, or stigmatized groups. We will not search for definitive answers or hard-and-fast
conclusions about when democracy functions best. Rather, we are interested in getting a better sense of
democracy’s many dimensions and tensions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Martorelli; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: PEAC250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PEAC250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PEAC304/POL2301 Title: Seminar: Nonviolent Direct Action in Theory and Practice
A wide-ranging study of nonviolent direct action, in theory and in practice, as a technique and as a way of life.
It begins with discussion of some classic and modern theories of nonviolent direct action but also some
modern critiques of it. It then turns to a selection of classic case studies, among them labor movements,
women's rights movements, India and Gandhi, the American Civil Rights Movement, campaigns in Europe and
Latin America against authoritarian regimes. It then expands its range, looking at how nonviolent direct action
has been deployed in campaigns of environmental justice and economic justice, and making space to
consider whatever campaigns of nonviolent direct action are going on at the moment at which the course is
being taught (e.g., in the United States today the work of Black Lives Matter).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PEAC 104 or permission of the instructor. Open to Juniors and
Seniors only.; Instructor: Confortini; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PEAC318/POL4318 Title: Human Rights
Human rights are an important issue in countries around the world and in international politics. But what are
human rights? Is there a universal definition, or do human rights vary across time and space? Who decides
when human rights are violated? When is outside action to stop such violations justified? These questions
aren’t just philosophical; they’re deeply political. How political communities answer them shapes domestic and
international policies on issues such as state violence, humanitarian aid, citizenship and migration,
(neo)colonialism, global capital, and efforts of various kinds to promote human freedom. This course will use
texts in contemporary political theory and historical and contemporary case studies to explore the intuitively
important, yet vaguely understood, concept of human rights. Case studies will examine human rights in the
United States (for example, interrogation torture policy, Black Lives Matter, or sanctuary cities) and the
international context (for example, the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, or the
2003 invasion of Iraq).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One course in political theory or philosophy or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Martorelli; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PEAC330/REL330 Title: Seminar: Religion and Violence
Is religion inherently violent, or do external forces like political factionalism and ethnic hostility exploit it to gain
power? This course explores these and other questions to theorize the sources and manifestations of religious
violence. Topics include the role of violence in sacred texts and traditions, intra- and interreligious conflicts,
religion and nationalism, and religious violence in today's global society. Historical and contemporary
examples selected from world religious traditions and global geography, with particular attention to the role of
religion in the rise of violent American survivalist, paramilitary, and internet movements.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One of the following - HIST 205, REL 200, REL 230, PEAC 104, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes:
Normally alternates with REL 319.;
Course ID: PEAC332 Title: Capstone Seminar: Civic Engagement in Theory and Practice
A vital peaceful society depends on the active participation of its people. What does it take for people to
engage productively as informed, skilled, and effective members in communities across the world? Whether
we are scientists, doctors, engineers, advocates, public servants, or anything else, we are all members of
pluralistic communities. Who is able and motivated to engage (much less lead), however, is often limitedleading to significant challenges for the practice of a just and peaceful society. Moreover, translating the
people’s engagement into power is a strategic dilemma. This class seeks to overcome some of the limits to
participation by combining theory and practice in a reflection of students’ experiential learning. First, the class
examines theories of civic engagement, community organizing, monitoring and evaluation, service, and
humanitarianism using real world cases and data. Next, the class examines practical hurdles and opportunities
for the effective translation of participation into power and action. Then the class provides a framework, using
Patti Clayton’s DEAL matrix, for a critical reflection and assessment of student’s real-world engagement.
Finally, the class concludes with an exportable blueprint for making a more just and peaceful society. This
class is the Senior Capstone course for all P&J majors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PEAC 104 and PEAC 204.; Instructor: Hajj; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Notes: The experiential learning position may be completed prior to or in tandem with
enrollment in the course. The experiential position should be discussed with the student’s P&J major or minor
advisor and may include Wintersession programs, summer or yearlong internships, course-related experiential
education programs, or community service projects. This class is the senior capstone class for all Peace and
Justice Studies majors and minors.;
Course ID: PEAC346/REL346 Title: Seminar: Decolonizing the Bible
This seminar considers the difficult paradox of the Bible as both a tool for colonization and decolonization. We
will frame this problem in three parts. First, we will engage post-colonial theory to interrogate the biblical text
as a record of interaction with the various empires of the ancient Middle East, North Africa, and Mediterranean.
Second, we will interrogate the Bible as a tool of empire and the European and colonial agenda, with a focus
primarily on British, French, and Spanish despoliation of Africa, the Middle East, and Central America. Finally,
we will explore the Bible as a tool for decolonization by engaging biblical interpretation by marginalized groups
(womanist, mujerista, indigenous, and queer approaches). Our goal is to investigate the role of the Bible as a
source of both harm and healing in the history of the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: A course in a relevant subject area such as religion, history, Peace
and Justice studies, Jewish studies, Middle Eastern Studies, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered:
Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PEAC350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PEAC350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PEAC357/POL3357 Title: Technology and Global Political Economy
This course explores the interplay between technology, global governance, and global economy from the last
quarter of the twentieth century to the present day. The course focuses on the rise of digital economy and its
repercussions using a critical lens and analyzes various theories of knowledge economy and information
society. We will examine the relationships between information and communication technologies,
restructuration of the global economy and transformation of related international regimes. Our topics will
include globalization of intellectual property rights, innovation, technology transfer, piracy, censorship,
governance of cyber space, uses and misuses of surveillance technologies, entrepreneurial state, digital
commons, global digital divide, and global value chains. We will analyze case studies such as pharmaceutical
access during public health emergencies, cryptocurrencies, and technology and climate change mitigation. ?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: POLS3 221 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Bedirhanoglu; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: PEAC370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: PEAC 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: PEAC392/POL3392 Title: Truth Commissions: Conceptual Foundations and Case Studies
Truth Commissions (TCs) have been a mechanism to uncover, document, and recognize human rights
violations and to honor victims at moments of transition from dictatorships to democracies, and from wars to
post-war contexts. TCs vary in their mandates, composition, and tasks, and have mixed records of success,
despite the frequently high expectations. They often stand as acts of reparation, catalysts of larger processes
of peacebuilding and dignification of victims. In this course, you will join a group of Notre Dame graduate
students to study together the conceptual foundations of TCs and learn from different case studies. We will
investigate the background and rationale provided for their creation, their mandate and scope, composition
and structure, and analyze their work and post-report reception. We will pay attention to issues such as
intersectional approaches of gender and ethnicity, the participation of victims and responsible ones, the
complementarity of commissions with other forms of transitional justice, and the management and access to
their archives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PEAC 104, PEAC 204, or permission of the instructor. Open only to
juniors and seniors.; Instructor: Confortini; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PEAC393/POL3393 Title: Seminar: Women and Conflict
The seminar will examine a variety of topics concerning the dynamic between women and conflict including
whether a lack of women’s rights leads to conflict, the contributions of women to security, women’s
mobilization for conflict, the sex gap in conflict-related public opinion, and women’s rights after war. A variety
of methodological approaches, including positivist as well as critical theoretical perspectives, will be covered
to better understand the strengths, limitations, and complementarities of different approaches to studying
women and conflict. In other words, we will use these different approaches to gain clarity on how we “know
what we know” about women and conflict. Students will spend a significant portion of the class contending
with issues of measurement, conceptual validity and ruling out alternative explanations. Key historical
developments with relevance to women and conflict such as the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), women’s involvement in the military, and the passing of the Murad
Code will also be discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL3 221. Another POL3 course, or a course in a related field
such as history or economics is recommended.; Instructor: Torres; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PEAC396/POL3396 Title: Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and International Intervention
How does the international community try to establish and maintain peace? This course explores the ways in
which international actors try to establish and maintain peace. It focuses on peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and
international intervention more broadly. Throughout the course we will cover topics in the peacekeeping and
peacebuilding fields such as what peace is, how conceptions of peace differ at the international versus the
local level, by which avenues the international community tries to maintain peace, the conditions under which
international peacekeeping and peacebuilding are effective, and the unintended consequences of international
action. We will explore militarized and non-militarized international interventions, their development since the
conception of peacekeeping and policy critiques against and in favor of international intervention as a means
of maintaining peace.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221; Instructor: Torres; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Philosophy
One of the marks of philosophy, and one of its strengths, is that it identifies and examines assumptions that we
make in our ordinary lives or that are made in other areas of study. Many would also accept a definition of
philosophy as the attempt to answer, or at least to better understand, very basic questions about the universe
and our place in it. A striking thing about these assumptions and questions is that many of us live as if we were
clear about them even though we have never even asked about them. We accept one belief and dismiss
another without asking what it takes for a belief to be worthy of acceptance. We decide whether an act is right
or wrong without even asking what the difference is between right and wrong. A famous passage by the
philosopher David Hume, written when he was about 25, expresses the impulse to philosophize: “I am uneasy
to think I approve of one object, and disapprove of another; call one thing beautiful, and another deformed;
decide concerning truth and falsehood, reason and folly, without knowing upon what principles I proceed.”
The clarity, depth and rigor encouraged in philosophy courses are useful not only in philosophy, but also in
any other area of study, and it is a major that is welcomed by graduate programs in many fields, as well as by
employers and professional schools.
Philosophy Major
Goals for the Philosophy Major
The goals for the Philosophy major student:
Students will develop facility and skill in interpreting and reconstructing the arguments found in dense
and challenging philosophical texts.
Students will master philosophical terminology used to characterize philosophical claims and the
arguments offered in support of them across the three central branches of philosophy--metaphysics,
epistemology, and value theory.
Students will be able to recognize and evaluate important and influential positions taken on central
debates within the history of philosophy, develop and defend their own interpretive positions
concerning these debates, and be able to articulate the ways that historical philosophical concepts and
arguments have informed contemporary debates.
Students will acquire a broad acquaintance with central debates in ethics, moral theory, and social and
political philosophy, and be able to recognize and assess the evaluative commitments underlying
specific normative claims and positions.
Students will acquire a broad acquaintance with important questions in metaphysics and epistemology,
and be able to recognize and assess the commitments underlying specific claims and positions.
Students will be able to provide an effective defense of a philosophical position both orally and in
writing by (1) clearly formulating and explaining the position, (2) providing arguments that support it,
and (3) anticipating compelling objections that could be raised to that position, and providing wellconsidered responses to those objections.
Requirements for the Philosophy Major
The major in Philosophy consists of at least nine units. PHIL 201 and PHIL 221 are required of all majors. In
order to assure that all majors are familiar with the breadth of the field, every major must take at least two units
in each of subfields B and C. Majors are strongly encouraged to take a third unit in subfield A. Students
planning graduate work in philosophy should take PHIL 216 and acquire a reading knowledge of Latin, Greek,
French, or German. In order to assure that students have acquired some depth in philosophy, the department
requires that each major complete at least two 300-level units; these units must be in different subfields of
Philosophy and at least one of the 300-level units must be a Philosophy seminar (as opposed to PHIL 350
Independent Study, or PHIL 360 or PHIL 370 Honors Thesis) taken at Wellesley.
Subfield Information
The Philosophy department divides its courses and seminars into three subfields:
(A) the history of philosophy: PHIL 102, PHIL 200, PHIL 201, PHIL 221, PHIL 325, PHIL 300, PHIL 301,
PHIL 305, PHIL 306, PHIL 307, PHIL 310;
(B) value theory: PHIL 102, PHIL 105, PHIL 106, PHIL 108, PHIL 111, PHIL 203, PHIL 213, PHIL 220, PHIL
222, PHIL 226, PHIL 227, PHIL 228, PHIL 229, PHIL 230, PHIL 233, PHIL 234, PHIL 235, PHIL 244,
PHIL 249, PHIL 300, PHIL 301, PHIL 303, PHIL 304, PHIL 306, PHIL 307, PHIL 310, PHIL 316, PHIL
317, PHIL 318, PHIL 323, PHIL 330, PHIL 331, PHIL 333, PHIL 338, PHIL 340, PHIL 341, PHIL 342,
PHIL 345; PHIL 366;
(C) metaphysics and theory of knowledge: PHIL 103, PHIL 112, PHIL 200, PHIL 207, PHIL 215, PHIL
216, PHIL 218, PHIL 220, PHIL 227, PHIL 229, PHIL 230, PHIL 245, PHIL 300, PHIL 306, PHIL 310,
PHIL 311, PHIL 317, PHIL 318, PHIL 319, PHIL 323, PHIL 325, PHIL 331, PHIL 333, PHIL 341, PHIL
345.
Honors in Philosophy
Honors in the Philosophy major may be earned by writing a thesis or a set of related essays, and passing an
oral examination.
Students who meet the college standard for eligibility for departmental honors (GPA of 3.5 or more for courses
above the 100 level in Philosophy) may apply to write an honors thesis in philosophy. (Departments may
petition on behalf of students whose average is below 3.5 but above 3.0 if they have exceptional
qualifications.) Members of the department prefer to see that the student has made substantial progress
towards satisfying the course requirements for the major. This typically requires having taken at least six
Philosophy courses by the end of the junior year. These courses will usually include PHIL 201, PHIL 221 and at
least one 300-level seminar. Details regarding the application process are available here:
http://www.wellesley.edu/philosophy/honors
Applications are due to the department chair by April 1 of the student's junior year.
Transfer Credit in Philosophy
The department participates in exchange programs with Brandeis and MIT. Both schools have excellent
philosophy departments, and students are encouraged to consult the respective catalogs for offerings.
Courses for Credit Toward the Philosophy Major
EDUC 102
Education in Philosophical Perspective
1.0
WRIT 114
EDUC 102 Education in Philosophical Perspective
1.0
Philosophy Minor
Requirements for the Philosophy Minor
The minor in philosophy consists of five units. No more than one of these units may be at the 100 level; PHIL
201 or PHIL 221 is required of all minors; at least one of the five units must be at the 300 level.
PHIL Courses
Course ID: ARTH324/PHIL324 Title: Seminar: Meat: Visuals, Politics, Ethics
The scale of the meat industry and its adverse environmental and climate impacts alongside burgeoning
scientific understandings of non-human intelligence require urgent reevaluation of our relationship to animals
as food: How has visual culture (historical and contemporary), both in advertising and in popular culture,
separated meat as a food from the process of animal slaughter that produces it? How do we negotiate
between our food traditions and ethical obligation to move away from practices rooted in violence? Why do we
value some animals as companions while commodifying others as food? What is speciesism and in what ways
can it shape our understanding of animal oppression? We engage these questions and more using visual
culture and ethical frameworks to critique the prevailing political and cultural norms that desensitize us to the
implications of meat consumption.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One course in either Philosophy or Art History.; Instructor: Oliver
and Walsh; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: BISC232/PHIL232 Title: Agency, Ethics, and Biology
This is a team-taught Babson-Olin-Wellesley course. This course investigates the ethics of biological science,
technology, and innovation. Topics include: the costs and benefits of scientific progress, recombinant DNA
and DNA sequencing, the ethics of clinical trials, trust relationships between scientists and their communities,
and the intersections between science and non-human animals/the environment. We will examine these topics
through both biological and philosophical lenses, develop an understanding of core principles of biology in
context, and use the concepts of agency, trust, and progress to shape our discussions. Our guiding questions
include: What is the relationship between a scientific innovation being technically feasible and morally
permissible? What if anything do scientists owe the public? Is a person’s tissue still theirs even if it has been
removed from their body? How much modification of our genetic code is morally permissible? Is the suffering
and death of non-human animals an acceptable cost of doing scientific research? What are the moral
responsibilities of the scientists and engineers who develop and build new technologies?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walsh, Jean Huang (Olin, Biology); Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course can
fulfill the elective course requirement for the BISC major, but does not fulfill the core 200 level course
requirement for the major.;
Course ID: CS299/PHIL222 Title: Research Methods for Ethics of Technology
How do we educate the next generation of data scientists, software engineers, and user experience designers
to think of their work as not just technical but also ethical? What moral responsibilities come with the design,
adoption, use, and consumption of digital technology? The way that these questions are interrogated,
discussed, and the sort of answers we might propose will be informed by a thoroughgoing interdisciplinary
lens. Students will learn theoretical frameworks from both Philosophy and Computational and Data Sciences
and work together to see how knowledge of frameworks from both disciplines serves to enrich our
understanding of the ethical issues that face the development and employment of digital technologies, as well
as empower us to find creative solutions. This course includes a sustained, semester-long research project,
hence the additional meeting time.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walsh (Philosophy), Mustafaraj (Computer
Science); Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CS334/PHIL322 Title: Seminar: Methods for Ethics of Technology
How do we educate the next generation of data scientists and software engineers to think of their work as not
just technical but also ethical? How do we get them to see that the social impact of their work requires that it
be driven by sound ethical principles? The way that these questions are interrogated, discussed, and the sort
of answers we might propose will be informed by a thoroughgoing interdisciplinary lens. Students will learn
theoretical frameworks from both Philosophy and Computational and Data Sciences and work together to see
how knowledge of frameworks from both disciplines serves to enrich our understanding of the ethical issues
that face digital technologies, as well as empower us to find creative solutions.
Central questions include: What kinds of ethical considerations are part of the everyday jobs of graduates
working in digital technology, either in non-profit or for-profit organizations? What parts of the current liberal
arts curriculum, if any, are preparing our graduates for the kinds of ethical decision-making they need to
engage in? How to expand the reach of ethical reasoning within the liberal arts curriculum, in order to
strengthen the ethical decision-making preparation? A key component in our collective efforts to engage with
these questions will involve a sustained semester-long research project with Wellesley alums working in the
field of digital tech.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One course in Philosophy, Computer Science, MAS, or Statistics,
and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Walsh (Philosophy), Mustafaraj (Computer Science); Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES233/PHIL233 Title: Environmental Ethics
This course will train students to use philosophical methods to engage in rigorous investigation of ethical
issues concerning the environment. Topics may include animal rights, climate justice, the rights of ecological
refugees, obligations to future generations, and the ethics of environmental activism.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: E. Matthes (Philosophy); Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: ES234/PHIL234 Title: From Wilderness to Ruins
This course concerns a range of ethical and aesthetic questions about places, whether of natural or cultural
significance. How should we understand the value of nature? Is it relative to human interests, or independent
of them? What is nature in the first place, and how is it distinguished from culture? Is scientific or cultural
knowledge relevant to the aesthetic experience of nature? Does “natural beauty” have a role to play in guiding
environmental preservation? When we seek to preserve an ecosystem or a building, what exactly should we be
aiming to preserve? Should the history of a place guide our interactions with it? How should we navigate
conflicts between environmental and cultural preservation, especially as they intersect with issues of race and
class? How should a changing climate affect our environmental values? We will investigate these questions,
among others, in contexts from wilderness to parks, cities to ruins.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: E. Matthes; Distribution Requirements:
REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This
course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ES235/PHIL235 Title: Environmental Aesthetics
The world around us is rich with aesthetic qualities. It is beautiful, awesome, enchanting, and sublime. Places
have moods, vibes, atmospheres, and ambiances. How can we think rigorously and systematically about the
aesthetics of the natural and built environment? What role, if any, should aesthetics play in environmentalism,
environmental policy, and our relationship with the world we live in? This course will focus on contemporary
philosophical work that seeks to answer these questions. Themes may include the place of science,
imagination, history, and culture in aesthetic judgment, the role of aesthetics in conservation, and the
relationship between aesthetics and climate change.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Matthes; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ES308/PHIL308 Title: Seminar: Environmental Aesthetics
The world around us is rich with aesthetic qualities. It is beautiful, awesome, enchanting, and sublime. Places
have moods, vibes, atmospheres, and ambiances. How can we think rigorously and systematically about the
aesthetics of the natural and built environment? What role, if any, should aesthetics play in environmentalism,
environmental policy, and our relationship with the world we live in? This course will focus on contemporary
philosophical work that seeks to answer these questions. Themes may include the place of science,
imagination, history, and culture in aesthetic judgment, the role of aesthetics in conservation, and the
relationship between aesthetics and climate change.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open to Majors and Minors in Philosophy and Environmental
Studies, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: E. Matthes; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion,
Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: PHIL103 Title: Self and World: Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology
This course introduces basic philosophical methods and concepts by exploring a variety of approaches to
some central philosophical problems. Topics covered may include the existence of God, the relation between
reason and faith, skepticism and certainty, personal identity and the nature of time, and the compatibility of
free will and causal determinism. Readings are drawn from historical and contemporary texts. Discussions and
assignments encourage the development of the student's own critical perspective on the problems discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: McGowan (Fall); Wearing (Spring);; Distribution
Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHIL106 Title: Introduction to Moral Philosophy
A study of central issues in moral philosophy, with readings drawn from historical and contemporary texts.
Topics include the nature of morality, conceptions of justice, views of human nature and their bearing on
questions of value, competing accounts of the bases of moral judgment, and questions in contemporary
applied ethics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Gartner; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHIL106Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Introduction to Moral Philosophy
This course is an introduction to moral philosophy. Our discussion will be split between normative ethics,
applied ethics, and metaethics. When we talk about normative ethics we talk about moral values and ideals in
an effort to guide human behavior. When we talk about applied ethics, we want to identify the particular values,
rights, duties, and assumptions that are in play in a specific kind of situation, like: “Should we eat animals?” or
“Is watching football immoral?” When we talk about metaethics, we engage with the question of whether
“right” and “wrong” exist and whether “right” and “wrong” are the same for everyone, at all times, everywhere.
This course will engage these topics across three themes: (1) Autonomy, Personhood, and Freedom; (2)
Values and Relativism; (3) Justice and Oppression.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Walsh; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL107 Title: Introduction to Social Philosophy
In this course we will explore the philosophical underpinnings and ramifications of the social structures which
shape our lives. Among the topics we will consider are racism, gender, disability, and incarceration and
prisons. For each topic, we will investigate different accounts of what the phenomenon at issue is. Among the
thinkers we will engage are Sally Haslanger, Charles Mills, and Robin Dembroff. Questions for discussion
include: What are the implications of endorsing one account of an oppressive structure over another? How are
oppressive social structures, e.g. ableism, transphobia, etc., mutually reinforcing? Does oppression manifest
differently in different contexts? If so, how? When are the oppressed unduly burdened with explaining or
combatting their oppression?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Watkins; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHIL108Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Friendship
This seminar undertakes a philosophical examination of the nature and value of friendship. Two questions will
animate the course: What is a friend? And, why are friends valuable? Drawing examples from literature and
films, we will examine different types of friendships and the features that characterize and sustain them. Many
philosophers have argued that the best kind of friendship is one in which the friend is loved for her own sake;
we will consider whether this is truly possible or whether all friendships are ultimately instrumental. We'll also
examine how the partiality inherent in friendship conflicts with the demands of standard moral theories. Finally,
we will compare the love that characterizes friendship with the feelings that sustain relationships with parents,
children, and lovers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Gartner; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Registration in this
section is restricted to students selected for the Wellesley Plus Program. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: PHIL200 Title: Philosophy and Witchcraft
A study of the philosophical, social, cultural, and political beliefs that led to the belief in witchcraft in early
modern Western Europe and North America, and how these beliefs led to the violent persecution of over
100,000 people between 1400 and 1700. The analysis of this historical event engages several different areas of
philosophy: metaphysics, morals, epistemology, standards of evidence, and gender theory. Topics include:
magic and religion, the nature of evil, sexual politics, the politics of torture, skepticism, and contemporary
witches.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walsh; Distribution Requirements: EC or REP Epistemology and Cognition or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL201 Title: Ancient Greek Philosophy
An introduction to the work of Plato, Aristotle, and select Hellenistic philosophers that aims to develop
students' skills in analyzing and constructing philosophical arguments with attention to historical context.
Focusing on the ways in which various ancient philosophical views formed internally consistent systems, we
will address a range of central topics in ancient thought, including issues in ethics, political philosophy,
metaphysics, and epistemology. The course will deal primarily with Plato and Aristotle and end with a briefer
treatment of the Epicureans, Stoics, and Skeptics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Gartner; Distribution
Requirements: EC or REP - Epistemology and Cognition or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHIL203 Title: Philosophy of Art
In this course, we will examine a broad set of philosophical questions about art. What is art? Why does it
matter? Are there objective standards of taste, or is beauty in the eye of the beholder? What is the relationship
between aesthetics and ethics? In addition to these general questions, we will consider specific philosophical
puzzles posed by other issues in the arts, which may include forgery, authenticity, restoration, testimony, and
the paradox of horror. Cases will range from public sculpture to popular music to film and television.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: E. Matthes; Distribution Requirements:
EC - Epistemology and Cognition; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL203S Title: Philosophy of Art
The focus of this course will be the art of comedy and humor. We will approach them from a variety of angles:
philosophical attempts to define humor, scientific investigations of the origin and meaning of laughter, moral
examinations of the limits of comedy and its political power, and the theological question of the place of humor
in a meaningful life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Deen; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition;
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Summer;
Course ID: PHIL207 Title: Philosophy of Language
This course will explore a variety of philosophical issues concerning language: the different ways in which
spoken language functions and conveys information, the alleged difference between speech and action and
how it relates to freedom of speech issues (e.g., p*rnography and hate speech), the general problem of how
words get attached to their referents, and criticisms of traditional conceptions of meaning and reference.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: McGowan; Distribution Requirements:
EC or REP - Epistemology and Cognition or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL213 Title: Justice
What's the purpose of government? Are there limits to what the state may demand of us? Does social justice
require equality? Is taxation - or wage labor - theft? This course addresses these and other questions of
political morality, through the lens of the major theories of Western philosophy. We'll also consider critiques of
those theories, including the claim that they are sexist and racist. Topics will include Mill on the general welfare
and the importance of liberty, Nozick on individual rights, Rawls and Dworkin on distributive justice and Marx
and Cohen on equality. We'll aim to understand the principles and values underlying these accounts and apply
them to contemporary debates over issues such as hate speech, sex work, public health insurance and
poverty relief.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: de Bres; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL215 Title: Philosophy of Mind
What is a mind? How is it related to a person's brain and body? These two questions have driven centuries of
work in the philosophy of mind, and we will take them as our starting point. After considering a variety of
answers, we will pursue several topics that challenge our best accounts of the mind: consciousness, mental
representation, the emotions, free will, and the possibility of thinking machines. Our goal will be to connect
central philosophical perspectives on these issues with contributions from psychology, cognitive science, and
neuroscience.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One course in philosophy, psychology, or cognitive science, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Wearing; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and
Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHIL216 Title: Logic
Logic studies the principles of valid, or correct, reasoning. It does this by looking for ways to regiment the
relationship between a conclusion and the claims that support it. In this course, we will learn how to translate
sentences of English into a symbolic language that brings out their logically relevant properties, and we will
study formal methods - methods sensitive only to the form of the arguments, as opposed to their content - that
allow us to determine whether the conclusions of arguments follow from their premises. Some consideration is
given to the limits of the system itself as well as to the relationship between logic and ordinary language.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Wearing (Fall); McGowan (Spring); Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHIL218 Title: Value, Truth and Enquiry
The world is a strange place, and understanding what is going on around us is no easy matter. Nowadays,
awash in charges of 'fake news' and attacks on the credibility of scientists and other experts, it's getting ever
harder to figure out what is true. But what is truth, anyway? Is anything objectively true? Who counts as an
expert? How do we resist propaganda, misinformation, and outright lies as we negotiate competing world
views? How can we proceed when faced with deep disagreements? What roles should values play in our
enquiries? What constitutes genuine progress in our understanding of the world? In this course, we will
examine these challenges to our attempts to understand and explain reality.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: Wearing; Distribution Requirements: EC
- Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: PHIL220 Title: Philosophy of Literature
This class will consider philosophical questions concerning the nature, appreciation and value of literary
works, including: What is literature? What distinguishes fiction from creative nonfiction? Do fictional characters
exist? Do emotional responses to fiction make sense? Are an author’s intentions relevant to interpreting their
work? Can there be more than one correct interpretation of a literary work? Are some works of literature
objectively better than others? What, if anything, can we learn from literature? Does reading literature make us
morally better people? Is it wrong for non-minority writers to write from the perspective of members of minority
groups? The course will cover these and other topics in metaphysics, value theory, philosophy of language
and mind and include work by philosophers, literary theorists and creative writers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: de Bres; Distribution Requirements:
REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHIL221 Title: History of Modern Philosophy
A study of central themes in seventeenth and eighteenth-century philosophy. We will engage with questions of
metaphysics, epistemology, and morals. Authors include Amo, Astell, Cavendish, Conway, Descartes,
Princess Elisabeth, Heywat, Hume, Locke, Kant, and Wang Yangming. Among the topics: the nature of
substance, the relationship between mind and body, the limits of reason, determinism and freedom, and the
good life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walsh; Distribution Requirements: EC or HS Epistemology and Cognition or Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHIL226 Title: Philosophy of Law
This course provides a systematic consideration of fundamental issues in the conception and practice of law.
We will first consider the nature of law. Is law derived from moral principles or created by legislative fiat? Is
international “law” law? We will then discuss moral limits on the law. Which principles should guide the state’s
restriction of citizens’ liberties? Is refusal to obey the law ever justified? Next we will consider the ethics of
criminal punishment. What, if anything, justifies punishment by the state? In what ways are policing and
incarceration in the contemporary United States racially discriminatory? We will finish by considering questions
of constitutional law and legal reasoning. Why have a constitution? When judges interpret the law, do they
discover it or, in effect, make it up as they go along? Readings will include selections from philosophy, legal
theory and court decisions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: de Bres; Distribution Requirements:
REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Not open
to students who have taken PHIL 326.;
Course ID: PHIL227 Title: Philosophy and Free Speech
This course will explore free speech issues using the tools of analytic philosophy. Questions to be considered
include: what makes speech so valuable that we protect it against regulation? Is any regulation of speech
compatible with a commitment to free speech? Can expressing a sincere political opinion ever be a crime?
How and why does hate speech regulation vary across countries, even ones committed to free speech? Does
respect for the value of free speech require a speaker's community to provide a platform? a civil audience?
comprehension?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to students who have taken one previous course in
philosophy (other than PHIL 216) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: McGowan; Distribution
Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHIL230 Title: Epistemic Harms
Christine Blasey Ford, Anita Hill, Rachel Jeantel, and Amber Heard each testified to having witnessed or
experienced violence or harassment at the hands of a man. Despite their informed testimony, each was met
with skepticism and disbelief by the public. What might explain the mismatch between the expertise of Ford,
Hill, Jeantel, and Heard and the skeptical reception of their reports? We might think that their identities,
particularly their gender and race, play some role. In this course, we will investigate how aspects of identity
affect how we share and receive knowledge. Particularly, we will explore epistemic harms which uniquely or
disproportionately affect marginalized knowers. These topics include epistemic injustice, epistemic
exploitation, gaslighting, epistemic oppression, and microaggressions. Questions we will consider include:
what is it for a person to be harmed in her capacity as a knower? Can institutions gaslight; can groups be
gaslighted? What avenues of epistemic resistance are available to targets of microaggressions, epistemic
exploitation, etc.? Are certain epistemic privileges available to marginalized knowers? We will read authors
such as Kristie Dotson, José Medina, and Miranda Fricker.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One previous course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Watkins; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHIL236 Title: Global Justice
An introduction to recent work in political philosophy on the ethics of international relations. The course will
discuss some of the main theoretical approaches to the topic: realism, cosmopolitan egalitarianism, political
liberalism, utilitarianism, and nationalism. We will also consider how these different approaches might be
applied to some central moral controversies in international politics, including those relating to global poverty,
human rights and humanitarian intervention, immigration, climate change, and fair trade.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy or
political science, and to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: de Bres;
Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHIL237 Title: Philosophy, Love, and Marriage
This course engages with writings, both historical and contemporary, on the topic of the value of marriage. We
begin in the medieval period, with the correspondence between Héloïse and Abelard and progress
chronologically, discussing Saint Teresa of Avila (16th century), Mademoiselle de Montpensier, Mary Astell,
and Mary Wollstonecraft, (17th century), Anna Julia Cooper and early Wellesley women (19th century), and
contemporary 20th and 21st century thinkers like Elizabeth Brake, Claudia Card, and Chesire Calhoun. The
questions that will motivate our discussion include: What is marriage? Who gets to decide the definition of
marriage? How did women throughout history view the institution of marriage? Is marriage as an institution
fundamentally flawed? Should feminists reject the institution of marriage? Can marriage be reformed? Should
marriage fall under the purview of church or state? Should marriage be for everyone or no one?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walsh; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL244 Title: Moral Powers
This course concerns our commonplace but sometimes puzzling ability to alter our moral relationship with
other people through our will, what some philosophers have called “moral powers.” For instance, we can
make a promise and create a moral obligation, give our consent and create a moral permission, offer
forgiveness and repair a moral rupture. How should we understand these powers? How do they work and how
do they shape our moral lives? We will pay particular attention to the moral powers involved in promising,
consent, trust, and forgiveness.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One prior course in philosophy.; Instructor: Matthes; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHIL245 Title: Rationality and Action
When we strive to act rationally and to avoid irrationality in our thoughts and actions, what exactly are we trying
to do? And how successful can we be? We will begin by analyzing self-deception and weakness of will,
phenomena widely regarded as irrational, in order to explore different conceptions of practical rationality. Then
we will consider whether pursuing self-interest is always rational; whether it is irrational to make promises, like
marriage vows, that one might not be able to keep; and whether it can be irrational to seek the optimal option
when we could "satisfice" instead. We will end by considering the implications of research that identifies
implicit biases and evaluative tendencies that persist even when we disavow their content.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years who have taken one course in philosophy and
to Sophom*ores, Juniors, and Seniors without prerequisite.; Instructor: McIntyre; Distribution Requirements: EC
- Epistemology and Cognition; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL249 Title: Medical Ethics
This applied ethics course will examine some central problems at the interface of medicine and ethics and
explore some of the social and ethical implications of current advances in biomedical research and
technology. Topics discussed will include: drawing the distinction between genetic therapy and genetic
enhancement; the permissibility of the practice of genetic screening and selective abortion; the status and
interests of individuals at the margins of agency, such as infants, children and dementia patients; decisions
about prolonging life and hastening death; and controversies about the use of memory-dampening drugs.
Throughout, several key ethical themes will unify the course, including: the conditions for personhood and
what we owe to persons; the value of autonomy and the right to make decisions about one's own body; and
the importance of well-being and the purpose of medicine.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to all students without prerequisite.; Instructor: Gartner;
Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHIL250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: At least one course in philosophy and permission of the instructor.;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PHIL250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: At least one course in philosophy and permission of the
instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHIL300 Title: Seminar: Philosopher Misfits, Philosopher Queens
What counts as philosophy? Who counts as a philosopher? The traditional answers to these questions exclude
many texts and many thinkers from the category of "the philosophical." In this course, we will challenge the
traditional answers and seek to expand our understanding of the vehicles for philosophical expression, and the
kinds of people who count as philosophers. The central philosophical question that will be our focus is: what is
human nature? Treating this question will involve discussions of gender, class, education, and freedom. We
will engage with the writings of women and non-Western thinkers, and study non-traditional philosophical texts
like personal essays, poetry, and novels. Authors include Murasaki Shikibu, Christine de Pisan, Sor Juana Inés
de la Cruz, Mulla Sadra, Michel de Montaigne, and Margaret Cavendish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One previous course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Walsh; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL301 Title: Seminar: Mortality and Immortality
This course will examine some fundamental philosophical questions that arise about death. After comparing
differing conceptions of death and differing views about whether we continue to exist after we die, we will
consider whether death is bad for the person who dies. We intuitively think that our deaths are bad for us, but,
as Lucretius famously points out, most of us do not lament that we were not born sooner. Is it problematic that
we tend to hold inconsistent attitudes towards prenatal versus postmortem nonexistence? Is immortality
desirable or valuable? How might our thinking about these issues surrounding mortality and immortality inform
our thinking about the value of human existence and what makes a life worth living?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: PHIL 201 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Watkins;
Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHIL304 Title: Seminar: Terrible Beauties
In this seminar, we will closely examine the relationship between immorality and aesthetics, especially as it
arises in the arts. Are morally objectionable artworks made aesthetically worse by their moral defects? Is it
morally permissible to enjoy the work of artists who have done terrible things? How should we respond to the
perceived immorality we might encounter in the arts, whether we are fans or critics? Cases may include
museum art, documentary work, film and television, video games, etc.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One prior course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: E. Matthes; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL305 Title: Seminar: Plato's Republic
What is justice? Is it better to be just than unjust? Plato tackled these perennial questions in his masterpiece,
the Republic. This seminar will undertake an in-depth examination of Plato's classic, with a focus on
understanding how the metaphysical and epistemological arguments of the dialogue’s middle books relate to
the ethical and political questions that frame the treatise. We will also investigate and evaluate Plato's views
about the nature and constitution of the soul, human motivation and action (especially the relationship
between reason and non-rational desires), the purpose and importance of education, and the role of women in
the ideal society.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One previous course in Philosophy.; Instructor: Gartner;
Distribution Requirements: EC or REP - Epistemology and Cognition or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL306 Title: Seminar: Philosophy of Friendship
We all have friends and we tend to regard friendship as an important good. This seminar undertakes a
philosophical examination of the nature and value of friendship. Two main questions will animate the course:
What is a friend? And, why are friends valuable? We will examine different types of friendships and the features
that characterize and sustain them. Many philosophers have argued that the best kind of friendship is one in
which the friend is loved for her own sake; we will investigate whether this is truly possible or whether all
friendships are ultimately instrumental. We'll also examine how the partiality inherent in friendship conflicts with
the demands of standard moral theories. Finally, drawing on examples from literature and film, we will consider
whether one has to be a good person in order to be a good friend.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One prior course in Philosophy.; Instructor: Gartner; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHIL311 Title: Seminar: Powers of Imagination
The human imagination is a powerful creative tool. In this course, we will examine the imagination's nature,
uses, and limits. Questions to be discussed include: What role do mental images play in imagining? What is
the imagination's role in creativity? If fictional entities aren't real, why do we often have such powerful emotional
responses to them? Are some things too bizarre or repellent to be imaginable?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One prior course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Wearing; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHIL318 Title: Silencing
Our ability to communicate is a fundamentally important human capacity but this capacity can be impaired.
Might womens' orders or refusals be systematically undermined in some contexts? Might some speakers
unjustly count as less credible simply due to their social identity? Might some people decide against speaking
because they realize that their audience believes negative stereotypes about them? These are just some of the
ways that a person's ability to communicate can be interfered with. With an emphasis on the pragmatics of
language use, this course will explore many others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors without prerequisite and to
Sophom*ores who have taken one course in philosophy.; Instructor: McGowan; Distribution Requirements: EC
- Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL323 Title: Issues in Social Philosophy of Language
This course will explore a variety of philosophical issues about language use in the social world. What makes
an utterance a lie? Is lying morally worse than other forms of verbal deception? Most of what we believe we
learn from others, but how do we decide when to believe what other people say? Might a person's social
identity affect how credible they are judged to be? Should it? Can we really consent to medical procedures if
we do not have the relevant medical expertise to understand our options? What makes an utterance a threat? If
speaking indirectly is more polite, might members of marginalized groups be expected to speak indirectly, and
as a result, might that further disadvantage them socially, legally, or communicatively? These are just some of
the questions we will explore.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least two courses in Philosophy.; Instructor: McGowan;
Distribution Requirements: EC or REP - Epistemology and Cognition or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL325 Title: Seminar: The Free Will Problem
Do we ever act with freedom of the will? To address this question, philosophers typically start by analyzing the
concept of free will. Some conclude that a choice that is caused by antecedent states or is causally
determined could not be an instance of free will. This approach can lead to skepticism about whether free will
actually exists. Others start with the assumption that free will must exist because it is the trait that explains and
justifies our practice of holding people responsible for what they do. This approach leaves open what free will
might turn out to be. We will study variations on these two strategies in the work of historical and contemporary
philosophers. We will also consider what feminist philosophers say about socio-political contexts that may
impede or obstruct the exercise of free will.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: At least one course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Walsh; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL331 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Philosophy in the First Person
Philosophical writing is often thought to be impersonal and abstract, focused on rigorous argument and high
theory to the exclusion of personal narrative, voice, humor, and literary style. But not all philosophy takes that
form. This seminar explores the alternative mode of more personal philosophical writing, as it appears in
contemporary personal essays on philosophical themes and pieces of public philosophy with a personal slant
philosophy (in, e.g., The New York Times, The Point, Aeon, and The New Yorker.) The course is structured as
a writing workshop, and centrally aims to develop students’ confidence and skill in writing their own pieces of
autobiographical philosophy. Students will create a portfolio of writing and workshop it closely with their peers
and professor throughout the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Intended for Philosophy
majors and minors, but students with at least two courses in Philosophy will be considered.; Instructor: de
Bres; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL333 Title: Seminar: Language and Law
Language issues permeate the criminal justice system. If a police officer says, "You wouldn't mind if I looked
inside your trunk, now would you?" is that statement only a question or is it also a request or even an order?
Committing perjury requires uttering something false; can a misleading but true utterance constitute perjury?
This seminar will explore various linguistic issues related to the law (and the criminal justice system more
generally). Tools from the philosophy of language and linguistics will be explored and then applied to legal
questions. Topics covered include: perjury, consent, Miranda warnings, verbal crimes (e.g., solicitation,
bribes), threats and cross-burning, invoking the right to counsel, sedition, and free speech.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Two previous Philosophy courses or permission of the instructor.
Not open to First-Year students.; Instructor: McGowan; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and
Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHIL338 Title: Seminar: Who Owns the Past?
In this course, we will examine a range of moral and political questions surrounding cultural heritage. We will
employ an interdisciplinary array of sources in order to investigate key concepts including cultural and natural
heritage, value, identity, colonialism, cultural property and landscapes, stewardship, and preservation. We will
use these conceptual foundations to address practical questions, such as whether cultural artifacts in Western
museums should be repatriated to their countries of origin; how we should resolve value conflicts between
archaeologists and Indigenous communities; and whether institutions (such as governments or colleges)
should continue to honor historical figures who perpetrated injustices. The course will involve a substantial
independent research project on a topic of each student’s own choosing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One prior course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: E. Matthes; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL340 Title: Seminar: The Meaning of Life
This seminar will explore a range of questions concerning life's meaning. Is meaning possible in a world
without God? What is the difference between a happy life and a meaningful one? What is the role of love,
achievement, knowledge, beauty, virtue and authenticity in a meaningful life? Do the stories we tell about our
lives contribute to their meaning? Is life, in the end, absurd - or just kind of awful? Does meaning now depend
on death later? We will discuss answers to these and related questions, using readings from both philosophy
and literature.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors and Seniors who have taken one
course in Philosophy, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: de Bres; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: PHIL345 Title: Seminar: Empathy, Perspective-taking and Moral Judgment
Many people think of morality as primarily concerned with promoting the good of others and view moral
motivation as based on altruistic motives, a capacity for empathy, and the ability to understand the
perspectives of others. And yet, just as important to morality are the duties that require us to comply with social
norms based on conventions that promote various forms of cooperation. Do people have a moral motive to
comply with such norms? We will begin with David Hume’s account of the motives for the natural virtues of
“benevolence” and the quite different motives for compliance with the “artificial” (i.e. socially constructed)
virtues of justice. We will branch out from there with readings from moral philosophy, developmental
psychology, behavioral economics, and anthropology that will help us understand how social norms are
inculcated and enforced - and how they are revised.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: At least one course in Philosophy, Psychology, Neuroscience, or
Cognitive and Linguistic Science.; Instructor: McIntyre; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and
Cognition; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL349 Title: Seminar: Race and Political Philosophy
Why does severe racial inequality exist in democratic societies committed to the equality of persons? How is
liberalism as a political philosophy implicated in racial injustice? What are the rights and duties of the racially
oppressed? This seminar considers various answers to these questions in recent political philosophy on racial
injustice. First, we will examine how Enlightenment and liberal political philosophy has been and continues to
be influenced by racial ideology and assess some of liberalism's central ideas. Next, we will investigate
different ways of conceptualizing, explaining, and alleviating racial inequality and oppression. Finally, we will
focus on the rights and responsibilities of those who live in racially segregated neighborhoods with
concentrated disadvantage. We will discuss, for example, welfare entitlements, parental obligations, duties to
obey the law, and permissible forms of political resistance.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One philosophy course or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Landau; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHIL350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: At least two courses in philosophy and permission of the
instructor. ; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PHIL350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: At least two courses in philosophy and permission of the
instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHIL360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: PHIL370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: PHIL 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics
The Department of Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics develops students’ skills and knowledge in
physical activities. This base of knowledge and skills is an essential component of a liberal arts education at
Wellesley College.
All students who participate in PERA programs will:
Build fundamental motor skills that enable students to enjoy regular physical activity.
Develop a fundamental knowledge of the various methods for improving flexibility, strength and
cardiovascular fitness.
Develop strategies for self-assessment and goal-setting related to fitness.
Recognize the positive impact that regular physical activity has on mood and academic performance.
Adapt to challenging situations as a result of exposure to risk-taking opportunities.
Physical Education Requirement
To complete the College degree requirement in physical education, a student must earn at least eight (8)
physical education credits through physical education classes, varsity athletics, or recreation programming.
These credits do not count as academic units toward the degree, but are required for graduation. Students are
strongly urged to fulfill the requirement by the end of the sophom*ore year.
Fulfilling the Requirement
Most students fulfill the PE requirement by taking two or more physical education classes. Students may also
earn PE credits for participation on one or more of Wellesley’s 14 varsity athletic teams or for participation in a
department-approved, College-sponsored recreational club team. Qualified students may also earn physical
education credit for pre-approved independent study programs (maximum four credits).
No student is exempt from the physical education requirement. If a student has a temporary or permanent
medical restriction, the student may work with PERA and Health Services to arrange an activity program to
serve the student’s individual needs.
Incoming transfer students are awarded partial credit toward the physical education requirement dependent
upon year and semester of admission. Typically, students admitted as sophom*ores will be expected to
complete four credits at Wellesley. Students admitted as juniors or as Davis Scholars will be considered as
having completed the degree requirement.
A. Physical Education Classes (maximum credit: unlimited)
Physical education activity classes are scheduled either for a semester or a term. Semester courses are
worth four credits. Term courses are worth two.
All classes are graded on a credit/non-credit basis:
MCR—Credit for course completed satisfactorily.
MNCR—No credit for course not completed satisfactorily. Inadequate familiarity with the content
of the course or excessive absence may result in an MNCR grade.
Students may take a given physical education class only once for credit. Students are encouraged to
enroll in physical education classes after they complete the PE requirement to support their own
individual fitness and wellness.
B. Varsity Athletics (maximum credit: unlimited)
The intercollegiate varsity program offers 14 sports for which a student may earn PE credit. Enrollment
and eligibility for earning credits for intercollegiate varsity athletics is limited to those students who are
selected to the team by the head coach. Notices of organizational meetings and tryouts for these teams
are distributed each year by head coaches.
C. PERA-Sponsored Recreation Club Team (maximum credit: unlimited)
PERA sponsors eight club sports for which a student may earn PE credits. Students may also earn two
PE credits for PERA’s Outdoor Adventure Trips. Students must fulfill the remainder of the graduation
requirement either through physical education course work or varsity athletics. For more information
about these options, please see the PERA website.
D. Other College-Sponsored Options
Effective for the 2022-2023 academic year, a student will not be able to receive credit for student orgs or
ROTC. All previous credits earned in previous academic years will be honored.
PE Courses
Course ID: PE100 Title: Beginning Swimming
This introductory level course is designed for the student who is new to swimming. This class is perfect for
those students who are afraid of the water, through those who are comfortable going underwater, can float, or
can do some very basic strokes. This course will progress the student through basic breathing techniques and
floating skills to basic technique for freestyle and backstroke. The student will learn to survival float or tread
water, and swim in deep water for at least 5 yards. The student will also be introduced to the breaststroke and
butterfly pull and kick. **Note: For more advanced swimmers, please register for the Intermediate class.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE101 Title: Term Intermediate Swimming
This course is for students who have basic swim skills, but would like to enhance their technique, learn new
strokes, and become more comfortable in the water. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to
use each of the following strokes: freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, and butterfly. They will have a basic
understanding of the turns for each stroke and will have a basic front dive into deep water.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 6; Prerequisites: PE100 Beginning Swimming or prior swimming experience.; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE102 Title: Swim Conditioning
This course is for students already proficient in swimming. Students will use swimming as their mode for
conditioning/fitness over the semester. The course will progress from workouts designed by the instructor to
self-designed practices by the end of the semester. The different energy systems and how to train them will be
discussed, and examples given as part of the practice. There will also be an element of stroke technique and
drill work as part of the course, including turns.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Proficiency in swimming is necessary.; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE103 Title: Term Swim Conditioning
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Dix; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE104 Title: Term 1 Sailing
This introductory course introduces students to the basics of sailing. Upon completion of this course, a student
will be able to rig and unrig a tech dingy using the proper knots, recognize and define the points of sail, sail a
figure-8 course set by the instructor using tacking, and define basic sailing terminology. A student will also
demonstrate an understanding of her ability to safely handle weather conditions and be able to set their own
course on Lake Waban without the assistance of an instructor.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Swim Test. ; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE105 Title: Term 1 Canoe
This introductory course introduces students to the basics of canoeing. After taking this course, students will
be able to execute basic bow and stern strokes, enabling them to effectively steer and maneuver a tandem
and solo canoe. Students will also be able to demonstrate basic safety and rescue maneuvers - including
capsize recovery & boat over boat rescue.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Swim Test; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: You must pass the swim test to take this course.;
Course ID: PE106 Title: Term 2 Aquatics Games
The Swimming Games class is a high-energy fitness class using aquatic games to build cardiovascular
exercise, delivering full body aerobic exercise. We will play fast paced games like tag, sharks and minnows,
relay races, water polo, etc. Students do not need to be advanced swimmers for this class, but do need to be
comfortable in the water.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Basic comfort in water.; Instructor: Dix; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE107 Title: Term 1 Dorm and Class Crew
Dorm/Class Crew is offered each fall, with six weeks of practice followed by the Dorm Crew Regatta in late
October. To participate in Dorm/Class Crew, students must pass the swim test, which is offered during
recreational pool hours.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Swim test; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE109 Title: Take the Leap: Intro to Diving
Introduction to springboard diving will provide students an opportunity to learn movement patterns, skills,
techniques, and basic dives from the 1- and 3-meter springboard in a safe, progressive manner. Students will
learn both forward and backward takeoffs and entries into the water, as well as simple trampoline skills,
stretches for flexibility, and exercises related to the sport. Students will also learn diving terminology, scoring,
and how a diving meet runs. This class will culminate with a diving competition where students will perform
their skills in a mock diving meet in a fun, friendly environment.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Students should be able to swim ten yards and tread water for one
minute.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE112 Title: Lifeguard Certification
This is an American Red Cross certification course designed to provide you with the entry level knowledge and
skills to prevent, recognize and respond to aquatic emergencies and to provide professional level care for
breathing and cardiac emergencies, injuries and sudden illness until emergency medical services personnel
can take over. This class will be taught in a Blended Learning format which involves 20 hours of in-person
class time as well as 8 hours of online learning, and a one hour pre-course skills test. Prerequisite: There is a
significant swim prerequisite that includes but is not limited to a 300 yard (12 lengths of the pool) swim without
stopping, a two minute tread and a deep water retrieval.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE113 Title: Term Beginning Swimming
This introductory level course is designed for the student who is new to swimming. This class is perfect for
those students who are afraid of the water, through those who are comfortable going underwater, can float, or
can do some very basic strokes. This course will progress the student through basic breathing techniques and
floating skills to basic technique for freestyle and backstroke. The student will learn to survival float or tread
water, and swim in deep water for at least 5 yards. **Note: For more advanced swimmers, please register for
the Intermediate class.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Dix; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PE120 Title: Ballet I
This introductory level course, designed for the student who has never before been introduced to the art, offers
training in the basic skills of ballet technique. Beginning with barre exercises and progressing to simple steps
that move across the center floor, students will practice the fundamentals with music. They will learn what
brings line to a dancer’s foot and fluidity to a dancer’s arms; they’ll learn to turn and jump with classical form.
Upon completion of this course students will have an understanding of what comprises a ballet class and what
it takes to execute ballet's most basic movements.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE121 Title: Ballet II Advanced Beginner
This advanced beginner course is designed for the dancer who has already been introduced to the basics of
ballet and wishes to further develop technique. Akin to stringing beads or speaking simple but fluid sentences
in a new language recently learned, steps that were introduced in Ballet I will here be combined into simple but
fluid dance combinations. Here is where the beginner becomes facile (and the more advanced dancer can
enjoy a classical workout). Students will move in traditional fashion through barre and center exercises that are
carefully crafted to be fun and strengthening yet not too difficult to remember or perform. Music is integral and
artistic expression the ultimate aim, but this course focuses on the physical mastery of ballet’s basic
movements.
Prerequisite: PE 120 Ballet I or understanding of the fundamentals. Note: Those who have not taken the
prerequisite will need to pass a placement evaluation at the first session (or beforehand) to determine that they
understand the fundamentals of ballet and their level is high enough for this course. Feel free to contact the
instructor in advance regarding registration.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: PE120 Ballet I or permission of the instructor. ; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE122 Title: Ballet III
This intermediate/advanced level course is designed for the dancer who has fully mastered the basics of ballet
and wishes to further develop technique and artistry. At this level much of the discussion/explanation of basic
steps drops out and practice of them become rigorous. Combinations at this level become more complex, they
are taught relatively quickly, and accompanying tempos are designed to increase difficulty levels. In this
course the artist emerges, as execution of steps progresses to performance of them and artistic expression
becomes a focus. From pliés to grand allegro, this course keeps a steady (sometimes swift!) pace, allowing
the well-trained dancer the opportunity to work out, technically improve, and artistically grow.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Ballet II with full mastery of the fundamentals. Instructor permission
is required.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE124 Title: Beginning Dance
This class is an exploration of movement for anybody wanting to dance. You will learn basic ballet barre,
modern dance styles in both the Graham, and Limon techniques, jazz-sass, as styled by Fosse, and Mr.
Smooth-Astaire. Through class exploration you come to know and be more at home in and with your body,
The joy of moving together, exploring different techniques, and musical styles, releases stress, increases
dopamine- the feel good hormone, and strengthens your ‘Emotional Intelligence.’ From the structure of basic
ballet skills to free flowing modern moves across the floor, you strengthen, lengthen and integrate body, mind
and emotion.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE125 Title: Intermediate-Advanced Modern Dance
In this class we explore, and integrate modern, jazz and ballet techniques with the art of choreography..
Technically, the class covers creating better turns, leaps, contractions, falls, and floor sequences through
Graham, Limon, Ailey, and Tharpe styles. Creatively, you are offered the opportunity to develop basic
choreographic skills, developing your own vision, and style. This class offers wonderful life-skills including:
developing your voice, and creativity, enhancing your Emotional Intelligence, with community-communication
and leadership. This is a physical, joyous class where sweat releases stress, increasing your happy hormones
of: dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: PE124 Beginning Dance or permission of the instructor. ; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE126 Title: African Dance
Dance and music are an integral part of daily life and culture all over Africa. In this course we will explore the
richness of West African culture through its music and movement. Students will learn traditional dance
movements, songs and history. This course will focus on the correlation between the dance and its
corresponding rhythm.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE127 Title: Classical Indian (Kathak) Dance
Descended from the ancient tradition of dramatic storytelling in India, kathak is a classical performing art that
combines dance, drama, music, and rhythm. 21st century kathak is innovative and contemporary, while
remaining deeply rooted in the cultural heritage, traditions and philosophies that are its foundation. It is
characterized by intricate footwork, refined gestures, elegant stances, swift spins, improvisation, and rhythmic
intensity—along with both subtle and dramatic facial expression. Kathak has gained global popularity and can
be found worldwide, with practitioners of all ages, nationalities and ethnicities.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE128 Title: Afro-Brazilian Dance
Brazil was the largest importer of Africans during the slave trade, in all of the Americas. As a result, its music
and dance are heavily African-rooted, but also incorporate European and Native American influences. Brazil
boasts one of the most elaborate Carnival celebrations in the world which displays a rich variety of dance and
music. This class will focus on learning the history and cultural significance of the dances as well as the
movements themselves.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE129 Title: Yoga Dance
Combining and integrating the art of Yoga with dance invites spirit and emotion to enter the body through
movement. Working with conscious breathing, and subtle body layers, we build strong, supple bodies through
integrating Yoga skills with dance technique. As the creator of Shaki Yoga Dances, I offer you original
choreographies that explore the energies of Shakti Goddesses, relating their energies directly to your life. The
movement connects emotion and intellect into a ‘here and now’ physical response. The class is physical,
improving your balance, sense of timing, flexibility, and strength as you learn to sequence poses with skill. You
release stress, and anxiety, regenerating peace, focus and inspiration.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE132 Title: Graham Technique
Graham Floor is the core-centric technique of the iconoclastic modern dancer, Martha Graham. This class will
move from her basics into advanced moves, each position evolving from the vitality and force of a contraction.
Classes open with floor stretches, especially for hips and groin, along with core work, and breath. Graham
technique builds each move on the previous, offering a solid resonance of step by step understanding to
advance the body into the next new movement. Both beginning and advanced dancers will deepen the
understanding and use of contraction and breath, which sustain all styles of movement. Classes will close with
the creation of short ‘floor dances,’ pulling it all together for a satisfying dance end.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: PE133 Title: Creating the Wisdom Body
The 'Wisdom Body' is created through the healing art of balancing movement (Yoga, dance of all kinds, basic
Tai Chi, Chi Gung) and wellness. This class explores and integrates: 'Emotional Intelligence', basics of the
nervous system via the vagus nerve, with visualization, breathwork/Pranayama for specific physical healing,
Yoga philosophy, music & poetry. Students come to understand energy, and grow aware of how to work with
it. This is a course that supports and builds a strong, flexile body while releasing stress, and anxiety. It is
creative in Its use of many layers that inform, deepen, and connect body, spirit, brain, and emotion. The
student builds a friendship with her senses, learning to identify triggers/signals, how to change them, and what
to learn from them. It is about confidence-building, appreciating oneself, honoring the unique gifts of self while
sharing and seeing the same in others. In the dance classes I've taught at the college, I began giving the
students more time for their own creativity, for connecting with one another, for learning 'the dancer's toolbox'
and how they might best use the tools. I observed them grow as dancers, collaborators, leaders, and
creatives. In learning to synthesize different components to create a singular harmony, the body relaxes, and
stress flows out with the exhale, a deeper awareness enters, and there is a lot of laughter in this collaborative
creativity!
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Cameron; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE139 Title: Fitness Walking
This course will teach the fundamentals of walking for fitness, health, and well-being. Participants will learn
how to use a treadmill for walking workouts, as well as basic walking for fitness techniques to achieve health
and wellness goals. Some of the course will be outside, weather permitted.This course is designed for
beginners (e.g., those new to working out) or those who want to learn more about using walking as a fitness
activity. We will engage in other components of walking such as mindfulness, hill workouts, and trail walking
(on campus).
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PE140 Title: Zumba
Zumba is a fusion of Latin and international dance stylings combined with fitness elements and movements.
By taking this course, students will experience a cardiovascular and total body strength and conditioning
workout. Improved endurance, coordination and balance are additional benefits of Zumba. Upon completion,
students will have a basic understanding of dance and music sequencing, transitions, and phrasing, and will
perform the choreography learned.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE141 Title: Cardiovascular Fitness
Upon completion of this course, students will have increased their cardiovascular capacity while developing a
comprehensive understanding of how to design and carry out a personal fitness program. Students will be
introduced to variety of workout routines through training modules. Workouts will be tailored to each student's
cardiovascular capacity and will progress from a low intensity workout module to a high impact interval training
module. The class will primarily utilize aerobic equipment including- ellipticals, treadmills, bicycles, and
'stairmasters.' Weather permitting, the class will go outdoors to engage in cardiovascular based activities that
may include team based games. Spaces used on these days can include our sports fields, track, or walking
trails. Finally, most classes will incorporate a social element allowing students to make personal connections
with classmates and promote a sense of camaraderie while getting in shape!
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE142 Title: Pilates
This course engages students in traditional Pilates movements to improve strength, flexibility, and balance.
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to perform exercises that strengthen the core muscle
groups (abdomen, hip and gluteal muscles). Students will also demonstrate their knowledge of muscle
conditioning specificity by creating a Pilates routine that encompasses all the major core muscle groups.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PE143 Title: Term Pilates
This course engages students in the traditional Pilates movements to improve strength, flexibility, and balance.
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to perform exercises that strengthen the core muscle
groups (abdomen, hip and gluteal muscles). Students will also demonstrate their knowledge of muscle
conditioning specificity by creating a Pilates routine that encompasses all the major core muscle groups.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE144 Title: Fusion Fitness
Upon completion of this course students will be able to design and execute individualized cardiovascular-core
strength fitness programs incorporating pilates core strengthening exercises, meditation and relaxation
techniques, and alternative strength training exercises. Students will incorporate a wide variety of current
physiological and mind-body principles that will lead to improved core strength, endurance, cardiovascular
fitness, and enhanced self-awareness and relaxation.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE145 Title: Running
This course is for students with an established running background. By the end of the course, students will
understand the various energy systems involved in running and how to train each system. The class will focus
on running as a method for conditioning, but will use a combination of variety of cross-training methods,
including flexibility and strength training. The goal for each student is to complete a 10K run at the completion
of the course.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Students should have an established running background; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE146 Title: Strength Training
This course introduces students to the principles of strength training. Students will learn how to safely use the
Cybex weight machines, free weights, and other training equipment to increase muscular strength and
endurance. Upon completion of the course, students will know the major muscle groups and will be able to
implement sound training principles into their individualized strength program. Additionally, students will be
able to create their own training regimen.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE147 Title: Sports Performance Training
This course is designed to provide students with the fundamental knowledge and skills involved in resistance
training. Students will learn the proper techniques of various forms of resistance training including: barbells,
free weights, resistance bands, physioballs, medicine balls, and body weight exercises. Students will also
learn how to properly warm up and cool down through dynamic and passive movements. Students will follow
a periodized resistance program throughout the semester aimed at making gains in strength and power. At the
completion of this course, students will be able to create a personalized resistance training routine.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE148 Title: Couch to 5K
Students will increase their aerobic capacity and learn about various training strategies and the impact of
physical conditioning on the body while training to run a 5k. Each class will progress through a variety of
distances, time intervals, and levels of exertion, along with learning the physiological rationale for such
progressions. Various training techniques, including interval training and cross training (e.g., bike, elliptical,
etc.), will be used throughout the course. The eventual goal is for the student to be able to continuously run for
over 30 minutes. Students will track individual goals and progress throughout the semester.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE149 Title: Boot Camp Fitness
This course will help students get into shape, reduce stress, increase energy, and build confidence. Students
will learn how to properly warm up and cool down, exercise at high intensity using calisthenics, strength
workouts, dumbbells, medicine balls, agility ladders, obstacle courses and much more. Upon completion of
Boot Camp Fitness, students will be able to design and execute their own fun and challenging fitness
programs using high intensity interval training (HIIT).
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE150 Title: Spinning I
This course is an introduction to indoor cycling. Students will learn bike setup and safety, proper riding
technique and movements, and how to monitor heart rate in conjunction with effort. The class will offer
energizing, cycling-inspired rides that combine sound training principles, inspirational music, and a unique
mind/body philosophy. Students will exercise at moderate to high intensity levels using the spinning bikes,
while incorporating different spinning movements. Upon completion of this course students will be able to
design and execute their own individualized spin program. This course will help you get into shape, reduce
stress, and increase energy.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE151 Title: Spinning II
The class is a continuation of Beginning Spinning with more rigorous rides focusing on higher and more
challenging rotations per minute (RPM). It will offer energizing rides that combine sound training principles,
including regulating tension, intensity, and cadence throughout each workout. Students will be able to
transform their beginning spin skill set into a performance training tool. This course will enhance students'
cardiovascular fitness level and reduce stress.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: PE 150 Spinning I or permission of the instructor; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PE153 Title: Barre Fitness
Barre is a full body workout that incorporates body weight strength, pilates and ballet exercises. Workouts are
set to fun and high-energy music. The exercises are designed to exhaust your muscle groups then stretch
targeted areas to build strength and flexibility. Over the course of the semester we will deconstruct a Barre
workout to teach students proper form, mind and body awareness and build strength. Upon completion,
students will have the strength and endurance to complete an entire 60 minute Barre class.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE155 Title: Spin and Strength
Spin & Strength will combine the benefits of a workout on the bike and a workout off the bike. Each class, we
will challenge and increase overall cardiovascular fitness level through cycling and challenge and increase
overall strength level through a bodyweight circuit off the bike. In the spin portion of this course, students will
learn proper bike setup and safety, techniques to enhance the mind-body connection, and spinning specific
movements and positions. In the strength portion, students will learn different ways to format a training session
that includes upper body, lower body, core, and flexibility movements. We will exercise at varying intensity
levels on the bike that allow us to travel through the 6 different spinning movements over 2 types of terrains,
flats and hills, and two basic positions on the bike, seated and standing. We will manipulate both speed and
resistance to create a full ride that will challenge the body. Off the bike workouts will focus on all body weight
movements allowing students to understand and use their bodies as the sole form of resistance. Classes will
hit all major muscle groups in combination with cardio based movements to keep heart rate up. With the
progression of movements, reps, and interval based training, students will build power and stamina. The
course will combine energizing and rigorous cycling-inspired rides and strength circuits with upbeat music and
a focus on growth, breath and connection. A typical class will include a warm-up, ride portion, strength portion
and cool down. This course will help students elevate their fitness level and strength, reduce stress, increase
energy, and build confidence while also preparing them to create their own workouts moving forward.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Lekas; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE156 Title: Advanced Barre
Advanced Barre builds on the skills gained in Barre Fitness, incorporating bodyweight strength, pilates, and
ballet exercises. Students will build on the strength, technique, and body awareness that they formed in Barre
Fitness. Workouts are set to fun and high-energy music and the intensity is high. Upon completion of the
course, students will have a deeper understanding of proper form and will be able to create their own Barre
workout.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: PE153 Barre Fitness or permission of the instructor.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE157 Title: Term Advanced Barre
Advanced Barre builds on the skills gained in Barre Fitness, incorporating bodyweight strength, pilates, and
ballet exercises. Students will build on the strength, technique, and body awareness that they formed in Barre
Fitness. Workouts are set to fun and high-energy music and the intensity is high. Upon completion of the
course, students will have a deeper understanding of proper form and will be able to create their own Barre
workout.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: PE153 Barre Fitness or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE160 Title: Self-Defense
Upon completion of this practical self-defense course, students will learn basic avoidance tactics, awareness
skills and physical self-defense maneuvers. The student will be able to demonstrate effective escape skills,
verbal responses, and offensive counter attacks (including elbow strikes, heel/palm hits, kicks and fighting
from the ground). Safety equipment will be used in class, and physical contact is a part of every session.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PE161 Title: Tai Chi
Tai Chi is the ancient Chinese art of meditation achieved through low-impact movements and postures.
Weaponry (sabre) is an important aspect of this training and will be included in the course. By learning
postures from the Wu Chien-Chuan competition form and the fundamentals of the tai chi saber, students will
achieve proper spinal alignment and muscle relaxation.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE162 Title: Kung Fu
This course is a relaxed and enjoyable experience for the new student as well as a former practitioner of
martial arts. The course focuses on the fundamentals of Traditional Hung Kuen, a southern style of kung fu.
Basics include how to punch, kick, block, footwork and stances. Postures in the forms will be covered, along
with learning how to develop a form sequence. This is achieved by linking the postures together to create a
routine classified as the form. We will cover the process, the discovery, and the understanding from learning
and training with postures. The health and wellness benefits of the practice of form sequences and how breath
and movement are essential to life.
The instructor will be in a room with mirrors so students can follow the form sequences from different
perspectives. For instructional purposes, I will share the screen with pre-recorded video for viewing and
following the content that will be covered in classes. Recorded meetings will be shared for additional review of
content and improved understanding.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PE163 Title: Taekwon-Do I
The practice of Taekwon-Do is geared toward self-defense, as well as physical and mental health. Taekwon-Do
is a modern martial art that combines thousands of years of ancient methods of self-defense with scientific
concepts from physics making it one of the most powerful martial arts in existence. Students will develop
strength, coordination, and flexibility by practicing applications of hand and foot techniques (the “Taekwon”
part of the name). Students will also develop confidence and gain understanding of some aspects of Korean
philosophy and culture (the “Do” or the “way” part of the name), focused on the core tenets of Taekwon-Do:
courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE164 Title: Taekwon-Do II
Taekwon-Do II is a course designed as a continuation of Taekwon-Do I curriculum. Pre-requisites for this
course include having taken Taekwon-Do I or other prior experience with Taekwon-Do, subject to an
assessment by the instructor. The practice of Taekwon-Do is geared toward self-defense, as well as physical
and mental health. Taekwon-Do is a modern martial art that combines thousands of years of ancient methods
of self-defense with scientific concepts from physics making it one of the most powerful martial arts in
existence. Students will continue to develop strength, coordination, and flexibility by practicing applications of
hand and foot techniques (the "Taekwon" part of the name). Students will also develop confidence and gain an
understanding of some aspects of Korean philosophy and culture (the "Do" or the "way" part of the name),
focused on the core tenets of Taekwon-Do: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable
spirit. This course would allow a student to test and advance one level in Taekwon-Do rank. Prerequisites: PE
163
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: PE 163 Taekwon-Do; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PE168 Title: Flag Football for Conditioning
Learning the basics of American football in a cooperative and fun environment. The nature of American football
with lots of running, sprints and agility exercises makes it a perfect activity to get some great cardio work done
in a fast-paced and entertaining environment. Students will learn the rules and strategy of the game, basic
offensive and defensive strategies. Early on the essential terminology and concepts would be taught and
students would then start to run plays, diagram routes, call defenses, and play in small scrimmages. The
emphasis of the class will be on quality physical fitness while learning a game that may be new to some.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Charlton; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE169 Title: Term Archery
Upon completion of the course, a student will be able to execute the fundamental steps of target shooting and
attain an intermediate level of skill. Students will have the opportunity to test their archery skills and sights in a
variety of archery games and contests, shooting from 15, 20, and 25 yards.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE170 Title: Archery
Upon completion of the course, a student will be able to execute the fundamental steps of target shooting and
attain an intermediate level of skill. Videotaping will help students analyze their errors to improve overall
shooting. Students will have the opportunity to test their archery skills and sights in a variety of archery games,
such as tic tac toe, dartboard, and balloon shoot. Students will shoot from 15, 20, and 25 yards.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE171 Title: Elementary Badminton
This is a beginning badminton course in which students will develop the basic skills necessary to play the
game of badminton. Technical skills include the overhead and underhand clears, the short and long serves,
drop shots, the smash, proper grip, and footwork. Instruction will include an emphasis on the fundamental
strategies and rules used in both singles and doubles play. As a result of taking this class, students will be able
to demonstrate the basic strokes in badminton, play and score in single and double competition, and articulate
the rules and etiquette of the game. A fitness component will be part of each class aimed to improve agility,
flexibility, and strength.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 14; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PE172 Title: Term Fencing
This course is an introduction to the sport of fencing. Students will learn basic skills, including advance, retreat,
attack and defense, with an emphasis on correct execution of these fundamental skills. Students will also learn
bouting strategies and scoring. At the end of this course, a student will be familiar with fencing history, rules,
equipment and basic skills. Opportunity for electric foil fencing, with equipment provided, will be included.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE173 Title: Term Golf
This course teaches the fundamentals of golf, including different strokes as well as the rules of the game. After
taking this class, the student will be able to execute the basic golf strokes, including full swing, pitching,
chipping and putting. The student will have an understanding of the rules in order to engage in course play.
Equipment provided.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PE177 Title: Rock Climbing
Upon the completion of this course students will have a basic knowledge of belayer/climber communication,
rock climbing terms, knots, and movement on rock. Students will focus on personal goal setting and intrinsic
motivation in the sport of rock climbing. This is an introductory course and no previous rock climbing
experience is needed.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE178 Title: Fencing II
A continuation of the introduction to fencing course, this course will review the footwork, bladework, and
tactics from the introductory class. The emphasis will be on expanding to competitive bouting and electric
fencing. (Equipment provided.)
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 16; Instructor: Klinkov; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: The credits earned in this course count toward your Physical Education
graduation requirement; they do not count toward the 32 academic units required for your degree. ;
Course ID: PE179 Title: Pickleball
Pickleball is a paddle sport accessible to all ages and skill levels. Students will learn the rules of the game and
basics of play, with greater technique incorporated as the class progresses. Through drills and live play,
students will gain confidence and proficiency in this life-long wellness activity.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 14;
Course ID: PE181 Title: Term Children's Games
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 12; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PE182 Title: Elementary Tennis
This course is an introduction to the game of tennis for students with limited or no experience. As a result of
taking this class, students will be able to execute the basic shots of tennis, including forehand and backhand
ground strokes, volleys, and serves. Students will become familiar with fundamental concepts related to each
of the basic strokes including correct grips, footwork, and contact points, and will learn how to play points and
games. Upon completion of this class, students will be able to take part in a friendly match using official rules
and scoring, and appropriate terminology and etiquette.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PE183 Title: Intermediate Tennis
This course builds on the skills learned in Elementary Tennis, introducing more advanced tennis skills and
strategy. As a result of participation in Intermediate Tennis, students will improve the consistency of their basic
tennis skills including the groundstrokes, volley and serves. With emphasis on footwork, positioning, and ball
placement, students will be able to execute strategies for singles and doubles play. Students will also become
familiar with the use of varied grips and spins, as well as specialty shots such as the overhead, lob and
dropshot. Students will be able to implement their developing skills and strategies into match play.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: PE 182 Elementary Tennis or permission of the instructor.;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PE184 Title: Volleyball
This class is designed for students of every ability level interested in improving their volleyball skills. By the end
of the class, students will be able to pass, set, dig, serve, and attack. Students will also have a basic
knowledge of offensive and defensive strategies. Principles of physical fitness including proper warm-up/cool
down, cardiovascular and strength training, and stretching will also be addressed.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE187 Title: Ski/Snowboard
The downhill ski and snowboarding program is conducted at Nashoba Valley Ski Area, a 45-minute ride from
the College. The Nashoba Valley Ski School provides lessons at all levels, from beginning to expert. Attire: Ski
pants/warm slacks, ski parka, warm mittens/ gloves, heavy socks, warm hat. PE Credit: Students must attend
at least four lessons to earn credit. If weather conditions reduce the number of trips to Nashoba, students
might not be eligible to receive credit. Students are responsible for lift tickets, lesson fees, and equipment
rental.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 45; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE188 Title: Fencing
This course introduces the footwork, bladework, and tactics of fencing, developing proper technique and form.
With a particular emphasis on competitive bouting and electric fencing, with equipment provided, students will
develop a sound foundation of the fencing basics through regular practice. Students will also learn the rules of
the game, including scoring. Equipment provided.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE190 Title: Beginning Yoga
Yoga focuses on the integration of the breath and mindfulness with postures or asanas. The postures may be
linked in a flowing manner or may be held for several breaths. Upon completion of the class, a student will be
able to execute many postures and breathing techniques that work together with alignment, clarity of mind and
relaxation. Increased student awareness of their physical strengths and challenges will be identified to achieve
improved balance, stability, flexibility, strength and focus.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE191 Title: Continuing Yoga
This course builds on the practice learned in Beginning Yoga, diving deeper into the study of yoga. Students in
this Iyengar style class will perform intermediate yoga postures, including inverted poses, arm balances and
back bends. Upon completion of the class, students will be able to execute more advanced postures and
breathing techniques, with a focus on alignment and clarity of mind. Students will improve their balance,
stability, flexibility, strength, and focus. Prerequisites: PE190 Beginning Yoga or permission of the instructor.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PE192 Title: Term Mindfulness
The aim of this course is to help students develop mindfulness skills that will help relax, refresh, and focus the
mind and body. Mindfulness, sensory awareness, and basic mindful movement techniques will be learned and
experienced through guided seated, walking, standing, and lying down meditation. Upon completion of the
course, which includes short daily requirements, and maintenance of a brief log/journal to be handed in each
week, students will be able to integrate mindful awareness practices into their lives.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PE193 Title: Mindfulness
This course teaches students the practice of mindfulness. Through guided meditative exercises, students will
improve their abilities to relax, refresh, and focus the mind and body. Upon completion of the course, which
includes short independent daily exercises, and maintaining a journal, students will be able to effectively
integrate mindfulness into their lives.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: None; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PE194 Title: Term Mindful Movement
The practice of mindfulness is geared toward developing awareness in the present moment with intention,
attention, curiosity, acceptance and kindness. This course focuses on developing mindfulness skills. Classes
will consist of a combination of quiet sitting meditations with focus on the breath and body, body scans,
positional yoga, and mindful movement/activities such as walking and will conclude with individual written
reflections in a mindfulness journal to track progress and development. At the end of the course, students will
be able to incorporate their own mindfulness practice into their daily lives.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 18; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: PE232 Title: Yoga for Stress Relief
The practice of yoga is well-demonstrated to release stored stress and reduce the physical and emotional
effects of stress on the body and the mind. This class combines restorative yoga poses, gentle stretches and
breathwork, to create a calming, stress-reducing experience. By taking this class, students will build a toolbox
of simple techniques that can be used on and off the mat, at any time of the day, to soothe the nervous system
and change emotions.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PE233 Title: Couch to 3k
Students will increase their aerobic capacity and learn about various training strategies and the impact of
physical conditioning on the body while training to run a 3k. Each class will progress through a variety of
distances, time intervals, and levels of exertion, along with learning the physiological rationale for such
progressions. Various training techniques, including interval training and cross training (e.g., bike, elliptical,
etc.), will be used throughout the course. The eventual goal is for the student to be able to continuously run for
over 20 minutes. Students will track individual goals and progress throughout the semester.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 15; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: PE234 Title: Flexibility/Stretching
The practice of stretching and building flexibility is integral to personal health and wellness. Whether training
for a sport or recovering from sedentary work (classes, homework, sitting at a desk), stretching can prevent
injury, improve range of motion, increase blood flow, boost energy, help to correct imbalances in the body,
and aid in recovery. Each class will consist of a brief warmup, followed by guided stretches focused on various
muscle groups and areas of the body, and will conclude with individual written reflections in a stretching log to
track progress and development throughout the course. Upon completion of this course, students will be able
to safely and independently incorporate their own stretching routines into their daily lives.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE235 Title: Strength & Stretch
This course focuses on movements that build muscle strength and stretch. Students will learn ways to increase
mobility and stability of different muscle groups as they master workouts that combine aspects of building
strong muscles while maintaining flexibility. Classes will begin with a warm-up, proceed through a variety of
exercises, and end with cool-down. The goal is for students to improve strength and flexibility as the
movements increase in both intensity and length throughout the course. All exercises will use students' body
weight as the sole form of resistance. Through this course, students will have the opportunity to learn
movements and ultimately create their own workouts that will increase their strength, power, flexibility, mobility,
coordination, and balance.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 18; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Fall;
Course ID: PE236 Title: Core Strength
In this course, students will learn about the different muscles that make up the core and learn a variety of
exercises designed to train and strengthen those muscles. Students will also learn methods of designing core
workouts in order to train different energy systems and muscle groups, complement other strength programs,
or in order to improve every-day fitness. Each class will begin with a warm up, run through a series of core
exercises and conclude with a cool down. The goal of this course is for students to improve their own core
strength, and to develop the skills to design their own core strength workouts. No equipment will be necessary
for this course.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 15; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: PE237 Title: Total Body Training
Total Body Training is designed to build strength and fitness through a variety of types of bodyweight
exercises. This course will help students increase cardiovascular fitness and overall strength while also
elevating energy levels, mood, and confidence. Sessions will work all the major muscle groups including core
and will also be a great cardio workout. A focus on all bodyweight movements will allow students to use their
own bodyweight as the sole form of resistance. Throughout the course, movements and intensity will progress
to increase students' strength, mobility, stability, and overall fitness. Students will learn the proper way to warm
up and cool down and upon completion of the course will be able to create their own fun and challenging
workout with a full body focus.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 15; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: PE238 Title: Heartrate and Human Performance
In eighty years, your heart will beat approximately 3.2 trillion times—an engine that doesn't stop, almost never
requires maintenance, and adapts itself to varied demand. Our engineers have not yet begun to touch that
brilliance of evolution. This course will explore the concept of HR training zones—the idea that the HR at which
you train is the ultimate arbiter of your results. We'll learn how to estimate and then measure our maximum
heart rates, and we'll use those data to create training plans suited to our goals. We'll learn the tradeoffs of
various training intensities and debate what constitutes fitness; we'll even experiment with heart rate reduction,
used rarely in sports like biathlon. This course will not mandate what physical activity you use to achieve the
HR goals set forth; requirements will be based around intensity and volume. Note: a wearable HR monitor of
some type is required.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 15; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: PE239 Title: Physical Activity and Understanding Risk
Which risks are "worth it?" Can we live without risk? These are always vital questions, but they have become
even more salient in the covid era. This course will NOT ask you to take new risks—but it will require you to
analyze risks that you are already taking, possibly without due consideration. Through regular physical activity
(we’ll focus on running, hiking and biking, but it will be partially dependent on what is available to whom) and
classroom discussion, we will tackle the concept of physical risk. We'll learn to calculate the risk of a variety of
activities and compare what we find to how we perceive those risks; we'll also learn to assess risk even when
few data are available. We'll learn to distinguish between subjective and objective hazards, and we'll consider
what benefits might stem from seeking physical risk. As we train our bodies, we will also discuss the risks of
inactivity. Ultimately, we will strive to become more thoughtful in our approach to risk: able to mitigate it when
possible and seek it when appropriate.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 15; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: PE240 Title: Keeping it in Check: Body and MInd
Designed to help students achieve wellness through exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness education. Students
are taught to recognize components of their lifestyles that are detrimental to their health while developing a
personal wellness program. This class will explore current fitness, health, and nutrition topics. Each class will
begin with discussion/dialogue between instructor and students, followed by physical activity. The goal is to
incorporate physical activity and wellness practices to improve overall health and well-being. Each term this
course is offered new activities will be introduced focusing on improving coordination, strength, flexibility and
aerobic capacity, along with mindfulness practices such as meditation, self compassion, values, and a growth
mindset.
Units: 2; Max Enrollment: 15; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: PE275 Title: Modern Jazz
This class takes the floor physically, emotionally, and mentally to connect bodies into a joyous physicality.
Technique includes great jazz and modern American originals: Fosse, Tharpe, Ailey, Cole, Luigi, and
Giordano. Plus today’s influencers: Kyle Hanagami. WildaBeast Adams, Dytto, Urban Dance Camp, Tricia
Miranda, Mega Jam, and Mandy Jiroux,
Classes begin with a 15-20 minute warm up, focusing on legs and feet, stretch & alignment. We
then move across the floor in short combinations, emphasizing locomotor movement, turns, isolations, and
leaps. The last 20 minutes is devoted to choreographing short dances. To add strength and flexibility, class
includes basic ballet for legs and feet,, modern from inspired Broadway choreographers, and African for the
rhythm of the heart.
OBJECTIVE:
To enjoy greater body awareness; To share creatively; To refine technical skill; To learn how to use
choreographic tools of time, space, sequencing, rhythm, and attitude. By the end of the semester you have
grown a new point of view about yourself and how you choose to move, and you will be more willing to take
risks. It’s a proven scientific fact, dance increases brain cells, and happiness makes them expand. Come join
the dance, point your toes/expand your brain, and have a wonderful time with new ‘jazzyfriends'!
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Instructor: Samantha Cameron; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PE283 Title: Salsa Dance
A high energy dance form that encourages self-expression, personal growth and cultural awareness. Come
dance with us for fun and find joy through movement and music. Students will learn the fundamental
principles of partnering, dance floor etiquette, timing, basic footwork, full and half turns, ‘cross body lead’, and
useful salsa dance patterns.
Units: 4; Max Enrollment: 24; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Physics
A major in physics involves the study of the universal principles underlying phenomena ranging from the
behavior of subatomic particles to the structure of the universe. It also entails the applications of these
principles to the phenomena we observe every day and to the technology used to explore the world and
address people’s needs. Important components of the major are modeling, problem-solving, and developing
the critical thinking skills necessary to address fundamental questions about Nature. To acquire these skills
our majors engage in active inquiry in the classroom and teaching laboratories and in performing research. In
addition to preparing students for graduate study in physics or engineering, a major in physics is an excellent
basis for a career in other sciences, business, public policy, medicine, law, and the arts. Physics majors will
also be prepared with fundamental intellectual tools to support their lifelong learning in a rapidly changing
world.
Physics Major
Goals for the Physics Major
As a Physics major you will be able to:
1. Explain the basic laws of physics within the fields of classical mechanics, electromagnetism, quantum
mechanics, and thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.
2. Recognize the uniqueness of, interconnections between, and current limits of these fields.
3. Employ mathematical techniques to understand and describe physical phenomena.
4. Solve real-world problems by applying the skills of contextualization, approximation, analysis and
reflection.
5. Design experiments and interpret results to answer independent research questions.
6. Use computation as a tool to advance problem-solving abilities and analysis of experimental data.
7. Communicate scientific reasoning and perspective to a diverse audience including faculty, studentcolleagues, technical experts, and peers.
Requirements for the Physics Major
A major in physics begins with PHYS 100 and ordinarily includes PHYS 100, PHYS 107, PHYS 108, [(PHYS
120H and PHYS 205H) or PHYS 205], PHYS 207, PHYS 208, PHYS 210, PHYS 302 and two other units of
physics at the 300-level. PHYS 104 can be taken in place of PHYS 107 in certain circ*mstances. Calculus at
the level of MATH 115 and MATH 116 as well as MATH 205 and MATH 215 are prerequisites for several
courses in the major. Independent study and thesis courses (250, 350, 355/365, 360/370) do not count toward
the major. The department also supports interdisciplinary pathways through the major -- see Interdisciplinary
Option below. Prior to 2022-23, the two half-unit courses PHYS 120H and 205H together satisfied the PHYS
205 requirement.
All students who wish to consider a major in physics are urged to complete the introductory sequence (PHYS
100, PHYS 107, and PHYS 108) as soon as possible, and preferably by the end of the second year.
Students interested in graduate programs in physics are strongly recommended to complete PHYS 302, PHYS
305, PHYS 308, and PHYS 310, as well as PHYS 322H and PHYS 323H.
Interdisciplinary Option
For students interested in exploring the intersection of physics and related disciplines, we offer an
interdisciplinary pathway through the major. This option can prepare students for future careers and study in
subjects such as biophysics, geophysics, environmental physics, materials science, electrical engineering,
and other applied sciences. The interdisciplinary option has fewer course requirements within the Physics
Department and additional elective requirements chosen from courses offered in other departments as well as
at the Olin College of Engineering and at MIT. A key element in the design of this route through the physics
major is that it should form a coordinated program of study that draws on and relates to a student's physics
background. We invite students interested in this option to work with a faculty member to craft an
interdisciplinary route through the physics major. Sample interdisciplinary pathways are available on the
physics department website at www.wellesley.edu/physics.
Please note that the college offers Interdepartmental majors in Astrophysics and in Chemical Physics; these
majors are distinct from the Physics Interdisciplinary Option.
Engineering
Students interested in engineering should understand that Wellesley does not offer a major or minor in
engineering, but does offer a range of local courses, as well as cross-registration with Olin and MIT, and other
options to help students pursue their interest. More information about engineering opportunities can be found
online at www.wellesley.edu/engineering.
Thesis work and Honors in Physics
The route to honors in the major is writing an honors thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted
to the honors thesis program (PHYS 360/PHYS 370), a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5
in all work in the major field above the 100 level; the department may petition on the student’s behalf if the GPA
in the major is below that threshold. See Academic Distinctions. Students who do not meet the GPA
requirement can still complete a (non-honors) thesis (PHYS 355/PHYS 365). If the student demonstrates
excellence in research during PHYS 355, they may petition to enroll in the honors thesis program. That student
would then be eligible for honors in the major.
Teacher Certification in Physics
Students interested in obtaining certification to teach physics in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should
consult the chairs of the education and physics departments.
Transfer Credit in Physics
In order to obtain Wellesley credit for any physics course taken at another institution during the summer or the
academic year, approval must be obtained from the chair of the department prior to enrolling in the course. In
general, courses from two-year colleges will not be accepted at any level. These restrictions normally apply
only to courses taken after matriculation at Wellesley. Transfer students wishing to obtain credit for physics
courses taken prior to matriculation at Wellesley should consult the chair of the department.
Advanced Placement and Exemption Examinations in Physics
If a student has a strong physics background (AP, IB physics credits, or the equivalent) and wishes to be
exempted from our introductory mechanics and/or electricity and magnetism courses (PHYS 107 and PHYS
108) for the purpose of enrolling in a higher-level physics course, passing an exemption examination
administered by the department is necessary. Sample examinations are available from the department.
Exemption from PHYS 107 and/or PHYS 108 is not granted based on AP or IB scores alone. Students may not
receive more than two units of credit for the introductory physics sequence. For example, a student who
enrolls in both PHYS 107 and PHYS 108 will not also receive AP or IB credit. PHYS 100 is required of all
physics majors. Students should enroll in PHYS 100 independent of their placement in mechanics and
electricity & magnetism.
Physics Related Courses
ENGR 160
Fundamentals of Engineering
1.0
Physics Minor
Requirements for the Physics Minor
A minor in physics (six courses) should ordinarily include the following:
1. PHYS 100, PHYS 104 or PHYS 107, and PHYS 108
2. Two 200-level courses: (PHYS 205 or PHYS 210) and (PHYS 207 or PHYS 208)
3. One unit of 300-level work, excluding PHYS 350/PHYS 350H. This could be e.g. a 1.0-unit course, or
two 0.5-unit courses.
MATH 205 and/or MATH 215 are prerequisites for some of the above physics courses.
PHYS Courses
Course ID: ASTR304/PHYS304 Title: Advanced Experimental Techniques
In this course students will learn advanced techniques for experimental astronomy and planetary science.
Students will carry out term-long projects involving acquisition and analysis of data. In some cases these data
will be derived from observations performed with telescopes or instruments built by the students themselves.
In other cases students will build projects around data from space missions or ground or space-based
telescopes. Techniques may include spectroscopy, photometry, multiwavelength astronomy, remote sensing
of planetary surfaces, particle astrophysics, and gravitational wave astronomy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 8; Prerequisites: ASTR 202, ASTR 206, PHYS 210 or prior experience with
instrumentation with permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Not offered every year.;
Course ID: ASTR311/PHYS311 Title: Advanced Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the application of physics to the study of the Universe. We will use elements of mechanics,
thermodynamics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, special relativity, and nuclear physics to investigate
selected topics such as planetary dynamics, the life stories of stars and galaxies, the interstellar medium, highenergy processes, and large scale structure in the Universe. Our goals will be to develop insight into the
physical underpinnings of the natural world and to construct a "universal toolkit" of practical astrophysical
techniques that can be applied to the entire celestial menagerie.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: PHYS 205; pre or co-requisite PHYS 207.; Instructor: Mowla;
Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical
Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CHEM305/PHYS331 Title: Modern Materials
Optical and electronic materials, ranging from solar cells to superconductors, are central to our modern lives
and will be crucial in solving the technological challenges of our future. For students interested in engineering
applications of fundamental physics phenomena, this interdisciplinary course will introduce the science behind
the development of modern materials and devices. Through hands-on projects, students will explore the
development of optical and electronic materials from their atomic origins, to their implementation in
semiconductor devices, and finally their long term environmental impact. This course connects topics often
covered in separate physics, chemistry, and engineering courses. Previous experience with concepts from
introductory physics is strongly recommended.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PHYS 108 and either PHYS 210 or CHEM 361, or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Belisle; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC239H/PHYS239H Title: Physics Pedagogy in Practice
For students interested in current best practices in active learning and inclusive teaching, this course provides
a unique experience to learn, teach, and change the physics curriculum at Wellesley. Students will read and
discuss current literature in physics education, gain practice in supporting inclusive group work, refine their
own physics knowledge, and do hands-on projects to improve the studio physics experience at Wellesley
College. Students must complete this course prior to working as Physics Learning Assistants.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hue; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: ENGR210/PHYS210 Title: Experimental Techniques
Through hands-on exploration, students will learn about analog and digital electronics, optical systems, and
foundational techniques in the modern physics laboratory. A framework for data analysis will be developed,
with a focus on model-data comparison, model selection and statistical inference. This course helps prepare
students for independent research and internships in physics and related fields.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: PHYS 108. ; Instructor: Belisle, Hall; Distribution Requirements:
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and
Physical Sciences Laboratory; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: MATH313/PHYS313 Title: Differential Geometry and General Relativity
Einstein's general theory of relativity conceives of gravity as a manifestation of the geometry of spacetime. In
John Archibald Wheeler's summary: "Spacetime tells matter how to move; matter tells spacetime how to
curve." Differential geometry supplies the mathematical language for describing curvature. We begin by
defining and building up the relevant mathematical ideas: manifolds, tensors, covariant derivatives, geodesics,
and the Riemann tensor. We then apply these ideas to the physics, developing the Einstein field equation and
some of its consequences, including the Schwarzschild solution and black holes, cosmology, and gravitational
waves.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: At least one 300-level course in mathematics or physics, or
permission of the instructor. MATH 302 or MATH 305 is recommended. Students can receive major credit for
both MATH 312 and MATH 313.; Instructor: Tannenhauser; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical
Modeling and Problem Solving; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHYS100 Title: Relativity and Quantum Physics: An Introduction to College Physics
This course is the entry point for students interested in exploring physics as a possible major or as a
foundation for other sciences. It presents, at an introductory level, two fundamental developments at the heart
of contemporary physics: quantum physics and Einstein’s theories of relativity. Relativity profoundly alters our
understanding of the nature of space and time; quantum physics revolutionizes our knowledge of the world at
the smallest scales. We will introduce and develop the core principles of these two theories, and explore their
implications and practical consequences. No prior experience with physics is required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Open to First-Year and Sophom*ore students. Juniors and Seniors
by permission of the instructor. Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative
Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Pre/co-requisite - MATH 115 or permission of the instructor. ;
Instructor: Wetter, Belisle; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS
- Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHYS102 Title: Physics for Future Presidents
Many of the grand challenges facing the modern world have an underlying scientific and technological
component. What basic physics should all future leaders know? And what science should all citizens
understand? Stressing conceptual understanding and critical reasoning, this course aims to give students the
physics background and habits of mind that will help them make informed decisions and cogent arguments on
matters of public concern. Topics include: the physics of energy, climate change, the threat of nuclear
materials and weapons, space exploration, and driverless cars and other emerging technologies. We will make
use of basic high school level mathematics in our work. Not to be counted toward the major or to fulfill the
entrance requirement for medical school.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHYS104 Title: Fundamentals of Mechanics with Laboratory
This course is a systematic introduction to Newtonian mechanics, which governs the motion of objects ranging
from biological cells to galaxies. Primary concepts such as mass, force, energy, and momentum are
introduced and discussed in depth. We will place emphasis on the conceptual framework and on using
fundamental principles to analyze the everyday world. Topics include: Newton's Laws, conservation of energy,
conservation of momentum, rotations, waves, and fluids. Concepts from calculus will be developed and used
as needed. This course is taught in studio-style, which blends lecture with group problem solving and handson experimental activities. Students with a strong background in mathematics or previous experience in
physics should consider PHYS 107.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Prerequisite or Co-requisite - calculus at the level of
MATH 115. Not open to students who have taken PHYS 107.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: In some cases this course can be used in place of PHYS 107 for the Physics major.;
Course ID: PHYS106 Title: Fundamentals of Electricity, Magnetism, and Optics with Laboratory
This continuation of classical physics concentrates on the fundamental forces of electricity and magnetism.
The electric and magnetic forces are entirely responsible for the structures and interactions of atoms and
molecules, the properties of all solids, and the structure and function of biological material. Our technological
society is largely dependent on the myriad applications of the physics of electricity and magnetism, e.g.,
motors and generators, communications systems, and the architecture of computers. After developing
quantitative descriptions of electricity and magnetism, we explore the relations between them, leading us to an
understanding of light as an electromagnetic phenomenon. The course will consider both ray-optics and waveoptics descriptions of light. This course is taught in studio-style, which blends lecture with group problem
solving and hands-on experimental activities.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - PHYS 106.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: PHYS 104 or PHYS 107, and calculus at the level of MATH 115.
This course does not normally fulfill Physics major requirements.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements:
MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHYS106L Title: Laboratory: Fundamentals of Electricity, Magnetism, and Optics
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for PHYS 106.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: PHYS 104 or PHYS 107, and calculus at the level of MATH 115.
This course does not normally fulfill Physics major requirements.;
Course ID: PHYS107 Title: Principles and Applications of Mechanics with Laboratory
Newtonian mechanics governs the motion of objects ranging from biological cells to galaxies. The
fundamental principles of mechanics allow us to begin to analyze and understand the physical world. In this
introductory calculus-based course, we will systematically study the laws underlying how and why objects
move, and develop analysis techniques for applying these laws to everyday situations. Broadly applicable
problem-solving skills will be developed and stressed. Topics include forces, energy, momentum, rotations,
gravity, and waves, and a wide range of applications. This course is taught in studio-style, which blends lecture
with group problem solving and hands-on experimental activities.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - PHYS 107L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of
the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Calculus at the level of MATH 115. Not open to
students who have taken PHYS 104.; Instructor: McAskill, Addison; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural
and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Fall;
Course ID: PHYS107L Title: Laboratory: Principles and Applications of Mechanics
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for PHYS 107.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Calculus at the level of MATH 115. Not open to students
who have taken PHYS 104.; Instructor: McAskill, Addison; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PHYS108 Title: Principles and Applications of Electricity and Magnetism
The electromagnetic force, one of the fundamental interactions in nature, is responsible for a remarkably wide
range of phenomena and technologies, from the structures of atoms and molecules to the transmission of
nerve impulses and the characteristics of integrated circuits. This introductory course begins with the study of
Coulomb's law of electrostatics and progresses through investigations of electric fields, electric potential
energy, magnetic fields, and Faraday's law of magnetic induction. The course culminates in the study of light,
where the deep connections between electricity and magnetism are highlighted. Interference effects caused by
the electromagnetic wave nature of light are introduced.
Because this course does not have a lab, it does not typically satisfy the pre-health requirements.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: PHYS 107 (or PHYS 104 with permission of the instructor) and
calculus at the level of MATH 116, or MATH 120, or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who
have taken PHYS 106. ; Instructor: Lewis; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and
Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PHYS205 Title: Introduction to Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics with Computation, with
Laboratory
When studying macroscopic systems consisting of enormous number of individual particles, new physics
concepts, such as temperature, pressure, heat, and entropy, become essential. In this course, we will explore
these concepts in the context of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, at both macroscopic and
microscopic levels. These topics will be paired with computational modeling, including the introduction of
basic numerical methods used across the sciences. No prior programming experience is required. This new
course will be offered for the first time in Fall 2023, and replaces PHYS120H and PHYS205H.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - PHYS 205L.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: PHYS 107 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Teich;
Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; MM - Mathematical Modeling and
Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHYS205L Title: Laboratory: Introduction to Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics with
Computation
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for PHYS 205.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: PHYS 107 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Teich;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHYS207 Title: Classical Dynamics
Newtonian mechanics is revisited using more sophisticated mathematical tools such as differential equations,
linear algebra, and Fourier analysis. Topics include driven and coupled oscillators, central forces, and
conservation laws. Particular attention is paid to wave phenomena and how the mathematics that describes
mechanical waves can be extended to the realms of electromagnetism and quantum mechanics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PHYS 108 and MATH 215, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: J. Battat; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: PHYS208 Title: Intermediate Electromagnetism
This course builds on the foundations of electricity and magnetism developed in PHYS 108. After a review of
the basics of electrostatics and magnetostatics, a more mathematically rich description of electromagnetic
phenomena is developed. The vector operators div, grad, and curl are used to re-express the integral
formulations of PHYS 108 (e.g., Gauss’ Law, Ampere’s Law, Faraday’s Law); the necessary mathematics is
presented in parallel with the physics. This treatment culminates in the differential forms of Maxwell’s
equations, which then lead to the electromagnetic wave equation. Properties of electromagnetic waves,
including polarization and energy and momentum transport, are introduced.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PHYS 108 and MATH 205.; Instructor: Lewis; Distribution
Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHYS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHYS250G Title: Research or Group Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PHYS250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHYS302 Title: Quantum Mechanics
This course provides a comprehensive development of the principles of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics,
the fundamental theory of electrons, atoms, and molecules. Quantum mechanics governs the building blocks
of all matter, and yet fundamentally challenges our physical intuition, which is based on the behavior of
everyday macroscopic objects. Topics include the postulates of quantum mechanics, the Schrödinger
equation, operator theory, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the hydrogen atom, and spin.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: PHYS 100 and PHYS 207 and MATH 215, or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Addison; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving;
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: PHYS303 Title: Advanced Quantum Mechanics
This course builds upon the foundations of quantum mechanics presented in PHYS 302. Topics include: the
quantum mechanics of identical particles, addition of spin and angular momentum, Dirac notation, time
dependent and independent perturbative approaches, and scattering. These topics will be presented using a
combination of the Schrodinger, Heisenberg, and interaction formulation of quantum mechanics. This course
is strongly recommended for students planning to attend graduate school in physics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PHYS 302 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Addison;
Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHYS305 Title: Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics
Modern statistical mechanics builds from the quantum nature of individual particles to describe the behavior of
large and small systems of such particles. In this course, we will derive the fundamental laws of
thermodynamics using basic principles of statistics and investigate applications to such systems as ideal and
real atomic and molecular gases, radiating bodies, magnetic spins, and solids. We will study Bose-Einstein
and Fermi-Dirac statistics and learn about exciting new developments, such as Bose-Einstein condensation
and ultra-cold Fermi gases. We will cover additional applications of statistical mechanics in the fields of
biology, chemistry, and astrophysics. This course is strongly recommended for students planning to attend
graduate school in physics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: (PHYS 205 or PHYS 205H) and (PHYS 207 or PHYS 208) and
MATH 205; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Teich; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical
Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHYS308 Title: Electromagnetic Theory
This course continues, from PHYS 208, the study of the classical theory of electromagnetic fields and waves as
developed by Maxwell. Topics include electric and magnetic fields in matter, boundary value problems,
electromagnetic radiation, and the connection between electrodynamics and special relativity. This course is
strongly recommended for students planning to attend graduate school in physics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PHYS 208 and MATH 215, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: J. Battat; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHYS310 Title: Experimental Physics
Modern experimental physics draws on a wide range of laboratory skills, design strategies, and analysis
techniques. The experimentalist approaches each measurement with an array of tools, from the effective use of
sophisticated instrumentation and the construction of home-built equipment to the evaluation of experimental
uncertainties. This course offers a comprehensive introduction to experimental physics as it is carried out in
research settings. The experiments illustrate the use of electronic, mechanical, and optical instruments to
investigate fundamental physical phenomena in nuclear, atomic, molecular, and condensed matter systems.
Scientific writing skills and oral presentation skills receive focused attention. An emphasis on independent
work is gradually developed throughout the semester. This course is strongly recommended for students
planning to attend graduate school in physics.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: PHYS 207 and PHYS 210, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: J. Battat, K. Hall; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving;
NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: PHYS322H Title: Advanced Topics in Classical Mechanics
This course is a continuation of the development of tools to analyze classical systems; it builds on the
knowledge gained in Physics 207. New techniques developed include the calculus of variations, which gives
rise to the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian treatment of systems, physics in non-inertial reference frames, and
rotational dynamics. The course is appropriate for any student wishing to explore advanced topics in classical
mechanics; it is strongly recommended for students planning to attend graduate school in physics.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PHYS 207.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHYS323H Title: Advanced Topics in Quantum Mechanics
While Physics 302 focuses on quantum systems that can be solved exactly, Physics 323H develops
techniques that can be applied to systems that are too complex mathematically to be solved in closed form.
This course explores time-independent and time-dependent perturbation theory and applies these techniques
to a variety of atomic, molecular, and solid-state systems. Quantum entanglement and its emerging
applications are also covered. This course is strongly recommended for students planning to attend graduate
school in physics.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PHYS 302.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHYS332 Title: Particle Physics
This course explores aspects of relativistic quantum mechanics. Beginning with a review of special relativity
and the foundations of quantum mechanics, two of the most fundamental equations in particle physics will be
introduced: the Klein-Gordon equation and the Dirac equation. Students will also learn intrinsic properties of
fundamental particles and how to represent these ideas through Feynman diagrams with the focus being on
quantum electrodynamics and weak interactions. From there, a variety of topics will be explored, including
Lagrangians, symmetry breaking, and the Higgs mechanism, as well as neutrinos and their current role in
particle physics research. If time permits, concepts of field theory will be introduced.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: PHYS 208 and PHYS 302 and exposure to special relativity.;
Instructor: McAskill; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PHYS333 Title: Nuclear Physics and Applications
The physics of nuclei and radiation underpins much of modern experimental physics and has important
connections to areas of chemistry, medicine, and engineering. In this course, students will learn the
fundamentals of nuclear physics theory and connect those concepts to real-world applications. Topics will
include: models of nuclear structure, nuclear states and energy levels, the physics of radiation and radioactive
decay, nuclear reactions, interactions of radiation with matter, and radiation detection. The course will survey
multiple application areas including energy production and nuclear medicine, with the opportunity to expand
topics based on student interest. This course is ideal both for students interested in graduate school and those
interested in careers in industry. Previous experience with concepts from introductory physics is strongly
recommended.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: MATH 215 and either (PHYS 108 and PHYS 100) or one of the
following - CHEM 105, CHEM 105P, CHEM 116, CHEM 120), or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Lewis;
Distribution Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem
Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHYS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHYS350G Title: Research or Group Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PHYS350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PHYS355 Title: Senior Thesis Research
The first course in a two-semester investigation (355/365) of a significant research problem, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis. This route does not lead to departmental honors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Open only to Seniors with permission of the department.;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PHYS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
The first course in a two-semester investigation (360/370) of a significant research problem, culminating in the
preparation of a thesis and defense (oral examination) of that thesis before a committee of faculty from the
Department of Physics. Required for honors in the major.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first
semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is
made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: PHYS365 Title: Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PHYS 355. Open only to Seniors with permission of the
department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PHYS370 Title: Senior Thesis
The second course of the 360/370 sequence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: PHYS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Political Science
Political Science is the systematic study of politics. It is the academic discipline that analyzes how power is
defined, who does or should have power in society, how those with power use or ought to use it, how those
with less power challenge it, and the effect of power on people’s lives. Political Science courses explore a wide
range of questions regarding the concepts and norms central to the study of power and politics (e.g.,
authority, domination, gender, freedom); the structure and operations of law and institutions (e.g., the U.S.
Supreme Court, United Nations, nongovernmental organizations); the historical, sociological, and cultural
factors involved in political and economic development; social movements and processes (e.g., women’s
movements, immigration); comparative political systems (e.g., democracy, communism); political trends and
transformations in various regions (e.g., East Asia, South Asia, Latin America); and analyses of current affairs
in the many realms and contexts in which politics take place.
Political Science Major
Learning Outcomes for Political Science Majors
Gain a broad background in the discipline of political science through courses in the four subfields that
comprise it: American politics and law, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory.
Explore in depth at least two of those subfields through advanced work.
Develop the capacity to think critically about local, national, and global politics, and bring an informed
perspective to understanding and evaluating the consequences of important political developments as
they unfold.
Become an informed and reflective citizen of one’s community and nation, and learn about the global
dynamics that influence the shape and content of political life.
Acquire skills important in political science, including the ability to closely read complex texts; write
clear and effective papers, including short essays and substantive research papers; think critically and
analytically about empirical evidence and theoretical propositions; generate and test hypotheses; use
methodologies appropriate to a particular research question; and take and defend a position against
the strongest counterarguments.
Requirements for the Political Science Major
A major in Political Science consists of at least nine units. Courses at the 100 level may be counted toward the
major, but not toward a subfield distribution requirement (see below).
It is strongly recommended that students interested in further work in political science take one of the small
100-level courses offered each fall. The Department of Political Science divides its courses beyond the
introductory level into four subfields: American politics and law (POL1), comparative politics (POL2),
international relations (POL3), and political theory (POL4). In order to ensure that political science majors
familiarize themselves with the substantive concerns and methodologies employed throughout the discipline,
all majors must take one 200-level or 300-level unit in each of the four subfields offered by the department.
Recommended first courses in the four subfields: in American politics and law: POL1 200; in comparative
politics: POL2 202 or POL2 204; in international relations: POL3 221; in political theory: POL4 201 or POL4 216.
In addition to the subfield distribution requirement, all majors must do advanced work (300 level) in at least two
of the four subfields; a minimum of one of these units must be a seminar, which normally requires a major
research paper. Courses fulfilling the seminar requirement are denoted by the word "Seminar" before the
course title. Admission to department seminars is by permission of the instructor only. Interested students
must fill out a seminar application, which is available on the political science department homepage prior to
registration for each term. Majors should begin applying for seminars during their junior year in order to be
certain of fulfilling this requirement. Majors are encouraged to take more than the minimum number of required
300-level courses.
Research or Individual Study
Individual or group research of an exploratory or specialized nature. Students interested in independent
research should request the assistance of a faculty advisor and plan the project, readings, conferences, and
method of examination with the faculty sponsor. These courses are offered at the 250 (intermediate) and 350
(advanced) levels and for one or 0.5 unit of credit.
Honors in Political Science
In the political science department, the only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral
examination. To be admitted to the honors program, a student must have a minimum 3.5 grade point average
in work in the major above the 100 level. Students who fall slightly below this minimum requirement may
petition for an exemption if they present a particularly strong proposal and if they have the strong support of a
potential thesis advisor. Majors who are interested in writing a senior honors thesis are urged to discuss their
ideas and plans with a potential faculty advisor as early as possible in their junior year. The deadline for
submitting an honors thesis proposal is the second Monday in April; all students are expected to submit their
proposals by this date.
Graduate Study in Political Science
Students considering going to graduate school for a Ph.D. in political science should talk with their major
advisors about appropriate preparation in quantitative methods and foreign languages.
Transfer Credits in Political Science
A minimum of five units for the major must be taken at Wellesley, as must the courses that are used to fulfill at
least two of the four subfield distributions and the seminar requirement. The department does not grant
transfer credit at the 300 level for either the major or for College distribution or degree requirements. This
policy applies to courses taken at MIT.
For the purpose of meeting a subfield distribution requirement in the major, a student may count a course
taken elsewhere provided that it transfers as at least .75 Wellesley units.
Although Wellesley College does not grant academic credit for participation in internship programs, students
who take part in the Wellesley in Washington Summer Internship Program may arrange with a faculty member
to undertake a unit of 350, Research or Individual Study, related to the internship experience.
Advanced Placement Policy in Political Science
Students may receive units of College credit if they achieve a grade of 5 on the American Government and
Politics or the Comparative Politics AP examinations. Such AP credits do not count toward the minimum
number of units required for the political science major nor for the American or comparative subfield
distribution requirements for the major. If a student does receive a unit of College credit for the American
politics exam, she may not take POL1 200 (American Politics). Students who are uncertain whether to receive
a College AP credit in American politics or to take POL1 200 should consult with a member of the department
who specializes in American politics/law or comparative politics.
POL Courses
Course ID: AFR221/POL2270 Title: The Politics of Race and Racism in Europe
The façade of European culture expresses enlightenment, progressive politics, and a sense of freedom
amongst scenic beauty. However, did you know that a review of the 2017-2019 mortality cases showed that
Black women are four times more likely than White women to die during pregnancy or childbirth in the U.K?
This is despite the country’s well known universal healthcare services, The NHS. Or, did you know that it is
illegal in France to collect statistics on racial, ethnic, or religious demographics, thus making it harder to track
problems such as housing or employment discrimination? Or that for the first time in Ireland and Finland, hate
crimes are rising, and yet, these countries do not have any legislations on hate crimes. This course examines
the implications of ethnic and racial identities in Western Europe through a comparative politics lens. It is
designed to learn the history, dynamics, and salience of ethnic and racial inequality and political cleavage. It
would appeal to students in Africana studies, humanities, and social sciences. No prerequisites are required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 27; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Franklin; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AFR236/POL2231 Title: Introduction to African Politics
This course offers an introduction to contemporary African politics. The primary goal is to introduce students to
the diversity of challenges and development issues facing African countries since independence. Questions
motivating the course include: (1) Why state institutions weaker in African than in other developing regions? (2)
What explains Africa's slow economic growth? (3) What can be done to improve political accountability on the
continent? (4) Why have some African countries been plagued by high levels of political violence while others
have not?
In answering these questions, we will examine Africa’s historical experiences, its economic heritage, and the
international context in which it is embedded. At the same time, we will explore how Africans have responded
to unique circ*mstances to shape their own political and economic situations.
As we address the core themes of the course, we will draw on a wide range of academic disciplines, including
political science, history, economics and anthropology. We will study particular events in particular African
countries, but we will also examine broad patterns across countries and use social science concepts and
methods to try to explain them.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Dendere; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AFR245/POL3245 Title: The Impact of Globalization on Africa and the Caribbean
This course is designed to offer an inside look into the processes of globalization in Sub Saharan Africa and
the Caribbean. This course will focus on the ways that international forces, the political economy and new
technologies are affecting citizens and countries on the continent, as well as the way that African and
Caribbean countries and actors are influencing the rest of the world. We will explore a diverse set of topics
including changing political landscapes, digital & technological change and development, immigration, art
and culture, foreign aid, and China’s role in Africa and the Caribbean. The course will attempt to highlight the
new opportunities for citizens as well as the challenges that remain for African and Caribbean countries in the
globalized world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Dendere; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: AFR304/POL3302 Title: Seminar: The Politics of Chocolates and Other Foods
Why is it that although the majority of cocoa is grown in Africa the most expensive chocolate is made in
Europe? Why is it that the average cocoa farmer lives in poverty or earns just $2,000/year when the wealthiest
chocolate and candy families are worth more than $10 billion? During the course of this semester, we will
study the supply chain from natural resource extraction to final project and investigate the politics that allow for
inequalities as well as the progress that has been made. Therefore, this course will examine the sociohistorical
legacy of chocolate, with a delicious emphasis on the eating and appreciation of the so-called “food of the
gods.” Interdisciplinary course readings will introduce the history of cacao cultivation, the present-day state of
the global chocolate industry, the diverse cultural constructions surrounding chocolate, and the implications
for chocolate’s future in terms of scientific study, international politics, alternative trade models, and the food
movement. Assignments will address pressing real-world questions related to chocolate consumption, social
justice, responsible development, honesty and the politics of representation in production and marketing,
hierarchies of quality, and myths of purity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one Africana Studies or Political Science course.;
Instructor: Dendere; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES205/POL2255 Title: Africa and Environmental Politics
This course examines the intersection of politics and the environment in Africa. We will explore historical
contexts such as the environmental aftereffects of colonialism and highlight ‘wicked’ environmental problems
such as increased vulnerability to climate change. Using case examples from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa,
Congo, and Egypt, we will analyze issues such as the water politics of the Nile River, the role of women in
environmental movements, and the United Nations and other international organizations’ roles in addressing
environmental issues. Finally, students will have the opportunity to engage in ongoing debates in African
environmental politics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Gatonye; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES214/POL2214 Title: Social Causes and Consequences of Environmental Problems
This course focuses on the social science explanations for why environmental problems are created, the
impacts they have, the difficulties of addressing them, and the regulatory and other actions that succeed in
mitigating them. Topics include: externalities and the politics of unpriced costs and benefits; collective action
problems and interest-group theory; time horizons in decision-making; the politics of science, risk, and
uncertainty; comparative political structures; and cooperation theory. Also addressed are different strategies
for changing environmental behavior, including command and control measures, taxes, fees, and other market
instruments, and voluntary approaches. These will all be examined across multiple countries and levels of
governance.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ES 102 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: DeSombre;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ES312/POL2312 Title: Environmental Policy Research Seminar
Focuses both on how to make and how to study environmental policy. Examines issues essential in
understanding how environmental policy works and explores these topics in depth through case studies of
current environmental policy issues. Students will also undertake an original research project and work in
groups on influencing or creating local environmental policy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Either ES 214 or a 200-level course in political science.
Permission of the instructor required.; Instructor: DeSombre; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking
Intensive Course.;
Course ID: ES325/POL3325 Title: International Environmental Law
For international environmental problems, widespread international cooperation is both important and quite
difficult. Under what conditions have states been able to cooperate to solve international environmental
problems? Most international efforts to address environmental problems involve international law-how does
such law function? What types of issues can international environmental law address and what types can it
not? This course addresses aspects of international environmental politics as a whole, with particular attention
to the international legal structures used to deal with these environmental problems. Each student will
additionally become an expert on one international environmental treaty to be researched throughout the
course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ES 214/POL2 214 or POL3 221 or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: DeSombre; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES381/POL1381 Title: U.S. Environmental Politics
This course examines the politics of environmental issues in the United States. The course has two primary
goals: First, to introduce students to the institutions, stakeholders, and political processes important to
debates over environmental policy at the federal level. Second, to develop and practice skills of analyzing and
making decisions relevant to environmental politics and policy. Drawing on the literature of environmental
politics and policy, this course will consider how environmental issues are framed in political discourse, various
approaches to environmental advocacy and reform, and the contested role of science in environmental
politics. The course will be organized around environmental case studies, including endangered species
conservation, public lands management, air and water pollution, and toxics regulation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: A 200-level ES course or POL1 200 or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Turner; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ES395/POL2398 Title: Seminar: Migration and the Environment
This course will delve into the complex interrelationship between migration and the environment. We will
examine how environmental changes influence migration patterns and, conversely, how migration contributes
to environmental changes. Through a combination of theoretical discourse and real-world case studies,
participants will develop critical thinking abilities and the capability to propose sustainable solutions for
pressing issues at the intersection of migration and the environment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: ES 214 or POL3 221.; Instructor: Ssekajja; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: LAST217/POL2207 Title: Politics of Latin America
Despite significant differences in the political and economic development of countries across Latin America
and the Caribbean region, important commonalities include colonial legacies, revolutions and revolutionary
movements, military rule, the rise of populism, import-substituting industrialization, neoliberal economic
reform, as well as democratic transition, consolidation, and backsliding. This course offers an introductory
understanding of such trends. We will analyze political and economic changes through theoretical
perspectives such as political culture, dependency, and institutionalism. We will also examine contemporary
forces shaping politics in the region today, such as citizenship, intersectional identities, sexual and
reproductive rights, the environment, and the changing role of external forces.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Instructor: Contreras; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES358/PEAC358/POL2359 Title: Palestinian Israeli Peace Prospects
This course provides an in-depth exploration of the Palestinian Israeli conflict from a comparative and social
justice perspective. Our goal is to provide an analysis of events to engage in constructive academic debates.
The class begins by contextualizing the study of the Middle East within the broader scope of comparative
politics and Peace and Justice studies. Next, we focus on the origins of the conflict: the debate about 1948, the
consolidation of the Israeli state, and the development of Palestinian and Israeli political and military
organizations. The course then delves into different dimensions of the conflict: regional geopolitics,
international relations, environmental debates, gender activism, terrorism, and the “Wall.” The last portion of
the class considers peace negotiations, conflict mediation, compromise, and solutions: the refugee question,
Jerusalem, TRCs, and the role of the United States.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PEAC 104 or PEAC 217/POL2 217 or PEAC 204 or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Hajj; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC205/POL3236 Title: Gender, War and Peacebuilding
In this course we explore the gendered dimensions of war and peace, including how gender as a symbolic
construct configures how we makes sense of war making and peacebuilding; how differently gendered people
experience war and peace; and how peace and war are co-constitutive with gender relations. We pay
particular attention to the “continuum of violence”, from the “private” to the “public” sphere, from militarization
of everyday living to overt violent conflict. We address issues such as the political economy of war, sexualized
violence, the militarization of gendered bodies, and gendered political activism. Finally, we reflect on the
implications of gendered wars for the building of peace, looking at the gendered aspects of “post-conflict”
peacebuilding and gendered forms of resistance to political violence.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Confortini; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: PEAC206/POL2220 Title: Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences
This is an introductory course for students interested in using qualitative methods in their research and
studies. By qualitative methods, I mean methods that involve small numbers of intensive observations, and
that do not rely on statistical tests for drawing causal inference. The course is designed to help students
develop proficiency in the use of qualitative methods in two respects. The first is to understand and be able to
articulate assumptions about empirical reality and arguments about knowledge production. Next, the course
will address practical considerations by helping students develop basic knowledge of principal techniques
used by qualitative researchers like: navigating the IRB process and ethics of research, conducting in depth
interviews, engaging in participant observation, and tracing archival and historical research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One other course that satisfies the Social/Behavioral Analysis
requirement.; Instructor: Hajj; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC217/POL2217 Title: Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
How do Arab-Islamic history and culture shape politics in the contemporary Middle East and North Africa? Why
is the Arab world-despite its tremendous oil-wealth-still characterized by economic underdevelopment and
acute gaps between rich and poor? How have the events of September 11 and the U.S.-led "war on terror"
affected the prospects for greater freedom and prosperity in the Middle East in the future? What do the 2011
revolts mean for the existing regimes and prospects for democracy? These are some of the questions we will
examine in this course. In readings, lectures, and class discussions, the analysis of general themes and trends
will be integrated with case studies of individual Arab states.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 35; Prerequisites: One unit in Political Science.; Instructor: Hajj; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC221/POL3232 Title: Global Health Governance
This interdisciplinary course investigates the role of international organizations, governments,
nongovernmental organizations, the media, advocacy groups, and individuals, to consider how and under
what circ*mstances the international community comes together to address transnational health issues.
Questions we will address include: What role should different actors play? What should be the ethical bases
for promoting health? To what extent do global actors’ interventions promote health equity? Focusing on a set
of health challenges that have particular impact upon the poor (HIV/AIDS, Ebola, TB, maternal mortality,
mental health, and NCDs), we will disentangle the relationships between health, politics, ethics, and the
international community, and consider some of the fundamental difficulties in health governance, including
expanding health coverage, governing global health, and setting global health priorities.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Confortini; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC244/POL4243 Title: Democracy and Difference
One of democracy’s greatest strengths is that it gives political power to the people. But what happens when
“the people” is a diverse group with identities, interests, and desires that pull in many directions? Does
democracy function best when everyone is treated the same? As if there are no differences among them? But
what if some people are marginalized, subordinated, or stigmatized? Could pretending these stratifications
don't exist actually weaken democracy? This course explores how democracy grapples with differences
through texts in contemporary Western political theory. We will begin with liberal theories of democracy. Then
we will study feminist, critical-race, queer, and other theorists to understand democracy from the perspectives
of marginalized, subordinated, or stigmatized groups. We will not search for definitive answers or hard-and-fast
conclusions about when democracy functions best. Rather, we are interested in getting a better sense of
democracy’s many dimensions and tensions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Martorelli; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: PEAC304/POL2301 Title: Seminar: Nonviolent Direct Action in Theory and Practice
A wide-ranging study of nonviolent direct action, in theory and in practice, as a technique and as a way of life.
It begins with discussion of some classic and modern theories of nonviolent direct action but also some
modern critiques of it. It then turns to a selection of classic case studies, among them labor movements,
women's rights movements, India and Gandhi, the American Civil Rights Movement, campaigns in Europe and
Latin America against authoritarian regimes. It then expands its range, looking at how nonviolent direct action
has been deployed in campaigns of environmental justice and economic justice, and making space to
consider whatever campaigns of nonviolent direct action are going on at the moment at which the course is
being taught (e.g., in the United States today the work of Black Lives Matter).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PEAC 104 or permission of the instructor. Open to Juniors and
Seniors only.; Instructor: Confortini; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PEAC318/POL4318 Title: Human Rights
Human rights are an important issue in countries around the world and in international politics. But what are
human rights? Is there a universal definition, or do human rights vary across time and space? Who decides
when human rights are violated? When is outside action to stop such violations justified? These questions
aren’t just philosophical; they’re deeply political. How political communities answer them shapes domestic and
international policies on issues such as state violence, humanitarian aid, citizenship and migration,
(neo)colonialism, global capital, and efforts of various kinds to promote human freedom. This course will use
texts in contemporary political theory and historical and contemporary case studies to explore the intuitively
important, yet vaguely understood, concept of human rights. Case studies will examine human rights in the
United States (for example, interrogation torture policy, Black Lives Matter, or sanctuary cities) and the
international context (for example, the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, or the
2003 invasion of Iraq).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One course in political theory or philosophy or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Martorelli; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PEAC357/POL3357 Title: Technology and Global Political Economy
This course explores the interplay between technology, global governance, and global economy from the last
quarter of the twentieth century to the present day. The course focuses on the rise of digital economy and its
repercussions using a critical lens and analyzes various theories of knowledge economy and information
society. We will examine the relationships between information and communication technologies,
restructuration of the global economy and transformation of related international regimes. Our topics will
include globalization of intellectual property rights, innovation, technology transfer, piracy, censorship,
governance of cyber space, uses and misuses of surveillance technologies, entrepreneurial state, digital
commons, global digital divide, and global value chains. We will analyze case studies such as pharmaceutical
access during public health emergencies, cryptocurrencies, and technology and climate change mitigation. ?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: POLS3 221 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Bedirhanoglu; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC392/POL3392 Title: Truth Commissions: Conceptual Foundations and Case Studies
Truth Commissions (TCs) have been a mechanism to uncover, document, and recognize human rights
violations and to honor victims at moments of transition from dictatorships to democracies, and from wars to
post-war contexts. TCs vary in their mandates, composition, and tasks, and have mixed records of success,
despite the frequently high expectations. They often stand as acts of reparation, catalysts of larger processes
of peacebuilding and dignification of victims. In this course, you will join a group of Notre Dame graduate
students to study together the conceptual foundations of TCs and learn from different case studies. We will
investigate the background and rationale provided for their creation, their mandate and scope, composition
and structure, and analyze their work and post-report reception. We will pay attention to issues such as
intersectional approaches of gender and ethnicity, the participation of victims and responsible ones, the
complementarity of commissions with other forms of transitional justice, and the management and access to
their archives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: PEAC 104, PEAC 204, or permission of the instructor. Open only to
juniors and seniors.; Instructor: Confortini; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PEAC393/POL3393 Title: Seminar: Women and Conflict
The seminar will examine a variety of topics concerning the dynamic between women and conflict including
whether a lack of women’s rights leads to conflict, the contributions of women to security, women’s
mobilization for conflict, the sex gap in conflict-related public opinion, and women’s rights after war. A variety
of methodological approaches, including positivist as well as critical theoretical perspectives, will be covered
to better understand the strengths, limitations, and complementarities of different approaches to studying
women and conflict. In other words, we will use these different approaches to gain clarity on how we “know
what we know” about women and conflict. Students will spend a significant portion of the class contending
with issues of measurement, conceptual validity and ruling out alternative explanations. Key historical
developments with relevance to women and conflict such as the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), women’s involvement in the military, and the passing of the Murad
Code will also be discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL3 221. Another POL3 course, or a course in a related field
such as history or economics is recommended.; Instructor: Torres; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PEAC396/POL3396 Title: Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and International Intervention
How does the international community try to establish and maintain peace? This course explores the ways in
which international actors try to establish and maintain peace. It focuses on peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and
international intervention more broadly. Throughout the course we will cover topics in the peacekeeping and
peacebuilding fields such as what peace is, how conceptions of peace differ at the international versus the
local level, by which avenues the international community tries to maintain peace, the conditions under which
international peacekeeping and peacebuilding are effective, and the unintended consequences of international
action. We will explore militarized and non-militarized international interventions, their development since the
conception of peacekeeping and policy critiques against and in favor of international intervention as a means
of maintaining peace.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221; Instructor: Torres; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: POL123 Title: Logic and Rhetoric for Political Analysis
Designed to sharpen judgment about current political claims, the course uses classical logic and rhetoric to
examine processes of thinking and methods of persuasion. We learn the use of independent observation,
logical reasoning, forms of deductive inference, and kinds of experimentation. We examine theories related to
discovery and the nature of truth. We subject political oratory and reporting to critical scrutiny. Most attention is
paid to techniques of persuasion involving logical fallacies such as the 'genetic fallacy,' appeals to emotions
such as indignation, and biases such as chauvinism. Reading focuses on studies and stories of detection and
discovery.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Candland; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: POL299 Title: Introduction to Research Methods in Political Science
An introduction to the process of conducting research in political science. Students will develop an intuition for
problem-driven research in the social sciences, gaining specific insight into the range of methodological tools
employed by political scientists. In this course, students will design and analyze a research question, formulate
and test hypotheses about politics, evaluate techniques to measuring political phenomena, and assess
methods of empirical analysis and interpretation. The course has a particular focus on quantitative analysis
and students will gain fluency in statistical software. The course provides a foundation for conducting empirical
research and is strongly recommended for students interested in independent research, a senior honors
thesis, and/or graduate school.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: One course in political science. Fulfillment of the Quantitative
Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students
who have taken or are taking POL 199, MATH 101, MATH 101Z, ECON 103/SOC 190, PSYC 105, PSYC 205, or
STAT 160.; Instructor: Staff (Fall), Chudy (Spring); Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL1200 Title: American Politics
The institutions, processes, and values that shape American politics. The origins and evolution of the U.S.
Constitution and the institutions it created: Congress, the executive branch, the presidency, the federal court
system, and federalism. Analysis of "intermediary" institutions including political parties, interest groups,
elections, and the media. Study of enduring debates over values in American politics, with particular attention
to conflicts over civil rights and civil liberties.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Instructor: Arora, Chudy, Hosam, Sklar; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Fall;
Course ID: POL1210 Title: Campaigns and Elections
The U.S. holds more elections than just about any other democratic nation, but voter turnout rates are
relatively low. Elections in the U.S. have among the longest campaign seasons, yet it is unclear that
campaigns even influence election results. How do we explain these seeming contradictions? We will engage
with academic scholarship as well as the experiences of campaign organizers and activists to understand the
role of campaigns in the United States. We will examine institutional factors such as political parties,
redistricting, and access to participation in campaigns and elections. We will also explore the roles of personal
identities and socioeconomic conditions, including race, gender, and class. The impact of voter apathy, civic
education, and the interplay of national and local politics on the health of American democracy will also be
analyzed. Students will participate in a hands-on project to understand more deeply the complexity of election
campaigns.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL1 200 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Arora;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: POL1215 Title: Courts, Law, and Politics
An introduction to basic elements of the American legal system, including courts, judges, juries, policing and
imprisonment, the processes of criminal and civil justice, and legal reasoning. Students will not only read
about these aspects of the legal system, but study them directly through field observations of local courtrooms
and interviews with judges, cops, and lawyers. In their research, students will address fundamental questions
about the relationship of law and politics. First, what makes law legitimate, that is, worthy of obedience?
Second, if, in practice, law is selectively mobilized, can we truly say that we live in a society with "the rule of
law"? In sum, what makes "the rule of law" different from "the rule of the powerful"?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL1 200.; Instructor: Burke; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL1247 Title: Constitutional Law
This course is a survey of landmark decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court throughout American history. The
course covers both cases about the structure of our government and cases interpreting the Bill of Rights and
the Fourteenth Amendment. Topics include executive powers, congressional authority under the Commerce
Clause, nation-state relations, economic liberties, freedom of the press, the right to privacy, the rights of the
criminally accused, and the civil rights of women and minorities.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL1 200.; Instructor: Curi; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: POL1256 Title: Public Health in America: Politics & Policy
Examine the complex web of public health, politics, and social movements that has shaped American health
outcomes. Explore the evolution of public health interventions, from groundbreaking disease control initiatives
to transformative social justice movements. Analyze the political dynamics shaping public health policy,
including the influence of power structures, interest groups, and public opinion. Critically assess the
effectiveness of various public health policies in the face of changing times. Gain insights into the complexities
of promoting population health and well-being amidst environmental hazards, infectious diseases, and health
disparities. This course is designed for a broad range of majors/minors, including those interested in politics,
policy making, social change, public health, and medicine.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Curi; Typical Periods Offered: Summer;
Course ID: POL1300 Title: Public Policymaking in American Politics
This course examines how public policy on a wide range of issues, from reproductive rights to education,
environment, and immigration, is made in the United States. The battle over these issues involves many
institutions-the president, the executive branch, Congress, the courts, state and local governments-who
compete, and sometimes cooperate, over public policy. Students will analyze current policy struggles to better
understand the interactions among these institutions and the resulting shape of American public policy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL1 200 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Burke;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL1317 Title: Health Politics and Policy
The American system of health care is distinctive. Financing is provided through voluntary employer
contributions, tax subsidies, individual payments and an array of public programs, principally Medicare and
Medicaid-but despite the variety of funding sources, Americans, unlike citizens of other affluent democracies,
are not guaranteed health care coverage. How did the American approach to health care develop? How is it
different from that of other affluent nations? What explains the differences? What are the strengths and
weaknesses of the American health care system? Issues of cost containment, technological innovation, quality
of care, and disparities in health outcomes are explored.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL1 200 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Burke;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL1328 Title: Seminar: Immigration Politics and Policy
The United States is in the middle of an increasingly hostile and polarizing national debate over immigration
policy and the outcomes of immigrant incorporation. This course situates the debate by exploring the history of
immigration in the U.S., public policy that has been aimed at immigration flows or immigrants, and the
resulting political consequences. This course will grapple with notions of citizenship and ‘illegality’ while
examining the ways that demographic change has influenced opinions, behaviors, partisanship, and values of
the broader public. We will critically analyze recent immigration policy proposals, paying close attention to the
effects of these proposals on immigration flows, immigrant rights, and the broader political and societal
ramifications of policy action and inaction. Finally, we will turn our attention to the dynamics of immigration
policy-making and examine how race, gender, sexuality, and class both affect and are affected by immigration
laws.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL1 200 and permission of the instructor. ; Instructor: Arora;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL1329 Title: Political Psychology
This course provides an overview of the growing literature on political psychology. We will focus on
psychological theories that help us to understand how voters think and feel about politics. The primary goal of
this course is to acquaint you with various ways in which psychological theory contributes to our
understanding of politics and vice versa. For example, does prejudice influence citizens' voting decisions? Is
opposition to gay marriage rooted in ideological concerns, or rather in emotions like disgust or fear? Why do
many voters dismiss seemingly objective information and vote "against their interests"? Topics include
cognition, emotion, prejudice, identity, personality, authority and obedience, and motivated reasoning all with
applications to American politics in particular, but we will also consider the relevance of these topics to other
countries as well.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL1 200; Instructor: Chudy; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: POL1333 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Perspectives on American Politics
This course will teach students to effectively communicate to the public political science research on American
politics. This will require students to step back from the details of their coursework to examine how political
science has shaped their understandings of political phenomena. How are the perspectives of political
scientists different from those of practitioners and the public? How can these perspectives contribute to public
debates on politics? Through a series of writing assignments--for example Op/eds, book reviews and
interviews--students will learn how to translate expert knowledge and perspectives into everyday language, but
perhaps even more importantly, how to draw on that knowledge to address the concerns of citizens about the
political world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least one POL1 course or by permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Burke; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: POL1337 Title: Seminar: Race and American Politics
This seminar examines race and ethnicity in American politics, with special attention to the modern civil rights
era of the 1960s and beyond. We will consider the definition and political meaning of racial and ethnic
identities, the role of racial identity and attitudes in structuring Americans' political opinions and behaviors, how
redistricting shapes the representation of non-white groups, the political implications of intersections among
race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality, and the role of race in recent national elections.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course in American Politics.; Instructor: Chudy; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: POL1365 Title: Latino/a/x Politics
This course examines the history and contemporary role of Latinos in American politics, including the
emergence of “Latino” as a pan-ethnic identity and demographic profiles of the group; the “Americanization”
and “racialization” of Latinos; and the relationship between Latinos and non-Latinos as they relate to political
institutions, representation, and voting coalitions. The class will also focus on the development of Latino public
opinion and partisanship, how these manifest in Latinos’ political participation, and their importance in recent
presidential and midterm elections (2008-2022). The course also examines U.S. immigration policy as context
to understand current debates that shape the Latino community now and in the future.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL1 200.; Instructor: Gomez; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: POL1373 Title: Political Communication and The Media
This course serves as an overview of the interdisciplinary field of political communication, integrating research
from political science, communication, and psychology. We will examine the evolution of the media, including
the rise of partisan media, the ways in which campaigns seek to influence voters, and the effects of media
messaging on public opinion and political behavior. You will learn how to critically interpret academic research
on these topics and so better understand your own use of the media and political behavior.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL1 200 or permission of the instructor.; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL1375 Title: Seminar: Emotions and Politics
Emotions have always played an important role in politics, but recent developments have highlighted their
significance. This course explores how emotions affect contemporary American politics. We consider
competing theories of how individuals form judgments and make decisions, and the ways in which emotions
affect those processes. We end the course by examining how politicians, campaign professionals and
journalists elicit emotions in the public.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor (if interested in the course, contact
Tom Burke or Maura Cahn); Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL1376 Title: Seminar: Polarization, Inequality, and Democratic Backsliding in the United States
The United States is by some measures more politically polarized today than at any time since the late 19th
century. Meanwhile, economic inequality has risen to levels not seen since the early 20th century. The
convergence of these two trends have left the United States vulnerable to political instability, violence, and
democratic decline. Citizens are increasingly willing to call into question the legitimacy of this country’s core
electoral and governing institutions. How did the U.S. get to this point? What can be done about it? In this
course we will examine the rise of both political polarization and economic inequality and the consequences
for American democracy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL1 200 or coursework in American politics. Enrollment is
limited; interested students must fill out a seminar application via the political science department.; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL1385 Title: Legal Research
Legal researchers often examine the legal system through books that tell the story of important cases. In this
course students will work in teams to write papers on lawsuits, legal controversies and law-related subjects
related to such a book. To support their research, students will be introduced to fundamental aspects of the
American legal system, legal research, and legal writing. For the spring 2024 edition of the course, we will be
researching and writing about the 1994 Supreme Court case Farmer v. Brennan, in which a transgendered
prisoner argued that she had been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by prison officials.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: POL1 200, POL1 215, POL1 247 or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Burke; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL1397 Title: A Seat at the Table? Race and Representation in American Institutional Life
The fight for inclusion into American society and culture created new opportunities and dynamics for American
politics but how might we understand if and how these political battles translated into material gains for
marginalized groups? This course will look at the ways in which representation became a political demand in
ways both tied and untied from other goals like anti-poverty and human rights, the economic and judicial
processes that shaped the demand for political representation, the ways that representational politics plays out
specifically in the realm of Black politics, and the dialectical relationship between politics and popular culture in
the 21st Century. Can representation save us? Should it?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL1 200 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hosam;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL2202 Title: Comparative Politics
Introduction to the major principles, theories, and debates in the field of comparative politics. We explore
critical questions such as: How are states created? What is the difference between state and nation? Why do
states adopt different political and economic systems? How are democratic and authoritarian regimes
different? What are the institutional designs of presidential versus parliamentary systems, and what are the
trade-offs related to governance and people’s participation within those systems? How do societal
organizations and identities based on geography, region, ethnicity, religion, class, and gender interact with
one another and the state? We will study political systems, institutions, economic programs, political
processes, and non-state actors as they affect change within countries and across different regions of the
world. We will also examine the methods that scholars of comparative politics use to study politics and test
hypotheses.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Instructor: Candland, Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring;
Course ID: POL2204 Title: Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment
Overview of development studies with attention to major schools of political economy, their intellectual origins
and centrality to contemporary debates about economic development. Topics include: capitalism, colonialism,
dependency, nationalism, slavery, and independence; economic development models, policies, and
strategies; perspectives on gender and development; changing conceptions and measures of poverty,
development, and underdevelopment; contemporary debates in development studies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Instructor: Candland; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: POL2208 Title: Politics of China
An introduction to the political history of modern China and politics in the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Topics covered include: the decline and fall of Imperial China; the revolution that brought the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) to power; Chinese Communist ideology; development and disaster under Mao
Zedong (1949-76); reform and repression under Deng Xiaoping and his successors (1977-present); the
political and legal system of the PRC; China's domestic and international political economy; change and
contention in rural and urban China; case studies of significant areas of public policy in the PRC; China's
ethnic minorities; and the political future of the PRC.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Joseph; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL2211 Title: Politics of South Asia
An introduction to the politics of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan,
Nepal, and Bhutan) from historical and contemporary, national and comparative perspectives. Examines the
relationship of political institutions to patterns of development. Comparative themes include: colonial
experiences and nationalist ideologies; politicization of religions and rise of religious conflict; government and
political processes; economic policies initiative for conflict transformation; women's empowerment; and
obstacles to and prospects for human development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Candland; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL2253 Title: Social Policy in Latin America
This course examines policies in Latin America governing public health, education, housing, pensions,
employment, and wealth transfers. Beginning in the 2000s, Latin American nations vastly expanded their
welfare programs and extreme poverty decreased in the region, but large variations in the extent and
effectiveness of social policy across nations remains. We will study the different types of social policy in Latin
America, the factors drive their design and adoption, and why policies differ considerably across countries with
similar sociopolitical institutions and levels of development. We will also examine how populations that lack
formal access to public goods secure basic welfare. Finally we will evaluate the impact of COVID on social
policy design, implementation, and effectiveness in the region.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Contreras; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL2254 Title: Politics of Decolonization
What does decolonization mean? How can colonialism be undone? This course will focus on what is
commonly known as the “era of decolonization,” or the period during the middle of the 20th Century during
which European empires contracted and newly independent states emerged in their wake. Beginning our
inquiry in the decades before decolonization, when ideas and organizing for anticolonial struggle were
incubating, we will examine how a range of liberation movements formed, mobilized against alien rule, and
worked to build futures beyond colonialism. Our inquiry will be both comparative and transnational. We will not
only compare cases but consider how these movements cooperated, learned from each other, formed
transnational networks, and fought among themselves when their different projects of “worldmaking” came
into conflict. Alongside academic texts, we will read a variety of primary sources that illustrate how leading
anticolonial thinkers conceived of liberation and decolonization, which generally carried far more expansive
meanings than control over the institutions of a sovereign state (never seen as an end in of itself). Towards the
end of the course, we will examine the legacies of these ideas and the experiences of the 20th C. How do they
inform contemporary social movements? How have “second generation” liberation movements, which seek to
break free from the colonial rule of “postcolonial” states, understood their own predicaments and projects in
relation to the history of decolonization? What happened in places where liberation movements failed, like
Kurdistan or Palestine? Why did most anticolonial projects fall apart far short of their aspirations?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Prerequisites: None.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL2306 Title: Seminar: Revolution
A comparative analysis of the theory and practice of revolution from the seventeenth century to the present,
with an emphasis on revolutions in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Questions to be considered
include: the meaning and causes of revolution, why people join revolutionary movements, the international
dimensions of internal war, strategies of insurgency and counterinsurgency, and the changing nature of
revolution over the last 350 years. Case studies will include the French, Russian, Chinese, Cuban, and Iranian
revolutions, as well as more contemporary events in East Central Europe and the Middle East and North Africa.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One unit in POL2 (Comparative Politics) or POL3 (international
Relations).; Instructor: Joseph; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL2310 Title: Seminar: Politics of Community Development
Focuses on strategies for poverty alleviation, employment generation, promotion of social opportunity, and
empowerment. Emphasis is on development in Asia (especially South and Southeast Asia), Africa, and Latin
America. Considers women's leadership in social change, local control of resources, faith-based activism, and
collaboration between activists and researchers. Examines activities of nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) and their relations with funders, governments, and other NGOs. Specific NGOs and development
programs will be closely examined.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. POL2 204 is recommended. Open to
non-majors and non-seniors.; Instructor: Candland; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL2319 Title: Comparative National Responses to the Covid Pandemic
How have national governments across the world responded to the Covid pandemic? Why did they respond
as differently as they did, and at such varying times? How did national political institutions, such as federalism
and separation of powers, influence executive and legislative public policy? What are the best practices for
future outbreaks and pandemics? How likely – given what we can learn about political constraints and
opportunities – are governments to implement those practices? These important questions are well
addressed using comparative political analysis. At the same time, studying pandemic responses by national
governments gives students a common subject matter with which to assess the principle comparative
methods, including analysis of variation (e.g., regression), case studies, historical institutions, political cultures,
public policies, leadership and decision-making. We will focus on Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, New
Zealand, Pakistan, and the United States, permitting several interesting comparative pairings and sets.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two units of SBA completed. POL2 202 and POL2 area studies
courses recommended. Admission is by application, as with all POLS senior seminars.; Instructor: Candland;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL2368 Title: Seminar: Democratic Consolidation and Erosion
The recent erosion of democracy in countries like Zambia, Venezuela, and Poland shows that consolidated
democracies do not necessarily endure. Some might backslide toward authoritarianism. How and under what
conditions do democracies consolidate or break down and even “die”? How does the process of democratic
consolidation affect stability or erosion? We will examine case studies around the world to analyze different
paths toward and away from democracy and assess existing theories of regime change and democratic
consolidation. We will study the underlying drivers of democratization and consolidation, including institutional
arrangements, representation and accountability, economic determinants, as well as protest and social
movements. We will also consider threats to democracy, including populist politics, corruption, clientelism,
structural reforms, and democracy promotion by external forces.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL2 202 or POL2 204, and permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Contreras; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL2391 Title: Seminar: Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Politics
Recent decades have seen unprecedented growth of scholarship on settler colonialism and indigenous
politics alongside new waves of political activism for indigenous rights around the world. This resurgence is
evident in transnational solidarity movements, amplified demands for collective indigenous rights, and the
movement of indigenous politics into the realm of international law. This seminar will survey this new
scholarship and examine these political phenomena in historical and comparative perspective that is global in
scope. Although the course is designed to leverage comparative methods that have been developed in
comparative politics, our inquiry will range across all the subfields of political science and beyond the
discipline’s boundaries. Thematically, our focus will be on questions of sovereignty, self-determination, land,
and settler-native/indigenous relations. Among the questions that will guide our inquiry are: What is settler
colonialism and what, if anything, makes it distinct from other forms of colonialization? Who counts as a
“settler”? What makes a group indigenous? Can refugees be settlers? What role has settler colonialism played
in state building projects around the world? What has driven settlers to settle and what fates have met the
political projects they have undertaken or in which they were involved? Are there distinct types of institutions
and regimes that develop in polities built through settlement? How are different forms of inequality entrenched
within them? In what ways have indigenous peoples resisted settlement and dispossession? How and why
have indigenous-settler relations developed differently across cases? Cases we may consider include a variety
from the Americas, South Africa, Australia, Western Sahara, Palestine, Ireland, Algeria, Russia, and Japan. In
addition to our thematic and topical inquiry, this course is designed to cultivate critical thinking, reading, and
writing skills. Students will craft their own research questions and take each of the writing projects through
multiple stages of production: drafts, peer review workshops, and then revisions prior to final submission.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL2 202 or POL3 221.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL3203H Title: Global Leadership in a post-US World
This course will examine the role of leadership in global cooperation, with a particular emphasis on U.S.
foreign policy. For decades, the United States appeared to champion a “liberal international order,” creating
and supporting institutions of global governance in economic, security, and other issue areas. But since 2000,
geopolitical challenges, economic shocks, and political divisions within the U.S. have reduced U.S. ability to
lead. In the Trump era, the U.S. has disengaged in global cooperation. In this course, we will examine both
active U.S. leadership and its absence and ask how the decline in US leadership has affected global
cooperation. Could a change in US leadership lead to a revival of institutional leadership? Can the international
community—not only states, but non-government organizations and transnational actors—build alternative
institutions better suited to a post-U.S. world? The course will analyze these issues across a number of issue
areas, including climate change, international security, international trade and finance, and public health.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Goddard; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: POL3209H Title: Theory and Practice: Developing Skills for Global Leadership
This course aims to help students understand the links between international relations theory and practice. The
course will begin by outlining the unique features of global politics, especially the challenge of creating order
and governance among diverse and sovereign political communities. The course will then examine how
diverse leaders—from local leaders to heads of state—are necessary to mobilize collective action in order to
address global challenges. The course will use case studies ranging from nuclear non-proliferation, global
economic development, to environment in order to highlight the role of leadership in creating change.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Goddard; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: POL3221 Title: World Politics
An introduction to the international system with emphasis on contemporary theory and practice. Analysis of the
bases of power and influence, the sources of tension and conflict, and the modes of accommodation and
conflict resolution. This course serves as an introduction to the international relations subfield in the political
science department, and also as a means of fulfilling the political science core requirement of the international
relations major.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Instructor: Goddard, Torres, Beall; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: POL3223 Title: International Relations of South Asia
Investigates relations between governments and states in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar,
Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan) and with governments and states beyond the region (principally
with China, Russia, and the United States). Focuses on wars between India and Pakistan; rival claims over
Kashmir; the break-up of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh; conflicts in Afghanistan since 1978; nuclear
proliferation; India's and Pakistan's competing relations with China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States;
and Bhutan's and Nepal's relations with each other and China.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Candland; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL3224 Title: International Security and Political Violence
This course provides an introduction to international security, a field that is fundamentally about how states
and non-state actors use violence to achieve their political and economic objectives. We will seek answers to
questions such as: when do states threaten to use force and for what purposes? Do alliances and multilateral
institutions such as the United Nations help promote peace? Does the spread of nuclear weapons make the
world a safer or more dangerous place? How do terrorists use violence to realize their objectives and when is it
effective? Can intervention in civil wars prevent bloodshed and bring stability to failed states? How will “nontraditional threats” such as environmental scarcity, migration, and climate change shape international security
in the twenty-first century? Throughout this course, students will be encouraged to consider the normative
question of who should provide security in international politics and who should benefit from this protection.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Prerequisites: One course in political science or permission of the instructor. ;
Instructor: MacDonald; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL3227 Title: The Vietnam War
The shadow of Afghanistan will loom large over this course, which is an examination of the origins,
development, and consequences of the Vietnam War. Topics to be considered include: the impact of French
colonialism on traditional Vietnamese society; the role of World War II in shaping nationalism and communism
in Vietnam; the motives, stages, and strategies of American intervention in Vietnam; leadership, organization,
and tactics of the Vietnamese revolutionary movement; the expansion of the conflict to Cambodia and Laos;
the antiwar movement in the United States; lessons and legacies of the Vietnam War; and political and
economic development in Vietnam since the end of the war in 1975.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 35; Prerequisites: One unit in social sciences or permission of the instructor.;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: POL3251 Title: International Political Economy
This course examines how politics affects the international economy and vice-versa. The course will apply
theories and tools of political economy to explore some of the following questions: who wins and loses from
international trade and finance? How does globalization affect domestic politics (e.g., elections, regulations,
inequality, the environment) in developed and developing countries? Who sets the “rules” under which the
global economy operates? How influential are international organizations like the WTO and the IMF? These
issues are explored with reference to economic and political theories, history, and contemporary events.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221 is recommended.; Instructor: Ahmed; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL3315 Title: The Global Politics of Race
This course is part of the ongoing debate on how to understand the explanatory role of race in global politics
as well as the impact of global politics on structural racism. We will seek answers to the following questions:
Does global politics look different through the raced lens? How does race interact with other categories of
analysis in international relations, and how does a focus on race differ from mainstream IR paradigms? What
makes certain ideas and issues (e.g., regime types, humanitarian interventions, refugees and migration) raced
issues? How do the study, and practice, of international relations perpetuate global racial hierarchies across
issue areas? We start with theoretical perspectives, examine raced issues, and consider the effects of global
politics on racial inequalities.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL3323 Title: Topics in International Political Economy
Is globalization over? Are we witnessing a resurgence of protectionist economic policies with looming trade
wars? Will China take over the world economy? Finding answers to these questions requires an investigation
of how politics and economics intersect and work together on a global scale. This course analyzes how
international economic structures operate and seeks to demystify the distribution of global power and wealth.
We will focus on the complex relationships among states, business groups, international organizations, and
civil society in the making of the international political economy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Ahmed;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL3326 Title: American Hegemony and Global Order
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been described as the predominant state—or hegemon
—in international politics. American political, economic, and military dominance is said to be essential to the
construction of the contemporary global order. This course explores this argument through an in-depth look at
American foreign policy, from the Second World War to present. Why did U.S. policy become more
internationalist in orientation? What tools has the U.S. used to shape global politics? Is U.S. policy driven more
by domestic institutions and values or by external opportunities and geopolitics? Will U.S. predominance
endure? Or will global order have to change to accommodate the rise of new powers?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL 221 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: MacDonald;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL3338 Title: Nuclear Politics
This course explores the origins and effects of the spread of nuclear weapons in the international system, with
particular attention to the effects of nuclear proliferation within states, and on state interaction. Historically, the
course will cover the development of nuclear technology and strategy from the early twentieth century to the
present day. Thematically, the course explores such questions of the morality of nuclear technology and
strategy, the construction and conditions for nuclear deterrence, the motives and obstacles for proliferating
states, the question of nuclear weapons safety, and arms control approaches in the international system.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221 required; POL3 224 recommended.; Instructor:
Goddard; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL3351 Title: Seminar: Global Governance
Explores the challenge of global institutions in the new century within a larger historical context. Considers the
function and role of the League of Nations, the International Labor Organization, the United Nations, the
Bretton Woods institutions, the GATT, and the World Trade Organization. Special emphasis on comparing and
contrasting international organizations in the three main periods of institution building: post-World War I, postWorld War II, and post-Cold War. Discusses radical, liberal internationalist, and realist approaches.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One unit in international relations and permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL3352 Title: Seminar: Small Wars and Insurgencies
We often think of warfare in conventional terms: states fight other states in large-scale battles employing
uniformed soldiers to conquer enemy territory. In reality, however, there are many instances of asymmetric
conflicts involving non-state actors who avoid open battles, whose fighters are indistinguishable from civilians,
and who seek a wide variety of political objectives. Peasant revolts, communist insurrections, ethnic rebellions,
and terrorist movements are among the various ways in which the weak have attempted to use violence to
break the will of the strong. We address these wars from a theoretical, historical, and contemporary
perspective. We will explore how classical theorists, including Mao Zedong and Che Guevara, adapted the
ideas of Clausewitz to guerilla warfare. We will examine how rebel groups-whether the Spanish guerillas, Boer
commandos, Chinese communists, or Serb militias-employed violence to intimidate their opponents. We will
consider how globalization and the diffusion of military technology have transformed guerilla conflicts, and
debate the implications of our theories for contemporary conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL3 221 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: MacDonald;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: POL3354 Title: Seminar: Great Power Competition and International Order
The distribution of power in the international system is in flux. The United States, the preeminent power since
the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, faces internal and external challenges to its position. China’s significant
economic growth over the last several decades has manifested in growing military power and institutional
might: it has used its increasing power to contest territorial norms in the South China Seas, and build new and,
some would argue, competitive economic institutions, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Russia may be beset by domestic political challenges and a sluggish
economy, but nevertheless has flexed its military capabilities in Ukraine. In this seminar, we will undertake a
theoretical, historical, and contemporary analysis of competition among great powers. What sources of power
do states mobilize as they compete? How does great power competition affect middle and small powers?
When great powers compete, how does this shape prospects for cooperation in international politics? We
analyze both historical case studies (for example, the ), as well as contemporary cases (the decline of Russia,
American hegemony, and the rise of China, India, and the European Union).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL3 221. Another POL3 course or coursework in an adjacent
field (history or economics) is strongly encouraged.; Instructor: Goddard; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: POL3369 Title: International Organizations & Global Governance
Since the middle of the 20th century, the number and scope of international institutions have expanded
substantially. These institutions, or the formal and informal rules, roles, and relationships, define and facilitate
the interests and conduct of states and non-state actors in international affairs. The course analyzes why and
how institutionalized cooperation/conflict in world politics occurs and explores the design, function, and
effectiveness of various institutions, including prominent intergovernmental organizations such as the United
Nations, NATO, World Trade Organization, World Health Organization, and the International Criminal Court.
Students will also study how nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), mainly transnational advocacy networks
and organizations, prioritize goals, frame issues, and interact with governments, international institutions, and
other advocacy groups. The course also explores how and why international norms about state conduct in
wartime, humanitarian assistance, women’s rights, human rights, and global cybersecurity evolve or erode.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221.; Instructor: Torres; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: POL3371 Title: Seminar: Decision-Making in Foreign Policy
How does studying the process of decision-making aid our understanding of international relations? This
seminar explores how and why policymakers select and process information, set goals, rely on conscious and
unconscious beliefs and biases in the decision-making process, as well as the impact of policy decisions.
Case studies in international security include the 2003 Iraq War, 2011 Libya Intervention, and military actions in
Syria; in the economic domain, Britain’s exit from the European Union, the U.S. withdrawal from Trans-Pacific
Partnership agreements, and the US-China trade dispute. We study various approaches to decision-making,
such as rational choice, neurobiology, and sociology. Although the focus is foreign policy, students will
emerge from the course equipped with analytical tools to understand and evaluate decision-making in other
areas such as business, medicine, law, and conflict management.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL3 221 and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: POL3372 Title: Seminar: The Politics of Finance and Financial Crises
This seminar examines how politics affects the international economy, and vice versa. It will focus primarily on
the political economy of international finance and development, across nations, issues, and time. We will
explore some of the following questions: Why do financial crises occur? How does a nation’s currency affect
its domestic and international politics? Are countries “punished” for defaulting on their debt? Is foreign aid
“effective”? How does financial globalization affect domestic politics and vice-versa? The aim of the course is
to equip students with the tools to better understand the relationship between financial globalization and
politics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL3 221. ECON 102 recommended.; Instructor: Ahmed;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: POL3377 Title: Dangerous Ideas in World Politics
This course examines how ideas shape contestation over global orders—how the emergence, diffusion, and
decline of ideas can challenge the established rules and orders of world politics. The course is both theoretical
and empirical in orientation. Theoretically, we will engage with core debates in international relations theory, for
example, over whether ideas “matter” in international politics; how actors contest the norms and ideas of
existing orders; why it is some ideas gain traction and others fall by the wayside. This course will rely on a
range of cases, both historical and contemporary, to explore the relationship between ideas and contestation
in international politics. Case studies will include the challenge liberalism posed to dynastic empires in Europe
and the Atlantic world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; nationalism in both nineteenth century
European revolutions and twentieth century decolonization; the role of racial ideologies in sustaining imperial
politics; the spread of fascism in the mid-twentieth century; and the creation of and challenges to the existing
“liberal” global order.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221.; Instructor: Goddard; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL3378 Title: Seminar: Empire and Imperialism
This course provides a critical overview of empire and imperialism in international politics from the eighteenth
century to the present day. Key questions include: Why do states establish empires? Do empires provide
political or economic gains? How are empires governed? What role does technology play in driving and
sustaining empires? How do empires end? What are the legacies of empire? This course examines these
questions by consulting the classic theoretical works on empire by Hobson, Marx, Lenin, Mackinder, Robinson
and Gallagher, and Said. It also explores the historical practice of empire through structured historical
comparisons of imperial conquest and governance in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. We will
also explore the contemporary relevance of the concept of empire for understanding postwar American foreign
policy, including issues such as overseas basing, humanitarian intervention, nation-building, and military
occupation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL3 221; Instructor: MacDonald; Distribution Requirements: SBA
- Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: POL3379 Title: Weapons, Strategy, and War
This course examines the interrelationships among military technology, strategy, politics, and war. How have
these forces shaped warfare from the introduction of gunpowder to the present? How, in turn, have
developments in warfare influenced societies and politics? This course emphasizes select cases from World
Wars I and II and the development of nuclear weapons strategy. How, for example, did the development of
chemical weapons affect the battlefield? What ethical choices, if any, guided the strategic bombing of civilians
in World War II? How did nuclear weapons change ideas about fighting war? The class concludes with an
examination of the "war on terror" and its implications for strategy and politics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221 required; POL3 224 recommended.; Instructor:
Goddard; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL3389 Title: Seminar: The Politics of Global Migration, Security, and Borders
The course will examine the links between global migration and both national and human security. What are
the implications of treating migration as a security issue? We will study the insecurities that migrants face in the
source countries from which they migrate, in their journeys across nations, and after they have arrived in their
destination countries--and the feelings of insecurity that migration can evoke in those countries. Who is an
"illegal" migrant? Who is a "deserving refugee"? We will analyze how race and ethnicity shape the ways in
which different groups of migrants are perceived and controlled.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL3 221 or equivalent background in international politics.
Enrollment is limited; interested students must fill out a seminar application via the political science
department.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL3390 Title: Seminar: The Politics of Global Inequality
What are the causes of and solutions to global inequality? Who or what is responsible for inequality? Why
should we even think of global inequality as a problem? In this course, we will consider a range of perspectives
on and answers to these questions. A major focus will be on why these questions have proven to be so
contentious, particularly in debates between the Global North and Global South. We will cover different
theories of global inequality in international political economy and explore how inequality manifests across
different issue areas, including security, climate change, health, and gender equality. We will also survey a
range of approaches to addressing inequality in international organizations, international advocacy
campaigns, and using the framework of human rights. Specific campaigns that will be covered include the
U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, Oxfam’s Inequality Kills campaign, and the Caribbean campaign for
international slavery reparations. Throughout, we will consider how ideas impact policymaking and the political
consequences of framing economic issues as a problem of inequality versus a problem of poverty or lack of
development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: POL3 221 and permission of the insturctor.; Instructor: Beall;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL3394 Title: Political Economy of Foreign Aid
This course examines who gives and receives foreign aid, and whether it works? Using theories and
methodologies from political science, economics, and statistics, the course will probe how international and
domestic interests influence how foreign aid is disbursed and its consequences. By focusing on foreign aid,
the course will examine core topics in political economy, such as how gender shapes political institutions, how
leaders remain in power, and the relationships between race and foreign interventions, how voters assess their
political leaders, bargaining among political actors. Throughout the semester, we will also use the case of
foreign aid to learn how social scientists study causal relationships. Students will learn techniques involved in
“causally-identified” research designs; an approach at the core of the “credibility revolution” in the social
sciences and public policy evaluations. Students will have opportunities to apply these techniques by
critiquing contemporary research in political science and economics and writing their own research paper.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Prerequisites: POL3 221, POL 299, ECON 203.; Instructor: Ahmed; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL3395 Title: African Regional Governance
Compared to other regions of the world, Africa has an especially large number of regional intergovernmental
organizations. Why have African governments created so many of these organizations, and how do they use
them? To address these questions, this class will take a close look at the history, development, transformation,
and current dynamics of regional governance in Africa. We will explore the early emergence of regional and
“pan-African” cooperation and solidarity, before turning to more recent developments in regional governance.
These recent developments include the use of regional organizations to address an ever-expanding number of
issues, such as human rights, democracy promotion, environmental governance and climate change, civil
conflict, and economic development. Throughout this course, we will also consider the important role and
impact of civil society and NGOs and the role of African regional organizations as representatives of Africa
within global institutions like the United Nations. Questions that will be addressed include: What, if anything, is
distinctive about African approaches to regional governance? Why have regional organizations formed such
an important part of the foreign policy of African governments?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221.; Instructor: Beall; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL3399 Title: Approaches to International Law
What is international law and how does it work? This class will explore international law from a range of
different perspectives. A significant part of the course will be spent learning the basics of traditional
approaches to international law, including how international law is different from domestic law and how (or
whether) it can function given the lack of an enforcement authority. We will then consider a number of critiques
of international law, including those that point to the centrality of coercion, power, and hierarchy in the
functioning of international law. In considering these different perspectives, we will explore ways international
law has worked to advantage or disadvantage different actors, including individuals, civil society, and states
with less material power.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: POL3 221 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Beall;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: POL4201 Title: Political Action and Dissent
An introduction to the study of political theory, and specifically to the problems of political action. Exploration
of questions about civil disobedience, legitimate authority, ethics and politics, and the challenge of creating a
just order in a world characterized by difference and hierarchy. Discussion of the social contract, liberalism,
democracy, decolonization, violence, revolution, universalism, and differences of race, class, and gender.
Authors may include Plato, Locke, Charles Mills, Weber, Gandhi, Fanon, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
and Assata Shakur.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Instructor: Grattan; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL4216 Title: Canons of Political Thought
Let’s face it: the “classic” or “canonical” authors in political theory are typically white, male, cis, heterosexual,
and rich. Because of this, the canon of political theory has erased the ideas of people of color, women, queer
people, and others on concepts such as justice, freedom, and equality. Odds are, these ideas are substantially
different than the ones that have become the standards in political science and mainstream politics. This
course explores the origins and imports of these other canons, these other classics. We will begin by carefully
reading a canonical thinker, such as John Locke or John Stuart Mill, to understand their theorization of
concepts such as justice, freedom, equality, and politics. Then we will examine and analyze works on the
same topics by Black, women, and queer authors to compare, contrast, and critique the hegemonic
perspective. We aren’t trying to justify the canon. Nor are we interested in simply dismantling it. Rather, we’re
expanding and multiplying canons to help us confront political problems in an intersectional world. Authors
may include Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Stanton, Frances Harper, and the Combahee River Collective.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 28; Prerequisites: Not open to students who have taken POL4 107, the previous
version of this course.; Instructor: Martorelli; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: POL4242 Title: Political Theory in the Age of Extremes
What does it mean to be an American? Answers to this question vary wildly across the political spectrum. And
the answers have become more extreme across the board as we enter an unprecedented age of polarization.
This course seeks to understand answers to this often divisive question by exploring theories of political
belonging such as nationalism, multiculturalism, and cosmopolitanism. First, we’ll examine how contemporary
western theorists define fundamental concepts such as nation, state, democracy, and citizenship. Then we’ll
analyze how these key ideas shape ongoing debates and policies related to immigration and naturalization. In
an era of ever increasing division, we’re not looking for universal agreement. Rather, we’re mapping out
possible common ground that we, the people, can start from for collective political action.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 35; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Martorelli; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: POL4249 Title: Neoliberalism and its Critics
Neoliberalism has been tied to everything from a decline in public life to the rise of right-wing populism in
Europe and the U.S. What is new about neoliberalism compared to earlier forms of capitalism and liberalism?
How has neoliberalism reshaped politics and citizenship? How has it impacted groups across intersections of
class, race, and gender, and how have movements on the right and left sought to resist it? Is neoliberalism
essential to democratic freedom as supporters promise, or does it signal the demise of democracy as critics
warn? Authors may include Milton Friedman, Wendy Brown, Bonnie Honig, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and J.K.
Gibson-Graham.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Grattan; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL4311 Title: Seminar: Grassroots Organizing
An introduction to the theory and practice of grassroots organizing for social change. Learning will take two
concurrent paths. In class, we will examine what organizing is and how it has historically played a role in social
change. We will ask how organizers: use storytelling to motivate action; analyze power, devise theories of
change, and craft creative strategies; develop capacities, resources, relationships, and institutions to build
collective power; and facilitate diverse groups in contexts marked by entrenched histories of oppression.
Outside class, students will engage in a hands-on organizing project of their own choosing in which they must
organize a group of people on or off campus to achieve a common goal.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course in political theory or significant coursework related to
grassroots politics, social movements, or social change, and by permission of the instructor. ; Instructor:
Grattan; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL4341 Title: Beyond Prisons: Resistance, Reform, Abolition
Police and prison reform have become bipartisan issues in the United States. But this emerging consensus
follows historical and ongoing movements to resist policing and prison—from the Black Panther Party, to the
prison abolition movement, to the Movement for Black Lives. This course investigates recurring themes in
prison and police resistance since the 1960s: the origins of policing and prisons in colonialism and slavery; the
intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, and disability in both punishment and resistance; theories of
politics in captivity; and visions of freedom, justice, and democracy beyond police and prisons. Throughout
the course, we will evaluate the strengths and limits of current reform initiatives in light of these readings.
Authors may include George Jackson, Assata Shakur, Angela Davis, contemporary prison writers, Ruth Wilson
Gilmore, Mariame Kaba, Andrea Ritchie, Victoria Law, and Dean Spade.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One course in POL4 or American Studies, (specific courses in
Africana Studies, History, Sociology, or Women's and Gender Studies may apply with permission of the
instructor).; Instructor: Grattan; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: POL4345 Title: Seminar: Black Liberation from Haiti to Black Lives Matter
Examines Black liberation in theory and practice from modernity through contemporary times, emphasizing
efforts by Black actors and thinkers to reconstruct culture, politics, and economics. Key concepts include racial
formation, racial capitalism, violence, necropolitics, revolution, decolonization, freedom, justice, radical
imagination, emotion, and the undercommons. Cases may include transatlantic slavery, the Haitian Revolution,
Black Marxism, Black Power, the Movement for Black Lives, prison abolition, and historical and contemporary
coalitions between Black freedom struggles and the struggles of indigenous peoples and other racialized
minorities. Authors may include Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. DuBois, C.L.R. James, Frantz Fanon,
James Baldwin, George Jackson, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Toni Morrison, Claudia Rankine, TaNehisi Coates, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and Glen Coulthard.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course in political theory or appropriate background from a
related field (e.g., Africana Studies, American Studies, Sociology, WGST, etc.); Instructor: Grattan; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: POL4349 Title: Seminar: Sex/Politics
The Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v Hodges legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S. It also suggested
that anyone who isn’t married cannot realize the full potential of being human. Obergefell’s dramatic swings
between empowering and deriding LGBTQ people illuminate larger tensions in the relationship between
sexuality and politics. Notably, marriage grants privileges to some, but not others, based on the state’s
approval of their sexual preferences. The state, moreover, has historically regulated sex acts in ways that
criminalize whole classes of people. These tensions raise key questions we will explore in this course: What
role should the state play in supporting and restricting sexual practices? Should we look to the state to secure
sexual freedom, or is sexual freedom achieved when we kick the state out of our bedrooms? More broadly,
how are the boundaries of sexuality created in and through “politics”? To examine these questions, we will
read queer theorists alongside contemporary political theorists.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course in political theory or philosophy, and permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Martorelli; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking
Intensive Course.;
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes, including cognition, emotion, and
motivation. The Wellesley Psychology Department is empirically oriented and places a strong emphasis on
using scientific methods to investigate aspects of human nature such as how the mind works, how culture and
environment interact with individuals over the course of their development, and how we understand ourselves,
others, and social interaction.
Psychology Major
Psychology Department Learning Goals
Knowledge Base in Psychology
Students will be able to articulate key concepts, principles, and overarching themes in psychology and will be
able to apply psychological theory and empirical findings to real-world phenomena. Students will be able to
access psychological information from a variety of sources, assess the quality and reliability of the sources,
and evaluate the relevance and integrity of the information.
Scientific Inquiry and Critical Thinking
Students will be able to frame questions and formulate hypotheses about human behavior and mental
processes; test those hypotheses in methodologically sound studies; and collect, analyze, and interpret the
resulting data. Students will be able to articulate the links between theory, observation, and conclusion, and to
weigh empirical evidence in evaluating particular theories and applications.
Ethical Responsibility
Students will be able to evaluate ethical aspects of psychological research. They will be able to conduct
research in an ethical fashion, including the design of research studies; the protection of research participants;
the proper handling, analysis, and sharing of data; and the appropriate crediting of the intellectual
contributions of others.
Social Responsibility in a Diverse World
In their coursework and research in psychology, students will recognize and respect the complexity of
sociocultural diversity. Students will be able to analyze human behavior from an individual and cultural
perspective. They will develop a multicultural fluency, demonstrating the ability to view issues from different
cultural perspectives and ask pertinent questions about cultural influences.
Communication
Students will be able to communicate psychological concepts effectively in a variety of formats, including
written and oral. They will be able to convey and critique qualitative and quantitative information effectively in
appropriate verbal, numerical, and/or graphical forms.
Professional Development
Students will be able to work effectively on team-based projects and to solve problems in a collaborative
setting. They will be able to apply psychological principles, where relevant, to personal, social, and
organizational issues, as well as to questions of public policy.
Requirements for the Psychology Major
Psychology is a broad field, and the major is designed to allow students to gain both breadth and depth of
knowledge in the field. To that end, students take 200-level courses that represent different areas of the field,
but develop depth by taking a 200-level topical course that then leads, along with introductory data analysis, to
a corresponding research methods course in which they learn firsthand about how knowledge is developed
within specific subareas of the field. For example, students may take social psychology (PSYC 210), followed
by the research methods in social psychology course (PSYC 310R), but they will also have taken at least two
other 200-level courses, including one from the 215–219 (PSYC 215, PSYC 216, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PSYC
219) set of courses that historically have focused on somewhat different research questions than has social
psychology.
The psychology major consists of at least 9.25 units, including PSYC 101, PSYC 105 (Introduction to Data
Analysis in Psychological Science), and a research-methods course plus at least three additional courses at
the 200 level and two additional courses at the 300 level. The ninth course can be PSYC 110 or a 200 or 300level course, excluding 299. Of the 200-level courses, at least one must be a course numbered 207–213
(courses on developmental, social, personality, and clinical psychology—PSYC 207, PSYC 208, PSYC 210,
PSYC 212, PSYC 213) and at least one must be numbered 215–219 (courses on cognition, memory, language,
sensation and perception, and biological psychology—PSYC 215, PSYC 216, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PSYC
219). Independent study courses (PSYC 250 and PSYC 250H) count toward the major, but not toward the
required three 200-level courses. Only one unit of independent study (PSYC 350, or two PSYC 350H) or thesis
course (PSYC 360, PSYC 370) can count as one of the two 300-level courses required in addition to the
research-methods course. Credits for PSYC 299 and 299H do not count toward the major. Courses from
other institutions may count toward the psych major, but at least five of the courses for the major, including
one 300-level course, must be taken at Wellesley.
One course outside of Psychology Department can count toward the major: QR 260/STAT 260 (Applied Data
Analysis and Statistical Inference).
Statistics: PSYC 105 is the only Wellesley data analysis course that will fulfill the major requirement. Statistics
courses taken outside of Wellesley will not ordinarily fulfill this requirement. QR 260/STAT 260 may be taken (in
addition to PSYC 105) as a 200-level elective toward the major. Transfer students wishing to obtain credit for
statistics courses taken prior to enrollment at Wellesley should consult the chair of the department.
Research Methods Requirement: The department currently offers seven research methods courses: PSYC
307R, PSYC 309R, PSYC 310R, PSYC 312R, PSYC 313R, PSYC 314R, PSYC 315R and PSYC 323R. Research
methods courses taken outside of Wellesley will not fulfill this requirement. Students are encouraged to
complete the research methods course by the end of the junior year. In order to be eligible for Senior Thesis
Research (PSYC 360), students are required to complete the research methods course by the end of the junior
year.
Honors in Psychology
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student should have a grade point average of at least 3.67 in all work in the major field
above the 100 level; students with a slightly lower average who have a strong interest and commitment to
research are welcome to submit applications. See Academic Distinctions.
Experiential Learning in Psychology
The department offers a variety of experiential learning opportunities. PSYC 299 (Practicum in Psychology)
offers off-campus placements in the Boston area (e.g., mental health and school settings). PSYC 299H
(Practicum in Child Development) provides a structured learning experience at the Wellesley College Child
Study Center. Students may receive a maximum of 2 units of credit toward the degree for any combination of
299 and 299H. 299 and 299H do not count toward the major or minor in psychology.
Transfer Credit in Psychology
To obtain Wellesley credit for any psychology course taken at another institution, preliminary approval must be
obtained from the department chair prior to enrolling in the course. In general, courses taken at two-year
colleges will not be accepted. These restrictions apply to courses taken after enrollment at Wellesley. Transfer
students wishing to obtain credit for courses taken prior to enrollment at Wellesley should consult the
department chair. Ordinarily, credit will not be granted for data analysis (statistics) or research methods
courses taken at another institution.
Advanced Placement Policy in Psychology
Students who have received a 5 on the Psychology AP exam, or a 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, are
exempt from the PSYC 101 requirement, but may not count the unit toward the major. Students who have
taken a college-level Introductory Psychology course prior to coming to Wellesley are exempt from the PSYC
101 requirement. Contact the department chair to obtain this exemption so as to enroll in courses with PSYC
101 as a prerequisite. If the credit for that course has been transferred to Wellesley and appears on the
student’s college transcript, it may be counted toward the psychology major.
Students with an AP score of 5 who choose to complete PSYC 101 will receive the appropriate psychology
credit for PSYC 101, but will receive no AP credit toward graduation.
Advanced placement credit for statistics does not exempt students from or fulfill the PSYC 105 requirement. A
student with an AP score of 5 in statistics must still take PSYC 105, but can receive AP credit toward
graduation.
Interdepartmental Majors in Psychology
Students interested in an interdepartmental major in neuroscience or cognitive and linguistic sciences are
referred to the section of the catalog where these programs are described. They should consult with the
directors of the neuroscience or cognitive and linguistic sciences programs.
Psychology Minor
Requirements for the Psychology Minor
The psychology minor consists of five units, including PSYC 101 and one course at the 300 level. QR
260/STAT 260 may be used toward the minor. PSYC 250 and PSYC 350 do not count as one of the five
courses for the minor. Credits for PSYC 299 and PSYC 299H also do not count toward the minor. At least three
of the courses for the minor must be taken in the Psychology Department at Wellesley College.
PSYC Courses
Course ID: AFR225/PSYC225 Title: Introduction to Black Psychology
This course is designed to provide an overview of Black psychology as a field of study. Both conceptual
frameworks and empirical research related to the psychology of individuals of African descent will be
presented, with appropriate historical and sociopolitical context. Topics include the Black child, Black youth,
achievement and schooling, kinship and family, identity development and socialization, gender norms and
behaviors, sexuality, religion and spirituality, wellness, and mental health. The course will also look at the
psychology of Black people through the lenses of gender, ethnicity/nationality/culture, and religion.
Additionally, this course will explore the legacies of enslavement, racism, discrimination, and racial violence as
factors in Black psychology, as well as the role of the Black social movement in the psychology of Black
people. The course will incorporate current topics and controversies related to Black psychology, as well as
recent advances in the field of Black psychology.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST222/PSYC222 Title: Asian American Psychology
How can cultural values influence the way we process information, recall memories, or express emotion? What
contributes to variations in parenting styles across cultures? How do experiences such as biculturalism,
immigration, and racism affect mental health? This course will examine these questions with a specific focus
on the cultural experiences of Asian Americans. Our aim is to understand how these experiences interact with
basic psychological processes across the lifespan, with attention to both normative and pathological
development.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101 or AMST 151; or a score of 5 on the Psychology AP
exam; or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Chen;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CLSC110/PSYC110 Title: Introduction to Cognitive Science
How do our brains give rise to conscious thought, action, and experience? This is a key question that
motivates cognitive science, the interdisciplinary study of the mind. Cognitive scientists integrate approaches
from psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and more, to study this issue. This course will survey
the major theories, debates, and findings from cognitive science. Topics covered include perception, memory,
decision-making, language, consciousness, and more. We will also consider cognitive science from a
historical perspective to understand how the study of the mind has evolved in the past century, and what
approaches we can take into the future.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Bushong; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CLSC216/PSYC216 Title: Psychology of Language
Language is central to the human experience. It arises in all cultures and can be learned effortlessly by any
child. In fact, children can’t resist it—deprive them of language, and they will invent their own. The
organizational power of the human mind and the critical role of human interaction in culture shape the
structure of languages and the way they are learned, perceived, and produced. In this class we will apply
scientific research methods from cognitive psychology to understand how humans build, use, and acquire
language. Throughout, we will view the psychological processes of language through the lenses of crosslinguistic variation, multilingualism, and individual differences.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101 or NEUR 100, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam,
or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Pyers;
Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CLSC300/PSYC300 Title: Seminar. Topics in Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences
Topic for 2024-25: From Perceptrons to ChatGPT: How Computational Models Help Us Understand the Mind
Cognitive scientists have used mathematical and computational methods to understand human cognition
since at least the 1940s. Similarly, the study of human neuroscience and cognition has influenced the
development of artificial intelligence systems. Beginning in the early 2010s, massive increases in
computational power and the accessibility of large databases have resulted in the rapid rise of human-like
artificial intelligence systems, culminating in well-known public AI tools like ChatGPT. To what degree are these
models a reflection of human intelligence, and can they help us understand human cognition? Are human-like
cognitive biases also present in these models, and does this present ethical issues with their use? This course
will cover the history of computational modeling in cognitive science, from early debates about modularity,
interactivity, and the nature of representation; to the modern development of deep neural networks not only as
practical systems, but as models of human cognition.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken one of the following PSYC 215, CLSC 216/PSYC 216, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PSYC 219, LING 114, PHIL 215, or CS 111; or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bushong; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and
Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as
the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: CLSC316/PSYC316 Title: Seminar: Language Acquisition
Children around the world acquire their first language, spoken or signed, with seemingly little effort. By the end
of their first year, they are saying their first words, and a mere two years later they are speaking in full
sentences. What are the biological, cognitive, and environmental factors that play into children’s rapid
language learning? What do special cases of language acquisition, such as bilingualism, disordered language
development (e.g., autism, dyslexia), and sign language tell us about the human capacity to learn language?
We will consider all of these questions and more. In addition, we will spend time observing children of different
ages to witness language acquisition in action.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two 200-level courses in PSYC (excluding PSYC 205) or LING, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Pyers; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition;
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLSC348/PSYC348 Title: Seminar: Cognitive Neuroscience of Communication
No other species can communicate complex meanings as flexibly and efficiently as humans can. This course
examines the cognitive and neural basis of our communication system, providing a comprehensive overview of
what we do and don’t know about it. We will cover topics such as gesture, turn-taking in conversation,
miscommunication, language and the role of prediction in communication. The course will introduce core
concepts, terminology and skills through reading research papers that probe the architecture of our
communication system from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, with a focus on ecological validity in
communication research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken one of the following CLSC 216/PSYC 216, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PSYC 219, LING 114, PHIL 215, or permission of instructor.;
Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: EDUC298H/PSYC299H Title: Practicum in Child Development
The Psychology Practicum in Child Development allows students to gain hands-on experience in the field of
psychology and acquire course credit through their participation in non-paid teaching internships at the Child
Study Center. Students are expected to spend 4-5 hours per week teaching at the Child Study Center, do
periodic readings, keep a weekly journal, and attend three, mandatory supervision meetings. Does not count
toward the minimum major or minor in psychology.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: PSYC 101. Permission of the instructor is required. ; Instructor:
Morgan; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: This
course is repeatable once for additional credit. Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: EDUC324/PSYC324 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Adolescent Sexual Health
Communication in the Real World
Thoughtful communication about adolescents’ sexual health is a complex and often fraught issue. Many
people have strong feelings and deeply held beliefs about what is right and wrong, what should be taught, and
why. In this Calderwood Seminar, we will utilize small groups and collaborative editing to tackle how to
communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences. We will explore ways to translate evidence-based
research for a general population. All course assignments will consist of writing for public audiences, such as
an op-ed, newspaper article, a blog for a teen or parent magazine, and an interview profile of a professional in
the field. Students will learn about psychological research and evidence-based practice in health-promoting
and developmentally appropriate communication with adolescents about sex and relationships.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: This course is limited to juniors and seniors. Students must have
completed at least two 200-level courses in Psychology, Education, or Women's and Gender Studies.;
Instructor: Grossman; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories:
CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC328/PSYC322 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Social Technologies &
Adolescent Development
Adolescents are developing socially, cognitively, and civically in their online and offline worlds, transforming
how formal and informal learning takes place. Students in this course will digest research findings and reflect
on their own experiences about how social technologies (e.g., Instagram, gaming, mobile phones) can
influence wellbeing during the tween and teen years. Harnessing personal narratives that appeal to different
stakeholders, we will develop timely and accessible strategies to inform adolescents, educators, families,
youth workers, and policymakers about the implications of these findings. This interdisciplinary course
spanning education, psychology, media studies, and health communication fields involves transforming
research into digestible, brief, non-academic pieces intended for the general public and provides opportunities
for students to explore their own interests. Sample assignments include a policy brief, op-ed, e-newsletter, 2
minute podcast, social media messaging campaign, and strategic writing for UX design. Each week, fellow
classmates critique each other’s work in a friendly, constructive environment while guest writing coaches and
industry professionals provide useful tips to hone each piece to its creative potential.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors and Seniors.; Instructor:
Charmaraman; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in
Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Fall;
Course ID: PSYC101 Title: Introduction to Psychology
An introduction to some of the major subfields of psychology, such as developmental, personality, clinical,
physiological, cognitive, cultural, and social psychology. Students will explore various theoretical perspectives
and research methods used by psychologists to study the origins and variations in human behavior.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PSYC105 Title: Introduction to Data Analysis in Psychological Science
The application of statistical concepts and techniques to the analysis of research data in psychological
science. As one of the two prerequisites for the research methods course required for the psychology major,
emphasis is placed on hands-on work with realistic data. Students will learn to select, conduct, interpret,
visualize, write up, read, and evaluate analyses. The course has an accompanying lab component. Students
must register for a lecture and lab at the same time.
This course has a required co-requisite laboratory - PSYC 105L.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: PSYC 101 or NEUR 100 or a score of 5 on the Psychology AP
exam, or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor. Fulfillment of the
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open
to students who have taken or are taking BISC 198, ECON 103/SOC 190, QR/STAT 150, STAT 160, or POL
299, except for psychology majors and neuroscience majors. Not open to students who have taken PSYC
205.; Instructor: Bahns, Brinkman, Cheek, Deveney, Poston; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Fall;
Course ID: PSYC105L Title: Laboratory: Introduction to Data Analysis in Psychological Science
This is a required co-requisite laboratory for PSYC 105.
Units: 0; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: PSYC 101 or NEUR 100 or a score of 5 on the Psychology AP
exam, or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor. Fulfillment of the
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open
to students who have taken or are taking BISC 198, ECON 103/SOC 190, QR/STAT 150, STAT 160, or POL
299, except for psychology majors and neuroscience majors. Not open to students who have taken PSYC
205.; Instructor: Bahns, Brinkman, Cheek, Deveney, Poston; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PSYC207 Title: Developmental Psychology
Human infants and children are simultaneously the most adept learners, yet the least able to care for
themselves. This course will wrestle with understanding how children’s development is shaped by human
capacities and by the ways in which family, friends, and the larger community influence the maturational
process. Through lectures, discussions, activities, and first-hand observations of children at the Child Study
Center, we will examine children’s social, cognitive, emotional, perceptual, physical, and language
development and try to understand how they relate to one another from conception (or before!) through early
adolescence. Special attention will be given to public policy issues related to education, parenting, and
children’s rights in the international community.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam, or a score of
5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PSYC208 Title: Adolescence
Survey of contemporary theories and research in the psychology of adolescents. Topics will include the
physical, cognitive, social, and personality development of adolescents.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam, or a score of
5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Poston; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC210 Title: Social Psychology
Social psychology examines how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the social
context. The United States is a highly individualistic culture. American society teaches that individual outcomes
are the product of what each person has wanted, worked for, and deserved. This course will provide a
framework for questioning these assumptions--examining how characteristics of the individual person and the
social environment jointly influence human behavior. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and
experiments, we will learn about major research areas in the field including attitudes and persuasion,
interpersonal attraction, sterotyping and prejudice, and prosocial behavior. We will consider how research
informs social and policy issues related to education, healthcare, and the environment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam, or a score of
5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Akert, Bahns; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PSYC212 Title: Personality
A comparison of major ways of conceiving and studying personality, including the work of Freud, Jung,
behaviorists, humanists, and social learning theorists. Introduction to major debates and research findings in
contemporary personality psychology.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam, or a score of
5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Kulik-Johnson; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PSYC213 Title: Clinical Psychology
An examination of major psychological disorders with special emphasis on phenomenology. Behavioral
treatment of anxiety-based disorders, cognitive treatment of depression, psychoanalytic therapy of personality
disorders, and biochemical treatment of schizophrenia will receive special attention. Other models of
psychopathology will also be discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam, or a score of
5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Theran; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PSYC215 Title: Memory
Memory is central to our functioning in everyday life and to our sense of identity. We use memory not only to
accomplish routine tasks (e.g., to recall where we parked the car, to remember what items we need to pick up
from the grocery store), but also to construct a narrative of our lives populated by the experiences and events
that define us. Memories can be transient or lasting, and can operate both within and outside of conscious
awareness. This course will examine the mechanisms underlying human memory abilities. We will discuss
distinctions between different forms of memory including short-term/long-term memory, episodic/semantic
memory, and implicit/explicit memory. We will examine the neural basis and development of memory
functions, and will consider factors contributing to forgetting and distortion of memories.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101 or NEUR 100, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam,
or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Keane;
Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC217 Title: Cognition
Cognition refers to the processes and systems that enable us to perceive, attend to, represent and understand
the world around us, to learn and remember information, to communicate with each other, and to reason and
make decisions. This course provides a survey of research and theory in all of these domains.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101 or NEUR 100, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam,
or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bushong;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PSYC218 Title: Sensation and Perception
In a split-second, a curling of lips across a crowded room is registered by one's eyes and translated effortlessly
into a vividly three-dimensional, full-color perception of a baby's smile. This and other sensory and perceptual
feats, unmatched by any computer, are this course's focus. Topics include consciousness, attention and
inattention, data visualization, perceptual learning and development, face perception, 3D depth, color, and
brain bases of sensation/attention/perception. Emphasis is given to abnormal and illusory perception. Special
topics may include communication via language, music, art, and graphic design. Frequent demonstrations
and laboratory exercises will provide insights into class concepts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101 or NEUR 100, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam,
or a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Wilmer;
Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PSYC219 Title: Biological Psychology
Humans are remarkable beings. We are capable of creating inspiring works of art and dramatic scientific
achievements. However, we also engage in harmful behaviors such as violence and prejudice and suffer from
debilitating illnesses such as schizophrenia and dementia. This course explores how the 3 lb. structure in our
head influences what we think, feel, and do. The course also explores how what we experience and how we
behave can change the brain. The course begins with a basic overview of the structure and function of the
nervous system and current techniques for studying the nervous system. The latter part of the course
examines the biological underpinnings of several behaviors of interest to psychologists including sleep, stress,
emotion, cognition, and mental disorders. Throughout the course, students will gain critical thinking skills
through evaluating original empirical research and by considering the advantages and disadvantages of the
biological perspective on human behavior.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam, or a score of
5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
NEUR 200. Not open to students who have taken NEUR 100 except by permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; EC - Epistemology and Cognition;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: PSYC240 Title: Organizational Psychology
Organizational psychology is the study of human thoughts, feelings, and behavior in work settings. This
includes how psychological dynamics affect individual and group performance, and how work environments
affect individuals. Students will explore how organizational psychologists work to positively and collaboratively
transform human systems. This class will examine both theoretical and applied, real-world aspects of the field
of organizational psychology. Topics will include interpersonal dynamics, personality of individuals working in
organization, attitudes, group dynamics, company culture, and leadership.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam, or a score of
5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC245 Title: Cultural Psychology
This course examines the effect of cultural differences on identity and psychological processes by comparing
normative behavioral and psychological tendencies associated with membership in diverse cultural groups:
East Asian, South Asian, Middle Eastern, African American, Latino, and working- and middle-class contexts
within the United States. Topics include: self, emotion, cognition, development, relationships, and physical and
mental health.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: PSYC 101, a score of 5 on the Psychology AP exam, or a score of
5, 6, or 7 on the Higher Level IB exam, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Chen; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: PSYC250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: PSYC299 Title: Practicum in Psychology
Participation in a structured learning experience in an approved field setting under faculty supervision. Does
not count toward the minimum major or minor in psychology.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Two units above the 100 level that are
most appropriate to the field setting as determined by the faculty supervisor (excluding PSYC 205).; Instructor:
Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. PSYC 299 is repeatable for credit one time. Students who receive two units of
credit for PSYC 299 may not receive credit for PSYC 299H.;
Course ID: PSYC307R Title: Research Methods in Developmental Psychology
An introduction to research methods appropriate to the study of human development. Individual and group
projects. Laboratory. Observations at the Child Study Center required.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Either PSYC 105 or PSYC 205, and PSYC 207, or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Pyers; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course. This course does not
fulfill the laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: PSYC308 Title: Systems of Psychotherapy
This course examines theory, research, and practice in three schools of psychotherapy: psychodynamic,
cognitive-behavioral, and humanistic. Topics to be covered include underlying assumptions of
normalcy/pathology, theories of change, methods/techniques, and relationship between therapist and client.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units,
excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250 and PSYC 299, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PSYC309R Title: Research Methods in the Psychology of Personality and Adjustment
An introduction to research methods appropriate to the study of the psychology of personality and adjustment.
Student projects investigate individual and group differences in personality traits, values, and dimensions of
self-concept, and will include exploration of subclinical expressions of clinical conditions that are significant in
psychological adjustment. Laboratory.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Either PSYC 105 or PSYC 205, and either PSYC 212 or PSYC
213, and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Norem; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This
course does not fulfill the laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: PSYC310R Title: Research Methods in Social Psychology
An introduction to research methods appropriate to the study of social psychology. Topics will include
attitudes and persuasion, interpersonal attraction and relationships, sterotyping and prejudice, aggression and
prosocial behavior. Individual and group projects on selected topics. Laboratory.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Either PSYC 105 or PSYC 205, and PSYC 210, and permission
of the instructor.; Instructor: Bahns; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course does not fulfill the laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: PSYC311R Title: Research Methods in Personality and Social Psychology
Students will learn techniques for conducting personality and social psychological research using paid, crowdsourced participants. We will cover correlational and experimental methods, as we explore personality and
social topics such as individual differences in goals, and traits, aspects of self-concept and identity,
stereotyping and prejudice, and group processes. Students will learn how to evaluate the reliability and validity
of psychological measures. After developing specific hypotheses, students will work together to design ways
of testing those hypotheses by administering on-line study protocols, and collecting empirical data. We will
learn how to analyze the different kinds of data collected, and students will write up a research report following
the conventions of the field.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Either PSYC 210 or PSYC 212, and either PSYC 105 or PSYC
205, and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Norem; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC312R Title: Research Methods in Personality Psychology
An introduction to research methods appropriate to the study of personality psychology. Student projects
investigate individual and group differences in personality traits, values, goals, and dimensions of self-concept.
Laboratory.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Either PSYC 105 or PSYC 205, and either PSYC 212 or PSYC
210.; Instructor: Norem; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Does not fulfill the laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: PSYC313R Title: Research Methods in Clinical Psychology
An introduction to research methods appropriate to the study of abnormal psychology. Topics will include
affective and personality disorders, substance abuse, and stressful life events. Individual and group projects.
Laboratory.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Either PSYC 105 or PSYC 205, and PSYC 213.; Instructor:
Theran; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Notes: This course does not fulfill the laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: PSYC314R Title: Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
Introduction to research methods appropriate to the study of human cognition (i.e., how people take in,
interpret, organize, remember, and use information in their daily lives). Individual and group projects.
Laboratory.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Either PSYC 105 or PSYC 205 and one of the following - PSYC
215, PSYC 216, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PSYC 219, and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Keane;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; EC - Epistemology and Cognition; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course does not fulfill the laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: PSYC315R Title: Research Methods in Cognitive Variation
Introduction to research methods used to study how different people's minds work differently; for example,
how they think, perceive, attend, judge, learn, prefer, notice, scan, search, choose, quantify, calculate, read,
remember, communicate, navigate, or mind-read differently, and how they process faces, words, depth,
beauty, scenes, numbers, or colors differently. Includes dual focus on human variation methods and
experimental methods. Individual and group projects. Laboratory.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Either PSYC 105 or PSYC 205 and one other PSYC 200-level
unit, excluding PSYC 250 and PSYC 299.; Instructor: Wilmer; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology
and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Does not fulfill the laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: PSYC317 Title: Seminar: Affective and Clinical Psychobiology
This course will provide students with a background on the biological underpinnings of the major psychiatric
disorders and discuss emerging trends in the field. Course topics include: (1) the techniques used to study
nervous system functioning in psychiatry; (2) the nervous system abnormalities observed in several major
psychiatric disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, unipolar and bipolar disorders, and anxiety disorders) in childhood
and adulthood; (3) recent changes in how the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders is being studied; and (4)
interactions between the brain and the environment. Students will investigate individual topics of interest and
will present their findings in a formal class presentation and a final paper.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken PSYC 219 or NEUR
200, and one additional 200-level PSYC course excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299.; Instructor:
Deveney; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC318 Title: Seminar: Psychopharmacology
For thousands of years, humans have used substances to alter their mental states for medicinal, religious, and
recreational purposes. Many of these substances have been used to ameliorate the symptoms of severe
mental illnesses. However, the illegal and/or inappropriate use of many substances has had profound costs to
individuals and to society at large. This course provides an in-depth examination of how legal and illicit drugs
influence our neurochemistry to produce changes in behavior, feelings, and cognition. Other course topics
include basic pharmacological principles, the drug development process, and controversies in the field of
psychiatric treatment. During the course, students will connect the technical aspects of drug mechanisms to
larger clinical and societal issues and gain skills communicating complex psychobiological concepts in a clear
fashion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken PSYC 219 or NEUR
200, and one additional 200-level PSYC course excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299. Not open to
students who have taken NEUR 332.; Instructor: Deveney; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and
Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PSYC319 Title: Seminar: Neuropsychology
This course explores the neural underpinnings of human cognition and behavior by considering behavioral
evidence from individuals with brain damage and behavioral/neuroimaging evidence from healthy individuals.
The first part of the course provides an overview of major neuroanatomical systems. The remainder of the
course is organized around student-led discussions of current issues in the literature about how the brain gives
rise to behavior.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units,
including either PSYC 219 or NEUR 200, and excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299.; Instructor:
Keane; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC323R Title: Research Methods in the Psychology of Human Sexuality
An introduction to research methods appropriate to the study of individual and group differences in sexual
attitudes and behavior. Student projects use archival and new survey data to investigate topics such as sexual
motivation and attraction, sexual self-esteem and identity, intimacy in romantic relationships, and gender and
cultural differences in sexuality. Laboratory.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: PSYC 105 or PSYC 205, and one of the following - PSYC 208,
PSYC 210, PSYC 212, PSYC 213, or PSYC 219, and permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Cheek;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Does not fulfill the laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: PSYC325 Title: Seminar: Adolescent Psychology: Bridging Research and Practice
Because of the explosive changes happening during adolescence, it presents a period ripe for targeted
prevention and intervention efforts to increase the health and success of our youth and to promote their early
and sustained positive development. Drawing on current, strength-based theories and scientific research
about adolescent development, we will examine how our earlier conceptions about adolescence may not best
meet the needs of and promote positive development among youth today. We will explore the fundamental
changes of this developmental period (e.g., biological, cognitive, social) and how their interactions with context
(family, peers, school, out-of-school time settings, media, culture) can better inform prevention and
intervention efforts that target diverse subgroups of adolescents.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units,
excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC326 Title: Seminar: Child and Adolescent Psychopathology
Description, etiology, and developmental patterns of behavior problems of children, adolescents, and their
families. Topics include theories of child and adolescent psychopathology, externalizing problems such as
conduct disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, internalizing problems such as depression,
anxiety, and children's experiences of trauma, and developmental disorders such as mental retardation, risk
and protective factors for child psychopathology, and child and family interventions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units,
excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Theran;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: PSYC327 Title: Seminar: Psychology of Human Sexuality
An examination of psychological approaches to individual and group differences in sexual attitudes and
behavior. This course draws upon theory and research from the fields of personality psychology and social
psychology. Topics include: sexual motivation and attraction; sexual self-esteem and identity; intimacy in
romantic relationships; and gender and cultural differences in sexuality.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units,
excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Cheek; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC328 Title: Seminar: Genes, Brains, and Human Variation
Why do some people have a keen memory for names or faces, a great sense of direction, or a remarkable
ability to do two things at once? And why are some people only average (or even below average) in these
areas? We will critically evaluate a broad range of perceptual and cognitive abilities (and disabilities) by
drawing upon the fields of cognitive neuroscience, behavioral genetics, development, and human variation.
We will address three kinds of questions: What broad combination of nature and nurture, and what specific
genes and experiences, contribute to differing abilities? What are the neural and cognitive bases of such
abilities? And how can we or should we apply such knowledge to ourselves, our families, our communities,
and our countries?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two 200-level units, (excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC
299), one of which should be PSYC 215, PSYC 216, PSYC 217, PSYC 218, PSYC 219, or NEUR 200, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Wilmer; Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition;
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51
Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: PSYC329 Title: Seminar: Psychology of Adulthood and Aging
An examination of how individuals develop and change over the life course. Particular emphasis on
experiences associated with entry into adulthood, middle age, and older adulthood. Topics include: agerelated changes in personality, emotion, and cognition; work and relationships (including marriage and
parenting); life's transitions (e.g., divorce, menopause, and retirement); influence of culture and history on
crafting adult lives. Different models of the life course will be discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units,
excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Poston;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: PSYC332 Title: Seminar: Personality and Motivation
What do we want, why do we want it, and how do we get it? Do we all want the same things? How much
control do we have over our own behavior? These questions drive psychologists who study motivation and
personality. We will review major perspectives on motivation from personality and social psychology. Within
each perspective, we will consider ways in which individual differences at different levels of analysis (e.g.,
neural networks, hormonal processes, traits, emotional dispositions, family background, social and cultural
contexts) are intertwined with motivation and goal pursuit. We will consider ways in which students might apply
what psychologists have learned to the pursuit of their personal goals.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken either PSYC 210 or
PSYC 212 and one other 200-level unit, excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299, or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Norem; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PSYC333 Title: Clinical and Educational Assessment
Current approaches to the psychological appraisal of individual differences in personality, intelligence, and
special abilities will be investigated through the use of cases. Tests included in the survey are MMPI®, CPI®,
WAIS®, Rorschach®, and the TAT®. Special emphasis will be placed on test interpretation, report writing, and
an understanding of basic psychometric concepts such as validity, reliability, and norms. Useful for students
intending to pursue graduate study in clinical, personality, occupational, or school psychology.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units in
PSYC, excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: PSYC337 Title: Seminar: Prejudice and Discrimination
A discussion-based examination of social psychological theory and research on prejudice and discrimination
with applications to current social issues. Topics include racism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, and many
other forms of intergroup bias, with an emphasis on the psychological mechanisms that underlie all prejudices.
We will address two primary questions: Why do people have prejudices? What factors may reduce intergroup
bias?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level
courses, excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250 and PSYC 299, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bahns;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: PSYC338 Title: Social Influence
This course focuses on a major topic in social psychology: attitude formation and change. Techniques of
social influence that we encounter in everyday life will be explored, with a particular emphasis on advertising.
The findings of empirical research and theory will be used to understand persuasive messages. Topics include
how emotion, gender, and culture are used to maximize the effectiveness of advertisem*nts, and how
stereotypes are both perpetuated and refuted in advertising.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken PSYC 210 and one
other 200-level unit, excluding PSYC 205, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Akert; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC339 Title: Seminar: Narrative Identity
Narrative psychology explores the human propensity to create and use stories about significant figures and
events in the process of identity formation. Topics will include an exploration of mermaids and related figures
as cultural images, metaphors for personal transformation, and archetypal symbols of the collective
unconscious. The Little Mermaid and La Sirene of Haitian Vodou will be examined as representations of men's
fear of, and attempts to control, women's spirituality and sexuality. The personality theories of Jung and Reich
provide the framework for the seminar.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units in
PSYC, excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Cheek;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PSYC343 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Psychology in the Public Interest
Take a step back from your psychology major and learn how to transfer your expertise to the public. This
Calderwood Seminar challenges upper-class students in an intimate workshop setting to grow as
psychologists and writers. Throughout the semester, students will build a writing portfolio that might include
op-eds, book reviews, journal article reviews, coverage of public talks, Wikipedia entries, articles for middle
school STEM magazines, and interviews with research psychologists. Classes will include collaborative editing
workshops, guest lectures from experts, and activities to build a strong writing foundation. In keeping with the
structure of the Calderwood seminar, students choose areas of psychology to study in depth, and weekly
deadlines are firm so as to allow classmates time to reflect and comment on each others' work. You have
learned how to write for college, now learn how to write for life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to Junior and Senior Psychology majors who have taken two
200-level courses, excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Gleason; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories: CSPW Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC344 Title: Seminar: Social Imagination
An examination of the uses and types of imagination in both childhood and adulthood. This course will touch
on the mechanics of mental imagery and discuss the ways in which imagery is manifest in cognition and
particularly in management of social relationships. Emphasis will be placed on the connections between
imagination and emotion, such as in children's enactment of scary or nurturant pretend play. How imagination
affects interpersonal interactions will be considered, as will other topics such as children's creation of
imaginary companions, imagination as pathology, and individual differences in imagination, imagery of
individuals deprived of particular senses, and the influence of imagination on memory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level
courses, excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299.; Instructor: Gleason; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC345 Title: Seminar: Becoming a Mindreader: The Development of a Theory of Mind
Humans are supremely adept mind readers. Our daily interaction depends on accurately assessing what other
people are thinking and feeling. In fact, much of what entertains us centers on the drama that surrounds what
people think and know. Lies, deceptions, and mistaken beliefs are major plot devices in novels, plays, and
television shows. This seminar will trace the development,from childhood to adulthood,of a "theory of mind",
the understanding of our own and others' intentions, desires, and beliefs. Topics include the development of
lying, the effect of language experience on theory of mind abilities, cross-cultural variation in theory of mind
development, the challenge of theory of mind for autistic children, and the role of theory of mind in art and
fiction. Observations at the Child Study Center (outside of class time) will be required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken PSYC 207 and one
other 200-level course, excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299.; Instructor: Pyers; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC346 Title: Seminar: Culture and Emotion
This seminar examines ways in which cultural factors interact with basic emotional processes. We will integrate
theoretical and empirical research from different areas of psychology (e.g., developmental, social, clinical), and
will also include readings from other disciplines (e.g., anthropology and applied linguistics). Topics will include
culture and emotion regulation, emotion and language, and socialization of emotion in the family.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units,
excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299, or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who
have taken PSYC 322.; Instructor: Chen; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course. ;
Course ID: PSYC347 Title: Seminar: Close Relationships
This seminar is meant to serve as a way of scientifically exploring questions about close relationships from a
social psychological perspective. “Close relationships” are interpersonal relationships in which one person
perceives the self to have a sense of intimacy (e.g., physical, emotional) with another person. There will be a
focus on romantic relationships, along with parent-child relationships, friendships, and other close
relationships. Although these relationships are commonly a topic of everyday, layperson discussions, this
seminar will utilize a scientific approach to understanding them. The goal of this course is to provide students
with an overview of the major social psychological theories and research findings on close relationships and to
understand how these topics are connected to cognition, emotion, motivation, social behavior, health, wellbeing, the self, and more. By the end of the course you should be able to think critically about questions
related to understanding relationships and be able to use scientific rationale to back up your reasoning. We
will discuss not only research on these topics, but also how this research might relate to students’ everyday
lives and their future careers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two 200-level courses in PSYC.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PSYC349 Title: Seminar: Nonverbal Communication
An examination of the use of nonverbal communication in social interactions. Systematic observation of
nonverbal behavior, especially facial expression, tone of voice, gestures, personal space, and body
movement. Readings include scientific studies and descriptive accounts. Issues include: the communication of
emotion; cultural and gender differences; the detection of deception; the impact of nonverbal cues on
impression formation; nonverbal communication in specific settings (e.g., counseling, education, interpersonal
relationships).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken two 200-level units,
excluding PSYC 205, PSYC 250, and PSYC 299.; Instructor: Akert; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PSYC350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PSYC350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PSYC360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: PSYC370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: PSYC 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Quantitative Reasoning
The ability to think clearly and critically about quantitative issues is imperative in contemporary society.
Quantitative reasoning is required in virtually all academic fields, is used in most every profession, and is
necessary for decision making in everyday life. The Quantitative Reasoning (QR) Program is designed to
ensure that Wellesley College students are proficient in the use of mathematical, logical, and statistical
problem-solving tools needed in today’s increasingly quantitative world.
The Quantitative Reasoning Program provides a range of services to the academic community relevant to the
Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy degree requirement; the requirement is described in detail in the QR
and Data Literacy Requirement portion of this bulletin. The QR Program oversees the administration of the
Quantitative Reasoning Assessment and staffs QR 140, the introductory QR course. QR Program faculty teach
several Data Literacy and Statistics courses as well. The Program also provides tutorial support to students
and instructors of Data Literacy courses. Finally, the Quantitative Reasoning Program provides curricular
support to faculty interested in modifying existing courses or designing new ones so that these courses will
satisfy the Data Literacy requirement.
The Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy Requirement
The Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy degree requirement has two parts, a Quantitative Reasoning
(QR) component and a Data Literacy (DL) component. All students must satisfy both components of the
requirement.
Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
The QR component of the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy degree requirement is satisfied either by
satisfying the QR Assessment by the end of Orientation or by passing QR 140, the introductory QR course that
builds quantitative skills in the context of real-world applications. Students are required to satisfy the QR
component of the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy degree requirement in their first year so that they
may enroll in the many courses for which quantitative skills are a prerequisite. QR 140 can be used to fulfill the
Mathematical Modeling (MM) distribution requirement.
Learning goals for the QR component of the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy requirement, and for the
introductory course, QR 140, are: Students will learn to utilize logic, mathematics, and statistics to make
decisions as they encounter real world problems in their later coursework, in their future employment, and in
their everyday lives as consumers and citizens. By the end of the semester, students will be able to complete
the following tasks.
Set up and solve real-world problems that require multi-step calculations using unit conversions with
both familiar and unfamiliar units, scaling, and proportions.
Calculate with and describe percentages in two-way tables.
Identify, set up, and solve real-world problems involving linear and exponential growth, using
logarithms where appropriate.
Interpret and perform calculations with numbers in scientific notation.
Design and carry out multi-step "back-of-the envelope estimations," incorporating geometric formulas
for area, volume, and surface area where appropriate.
Calculate and interpret the mean, median, and standard deviation, and associate these quantities with
histograms and written descriptions of data.
Create spreadsheets to model real-world scenarios and interpret real-world data.
Data Literacy (DL)
The DL component of the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy degree requirement is satisfied by passing
a designated DL course or by receiving AP credit in Statistics (which is equivalent to completion of QR/STAT
150: Introduction to Data Literacy). All DL courses are designed, at least in part, to teach students how
numerical data are analyzed and interpreted in a specific academic discipline. The Committee on Curriculum
and Academic Policy has designated individual courses in fields from across the curriculum as ones that
satisfy the DL component of the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy degree requirement. Students may
complete the DL component of the requirement at any time during their time at Wellesley. All DL courses may
also be used to satisfy a distribution requirement.
Learning goals for the DL component of the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy degree requirement are:
Students should learn to identify and construct questions that can be answered with data, to select appropriate
methods for collecting and analyzing relevant data to address these questions, and to describe both the
conclusions and limitations of such analyses. They should work with their own data and read, interpret, and
evaluate other people’s work. By the end of the course, students should be able to complete the following
tasks.
Frame appropriate empirical questions or hypotheses.
Collect or acquire relevant data, addressing possible biases in the data collection, and read and
evaluate the works of other people that are based on data.
Recognize and explain the role randomness plays in designing studies and drawing conclusions.
Present data with appropriate graphical displays and numerical summaries, and interpret data
presented in such formats, considering what such summaries do and do not reveal.
Apply appropriate analytical techniques to answer the underlying empirical questions, and interpret
and describe the meaning of such analyses when used by others.
Data Literacy Course Options
Wellesley College offers a range of courses that can be used to satisfy the DL component of the Quantitative
Reasoning and Data Literacy degree requirement. These courses include introductory statistics courses
offered within a variety of disciplines, including Biological Sciences, Economics, Sociology, Political Science,
Psychology, and Mathematics and Statistics. Other Data Literacy courses include significant emphasis on data
and statistics but do not focus solely on statistical analysis and are offered across the curriculum in
departments including Art History, Astronomy, Environmental Studies, and Geosciences. The complete list of
currently offered courses that satisfy the DL component of the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy
degree requirement can be found below. Please see the full course descriptions under each department or
program for details on prerequisites and the applications emphasized in each course. Note that: (1) All DL
courses offered at Wellesley require satisfaction of the QR component of the Quantitative Reasoning and Data
Literacy degree requirement as a prerequisite. (2) Any individual course on the list below can be used to fulfill
both the DL component of the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy requirement and a distribution
requirement.
Introductory statistics courses that can be used as prerequisites for further study in statistics are indicated with
a * in the list below. Because AP credit in Statistics is equivalent to completion of QR/STAT 150: Introduction to
Data Literacy, which cannot be used as a prerequisite for higher-level courses in statistics, students with such
AP credit who wish to continue their study of statistics must enroll in one of the starred introductory statistics
courses on this list. Interested students should consult individual departments or programs for details on the
various introductory statistics course options and for suggestions about choosing an appropriate first course.
ARTH 222 / MAS 222
Network Analysis for Art History
1.0
ASTR 200
Exoplanetary Systems
1.0
BISC 109
Human Biology with Laboratory
1.25
BISC 111
Introductory Organismal Biology with Laboratory
1.25
BISC 111T
Introductory Organismal Biology with Laboratory
(Tropical Island)
1.25
BISC 113 / BISC 113Y
Exploration of Organismal Biology with Laboratory
1.0
* BISC 198
Statistics in the Biosciences
1.0
BISC 201
Ecology with Laboratory
1.25
CHEM 103
Elements and the Environment
1.0
CHEM 120
Intensive Introductory Chemistry with Laboratory
1.25
CHEM 205
Chemical Analysis and Equilibrium with Laboratory
1.25
CHEM 330
Physical Chemistry I with Laboratory
1.25
CHEM 361
Analytical Chemistry with Laboratory
1.25
CS 234
Data, Analytics and Visualization
1.0
* ECON 103 / SOC 190
Introduction to Probability and Statistical Methods
1.0
ECON 203
Econometrics
1.0
ES 100
Introduction to Environmental Science and Systems
1.0
ES 101 / ES 101Y
Fundamentals of Environmental Science with Laboratory
1.0
GEOS 101
Earth Processes and the Environment with Laboratory
1.25
PHYS 202
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics and
Thermodynamics with Laboratory
1.0
PHYS 210
Experimental Techniques
1.0
PHYS 310
Experimental Physics
1.0
* POL 299
Introduction to Research Methods in Political Science
1.25
* PSYC 105
Introduction to Data Analysis in Psychological Science
1.0
QR 150 / STAT 150
Introduction to Data Literacy: Everyday Applications
1.0
QR 190
Epidemiology
1.0
QR 309 / STAT 309
Causal Inference
1.0
* STAT 160
Fundamentals of Statistics
1.0
* STAT 218
Introductory Statistics and Data Analysis
1.0
Note that this list is subject to change and does not include courses that are no longer offered. Check
individual department listings for information about when each course is offered.
QR Courses
Course ID: QR140 Title: Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning
In this course, students develop and apply mathematical, logical, and statistical skills to solve problems in
authentic contexts. The quantitative skills emphasized include algebra, geometry, probability, statistics,
estimation, and mathematical modeling. Throughout the course, these skills are used to solve real world
problems, from personal finance to medical decision-making. A student passing this course satisfies the
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. This
course is required for students who do not satisfy the QR component of the QR & DL requirement via the
Quantitative Reasoning Assessment. Those who satisfy the QR Assessment, but still want to enroll in this
course must receive permission of instructor.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 13; Prerequisites: Open to First-Year students who did not satisfy the QR component
of the QR & DL requirement via the QR Assessment.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: MM Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: QR150/STAT150 Title: Introduction to Data Literacy: Everyday Applications
This course is intended to provide students with the skills necessary to digest, critique, and express every-day
statistics and to use statistical thinking to answer questions in their own lives. Students will be exposed to and
produce descriptive statistics, including measures of central tendency & spread, as well as common visual
representations of data. The bulk of the class will be devoted to giving students the tools needed to analyze
and critique statistical claims, including an understanding of the dangers of confounding variables and bias,
the advantages and limitations of various study designs and statistical inference, and how to carefully read and
parse claims which attempt to use numbers to sway their audience. The class will examine this material in
authentic contexts such as political polling, medical decision making, online dating, and personal finance. This
course is primarily aimed at students whose majors do not require mathematics or statistics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not open to students who have completed another
introductory statistics course at Wellesley, including STAT 160, STAT 218, BISC 198, ECON 103/SOC 190,
POL 299, PSYC 105 or PSYC 205. Not open to students who have received AP credit in Statistics.; Instructor:
Bu, Schultz; Distribution Requirements: MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Note that this course
cannot be used as a prerequisite for upper-level courses in statistics or econometrics including STAT 260 and
ECON 203.;
Course ID: QR190 Title: Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of disease and health in human populations
and the application of this understanding to the solution of public health problems. Topics include
measurement of disease and health, the outbreak and spread of disease, reasoning about cause and effect
with attention to study designs and sources of bias, analysis of risk, and the evaluation of trade-offs. The
course will emphasize women’s health topics such as mammography and breast cancer. The course is
designed to fulfill and extend the professional community’s consensus definition of undergraduate
epidemiology. In addition to the techniques of modern epidemiology, the course emphasizes the historical
evolution of ideas of causation, treatment, and prevention of disease.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the
Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement.; Instructor: Polito; Distribution Requirements: NPS Natural and Physical Sciences; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: QR250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: QR250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: QR260/STAT260 Title: Applied Data Analysis and Statistical Inference
This is an intermediate statistics course focused on fundamentals of statistical inference and applied data
analysis tools. Emphasis on thinking statistically, evaluating assumptions, and developing practical skills for
real-life applications to fields such as medicine, politics, education, and beyond. Topics include t-tests and
non-parametric alternatives, multiple comparisons, analysis of variance, linear regression, model refinement
and missing data. Students can expect to gain a working knowledge of the statistical software R, which will be
used for data analysis and for simulations designed to strengthen conceptual understanding. This course can
be counted as a 200-level course toward the major or minor in Mathematics, Statistics, Economics,
Environmental Studies, Psychology or Neuroscience. Students who earned a Quantitative Analysis Institute
Certificate are not eligible for this course.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: Any introductory statistics course (BISC 198, ECON 103/SOC 190,
STAT 160, STAT 218, POL 299, PSYC 105 or PSYC 205).; Instructor: Pattanayak; Distribution Requirements:
MM - Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: QR309/STAT309 Title: Causal Inference
This course focuses on statistical methods for causal inference, with an emphasis on how to frame a causal
(rather than associative) research question and design a study to address that question. What implicit
assumptions underlie claims of discrimination? Why do we believe that smoking causes lung cancer? We will
cover both randomized experiments – the history of randomization, principles for experimental design, and the
non-parametric foundations of randomization-based inference – and methods for drawing causal conclusions
from non-randomized studies, such as propensity score matching. Students will develop the expertise
necessary to assess the credibility of causal claims and master the conceptual and computational tools
needed to design and analyze studies that lead to causal inferences. Examples will come from economics,
psychology, sociology, political science, medicine, and beyond. Previous exposure to the statistical software R
is expected; students who have not previously coded in R may enroll but should expect to put in additional
effort to learn this skill.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any one of QR 260/STAT 260, STAT 318, ECON 203, SOC 290,
PSYC 305 or a Psychology 300-level R course; or a Quantitative Analysis Institute Certificate; or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Pattanayak; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Religion
For thousands of years, religious belief and practice have played an essential role in creating and challenging
societal norms and personal identities. Inherently interdisciplinary, the study of religion straddles and intersects
with numerous branches of the humanities and social sciences. The Religion Department offers historically
grounded courses in several major religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, the religions of China
and Japan, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Department also offers thematic courses, and courses that
focus on the close study of fundamental religious texts, such as the biblical corpus; the formation and histories
of religiously defined communities; and the interactions among religion and other historical and cultural
phenomena.
The Religion Department’s courses employ a range of approaches and methods for the study of religion and
religious cultures, including historical, literary, social, comparative, and cultural studies, race and genderbased theoretical perspectives, as well as moral and metaphysical reflection. The intellectual breadth and
depth of Religion Studies has helped to prepare our graduates for many careers including business, law,
medicine, public service, journalism and teaching.
Religion Major
Goals for the Religion Major
Students who elect a major in Religion will acquire these competencies and skills:
Students will learn to describe and interpret one religious tradition or a central theme in two or more
traditions.
Students will learn to analyze and assess sacred texts and religious writings, including their specialized
rhetoric, forms, and contexts.
Students will learn to employ critical methods and theoretical perspectives used in contemporary
scholarship on religion.
Requirements for the Religion Major
The major consists of a minimum of nine units, at least two of which must be at the 300 level, including a
seminar in the area of concentration. No more than two 100-level courses may be included in the major. A
maximum of three courses taken outside the department may be counted toward the major. No more than two
of these three courses may be taken at an institution other than Wellesley.
The major requires both a concentration in a specific field of study and adequate exposure to the diversity of
the world’s religions and their cultures. To ensure depth, a major must present a concentration of at least four
courses, including a seminar, in an area of study that the student has chosen in consultation with and with the
approval of the departmental advisor. This concentration may be defined by, for example, a particular religion,
a point of contact among two or more religious cultures, a canon, vernacular religious cultures in a given
location and period of time, or themes such as women, gender, ethics and morality, law, religion and material
culture, or religious communities in contact and conflict. To promote breadth, a major must complete a
minimum of two courses, also to be approved by the departmental advisor, devoted to religious cultures or
traditions that are distinct both from each other and from the area of concentration. Together, these two
courses should provide a global perspective on the study of religion. All majors are urged to discuss their
courses of study with their advisors before the end of the first semester of their junior year.
Honors in Religion
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the
thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above
the 100 level; the department may petition on behalf of the student if the GPA in the major is between 3.0 and
3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Courses for Credit Toward the Religion Major
Students wishing to take related courses for their major or minor outside the department must obtain approval
of their advisor in advance. Majors and minors are encouraged to take courses in other departments and
programs, including Africana Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, East Asian Studies, Jewish Studies,
Middle Eastern Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Peace and Justice Studies, and South Asia
Studies. Many courses in these departments and programs are cross-listed in Religion.
Religion Minor
Requirements for the Religion Minor
The minor consists of a minimum of five courses, including at least one seminar and no more than two 100level courses. Three of the five courses, including a seminar, should be within an area of concentration chosen
by the student in consultation with and approved by the departmental advisor. Subject to departmental
approval, students minoring in Religion may import one course taken in another department or at another
institution in the US or overseas. Exceptionally, students minoring in Religion may import a second course
taken at another institution, if there is no equivalent course offered at Wellesley. The required 300-level course
must be taken in the department.
Language Study
For some students, studies in the original languages of religious traditions will be especially valuable. Majors
and minors interested in pursuing language study should consult their advisors to discuss opportunities for
appropriate courses of study.
REL Courses
Course ID: AFR242/REL214 Title: New World Afro-Atlantic Religions
With readings, documentary films, discussions, and lectures, this course will examine the complex spiritual
beliefs and expressions of peoples of African descent in Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and North America. The
course surveys African diasporic religions such as Candomble, Santeria, Voodoo, Shango, and African
American religions. Attention will be paid to how diasporic Africans practice religion for self-definition,
community building, and sociocultural critique, and for reshaping the religious and cultural landscapes of the
Americas.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Fitzpatrick; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: AMST218/REL218 Title: Religion in America
A study of the religions of Americans from the colonial period to the present. Special attention to the impact of
religious beliefs and practices in the shaping of American culture and society. Representative readings from
the spectrum of American religions including Aztecs and Conquistadors in New Spain, Puritans; the
Evangelical and Enlightenment movements; Native American prophets; enslaved persons, slave owners, and
abolitionists in the antebellum period; ethnic and assimilationist Catholics and Jews; the Black Church;
Fundamentalists and Liberals; American Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus; and new internet sectarians.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST228/REL220 Title: Religious Themes in American Fiction
Human nature and destiny, good and evil, love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, tradition and assimilation,
salvation and damnation, God and fate in The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and
contemporary novels including Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, Allegra
Goodman’s Kaaterskill Falls, and Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine. Reading and discussion of these texts as
expressions of diverse religious cultures in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST234/REL231 Title: Radical Individualism and the Common Good
There is a deep crisis of values at the heart of contemporary culture in the United States. On one hand, the
nation is unquestionably committed to the principle of radical individualism, marked especially by free-market
capitalism, consumerism, and increasingly violent libertarian politics. On the other hand, increasing
competition and diversity require principles of the common good to sustain the cultural coherence, social
media, and environmental stability necessary for civil society to function effectively. This course will investigate
the conflict between these two sets of values through theoretical readings and the inspection of public life in
the United States in the twenty-first century. It asks whether there ought to be any constraints on individualism
that can be justified by an appeal to the common good and, if so, what those constraints should be.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST318/REL318 Title: Seminar: Interning the "Enemy Race": Japanese Americans in World War
II
A close examination of the rationale by the U.S. government for the incarceration of American citizens of
Japanese ancestry, and Japanese nationals living in the United States and Latin America, after Japan's attack
in December 1941 of Pearl Harbor. The course also examines the dynamics of overwhelming popular support
for the incarceration, as well as the aftermath of the internment. The topics include Japan's rise as a colonial
power, starting in the late nineteenth century; the place of Asian migrant workers and the "yellow peril"; life in
the camps; the formation of the Japanese American Citizens League; the valor of the Japanese American
soldiers in Europe during World War II; how the United States has since responded to its "enemies," especially
after 9/11; changing immigration laws; race and politics in America.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course in Asian American Studies, or in Asian Religions, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST319/REL319 Title: Seminar: Religion, Law, and Politics in America
A study of the relationships among religion, fundamental law, and political culture in the American experience.
Topics include established religion in the British colonies, religious ideologies in the American Revolution,
religion and rebellion in the Civil War crisis, American civil religion, and the New Religious Right. Special
attention to the separation of church and state and selected Supreme Court cases on the religion clauses of
the First Amendment. In addition, the class will monitor and discuss religious and moral issues in the 2022
elections.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: REL 200 or REL 218, or at least one 200-level unit in American
Studies or in American history, sociology, or politics; or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marini;
Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ANTH233/REL233 Title: The Anthropology of Religion
This course offers an introduction to the anthropological study of human religious experience, with particular
emphasis on religious and ritual practice in a comparative perspective. What is the relationship between
religion and society? Can categories such as “religion” and “the sacred” be legitimately applied to all cultures?
Does religion necessarily imply belief in a God or sacred beings? We will concentrate on a range of smallscale, non-Western, cultures for much of the semester, returning to religious experience in the modern
industrial world and the concept of "world religions" at the course’s end.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walters; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH236/REL236 Title: Divine Madness: Dreams, Visions, Hallucinations
This course explores anthropological, religious, and psychiatric perspectives on mental health and mental
illness, with careful attention to varied constructions of "madness", treatment, and healing across human
cultures. We begin with comparative questions: are there universal standards of positive mental and emotional
functioning? Are there overall commonalities in approaches to psychic and emotional disturbances? What is
the role of spirituality? After considering the history of ‘madness’ in the West, we consider early anthropological
and religious models of "madness" elsewhere. We next turn to ritualized therapeutic interventions in small-
scale indigenous societies and consider a range of case studies from around the world. We conclude with a
unit on culture and mental health in the United States and the ‘globalization” of American models of the psyche
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walters; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: CAMS243/REL223/SAS243 Title: Shades of Love in Indian Cinema
This course explores the treatment of various types of love – for the beloved, the family, the community, the
motherland or the divine – in Indian cinema, the largest film industry in the world. We examine
Indian cinema's early phase in the colonial milieu, its flourishing in popular and art films since the 1950s, and
contributions of diaspora Indians. We will watch films by prominent directors of the postcolonial era who
articulated India’s national identity as well as the socio-religious and political aspirations of its common people
integrating indigenous sacred symbolism. We will consider how several films reflect a religious sensitivity in
portraying the motherland almost as a divine entity worthy of worship. Paying particular attention to the
distinctive grammar of song, dance and intense drama, we will analyze the ways in which the film-makers
reworked long-prevailing South Asian conventions of narration and performance in a medium imported from
Europe.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CLCV240/REL240 Title: Romans, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire
At the birth of the Roman Empire virtually all of its inhabitants were practicing polytheists. Three centuries later,
the Roman Emperor Constantine was baptized as a Christian and his successors eventually banned public
sacrifices to the gods and goddesses who had been traditionally worshipped around the Mediterranean. This
course will examine Roman-era Judaism, Graeco-Roman polytheism, and the growth of the Jesus movement
into the dominant religion of the late antique world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Geller; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: CPLT112Y/REL112Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Monsters
An introduction to the history and concepts of monsters and monstrosity. We will apply readings in literary and
cultural theory to case studies drawn from biblical literature and iconography from the ancient Middle East and
Mediterranean myths and cosmologies, Victorian-era gothic novels, and contemporary popular culture to
study monstrous beings from the earliest examples until the present. We will center questions concerning the
human creation (and fear) of monstrous beings, the cultural specificity of terror, the social significance of
monsters, and how the history of monsters informs, and has been informed by, the ancient world. No previous
knowledge of the Bible, literature, or monsters is required or presumed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories:
FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Every four years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: ES229/REL229 Title: Sacred Earth
Every religious culture regards the earth as a site of sacrality, whether understood as the creation of the gods
and thus intrinsically sacred, or as an entity through and with which the sacred interacts. In our time of
escalating ecological disaster and runaway global heating, humans can claim these traditions as one way of
placing our human wreckage of the planet into a larger critical perspective than the scientific warnings,
corporate denials, and governmental temporizing that currently inform the environmental crisis. This course
will introduce students to ideas of the terrestrial sacred and how humans should relate to it from a range of
religious and spiritual traditions, including Native American, Biblical, Christian, Transcendentalist, and today’s
ecological thinkers. Together we will assess the value and applicability of these diverse approaches to sacred
earth for today’s ever more urgent crisis of global environmental disruption. No prior knowledge of or course
work in Religious Studies is required.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: HIST285/REL266 Title: Ottoman State and Society (1300-1923)
This course explores the emergence of the Ottoman state from a frontier principality into a world empire.
Topics include pre-Ottoman Anatolia; frontier society; methods of conquest; centralization and organization of
power; religion, architecture, and literature; land regime and peasantry; urbanization; and relations with
European Empires as well as other Islamic states. Particular attention will be given to the institutionalization of
religion in Ottoman state and society, including the employment of Sharia in political decision-making and
legal judgments, and to the treatment of religious minorities in the empire. Readings from primary source texts
(in English) and their recent interpretations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or
Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JWST102/REL102 Title: Introduction to Jewish Studies
This course exposes students to major approaches to the interdisciplinary field of Jewish Studies. We will
focus our attention, in sequence, on different objects of analysis: Jews, Jewish languages, Jewish texts,
Jewish politics, and Jewish cultural expression. In each case, we will ask what it means to call that kind of
object (a person, word, political idea, work of culture, etc.) Jewish, and we will examine some of the most
influential answers that have been presented, from antiquity to modernity. By the end of the semester, students
will have a solid grounding in the field as a whole and a roadmap for pursuing the study of Jews, Judaism, and
Jewish culture at Wellesley (and beyond).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Lambert; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: JWST104/REL104 Title: Study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Critical introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, studying its role in the history and culture of ancient
Israel and its relationship to ancient Near Eastern cultures. Special focus on the fundamental techniques of
literary, historical, and source criticism in modern scholarship, with emphasis on the Bible's literary structure
and compositional evolution.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: JWST106/REL106 Title: Queer Bible
An introduction to the Bible at the intersection of queer theory, biblical interpretation, and the historical study of
the ancient Middle East. Through an examination of queer readings of the biblical canon and the canon of
contemporary queer theory, the class explores the social construction of gender and examines how people in
the biblical world and ancient Middle East maintained and contested gender roles. Using primary texts and
iconographic evidence, we will consider not only the complex interaction between the categories of gender
and sexual orientation, but also how contemporary expectations about “biological sex”, patriarchal structures,
and the biblical world impede our capacity to understand the biblical text, explore the experiential varieties of
gender in the ancient world, and appreciate the inherent queerness of gender. This is an introductory course;
no previous knowledge of the Bible is required or presumed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: JWST201/REL201 Title: The Bible and Popular Culture
Topic for Spring 2023: Satan
Topics in this course explores the Bible and its uses in contemporary popular culture. In Spring 2023, we will
focus on Satan and popular culture. We will examine related concepts of demons and spirit possession in the
biblical world along with their history of interpretation. Key biblical texts include the book of Job, Jesus’s
temptation in the wilderness, and apocalyptic literature. In addition to the (re)creation of Satan in the medieval
and early modern period, we will also cover popular case studies including Lil Nas X, Southpark, DMX,
Hellboy, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Rick & Morty, and The Simpsons. This class has no prerequisites; no previous
knowledge of the Bible is presumed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a
topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different each time.;
Course ID: JWST209/REL209 Title: The Bible & Film
This course explores the use of biblical stories and themes in cinema. We will begin with films based on
selected biblical texts including the creation accounts, the exodus, the books of Ruth and Job, the life of
Jesus. We will then examine cinematic treatments of biblical themes: roles of women and children,
apocalypse, monsters, and suffering. No previous knowledge of film or the Bible is assumed; the course offers
an introduction to key modes of biblical interpretation including historical criticism, feminist, womanist, literary
and comparative approaches. Films include East of Eden, Moonlight, Prince of Egypt, The Shape of Water,
The Color Purple, Get Out, Apocalypse Now, and JoJo Rabbit.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: JWST210/REL210 Title: Seminar: Joy Vey: Humor and Positive Emotions in Judaism
Scholars of Jewish Studies tend to focus on moments of hardship and pain. But do disasters and the despair
tell the whole story? What gets missed when we prioritize despair and misery and cast aside allegedly lighter
and more positive themes? Such questions are the engine that runs this seminar. We will rethink the cultural
roles of joy in Judaism, take Jewish humor seriously, and ponder whether happiness in Judaism is distinct
from what we find in other religious traditions. Throughout the semester, through careful readings of primary
sources (in translation) and contemporary theories, we will explore how so-called positive emotions, moods,
and affects are inextricable from the most serious aspects of religion, politics, and the human experience, such
as identity formation, violence, gender norms, and power.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: DeGolan; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: JWST212/REL212 Title: People of the Body: A Sensory History of Judaism
Traditionally, the study of Judaism has neglected the senses, the body, and emotions as worthy objects of
inquiry. This course aims to fill this gap in our conception of Judaism by surveying key Jewish traditions from
antiquity to the present through the lenses of sensory studies, new materialism, and affect theory. We will
explore, for instance, the centrality of pleasant and foul odors to premodern Israelite religiosity, notions of
attention as a bodily experience in medieval Jewish mysticism, and modern debates about love and shame as
determining factors in Jewish law. To appreciate the sensory, somatic, and affective realms of Jewish history,
we will engage analytical tools that focus on texts’ representation of textures of lived experiences and apply
these methods to sources such as the biblical Song of Songs, the talmudic tractate Berakhot (“prayers and
blessings”), hassidic tales of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, and Noah Kahan’s Twitter feed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: DeGolan; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: JWST245/REL245 Title: The Holocaust and the Nazi State
An examination of the origins, character, course, and consequences of Nazi antisemitism during the Third
Reich. Special attention to Nazi racialist ideology, and how it shaped policies that affected such groups as
the Jews, the disabled, the Roma, Poles and Russians, Afro-Germans, and gay men. Consideration of the
impact of Nazism on women and on the German medical and teaching professions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Geller; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: JWST344/REL344 Title: Gods of Stone: Monuments and the Sacred
Why do people build monuments? How do they help and whom do they hurt? This seminar introduces
approaches and case studies related to sacred monuments, monumentality, and memory from the ancient
Mediterranean to the Confederate South. We will review current research in biblical studies, classics,
archaeology, and sociology with a focus on physical monuments in the Bible, and in the ancient Near East,
Greco-Roman antiquity, and up through the present. Case studies include historical monuments and artifacts
such as the Law of Hammurabi, Confederate monuments, and obelisks of Mussolini; literary descriptions of
artifacts including the Ten Commandments, cultic statues, and the Dead Sea Scrolls; and monument
desecration and destruction including Roman condemnations of memory and #BlackLivesMatter protests.
Possible trips to the MFA, and Harvard Art and Semitic Museums.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: A course in a relevant subject area such as religion, art history,
Africana studies, Jewish studies, classics, American studies, sociology, or by permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES260/REL260 Title: Religion and Culture in Muslim Societies
Historical survey of Muslim-majority societies and the diverse cultural forms produced within them from the
seventh century to the beginnings of the modern period. Topics include literary and artistic expression,
architecture, institutions, philosophical and political thought, religious thought and practice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Normally alternates with REL 262.;
Course ID: MES261/REL261 Title: Cities in the Islamic World
An exploration of urban forms and culture in Muslim societies from Islamic late antiquity to the present. The
course examines and critiques concepts of 'the Arab city' and ‘the Islamic city' while focusing on elements of
continuity and change in particular cities, such as Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, Istanbul, Isfahan, Samarqand,
Lucknow and Lahore. Topics include migration, settlement, and the construction of new cities; conversion; the
emergence of ‘holy cities' as centres for pilgrimage, religious education and Islamic legal scholarship; sacred
space and architecture; religious diversity in urban environments; the impact of colonialism; post-colonial
developments; modern and contemporary environmental issues; renewal and preservation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken MES 365/REL 365.;
Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as
MES 365/REL 365.;
Course ID: MES262/REL262 Title: The Formation of the Islamic Tradition
Historical study of the Islamic tradition, from its beginnings in Arabia through its shaping in the seventh to tenth
centuries in the diverse and newly integrated regions of Western and Central Asia and North Africa. Topics
include the sacred sources of the Islamic religious tradition, the Prophet and the Qur'an; the formulation of
religious law, ethics, theology, and philosophy; varied patterns of piety and mysticism; and the development of
Sunni and Shi'i understandings of Islam and Islamic history. Particular attention to the diversity within the
Islamic tradition, its intercultural contacts, and its continuing processes of reinterpretation. The course also
addresses approaches, methods, issues, and new directions in the study of Islam and Muslim societies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered; Notes: Normally alternates with REL 260.;
Course ID: MES263/REL263 Title: Islam in the Modern World
A study of the modern history of the Islamic religion and its interaction with historical forces in shaping
developments in Muslim-majority societies from the late eighteenth century to the present. The course
explores the emergence and evolution of religious movements and discourses in the context of the colonial
and postcolonial periods, with particular attention to the histories of modern nation-states, such as Morocco,
Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia. Readings encompass a variety of perspectives and address a
range of topics, including religious practice, modes of interpretation, matters of governance and the state,
economic issues, gender and gender relations, and the participation of women in various arenas of public life.
Islam is explored as a diverse and dynamic religious tradition that is responsive to change, and enquires into
the divergent understandings of religion represented in a variety of modern and contemporary contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES267/REL267 Title: Muslim Ethics
How have Muslims, over the course of a millennium and a half and in strikingly different environments and
circ*mstances, conceived of human nature, moral conduct and responsibility, and the good life; and how have
they formulated, debated and applied ethical principles? This course explores these questions with reference
to the rich materials that have informed the religious cultures of Muslim communities, including the sacred
sources of the Qur'an and the Prophet's example, the reception, interpretation and development of late antique
moral philosophies and wisdom literatures, the evolving corpora of legal and theological scholarship, and the
elaboration of rationally based ethical systems. Issues include charity, the environment, animal welfare,
economics, gender and sexuality, medicine and bio-ethics, conflict and dispute resolution.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken MES 347/REL 347.;
Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as MES 347/REL 347.;
Course ID: MES271/REL271 Title: Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian Literature and Film
Love in its myriad manifestations constitutes a central and perennial theme in the literary and artistic
repertoires of Arabic- and Persian-speaking societies. This course explores the varied, subtle vocabulary and
the versatile, multivalent imagery linked with the themes of love and longing in Arabic- and Persian-language
literature and film. In different times and places, how have men and women writers and directors used the
themes of love and longing to depict and critique concepts of gender and gender relations, and social and
political inequalities? How have men and women writers and filmmakers in the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries both continued and disrupted earlier literary and poetic discourses of love? How have modern
filmmakers engaged with and reworked classical stories of transgressive love? Divided roughly equally
between literary and cinematic works, the course explores treatments of love and longing in, for example, early
Arabic poetry and the Quranic text, philosophical and medical treatises, narrative cycles (for example the
Thousand and One Nights), epic (notably the Persian Shahnameh or ‘Book of Kings’), lyric poetry (Rumi,
Saadi, Hafez), modern verse, and film, including films by Dariush Mehrjui, Youssef Chahine, Mohsen
Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, Rakhshan Bani-Etamad and Shirin Neshat.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken MES 371/REL 371.;
Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also
taught at the 300-level as MES 371/REL 371.;
Course ID: MES347/REL347 Title: Muslim Ethics
How have Muslims, over the course of a millennium and a half and in strikingly different environments and
circ*mstances, conceived of human nature, moral conduct and responsibility, and the good life; and how have
they formulated, debated and applied ethical principles? This course explores these questions with reference
to the rich materials that have informed the religious cultures of Muslim communities, including the sacred
sources of the Qur'an and the Prophet’s example, the reception, interpretation and development of late antique
moral philosophies and wisdom literatures, the evolving corpora of legal and theological scholarship, and the
elaboration of rationally based ethical systems. Issues are likely to include charity, the environment, animal
welfare, economics, gender and sexuality, medicine and bio-ethics, conflict and dispute resolution.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken at least one unit in
Middle Eastern Studies or Religion, and permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
MES 267/REL 267.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
This course is also offered at the 200-level as MES 267/REL 267.;
Course ID: MES359/REL359 Title: Seminar: Power, Authority and Legitimacy in Muslim Societies
How have Muslims understood the relationship between religion and politics at different moments in Islamic
history? This seminar explores the interplay of religious principles and ritual practices with discourses of
political legitimation and socio-political dissent in Muslim contexts. With examples drawn from the earliest
period of Islamic history to the present day, the course examines religious authority and political leadership in
Sunni and Shi'i contexts; the evolving religious-political meanings of the caliphate and the imamate; concepts
of justice and injustice; power, authority and gender; dynastic rule and monarchy; and the position of Muslims
living in non-Muslim-majority states. Particular attention to twentieth- and twenty-first-century responses to and
appropriations of the pre-modern Islamic religious and political heritage.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one course in Religion, Middle Eastern Studies, History or
Political Science, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; HS - Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES361/REL361 Title: Seminar: Studying Islam and the Middle East
An exploration of the study and representation of Islam and West Asia/the Middle East in European and
American scholarship, literature, arts, and journalism, from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics, studied in
historical context, include medieval European images of Islam, translations of sacred texts and literary works,
religious polemic, colonial histories and correspondence, Orientalism and post-Orientalism, new and emerging
scholarship, the modern press and popular culture. Students will participate in focused discussion of primary
sources and works of criticism, including Edward Said's Orientalism, and will undertake individual and groupbased research projects.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to Seniors, Juniors and Sophom*ores who have taken at
least one unit of Middle Eastern studies, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES363/REL363 Title: Seminar: Law and Community in Muslim Societies
An exploration of law in theory and practice in Muslim communities from the early Islamic period to the present
day. How have Muslim societies developed legal principles, discourses and practices? How have different
kinds of law – the religious law or shari'a, legal rulings issued by the state, customary law – interacted at
different times and in different localities? What have been the roles of scholars, jurists and judges? How have
legal discourses and local practices interacted with issues of social and economic status, gender and
sexuality? Areas of concentration include law in the diverse societies of the early modern empires (Ottoman,
Safavid, Mughal), the legal interventions of colonial powers and their legacies, and contemporary legal
discourses among Muslims in Muslim-majority and non-Muslim majority settings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: One unit at the 200 level in Religion, Middle Eastern Studies,
History, Political Science or a related field.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: MES365/REL365 Title: Cities in the Islamic World
An exploration of urban forms and culture in Muslim societies from Islamic late antiquity to the present. The
course examines and critiques concepts of 'the Arab city' and ‘the Islamic city' while focusing on elements of
continuity and change in particular cities, such as Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, Istanbul, Isfahan, Samarqand,
Lucknow and Lahore. Topics include migration, settlement, and the construction of new cities; conversion; the
emergence of ‘holy cities' as centres for pilgrimage, religious education and Islamic legal scholarship; sacred
space and architecture; religious diversity in urban environments; the impact of colonialism; post-colonial
developments; modern and contemporary environmental issues; renewal and preservation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One unit in Middle Eastern Studies or Religion, or permission of
the instructor. Not open to students who have taken MES 261/REL 261.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as MES 261/REL 261.;
Course ID: MES367/REL367 Title: Seminar: Muslim Travelers
An exploration of the experiences and writings of Muslim travelers from the Middle Ages to the present in West,
South, East, and Central Asia, North Africa, Europe, and America. Focus on the wide range of cultural
encounters facilitated by journeys for purposes of pilgrimage, study, diplomacy, exploration, migration, and
tourism, and on the varied descriptions of such encounters in forms of literary expression associated with
travel, including poetry, pilgrimage manuals, narrative accounts, letters, memoirs, and graffiti. Authors include
al-Biruni, Ibn Jubayr, Ibn Battuta, Evliya Çelebi, al-Tahtawi, Farahani, Abu Talib Khan, Asayesh.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors, students who have taken at least one
unit in Middle Eastern studies, and by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: MES371/REL371 Title: Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian Literature and Film
Love in its myriad manifestations constitutes a central and perennial theme in the literary and artistic
repertoires of Arabic- and Persian-speaking societies. This course explores the varied, subtle vocabulary and
the versatile, multivalent imagery linked with the themes of love and longing in Arabic- and Persian-language
literature and film. In different times and places, how have men and women writers and directors used the
themes of love and longing to depict and critique concepts of gender and gender relations, and social and
political inequalities? How have men and women writers and filmmakers in the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries both continued and disrupted earlier literary and poetic discourses of love? How have modern
filmmakers engaged with and reworked classical stories of transgressive love? Divided roughly equally
between literary and cinematic works, the course explores treatments of love and longing in, for example, early
Arabic poetry and the Quranic text, philosophical and medical treatises, narrative cycles (for example the
Thousand and One Nights), epic (notably the Persian Shahnameh or ‘Book of Kings’), lyric poetry (Rumi,
Saadi, Hafez), modern verse, and film, including films by Dariush Mehrjui, Youssef Chahine, Mohsen
Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, Rakhshan Bani-Etamad and Shirin Neshat.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: At least one course in Religion or Middle Eastern Studies, or
permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken MES 271/REL 271.; Instructor: Marlow;
Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also taught at the 200-level as
MES 271/REL 271.;
Course ID: MUS219/REL219 Title: Christian Ritual and the Sacred Arts
Ritual is a fundamental and often controversial aspect of the Christian tradition. It is also a remarkably complex
form of religious expression that integrates language, tone, gesture, image, and design. This course examines
the major forms of Christian ritual, their expression in art, architecture, music, and literature, and the methods
used in interpreting them in contemporary scholarship. We will examine Christianity’s principal rituals from
their beginnings in baptism (initiation) and the eucharist (communion), through monastic chant and the Roman
mass, to Protestant liturgies, sacred song, and revivalism, and ritual in contemporary social media. As a
special feature, we will study specific sites from various historical periods in order to learn about how art,
architecture, and music articulated these ritual forms, using theoretical models from the emerging field of Ritual
Studies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC119Y/REL119Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Yasukuni Shinto Shrine
Discussion based seminar deals with Japan both as a victim and as a victimizer during and in the aftermath of
the World War II. It probes what drove Japan to aspire toward world domination; how the "ultimate bomb to
end all wars" was used twice on Japan in August 1945; and how the Japanese "war criminals" are enshrined
today at Yasukuni as "divine beings"; and how Yasukuni Shinto Shrine remains a major barrier in establishing
peace between Japan and its Asian neighbors. The seminar is intended for students interested in the
comparative and historical study of religion, Peace and Justice Studies, and East Asian Studies.
Requirements: active participation in discussion, joint paper writing and presentation; no exams.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Other Categories:
FYS - First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC330/REL330 Title: Seminar: Religion and Violence
Is religion inherently violent, or do external forces like political factionalism and ethnic hostility exploit it to gain
power? This course explores these and other questions to theorize the sources and manifestations of religious
violence. Topics include the role of violence in sacred texts and traditions, intra- and interreligious conflicts,
religion and nationalism, and religious violence in today's global society. Historical and contemporary
examples selected from world religious traditions and global geography, with particular attention to the role of
religion in the rise of violent American survivalist, paramilitary, and internet movements.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One of the following - HIST 205, REL 200, REL 230, PEAC 104, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes:
Normally alternates with REL 319.;
Course ID: PEAC346/REL346 Title: Seminar: Decolonizing the Bible
This seminar considers the difficult paradox of the Bible as both a tool for colonization and decolonization. We
will frame this problem in three parts. First, we will engage post-colonial theory to interrogate the biblical text
as a record of interaction with the various empires of the ancient Middle East, North Africa, and Mediterranean.
Second, we will interrogate the Bible as a tool of empire and the European and colonial agenda, with a focus
primarily on British, French, and Spanish despoliation of Africa, the Middle East, and Central America. Finally,
we will explore the Bible as a tool for decolonization by engaging biblical interpretation by marginalized groups
(womanist, mujerista, indigenous, and queer approaches). Our goal is to investigate the role of the Bible as a
source of both harm and healing in the history of the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: A course in a relevant subject area such as religion, history, Peace
and Justice studies, Jewish studies, Middle Eastern Studies, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered:
Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: REL101 Title: Introduction to Religion
An introduction to the academic study of religion. What does religion mean to its global participants and how
has the modern world increasingly sought to fulfill those meanings through non-religious (secular)
experiences? Are cos-play, celebrity, sports-fandom, and libraries analogous to pilgrimage, worship, ritual, and
sacred space? We will look to historical and contemporary research on religion and popular culture to probe
the roots of religious experience; map the social functions of ritual and myth; consider religion as the symbolic
synthesis of worldview and ethic; and test its definition as a prism of historical conflict and change. Readings
will focus on theories and varieties of religious worship, organization, roles, and authority along with attention
to the effects of social identity in terms of class, race, gender, ethnicity. This is an introductory course; no
previous knowledge of or experience with religion is presumed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL105 Title: Study of the New Testament
The writings of the New Testament as diverse expressions of early Christianity. Close reading of the texts, with
particular emphasis upon the Gospels and the letters of Paul. Treatment of the literary, theological, and
historical dimensions of the Christian scriptures, as well as of methods of interpretation. The beginnings of the
break between the Jesus movement and Judaism and the challenges posed by Roman rule will be specially
considered.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Geller; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: REL108 Title: Introduction to Asian Religions
An introduction to the major religions of India, Tibet, China, and Japan with particular attention to universal
questions such as how to overcome the human predicament, how to perceive ultimate reality, and what is the
meaning of death and the end of the world. Materials taken from Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism,
Taoism, and Shinto. Comparisons made, when appropriate, with Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 40; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: REL111Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Jesus of Nazareth: Fact, Faith, Fiction, and Film
This introductory course focuses on Jesus of Nazareth. We will study key texts within the Jewish and Christian
Bibles, examining not only their composition in the context of empire and diasporic Judaism in the ancient
world, but also how they are still used to debate contemporary ethical and political actions. We will consider 1)
biblical texts in their historical context and their earliest interpretations; 2) recent trends in Jesus studies,
including feminist, queer, and postcolonial interpretation; Black Jesus; and contemporary popular culture; 3)
Jesus in global, pluralistic, and multi-religious contexts.
Visits to the Wellesley Davis Museum and the Harvard Art and Near Eastern Museums are planned.
All persons and perspectives are welcome in this class. Previous knowledge or personal experience with the
Bible or religious traditions is neither presumed nor necessary.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution
Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; HS - Historical Studies; Other Categories: FYS First Year Seminar; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL115 Title: Christianity in Twelve Objects
A study of the Christian religion through twelve objects that represent key beliefs, rituals, institutions, and
spiritualities of the tradition: a cross, flame, water, bread and wine, a crown, an icon, a monastery, a cathedral,
a bible, a hymn book, a meetinghouse, and a megachurch. We will take one week of the term to examine each
of these objects and their complex meanings in Christian culture. Our approach will feature historical and
thematic perspectives and engage with a combination of primary source texts, secondary interpretive
readings, visual images, sound recordings, and videos. No previous knowledge of Christianity is assumed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL200 Title: Theories of Religion
An exploration of theoretical models and methods employed in the study of religions. Particular attention to
approaches drawn from anthropology, sociology, and psychology. Readings taken from writers of continuing
influence in the field: William James and Sigmund Freud, Max Weber and Émile Durkheim, Clifford Geertz and
Victor Turner, Carl Jung and Mircea Eliade, Karl Marx and Paul Ricœur.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: REL206/SAS206 Title: The Hindu Worlds
This course will examine the major aspects of the constellation of distinct but interrelated religious traditions of
South Asia generally entitled “Hinduism.” The course will have three foci. One will be the sacred texts as well
as the intersecting ritual, philosophical, and devotional currents that laid the historical foundations of this
tradition and form integral parts of it to this day. These texts and currents are also linked to aesthetic
expressions that form a core of Hindu religious life. The second focus will be on Hindu social organization and
issues of political identity. This will cover the Hindu social divisions of caste, gendered roles and rituals as well
as issues related to Hindu nationalism. The third focus will be on practices followed by and negotiations made
by diaspora Hindus, especially those settled in America. This area will focus especially on Hindu responses to
diversity and interfaith dialogue.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and
Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL215 Title: Christian Spiritual Classics
A study of Christian spirituality as presented in perennial favorites, including Augustine’s Confessions (4th c.),
Thomas a Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ (15th c.), Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle, (16th c.), Therese of
Lisieux’s Story of a Soul (19th c.) , C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters (20th c.), and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
Strength to Love (20th c.). We will consider the continuity, change, and diversity of understandings of God and
humans, the body and the soul, the freedom of the will, the need for action, and the role of personal religious
experiences. We will conclude with 21st- century works, such as Richard Rohr’s The Universal Christ and
Pamela Lightsey’s Our Lives Matter.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL216 Title: Christian Thought and Practice 100-1600
From the church of the martyrs to Medieval Christendom and the 16th-century reformations, Christians
debated questions still asked today: who is Christ, and why does he matter? What is good, and what is evil?
Do we will freely? Is our reason trustworthy? What do the Scriptures mean? Do mystics help us know God? We
will read autobiographies, saints’ lives, letters, visionary literature, and theology. We will study Benedictines,
Franciscans, Jesuits, crusades, pilgrimages, art, and music. Material will be from the Catholic, Orthodox,
Protestant, and Reformed traditions. Authors will include Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of
Siena, Martin Luther, and John Calvin.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL222/SAS222 Title: Classics of Hindu Spirituality
Hindu thinkers in all historical periods have interpreted the classics of Hindu spirituality and ethics within the
tradition for their own times. Do these texts have contemporary relevance? Do they offer spiritual inspiration for
individuals and ethical norms for a healthy society for our times? How have these been interpreted by modern
thinkers? We will examine a few major Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita from ancient times, and the lives
and lyrics of saintly poets from pre-modern times as primary texts as well as their modern interpretations. We
will also look at uses and abuses of the texts in social and political arenas. Most of these texts are structured in
a question-answer format, reflecting the spirit of questioning and dialog prevalent in the contexts of their
composition. Our examination will follow suit.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL225 Title: Women in Christianity
Martyrs, mystics, witches, wives, virgins, reformers, and ministers: a survey of women in Christianity from its
origins until today. Focus on women's writings, both historical and contemporary. Special attention to modern
interpreters-feminists, womanists, Latinas, and LGBTQi Christians.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL226 Title: The Virgin Mary
The role of the Virgin Mary in historical and contemporary Christianity. Topics include Mary in the Bible, early
Christian writings, devotion to her in the Middle Ages, her role in Islam, artistic productions in her honor,
debates about her body and her power, and her "appearances" at Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Fatima, and in the
late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Attention also to the relation between concepts of Mary and
attitudes toward virginity, the roles of women, and "the feminization of the deity."
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL230 Title: Ethics
An inquiry into the nature of values and the methods of moral decision-making. Examination of selected ethical
issues, including self-interest and freedom, the common good, capitalism and economic inequality, just war
theory, racism, the environmental crisis, the hazards of digital technology, and religious morality.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marini; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL238 Title: Digital Religion: Virtual Gods and Automated Adoration in the Modern Age
How has technology impacted religion? How has religion influenced technology? This course explores how
digital technologies like the Internet, social media, gaming, virtual reality, telecommunications, and artificial
intelligence (AI) have changed the way that people think about and practice religion. Throughout this course,
we will focus on the relationships between religion, digital media, robotics, and popular culture online using
both real-world case studies and current research in the fields of religion, anthropology, and science and
technology studies (STS).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Walters; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: REL241/SAS241 Title: Courtesans in South Asian Literature and Films
Mystifying and complex, the figure of courtesan has appeared as the foil to the virtuous and docile wife in
Sanskrit and Tamil classics of ancient India, early Urdu novels, and literary works of several South Asian
languages. Since the mid-twentieth century, the courtesan has appeared in films produced in South Asia as a
self-sacrificing character with a strong will. In this course, we will examine literary works in South Asian
languages since the antiquity with courtesans as central characters and films based on them. For each work,
we will first consider the figure of the courtesan in view of the cultural context of the time of its composition and
various theories of literary criticism. We will then analyze the film based on the work in terms of how the
interpretation of the character here compares with the literary work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL242 Title: Archaeology of the Biblical World
An examination of the ways in which archaeological data contribute to the understanding of the history of
ancient Israel and the Jewish and Christian communities of the Roman Empire. We shall explore such
archaeologically dependent topics as the origins of ancient Israel, goddess worship in Iron Age Israel, Qumran
and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Galilee in the time of Jesus, Roman-era leadership positions of Jewish and Christian
women, and monumental architecture in Jerusalem. We shall also consider the complex relationships between
archaeology and Biblical Studies and archaeology and nationalism. In addition to the Davis Museum, visits to
the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Museum of Fine Arts are tentatively planned.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken REL 342.; Instructor:
Geller; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as REL
342.;
Course ID: REL243 Title: Women in the Biblical World
The roles and images of women in the Bible, and in early Jewish and Christian literature, examined in the
context of the ancient societies in which these documents emerged. Special attention to the relationships
among archaeological, legal, and literary sources in reconstructing the status of women in these societies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Geller; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: REL244 Title: Jerusalem: The Holy City
An exploration of the history, archaeology, and architecture of Jerusalem from the Bronze Age to the present.
Special attention both to the ways in which Jerusalem's Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities
transformed Jerusalem in response to their religious and political values and also to the role of the city in the
ongoing Middle East and Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Geller; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: REL250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: REL253 Title: Buddhist Thought and Practice
A study of Buddhist views of the human predicament and its solution, using different teachings and forms of
practice from India, Southeast Asia, Tibet, China, and Japan. Topics including the historic Buddha's sermons,
Buddhist psychology and cosmology, meditation, bodhisattva career, Tibetan Tantricism, Pure Land, Zen, and
dialogues with and influence on the West.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: REL254 Title: Chinese Thought and Religion
Continuity and diversity in the history of Chinese thought and religion from the ancient sage-kings of the third
millennium B.C.E. to the present. Topics include: Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese Buddhism, folk religion, and
their further developments and interaction. Materials drawn from philosophical and religious and literary works.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL255 Title: Japanese Religion and Culture
Constancy and change in the history of Japanese religious thought and its cultural and literary expression from
the prehistoric "age of the gods" to contemporary Japan. An examination of Japanese indebtedness to, and
independence from, Korea and China, assimilation and rejection of the West, and preservation of indigenous
tradition. Topics include: Shinto, distinctively Japanese interpretations of Buddhism, neo-Confucianism, their
role in modernization and nationalism, Western colonialism, and modern Japanese thought as a crossroad of
East and West.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL257 Title: Contemplation and Action
An exploration of the relationship between the two polar aspects of being religious. Materials drawn from
across the globe, both culturally and historically. Topics include: self-cultivation and social responsibility,
solitude and compassion, human frailty as a basis for courage, anger as an expression of love, nonviolence,
Western adaptations of Eastern spirituality, meditation and the environmental crisis. Readings selected from
Confucius, Gautama Buddha, Ryokan, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Heschel, Dag Hammarskjöld, Simone Weil,
Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Hanh, Henri Nouwen, Beverly Harrison, Benjamin Hoff, Ruben Habito, and others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL259 Title: Christianity in Asia
History of the Christian tradition in South and East Asia from the first century to the present. Emphasis on the
Christian impact, both positive and negative, on Asian societies; why Asia rejected Western Christianity; and
the development of uniquely Asian forms of Christian belief, practice, and sociopolitical engagement. Topics
include: Thomas's supposed "apostolic mission" to Kerala, India in the first century; the Nestorian "heretics" in
T'ang China; symbiosis of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in ninth-century China; the two sixteenth-century
Jesuits (Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci); Spanish colonialism and the Roman Catholics of the Philippines; the
26 martyrs of Japan (1597); the Taiping Rebellion; Uchimura's "No Church Christianity"; Horace Allen in Korea;
Kitamori's "Pain of God Theology"; Endo's "Silence of God"; India's "untouchables" and Christianity; Mother
Teresa of Calcutta; the Three Self Movement in the People's Republic of China; Korea's Minjung Theology; and
the rise of Asian American Christianity.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or
Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: REL268 Title: Religion and Culture in Egypt
An exploration of Egyptian history, with an emphasis on religious and cultural dimensions, from late antiquity
and the rise of Islam to the present. Topics include the adoption of the Arabic language; religious diversity and
conversion; the emergence of distinctive social-cultural forms in Egypt's urban, coastal, desert and rural areas;
evolving understandings of and responses to the Pharaonic past; and the gradual transformation of Cairo,
from a garrison town in the early Islamic period to a pre-eminent commercial, intellectual, cultural and artistic
capital and a megalopolis in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Attention to Egypt's interactions with its
neighbours in the eastern Mediterranean, especially Syria; Egypt's experience of the Crusades and
colonialism, and especially its relations with Britain and France; and the challenges of the twenty-first century,
including conservation of the natural and built environments.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken REL 348.; Instructor:
Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as REL
348 with additional assignments.;
Course ID: REL269 Title: Religion and Culture in Iran
An exploration of the history of Iran and its peoples from antiquity to the present. Topics include cultural and
religious life; social and economic developments; government and court politics; the interactions among rural,
urban, and nomadic communities; the lives and roles of women; commerce, cultural exchange, and the impact
on Iran of European imperial rivalries; the forging of the nation-state, discontent and dissent; the Islamic
Revolution, post-revolutionary Iran; and the Iranian diaspora.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL270 Title: Religions of the Silk Road
An exploration of the contacts and interactions among the major religious communities of Eurasia especially
as facilitated by trade, travel and pilgrimage along the 'Silk Road'. After initial consideration of the idea of the
'Silk Road' and the history of its 'discovery', the course focuses on commerce and contacts in specific historical
periods from antiquity to the present. Readings include sacred texts (including Buddhist, Hindu, Confucian,
Daoist, Islamic and Zoroastrian texts), as well as merchants', travellers' and pilgrims' accounts. The course
includes substantial attention to the material cultures and artistic works produced by the religious communities
of the Silk Road.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL280/SAS280 Title: South Asian Religions in the USA
The form of a religion changes according to the social and historical contexts.. In the past century, a large
number of South Asians of diverse religious backgrounds have migrated to the USA and have established their
religious communities in its various regions. How have the Hindu, Muslim, Jain, and Buddhist South Asians
contributed to the growing religious diversity in the US? What adjustments have they made to meet the
expectations from religion in their new homeland where their children have grown? In this course we will
explore these questions employing the case-study approach. We will begin with a review of the historical forms
of religions in South Asia, followed by their study in the USA. Groups of students will pursue case-studies of
various South Asian communities in New England. The final project will bring the findings of all groups in a
collective study of South Asian religions in this part of the USA.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL281/SAS211 Title: Sacred Arts of South Asia
South Asia is one of the most religiously diverse regions of the world where Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, Jain,
Sikh, Christian, Jewish and native traditions have co-existed for centuries. The vibrancy of its cultural life
derives greatly from artistic expressions of devotion in its multiple traditions. Yet, the sacred artistic
expressions are not limited to the sphere of religion. This course explores visual as well as performative sacred
art forms of South Asia including architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and dance from a historical
perspective. The exploration focuses on symbolic vocabulary of various art forms, their significance as media
of religious/spiritual knowledge, and their role as sites of social encounters.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL301/SAS301 Title: Seminar: Religion in Modern South Asia
As a world Region, South Asia provides an important locus to understand the dynamics of religion and
modernity because of its long religious history and immense diversity. In many parts of South Asia, encounter
with modernity (as broadly defined) occurred in the context of colonial rule. The nature of the early processes
of modernization continues to impact the social and religious fabric of the region even today, often with deeply
divisive implications. This seminar will examine processes related to religion in South Asia since the late 19th
century to the present day. Along with the historical survey of events within South Asia, the implications of
current world affairs and the processes of globalization for South Asia's religious landscape will also be
examined.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Two units at the 200 level in South Asia studies, or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion,
Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL302/SAS302 Title: Traditional Narratives of South Asia
Narratives have long provided channels for shaping and reshaping of cultures around the world. South Asia
has one of the largest collections of folktales, mythology, epics, and romances in the world. This course will
explore traditional narratives from South Asia that have had significant cultural impact in the region. We will
examine them in translations not only as channels for transmission of cultural values, but also as sites of
debate through contested interpretations. Along with texts, performative traditions based on them and their use
in identity politics will be discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two units at the 200 level in South Asia studies, or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL303/SAS303 Title: Seminar: Models of Religious Pluralism from South Asia
Turning religious diversity into vibrant pluralism is a challenge faced by many parts of the world today. This
seminar will explore the development of pluralistic discourses, ideologies, and interactions in the history of
South Asia and will consider lessons this history may have for other religiously diverse societies. Readings will
include ancient texts; writings of Buddhist, Sufi, Sikh and Hindu saints of the medieval period; historical
documents about policies of the Mogul emperor Akbar; and modern writings on pluralism by Gandhi and
others. We will also discuss current scholarship on religious pluralism and visit interfaith organizations in the
Boston area. Final projects will give students opportunities to interact with local South Asian religious
communities and examine how engage with diversity in the diaspora.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL323 Title: Seminar: Feminist, Womanist, Latina, and LGBTQI Theologies
A study of contemporary women theologians' critiques and reinterpretations of Christianity - its Scriptures, its
God, its teachings about human bodies and the earth - from second wave feminists to contemporary LGBTQI
Christians. Special attention to African American, Latina, and Asian American authors. Consideration also of
alternative concepts of divinity proposed by ecofeminists and devotees of goddesses.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One 200-level course in religion, women and gender studies, or a
related subject.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; SBA
- Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL326 Title: Seminar: Theologies of Liberation
Fifty years ago, in that time of social and political turmoil, Christian theologians James Cone (United States),
Leonardo Boff (Brazil), and Gustavo Gutierrez (Peru) described God as working actively for and with the
racially, socially, and economically marginalized. Our course begins with this Liberation Theology of the 1970s
and continues with developments of the 1980s (including Oscar Romero and the El Salvadoran martyrs). But
the majority of the course focuses on more recent womanist, mujerista, Native American, ecofeminist, and
LGBTQI theologians whose god opposes racism, sexism, heterosexism, cultural imperialism, and exploitation
of the earth. Some attention also given to Engaged Buddhism, Radical Dharma, and Muslim and Jewish
liberation theologies in the United States.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 200-level course in religion, Latin American studies, or peace
and justice studies.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL342 Title: Archaeology of the Biblical World
An examination of the ways in which archaeological data contribute to the understanding of the history of
ancient Israel and the Jewish and Christian communities of the Roman Empire. We shall explore such
archaeologically dependent topics as the origins of ancient Israel, goddess worship in Iron Age Israel, Qumran
and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Galilee in the time of Jesus, Roman-era leadership positions of Jewish and Christian
women, and monumental architecture in Jerusalem. We shall also consider the complex relationships between
archaeology and Biblical Studies and archaeology and nationalism. In addition to the Davis Museum, visits to
the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Museum of Fine Arts are tentatively planned.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: At least one unit in archaeology, Biblical studies, classical
civilization, early Christianity, early Judaism, or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have
taken REL 242.; Instructor: Geller; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; HS
- Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at
the 200-level as REL 242.;
Course ID: REL345 Title: Seminar: Enslavement and the Bible
This seminar considers enslavement practices in the biblical world. Although we will focus on the ancient
Middle East and Mediterranean from the Iron Age through the early Roman Empire (roughly 1200 BCE through
300 CE), we will frame problems of enslavement broadly to show how systems of group-based slavery and
punishment practiced in the ancient world were enshrined in the biblical literature and then perpetuated
throughout history. Our goal is not just to investigate the relationship and differences between these systems
and second-wave chattel slavery during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but also to interrogate how these ancient
practices have informed, substantiated, and can elucidate contemporary institutions like systemic racism and
the prison-industrial complex.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: A course in a relevant subject area such as Religion, History,
Africana Studies, Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Classics, or American Studies, or by permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Jarrard; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; HS
- Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL348 Title: Religion and Culture in Egypt
An exploration of Egyptian history, with an emphasis on religious and cultural dimensions, from late antiquity
and the rise of Islam to the present. Topics include the adoption of the Arabic language; religious diversity and
conversion; the emergence of distinctive social-cultural forms in Egypt's urban, coastal, desert and rural areas;
evolving understandings of and responses to the Pharaonic past; and the gradual transformation of Cairo,
from a garrison town in the early Islamic period to a pre-eminent commercial, intellectual, cultural and artistic
capital and a megalopolis in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Attention to Egypt's interactions with its
neighbours in the eastern Mediterranean, especially Syria; Egypt's experience of the Crusades and
colonialism, and especially its relations with Britain and France; and the challenges of the twenty-first century,
including conservation of the natural and built environments.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken at least one unit in
Middle Eastern Studies or Religion, with permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
REL 268.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and
Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at
the 200-level as REL 268.;
Course ID: REL350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: REL350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: REL353 Title: Seminar: Zen Buddhism
Zen, the long known yet little understood tradition, studied with particular attention to its historical and
ideological development, meditative practice, and expressions in poetry, painting, and martial arts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one unit in Asian religions.; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Normally alternates with REL 354.;
Course ID: REL357 Title: Seminar: Issues in Comparative Religion
Promises and challenges in the evolving debate over how different truth claims and faith communities might
seek tolerance, respect, and coexistence. How to reconcile tradition with innovation, doctrine with practice,
contemplation with action, globalism with tribalism. Impediments of monotheism and "revealed scripture." The
role of religion in prejudice and discrimination; and yet also inpeace and justice. The rise of Buddhism in the
West and of Christianity in the East. Readings include works by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, John Hick, Uchimura
Kanzo, Endo Shusako, Raimundo Panikkar, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama, and Diana Eck.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Kodera; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or
Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first
semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is
made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: REL364 Title: Seminar: Sufism: Islamic Mysticism
An interdisciplinary exploration of the diverse manifestations of mysticism in Islamic contexts. Topics include
the experiences and writings of individual Sufis, including Rabi'a, al-Junayd, Hujwiri, Ibn al-‘Arabi, Jalal al-Din
Rumi, ‘Abd al-Qadir Jilani, Ruzbihan Baqli; the formation of Sufi organizations and development of mystical
paths; the place of Sufism in Islamic legal, theological, and philosophical traditions as well as in Muslim
religious practice; Sufism in local contexts, both urban and rural; holy men and women; Sufism's permeation of
artistic and aesthetic traditions, especially poetry and music; the reception, interpretations, and practices of
Sufism in Western countries.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors, students who have taken at least one
unit in Middle Eastern studies or religion, and by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Marlow; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: REL 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: REL380 Title: Seminar: Advanced Topics in the Study of Religion
Reading and discussion of recent works in the study of religion noted for their innovative methods, theoretical
significance, and current impact in the field. Students will incorporate these new perspectives into their
individual research interests to produce a major interpretive essay in consultation with their classmates and the
instructor.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required.; Instructor: Marini;
Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: This is a topics course and can be taken more than once for credit as long as the
topic is different each time.;
Russian
Since its founding in the 1940s by Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian Department has dedicated itself to
excellence in literary scholarship and undergraduate teaching. Our faculty members specialize in different
areas of Russian language and literature and incorporate a broad range of cultural material—history, music,
and visual art—into their courses. Numerous activities both inside and outside the classroom are designed to
enrich students’ appreciation of the achievements and fascinating traditions of Russian civilization. At the same
time, we give our students critical skills that will serve them outside the Russian context.
Russian Department Information
Students majoring in Russian should consult the chair of the department early in their college career. For
information on all facets of the Russian department, please visit new.wellesley.edu/Russian.
Students who cannot take RUSS 101 during the fall semester are strongly encouraged to take RUSS 101
during Wintersession; those interested in doing so should consult the chair early in the fall term.
Advanced courses on Russian literature and culture are given in English translation at the 200 level;
corresponding 300-level courses offer supplemental reading and discussion in Russian. Please refer to the
descriptions for RUSS 355H, RUSS 376H, RUSS 377H and RUSS 386H below.
Russian Major
Goals for the Russian Major
A student majoring in Russian should be able to
converse fluently in Russian;
comprehend important primary and secondary texts from the Russian literary tradition;
discover and delineate the major themes of nineteenth-, twentieth- and twenty-first century Russian
literature and culture;
express an understanding of Russian culture clearly and persuasively
Requirements for the Russian Major
A student majoring in Russian must take at least eight units in the department above RUSS 102, including:
1. Language courses through RUSS 202, and at least 2 units of language at the 300 level
2. RUSS 251
3. Two 200-level courses above RUSS 251
4. At least 2 of the following half-unit courses: RUSS 333H, RUSS 355H, RUSS 376H, and RUSS 377H,
RUSS 386H
RUSS 101 and RUSS 102 are counted toward the degree but not toward the Russian major.
Thus, a student who begins with no knowledge of Russian would typically complete the following courses to
major in Russian: RUSS 101 and RUSS 102, RUSS 201 and RUSS 202, and two courses from among RUSS
301, RUSS 302, RUSS 305, RUSS 306; RUSS 251; two 200-level literature courses above RUSS 251; and one
unit from 300-level literature courses.
Honors in Russian
Students may graduate with honors in Russian by writing a thesis. To be admitted to the thesis program,
students must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level; the
department may petition on their behalf if their GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. Students who wish to
attempt an honors thesis should consult the chair early in the second semester of their junior year. See
Academic Distinctions.
International Study in Russian
Majors are encouraged to enroll in summer language programs to accelerate their progress in the language.
Credit toward the major is normally given for approved summer or academic-year study at selected institutions
in the United States and abroad. Major credit is also given for approved junior year international study
programs.
Russian Area Studies
Students interested in an interdepartmental major in Russian Area Studies are referred to the following and
should visit the Russian Area Studies Web pages at www.wellesley.edu/russianareastudies. Attention is called
to Russian Area Studies courses in history, comparative literature, and political science.
Courses for Credit Toward the Russian Major
CPLT 284
Magical Realism
1.0
CPLT 294
Utopia and Dystopia in Literature
1.0
Russian Minor
Requirements for the Russian Minor
A student minoring in Russian must take at least five units in the department above RUSS 102, at least one of
which must be at the 300 level. RUSS 203 and RUSS 303 do not count towards the minor in Russian.
RUSS Courses
Course ID: RUSS101 Title: Elementary Russian I
Introduction to Russian grammar through oral, written, and reading exercises; special emphasis on oral
expression. Four periods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hodge, Epsteyn; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: RUSS102 Title: Elementary Russian II
Continued studies in Russian grammar through oral, written, and reading exercises; special emphasis on oral
expression. Four periods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: RUSS 101 or equivalent.; Instructor: Weiner, Epsteyn; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: RUSS201 Title: Intermediate Russian I
Conversation, composition, reading, music, comprehensive review of grammar; special emphasis on speaking
and writing idiomatic Russian. Students learn and perform a play in Russian in the course of the semester.
Three periods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: RUSS 102 or equivalent.; Instructor: Epsteyn; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: RUSS202 Title: Intermediate Russian II
Conversation, composition, reading, popular music, continuation of grammar review; special emphasis on
speaking and writing idiomatic Russian. Students read unadapted short stories by Pushkin and Zamiatin.
Three periods.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: RUSS 201 or equivalent.; Instructor: Epsteyn; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: RUSS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: RUSS250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: RUSS251 Title: The Nineteenth-Century Russian Classics: Passion, Pain, Perfection (in English)
Survey of Russian fiction from the Age of Pushkin (1820s-1830s) to Tolstoy's mature work (1870s) focusing on
the role of fiction in Russian history, contemporaneous critical reaction, literary movements in Russia, and
echoes of Russian literary masterpieces in the other arts, especially film and music. Major works by Pushkin
(Eugene Onegin, "The Queen of Spades"), Lermontov (A Hero of Our Time), Gogol (Dead Souls), Pavlova (A
Double Life), Turgenev (Fathers and Children), Tolstoy (Anna Karenina), and Dostoevsky (Crime and
Punishment) will be read.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 35; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Hodge; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: RUSS255 Title: Russian and Soviet Film (in English)
Vladimir Lenin characterized film as “the most important of the arts” for the fledgling Soviet state. Film has
played a crucial role in documenting and shaping Russia's Soviet and post-Soviet experience. This course will
begin by exploring early Soviet masters of montage (Vertov, Eisenstein, and Pudovkin) and the impact of their
revolutionary ideas on world cinema. We will study visionaries of the long take (Tarkovsky, Parajanov, and
Sokurov) who later enchanted audiences with a more meditative cinematic sensibility. Along the way, we will
consider masterpieces by such filmmakers as the brothers Vasiliev, Kalatozov, Khutsiev, Sheptiko, Mamin,
Mikhalkov, Muratova, German, and Zviagintsev. Students will deepen their knowledge of Russian history, from
the October Revolution to modern-day Russia, and develop a foundation in film theory and analysis.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Weiner; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every four years; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: RUSS272 Title: Battle for the Russian Soul: Ideology and the Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel
(in English)
Nineteenth-century Russian writers were locked in a desperate struggle for freedom under an extraordinarily
repressive regime. Through an intensive analysis of the great ideological novels at the center of Russia's
historic social debates from the 1840s to the 1860s, we will unearth the roots of both Lenin’s revolution and
Dostoevsky’s fervent anti-radicalism. The tension between literary realism and political exigency will be
explored in the fictional and critical works of Chaadaev, Herzen, Belinsky, Turgenev, Chernyshevsky,
Goncharov, Dobroliubov, Pisarev, and Dostoevsky. Isaiah Berlin’s famous essays on the Russian intelligentsia,
as well as representative works from the nonliterary arts, including Tom Stoppard's epic play, The Coast of
Utopia, will supplement our reading and discussion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hodge; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: RUSS276 Title: Fedor Dostoevsky: The Seer of Spirit (in English)
Probably no writer has been so detested and adored, so demonized and deified, as Dostoevsky. This artist
was such a visionary that he had to reinvent the novel in order to create a form suitable for his insights into the
inner life and his prophecies about the outer. To this day readers are mystified, outraged, enchanted, but never
unmoved, by Dostoevsky's fiction, which some have tried to brand as "novel-tragedies," "romantic realism,"
"polyphonic novels," and more. This course challenges students to enter the fray and explore the mysteries of
Dostoevsky themselves through study of his major writings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Weiner; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: RUSS277 Title: Lev Tolstoy: Russia's Ecclesiast (in English)
An odyssey through the fiction of the great Russian novelist and thinker, beginning with his early works
(Sevastopol Stories) and focusing on War and Peace and Anna Karenina, though two major achievements of
Tolstoy's later period (A Confession, The Death of Ivan I'lich) will conclude the course. Lectures and
discussion will examine the masterful techniques Tolstoy employs for his intensive explorations of human
existence, from mundane detail to life-shattering cataclysm. Students are encouraged to read as much of the
Maude translation of War and Peace (Norton Critical Edition) as possible before the term begins.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hodge; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: RUSS286 Title: Vladimir Nabokov (in English)
An examination of the artistic legacy of the great novelist, critic, lepidopterist, and founder of Wellesley
College's Russian Department. Nabokov became one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and English
literature. Students will read Lolita, Pnin, and Pale Fire, which were written in English, and Nabokov's English
translations of two of his best Russian novels: The Defense and Invitation to a Beheading. The class will also
discuss his utterly unique autobiography, Speak, Memory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Weiner; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: RUSS301 Title: Advanced Russian I: Moscow
Students will become experts in one of the great overarching themes of Russian culture: Moscow. We will read
and discuss texts, view films, listen to music, and compose essays on the theme of Russia's historic capital.
The course includes study of grammar, vocabulary expansion with strong emphasis on oral proficiency and
comprehension. At the end of the semester, each student will write a final paper and present to the class her
own special research interest within the general investigation of Moscow's history, traditions, culture, and art.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: RUSS 201-RUSS 202 or the equivalent.; Instructor: Epsteyn;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Taught in Russian.;
Course ID: RUSS302 Title: Advanced Russian II: Children and Laughter in Russia
Students will enter the world of Russian children's folklore, literature, songs, film, and animation. From lullabies
to folktales, from Pushkin's skazki, animal fables by Krylov, didactic stories by Tolstoy, we will move on to
examine the contributions of Soviet authors from the early 1920s to the present (V. Maiakovsky, K. Chukovsky,
S.Marshak, D. Kharms, M. Zoshchenko, A. Gaidar, N. Nosov, E. Uspensky, G. Oster) and their effect on the
aesthetic development and ethical upbringing of children in Russia. The course emphasizes oral proficiency,
extensive reading, and weekly writing assignments. Students will create and present a final project on their
own special research interest.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: RUSS 301 or RUSS 305 or the equivalent.; Instructor: Epsteyn;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Taught in Russian.;
Course ID: RUSS305 Title: Advanced Russian I: St. Petersburg
Students will become experts in one of the great overarching themes of Russian culture: St. Petersburg. We
will read and discuss texts, view films, listen to music, and compose essays on the theme of Russia's second
capital. The course includes study of grammar, vocabulary expansion with strong emphasis on oral proficiency
and comprehension. At the end of the semester, each student will write a final paper and present to the class
her own special research interest within the general investigation of St. Petersburg's history, traditions, culture,
and art.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: RUSS 201-RUSS 202 or the equivalent.; Instructor: Epsteyn;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Taught in Russian.;
Course ID: RUSS306 Title: Advanced Russian II: Russian Comedy Blockbusters
This course explores Soviet and Russian popular film classics loved by generations of viewers and that have
become cultural symbols. We will study G. Aleksandrov's musicals of the 1930s; sentimental, detective and
fantastic comedies by the masters of the genre, L. Gaidai, E. Riazanov, and G. Danelia, in the 1950s-80s; and
post-Soviet crime comedies of the twenty-first century. We will attempt to determine the source of their
enduring popularity and cult status through an examination of their aesthetics and of their social and political
context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: RUSS 301 or RUSS 305 or the equivalent.; Instructor: Epsteyn;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Taught in Russian.;
Course ID: RUSS333H Title: Nineteenth-Century Russian Narrative Poetry: Tales of Mystery and Adventure (in
Russian)
Students will immerse themselves in the famous poems of Derzhavin, Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Lermontov, and
Nekrasov, analyzing ballads and verse tales devoted to the natural and the supernatural. Exotic "Eastern"
cultures as well as high and low Russian culture serve as the backdrop for these dramatic verse narratives.
Russian painting, music, and history will enrich our discussions of Russian Romanticism in the poetry.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Prerequisite or co-requisite - RUSS 301, RUSS 302, RUSS 305,
or RUSS 306.; Instructor: Hodge; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: RUSS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: RUSS350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: RUSS355H Title: Russian Film (in Russian)
This course explores the great works of Russian film in the original Russian. We will view, analyze and discuss
films by Vertov, Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Tarkovsky, Parajanov, Sokurov, the brothers Vasiliev, Kalatozov,
Khutsiev, Shepitko, Mamin, Mikhalkov, Muratova, German, and Zviagintsev. Students will deepen their
knowledge of Russian history, from the October Revolution to modern-day Russia, and develop a foundation in
film theory and analysis. They will also improve their passive and active Russian. All classroom discussion,
writing assignments and oral presentations will be in Russian.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: RUSS 202 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Weiner;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: RUSS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: RUSS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: RUSS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Course ID: RUSS376H Title: Fedor Dostoevsky's Short Stories (in Russian)
In this course students will enter the world of Dostoevsky's short fiction and learn his explosive literary style,
obsessive themes, and artistic strategies. Students will increase their passive and active vocabulary and
improve their speaking, writing and reading fluency in Russian. We will discuss one work of short fiction (about
20 pages) each week of the semester. Students will translate excerpts from each work discussed. Each
student will write a short essay on a story of her choosing and present it to the class. Class meets twice weekly
for 75 minutes. All work will be in Russian.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Prerequisite or co-requisite - RUSS 301, RUSS 302, RUSS 305,
or RUSS 306.; Instructor: Weiner; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: One meeting
per week.;
Course ID: RUSS377H Title: Lev Tolstoy's Short Stories
A Russian-language course designed to supplement RUSS 277 above, though RUSS 377H may be taken
independently. Students will read and discuss, in Russian, major short works by Tolstoy.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Prerequisite or co-requisite - RUSS 301, RUSS 302, RUSS 305,
or RUSS 306.; Instructor: Hodge; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: One meeting per week.;
Course ID: RUSS386H Title: Vladimir Nabokov's Short Stories
In this course students will enter the world of Nabokov's short fiction and learn to recognize his innovative
literary style, obsessive themes, and artistic strategies. Students will increase their passive and active
vocabulary and improve their speaking, writing and reading fluency in Russian. Students will translate excerpts
from each work discussed. Each student will write a short essay on a story of their choosing and present it to
the class. Class meets once weekly for 75 minutes. All work will be in Russian.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Prerequisite or co-requisite - RUSS 301, RUSS 302, RUSS 305,
or RUSS 306.; Instructor: Weiner; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Russian Area Studies
An Interdepartmental Major
The vast region of Russia and Eurasia offers much to the world, from its glorious literary and musical canon, to
an extraordinary thousand-year history, to the unflinching quest for truth by many of its artists and scholars.
Russia’s richness and depth of experience must not be forgotten at a moment when its state has gone rogue
by having unleashed and continuing to wage its catastrophic war against Ukraine. Our interdisciplinary
program explores Russian language and literature as well as Russian and Eurasian culture, history, politics
and the arts, and prepares students for a range of careers, including work in government, business, academia,
the arts, and the nonprofit world.
Russian Area Studies Major
Goals for the Russian Area Studies Major
Successful Russian Area Studies majors can:
Evaluate and understand Russia’s and Eurasia’s place in today’s interconnected world, challenges
facing the region, and goals and values espoused by the citizenry and political leadership
Describe the basic structures and dynamics of Russian and Eurasian historical development, including
the nature of autocracy, dictatorship, and empire
Demonstrate an understanding of how the nations and peoples of Russia and Eurasia have interacted
over time with each other and with geographic regions beyond their borders
Acquire sufficient proficiency in the Russian language for fluent conversation and advanced study of
Russian literature
Through extensive reading and analysis of primary and secondary texts, discover and delineate the
major themes of nineteenth-, twentieth- and twenty-first century Russian literature
Read, understand and critically interpret scholarly and literary texts
Deploy methods used by scholars of literature, history and the social sciences to formulate and
compose analyses orally and in writing
Affirm the importance of understanding foreign nations and cultures as a component of active civic
responsibility
Requirements for the Russian Area Studies Major
A major in Russian Area Studies consists of a minimum of eight units. Majors are normally required to take
RUSS 201-RUSS 202 and at least two of the following courses: RUSS 301, RUSS 302, RUSS 305, RUSS
306. In addition, a major’s program should consist of at least four non-language units drawn from Russian
Area Studies, Russian history, literature, and politics, as well as relevant courses in comparative literature (see
listings below). At least two of a major’s units should come from outside the Russian department and the
Comparative Literature program. Majors are normally required to take at least two units of 300-level course
work, at least one of which should be drawn from outside the Russian department.
Honors in Russian Area Studies
Seniors who wish to graduate with honors in the major must write an honors thesis. Applicants for honors must
have a minimum 3.5 GPA in all work in the major field above the 100 level; the department may petition on her
behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. Interested students should discuss their ideas and plans
with their advisor, the program chair, or a member of the advisory committee as early as possible in their junior
year.
International Study and Graduate Study in Russian Area Studies
Majors are encouraged to take advantage of various programs of study in the former Soviet Union, including
the opportunity to spend a semester or year on exchange at a university in Russia or one of the other former
Soviet republics. Majors who are contemplating postgraduate academic or professional careers in Russian
Area Studies are encouraged to consult with faculty advisors, who will assist them in planning an appropriate
sequence of courses. For more information on the Russian Area Studies program, students may consult the
Wellesley College Russian Area Studies Web pages: www.wellesley.edu/russianareastudies.
Courses for Credit Toward the Russian Area Studies Major
CPLT 284
Magical Realism
1.0
CPLT 294
Utopia and Dystopia in Literature
1.0
HIST 116Y
First-Year Seminar: Vladimir Putin: Personage, President,
Potentate
1.0
HIST 246
Vikings, Icons, Mongols, and Tsars
1.0
HIST 247
Splendor and Serfdom: Russia Under the Romanovs
1.0
HIST 248
The Soviet Union: A Tragic Colossus
1.0
HIST 302
Seminar: World War II as Memory and Myth
1.0
RUSS 251
The Nineteenth-Century Russian Classics: Passion, Pain,
Perfection (in English)
1.0
RUSS 255
Russian ans Soviet Film (in English)
1.0
RUSS 272
Battle for the Russian Soul: Ideology and the NineteenthCentury Russian Novel (in English)
1.0
RUSS 276
Fedor Dostoevsky: The Seer of Spirit (in English)
1.0
RUSS 277
Lev Tolstoy: Russia's Ecclesiast (in English)
1.0
RUSS 286
Vladimir Nabokov (in English)
1.0
RUSS 333H
Nineteenth-Century Russian Narrative Poetry: Tales of
Mystery and Adventure (in Russian)
0.5
RUSS 355H
Russian Film (in Russian)
0.5
RUSS 376H
Fedor Dostoevsky's Short Stories (in Russian)
0.5
RUSS 377H
Lev Tolstoy's Short Stories (in Russian)
0.5
RUSS 386H
Vladimir Nabokov's Short Stories (in Russian)
0.5
In addition to the courses listed above, students are encouraged to incorporate the rich offerings of MIT and
Brandeis into their Russian Area Studies programs.
RAST Courses
Course ID: RAST222 Title: Firebird! The Russian Arts Under Tsars and Commissars
The magical Russian Firebird—with its feathers of pure gold—embodies the creative genius and salvational
glory of the Russian performing arts. In this course we will explore Russian ballet, opera, music, theater and
poetry, and their place in the culture and history of Russia and the Soviet Union, from the age of Tolstoy to the
Putin era, from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake to puss* Riot, the feminist protest group. In addition to larger
themes and movements, we will consider the contexts, histories, meanings—and, in some cases, iconic
afterlives—of selected works and their masterful creators.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken RAST 322.; Instructor:
Tumarkin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also
offered at the 300-level as RAST 322.;
Course ID: RAST322 Title: Firebird! The Russian Arts Under Tsars and Commissars
The magical Russian Firebird—with its feathers of pure gold—embodies the creative genius and salvational
glory of the Russian performing arts. In this course we will explore Russian ballet, opera, music, poetry and
theater and their place in the culture and history of Russia and the Soviet Union, from the age of Tolstoy to the
Putin era, from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake to puss* Riot, the feminist protest group. In addition to larger
themes and movements, we will consider the contexts, histories, meanings—and, in some cases, iconic
afterlives—of selected works and their masterful creators.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Normally open to Sophom*ores, Juniors and Seniors who have
taken a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject. Not open to students who have taken RAST 222.; Instructor:
Tumarkin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is also
offered at the 200-level as RAST 222.;
Course ID: RAST350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: RAST360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: RAST370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: RAST 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Sociology
Sociology explores the intersection of individual biography and history by relating the life of the individual to
the larger social institutions that shape their life experiences and outcomes. From the analysis of passing
encounters between individuals in the street to the investigation of broad-scale social change, the student of
sociology studies the subtle and complex ways in which our individual lives interact with the collective
experiences of others. From its birth in the middle of the nineteenth century to the present, the perspectives
and methods of sociology have become commonplace. Important insights by sociological theorists are the
cornerstones not only of sociology but of other social sciences as well.
To study sociology is, in the best tradition of the liberal arts, to free oneself to explore the familiar anew – to
make the familiar unfamiliar – and by so doing enrich ourselves and those around us.
Sociology Major
Goals for the Sociology Major
Exercise the “sociological imagination” by envisioning interrelationships between biography, history
and social structure; formulating questions that look beyond “taken-for-granted assumptions; and
mastering fundamental sociological concepts and theories.
Recognize, compare, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of various sociological research
methods.
Evaluate the reliability of various forms of empirical data and interpret them using qualitative and
quantitative analysis.
Construct and support original arguments using theory and evidence and be able to communicate
these clearly using strong speaking, writing, and technological skills.
Apply sociological thinking to complement and maximize experiential learning opportunities, such as
internships and study abroad.
Suggest practical applications and/or policy implications for sociological inquiry and knowledge.
Requirements for the Sociology Major
A major in sociology consists of at least nine units. The core of the major consists of four required courses that
emphasize basic concepts, theory, and research methods that are at the foundation of the discipline and are
also useful in a range of social sciences and professions. These courses are SOC 190, SOC 200, SOC 290,
and an additional social theory course such as SOC 201, SOC 226, or SOC 312. Students must take at least
five additional units, two of which must be at the 300-level (excluding SOC 360 and SOC 370). One of the 300level units may be SOC 350.
All four core units and the two 300-level units should be taken at Wellesley. Students wanting to count towards
the major core or elective units taken at other institutions should obtain permission from the department chair
in advance of taking these courses. We accept only two transfer credits from other institutions. It is
recommended that students complete the sequence of theory and methods courses by the end of their junior
year if they hope to conduct independent research or honors projects during their senior year. If a major
anticipates being away during all or part of the junior year, the theory (SOC 200, SOC 201, SOC 226, SOC 304,
SOC 312 or other approved courses) and research methods course (SOC 290) should be taken during the
sophom*ore year if at all possible or an alternative plan should be arranged with the student’s advisor.
SUBSTITUTES FOR SOC 190:
Non-sociology introductory statistics courses offered here at the college (e.g., Psych 205, Stat 218, QR 180,
Math 220) or at some other institution may be used to "place out" of SOC 190 but will not count as a unit
toward the Sociology major. In other words, students who place out of the SOC 190 requirement in this way
must take an additional elective course in Sociology to reach the minimum of nine units for a major.
Wellesley College’s sociology major provides a strong foundation in both theory and research methods, while
allowing students to tailor their major to their specific subject interests. A sociology major also offers students
several opportunities for both individual and group projects. Although the department provides the opportunity
to create sub-disciplinary specializations, our first and primary goal is to help students explore a range of
topics that can be understood through sociological perspectives and methods. Therefore, the department
encourages students to explore both the breadth of the sociology curriculum and the larger Wellesley College
curriculum.
Each major is required to complete a major portfolio that will track their progress through the sociology
curriculum and learning goals. Students wishing to major or minor in sociology should consult a faculty
advisor in the department in order to devise a plan of study and portfolio.
Honors in Sociology
To graduate with honors in sociology, students may write a traditional thesis paper or they may choose an
alternative form for a major intellectual project. For example, students may conduct original research on a
question or topic of their choice and produce a series of podcasts, digital stories, a photo essay with an
accompanying catalogue, a digital archive accompanied by a narrative, or a documentary movie. By offering
students the ability to select between a broader range of projects, we hope that more students with a variety of
learning styles and interests will participate in the honors experience. At its essence, this remains an
opportunity to wrestle deeply with an intellectual or policy problem, to sharpen a student’s methodological and
analytical tool kit, and to publicly present the results in a way that is suitable and enriching.
Students interested in doing any kind of thesis project should speak with a potential advisor during their junior
year. Together, they will agree upon the broad contours of the project including the main questions, methods,
outputs, and timeframe. Students should submit a 2-3 page project proposal to the department by May 1st in
order to get approval before the end of the academic year.
To be admitted to the honors program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in
the major field above the 100 level; the department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is
between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Sociology Minor
Requirements for the Sociology Minor
A minor in sociology consists of six units, one of which must be SOC 200. Of the five remaining units, one must
be at the 300-level excluding SOC 350. Like the major, the sociology minor is offered for students who wish to
develop analytical skills in preparation for work or study in a wide array of fields. A minor in sociology is
appropriate for students who seek to acquire a supplementary perspective that is informed by a sociological
frame of reference.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Minor
Minor in Comparative Race and Ethnicity
Advisor for 2022-23: Peggy Levitt and Markella Rutherford
The interdisciplinary Minor in Comparative Race and Ethnicity examines how power dynamics, operating
across time, space, and scales of social experience, shape the categories of race and ethnicity. Approaching
racial and ethnic categories as socially constructed, historically situated, and contextually dependent, this
minor is designed to engage students in comparative study in two key ways: (1) students will be equipped to
examine and analyze racial/ethnic dynamics across and between national borders and to compare different
racial and ethnic regimes, and (2) students will learn to understand race/ethnicity from different disciplinary
perspectives, drawing from both the social sciences and the humanities. This minor offers a distinctly global
approach to race and ethnicity that is intended to complement U.S.-based critical ethnic studies and other area
studies approaches (e.g., American Studies, Africana Studies). It is fitting for any student interested in
analyzing the comparative and transnational dimensions of race and ethnicity in combination with the study of
race and ethnicity in the United States.
Goals for the Minor in Comparative Race and Ethnicity
The minor in comparative race and ethnicity seeks to educate students to:
Understand the social construction of race and ethnicity
Introduce students to a variety of disciplinary approaches to understanding and analyzing race and
ethnicity
Compare processes of racialization across history and geography
Understand ethnic and racial conflicts in comparative context
Critically analyze the exercise of power and domination, as well as resistance movements
Examine how global systems of economic and political power, colonialism, and transnational migration
shape race and ethnicity in various places
Consider the intersections of race and ethnicity with gender, nation, and class in a global context
Requirements for the Minor in Comparative Race and Ethnicity
The minor in comparative race and ethnicity consists of five units:
1. At least two of the following courses:
AFR 215 Unpacking Blackness, Ethnicity and Identity in the African Diaspora
ANTH 214 Race and Human Variation
ENG 291 What Is Racial Difference?
SOC 209 Social Inequality: Class, Race, and Gender
SOC 246 / AMST 246 Salsa and Ketchup: How Immigration is Changing the U.S.
SOC 251/AMST 251 Racial Regimes in the United States and Beyond
2. Three electives from the list of courses toward the minor. At least one elective must be at the 300-level.
3. At least one course taken for the minor must be in Sociology.
Students who wish to complete a Minor in Comparative Race and Ethnicity should contact the minor
advisor(s). Courses for the minor will be selected in consultation with the minor advisor and should represent
both social science and humanities perspectives. Students will be strongly encouraged to look comparatively
rather than focusing on a specific region.
The Minor is open to students in any major at the College. Sociology majors can complete the Comparative
Race and Ethnicity minor so long as no single course counts toward both the major and the minor.
Courses for Credit Toward the Minor in Comparative Race and Ethnicity
The following courses may be counted as electives for the Minor in Comparative Race and Ethnicity. Note that
some 200- and 300- level courses have prerequisites that do not count toward the Minor. Students wishing to
count a non-Wellesley course or a Wellesley course not listed below may petition the minor advisors. For
example, some departments offer advanced courses with rotating topics; such courses may be considered
individually based on the topic offered in a given year.
AFR 215
Unpacking Blackness, Ethnicity and Identity in the
African Diaspora
1.0
AFR 226
Environmental Justice, "Race," and Sustainable
Development
1.0
AFR 261
History of Black American Cinema
1.0
AFR 256 / PORT 256
Cultures of the Portuguese Speaking World Through
Film, Music, and Fiction (In English)
1.0
AFR 292 / ARTH 292
African Art and the Diaspora: From Ancient Concepts to
Postmodern Identities
1.0
AFR 295 / ENG 295
The Harlem Renaissance
1.0
AFR 301
Seminar: South Africa
1.0
AFR 310
Seminar: Reading Du Bois
1.0
AFR 320 / AMST 320
Seminar: Blackness in the American Literary Imagination
1.0
AFR 341
Africans of the Diaspora
1.0
AMST 152
Race, Ethnicity, and Politics in America
1.0
AMST 222 / PSYC 222
Asian American Psychology
1.0
AMST 231 / FREN 231
Americans in Paris: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the
City of Light (in English)
1.0
AMST 235
From Zumba to Taco Trucks: Consuming Latina/o
Cultures
1.0
AMST 246 / SOC 246
Salsa and Ketchup: How Immigration is Changing the
U.S. and Beyond
1.0
AMST 251 / SOC 251
Racial Regimes in the United States and Beyond
1.0
AMST 290
Afro-Latinas/os in the U.S.
1.0
AMST 296 / ENG 296
Diaspora and Immigration in 21st-Century American
Literature
1.0
AMST 325
Puerto Ricans at Home and Beyond: Popular Culture,
Race, and Latino/a Identities in Puerto Rico and the U.S.
1.0
ANTH 214
Race and Human Variation
1.0
CAMS 229
Transnational Journeys in European Women’s
Filmmaking
1.0
CAMS 240 / WGST 223
Gendering the Bronze Screen: Representations of
Chicanas/Latinas in Film
1.0
CAMS 241 / WGST 249
Asian American Women in Film
1.0
CPLT 245 / JWST 345
Representing the Holocaust
1.0
EALC 345
Seminar: Language, Nationalism, and Identity in East
Asia (In English)
1.0
ECON 327
The Economics of Law, Policy and Inequality
1.0
EDUC 215
Understanding and Improving Schools
1.0
EDUC 216
Education and Social Policy
1.0
ENG 214 / MER 214
The Global Middle Ages: Stories, Ideas, Communities
1.0
ENG 222
Bodies and Identities in the Renaissance
1.0
ENG 270 / JWST 270
Jews and Jewishness in U.S. Literature
1.0
ENG 290 / JWST 290
Jews, African-American, and other Minorities in
U.S. Comics and Graphic Novels.
1.0
ENG 291
What Is Racial Difference?
1.0
ENG 314 / MER 314
The Global Middle Ages: Stories, Ideas, Communities
1.0
FREN 227
Black Paris: "Postcolonializing" the Seine (in English)
1.0
FREN 235
Anti-Slavery Literature and Abolition in Nineteenth
Century France
1.0
JWST 102 / REL 102
Introduction to Jewish Studies
1.0
HIST 207 / LAST 207
Modern Latin America
1.0
HIST 211 / LAST 211
Spanish Role in America and the Philippines
1.0
HIST 244
History of the American West: Manifest Destiny to Pacific
Imperialism
1.0
HIST 252
The Twentieth-Century Black Freedom Struggle
1.0
HIST 253
First Peoples: An Introduction to Native American History
1.0
HIST 263 / PEAC 224
South Africa in Historical Perspective: Rereading the
Past, Re-imagining the Future
1.0
HIST 267
Deep in the Heart: The American South in the Nineteenth
Century
1.0
HIST 312
Seminar: Understanding Race in the United States, 17761918
1.0
HIST 340
Seminar: Seeing Black: African Americans and United
States Visual Culture
1.0
HIST 371
International History Seminar: Legacies of Conquest:
Empires in Chinese and World History
1.0
PHIL 317
Seminar: Philosophy and Race
1.0
POL4 252
Political Theory: Harlem Renaissance
1.0
POL3 315
Global Politics of Race
1.0
POL1 328
Seminar: Immigration Politics
1.0
POL1 337
Seminar: Race in American Politics
1.0
POL3 348
Seminar: The Politics of Global Inequality
1.0
POL4 340
Topics in American Political Thought
1.0
POL4 345
Seminar: Black Liberation from Haiti to Black Lives Matter
1.0
PSYC 222
Asian American Psychology
1.0
PSYC 245
Cultural Psychology
1.0
PSYC 337
Seminar: Prejudice and Discrimination
1.0
PSYC 346
Seminar: Culture and Emotion
1.0
REL 245
The Holocaust and the Nazi State
1.0
SAS 232 / SOC 232
South Asian Diasporas
1.0
SOC 209
Social Inequality: Race, Class and Gender
1.0
SOC 315
Intersectionality at Work
1.0
SPAN 270
Language, Sociopolitics, and Identity: Spanish in the
United States
1.0
SPAN 321
Migration, Heritage, Identity: Eastern Europe in Latin
America
1.0
SPAN 325
Seminar: Candid Cuisine: Food in Latin American
Literature and Culture
1.0
SPAN 327
Seminar: Latin American Women Writers: Identity,
Marginality, and the Literary Canon
1.0
SPAN 335
Seminar: Asia in Latin America: Literary and Cultural
Connections
1.0
THST 210
Oral Interpretation
1.0
WGST 218
Stage Left: Chicanx/Latinx Theatre and Performance
1.0
WGST 296
US Women of Color and Economic Inequality in the US
1.0
SOC Courses
Course ID: AFR310/SOC310 Title: Seminar: Reading Du Bois
This seminar examines various works of W.E.B. Du Bois within their historical, social, and cultural contexts.
Although this course will pay special attention to Du Bois's literary endeavors, it will also examine his concept
of race and color and his approaches to colonialism, civil rights, and politics. This seminar will examine The
Souls of Black Folk, Darkwater, John Brown, The Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois, and The Suppression of
the African Slave-Trade as well as some of his poems and other fiction.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One 200-level course of relevance to Africana Studies or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Cudjoe; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST106/SOC106 Title: Meritocracy: An Introduction to Sociology
The word meritocracy was coined by the sociologist Michael Young in the 1950s. In the intervening years it has
taken on a life of its own and has become an enduring part of social and cultural debates over such diverse
issues as equality, privilege, luck, and achievement. What is the relationship between these issues and, for
example, admission to college? We will read Michael Young’s The Rise of the Meritocracy along with both
support for and criticism of the idea of merit. How is it measured? What is its relation to social status? Are there
alternative systems to meritocracy?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Imber; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST220/SOC220 Title: Freedom: Great Debates on Liberty and Morality
Among the various challenges that face democratic societies committed to the ideal of pluralism and its
representations in both individuals and institutions, is what is meant by the term "liberty". Among those who
identify as conservative, the concept of liberty has over time been addressed in ways that seek to impose
order on both individual and institutional behavior or what some conservatives refer to as "ordered liberty".
Classical liberal views of liberty stress the removal of external constraints on human behavior as the key to
maximizing individual agency, autonomy and selfhood. This course examines the historical and sociological
debates and tensions surrounding different visions of liberty. Focus on case studies of contentious social
issues that are at the center of public debates, including freedom of expression; race and ethnicity; criminality;
sexuality; gender; social class, religion, and the war on drugs.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Cushman, Imber; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST225/PEAC227/SOC225 Title: Life in the Big City: Urban Studies and Policy
This course will introduce students to core readings in the field of urban studies. While the course will focus on
cities in the United States, we will also look comparatively at the urban experience in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America and cover debates on “global cities.” Topics will include the changing nature of community, social
inequality, political power, socio-spatial change, technological change, and the relationship between the built
environment and human behavior. We will examine the key theoretical paradigms driving this field since its
inception, assess how and why they have changed over time, and discuss the implications of these shifts for
urban scholarship and social policy. The course will include fieldwork in Boston and presentations by city
government practitioners.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: AMST241/SOC241 Title: A Nation in Therapy
What is therapy? Although historically tied to the values and goals of medicine, the roles that therapy and
therapeutic culture play in defining life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are now ubiquitous. The impact of
therapeutic culture on every major social institution, including the family, education, and the law, has created a
steady stream of controversy about the ways in which Americans in particular make judgements about right
and wrong, about others, and about themselves. Are Americans obsessed with their well being? Is there a type
of humor specific to therapeutic culture? This course provides a broad survey of the triumph of the therapeutic
and the insights into the character and culture that triumph reveals.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Imber; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST246/SOC246 Title: Salsa and Ketchup: How immigration is Changing the US and the World
We live in a world on the move. Nearly one out of every seven people in the world today is an international or
internal migrant who moves by force or by choice. In the United States, immigrants and their children make up
nearly 25 percent of the population. This course looks at migration to the United States from a transnational
perspective and then looks comparatively at other countries of settlement. We use Framingham as a lab for
exploring race and ethnicity, immigration incorporation, and transnational practices. Fieldwork projects will
examine how immigration affects the economy, politics, and religion and how the town is changing in
response. We will also track contemporary debates around immigration policy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST251/SOC251 Title: Racial Regimes in the United States and Beyond
How can we understand the mechanisms and effects of racial domination in our society? In this class, we
develop a sociological understanding of race through historical study of four racial regimes in the United
States: slavery, empire, segregation, and the carceral state. We relate the U.S. experience to racial regimes in
other parts of the world, including British colonialism, the Jewish ghetto in Renaissance Venice, and apartheid
and post-apartheid states in South Africa, among other contexts. Thus, we develop a comparative, global
understanding of race and power. We conclude with a hands-on group media project engaging a relevant
contemporary issue.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: At least one social science course required.; Instructor: S.
Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: AMST348/SOC348 Title: Conservatism in America
An examination of conservative movements and ideas in terms of class, gender, and race. Historical survey
and social analysis of such major conservative movements and ideas as paleoconservatism, neoconservatism,
and compassionate conservatism. The emergence of conservative stances among women, minorities, and
media figures. The conservative critique of American life and its shaping of contemporary national discourse
on morality, politics, and culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: A 100-level sociology course or permission of the instructor. Open
to juniors and seniors only.; Instructor: Imber; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ECON103/SOC190 Title: Introduction to Probability and Statistical Methods
An introduction to the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of quantitative data as used to
understand problems in economics and sociology. Using examples drawn from these fields, this course
focuses on basic concepts in probability and statistics, such as measures of central tendency and dispersion,
hypothesis testing, and parameter estimation. Data analysis exercises are drawn from both academic and
everyday applications.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 101P or one course in sociology. Fulfillment
of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) component of the Quantitative Reasoning & Data Literacy requirement. Not
open to students who have taken or are taking STAT 160, STAT 218, PSYC 105 or PSYC 205.; Instructor: Giles,
Levine, Swingle (Sociology); Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Summer; Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: EDUC207/PEAC207/SOC207 Title: Schools and Society
Does education in the United States encourage social mobility or help to reproduce the socioeconomic
hierarchy? What is the hidden curriculum—the ideas, values, and skills that students learn at school that are
not in the textbook? Who determines what gets taught in school? How do schools in the US compare to
school systems in other countries? What makes school reform so hard to do?
Questions like these drive this course. It offers students an introduction to the sociology of education by
broadly exploring the role of education in American society. The course covers key sociological perspectives
on education, including conflict theory, functionalism, and human and cultural capital. Other topics include
schools and communities; the role of teachers, students, parents, mentors, and peers in educational
inequalities (including tracking and measures of achievement), school violence, school reform, and knowledge
production. We also look comparatively at education systems across the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: EDUC308/SOC308 Title: Seminar: Children in Society
This seminar will focus upon children and youth as both objects and subjects within societies. Beginning with
consideration of the social construction of childhood, the course will examine the images, ideas, and
expectations that constitute childhoods in various historical and cultural contexts. We will also consider the
roles of children as social actors who contribute to and construct social worlds of their own. Specific topics to
be covered include the historical development of childhood as a distinct phase of life, children's peer cultures,
children and work, children's use of public spaces, children's intersectional experiences of inequality, and the
effects of consumer culture upon children. Considerable attention will be given to the dynamics of the social
institutions most directly affecting childhood today: the family, education, and the state.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have taken any 100- or 200-level
sociology course, or one of the following - EDUC 214, EDUC 215, or EDUC 216. ; Instructor: Rutherford;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: EDUC321/PEAC312/SOC312 Title: Seminar: De-centering and Re-centering: Social Theory Across
the Globe
Cultural and intellectual life is still dominated by the West. Although we recognize the importance of globalizing
scholarship, our research and teaching still prioritizes western canons and frameworks. Cultural and
intellectual inequality are part and parcel of socioeconomic inequality. If we don’t do better at one, we will not
do better at the other. We need to master a broader range of methods, tools, and ways of knowing. In this
class, Wellesley College students work with students and faculty from Latin America, Asia, and Africa to
explore what it means to produce, disseminate, teach about, and act upon knowledge more equitably in
different parts of the world. Our goals are to (1) learn to read power in physical, intellectual, virtual, and cultural
spaces by witnessing, evaluating, and then acting, (2) gain exposure to ways of asking and answering
questions outside the West, (3) reread classical theories in context to explore how we can reinterpret their
usefulness and meaning, (4) understand and develop new engaged and critical pedagogies and forms of
education, and (5) promote a decentered attitude, that charts more equitable and inclusive forms of intellectual
engagement and collaboration.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least two 200-level or above courses in the social sciences
including Peace and Justice Studies.; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PEAC219/SOC209 Title: Social Inequality: Race, Class and Gender
This course examines the distribution of social resources to groups and individuals, as well as theoretical
explanations of how unequal patterns of distribution are produced, maintained, and challenged. Special
consideration will be given to how race, ethnicity, and gender intersect with social class to produce different
life experiences for people in various groups in the United States, with particular emphasis on disparities in
education, health care, and criminal justice. Consideration will also be given to policy initiatives designed to
reduce social inequalities and alleviate poverty.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rutherford; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SAS232/SOC232 Title: South Asian Diasporas
If any mention of South Asian culture conjures for you Bollywood films, Bharatanatyam dancers, and Google
engineers, then this course will prompt you to reconsider. Adopting a sociological perspective that examines
culture from the specific context of migration, we will study the histories of Punjabi-Mexican families in
California, Gujarati motel owners across the United States, South African Indians at the end of apartheid, and
Bangladeshi garment workers in London’s East End, among others. Through our study, we develop a
nuanced understanding of race, culture, migration, and upward mobility in the United States and beyond,
while also considering the power of mobile South Asian cultures, including movies, music, dance, and religion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: S. Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC102 Title: The Sociological Perspective: An Introduction to Sociology
Thinking sociologically enables us to understand the intersection of our individual lives with larger social
issues and to grasp how the social world works. Students in this course will become familiar with the
background of sociology and the core analytical concepts employed by sociologists. Students will also gain
familiarity with the major substantive topics explored by sociology, with focused attention given to the study of
social structures, material, cultural, and institutional explanations of social action, and using concepts for real
world problem solving.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rutherford; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SOC104Y/WGST104Y Title: First-Year Seminar: The Body. Reproduction, Sex Education, Work,
Fashion
This course explores the ways in which the body, as a reflection and construction of the self, is tied to social,
cultural and political relations. Through this examination of the role that our bodies play in daily life we will
delve into the study of gender, race, sexuality and power. We focus on several major areas: (1) after Roe and
the medicalization of bodies (contraception, abortion, new reproductive technologies), (2) sex education and
the Internet as sites of bodily learning (3) body work (nail salons, surrogacy) (4) the use of the body as a
vehicle for performance, self-expression and identity (tattoos, getting dressed). Throughout the course we will
discuss how ideas about bodies are transported across national borders and social, sexual and class
hierarchies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hertz; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SOC105 Title: Doing Sociology: Analyzing the Social World Outside Your Door
What do your friend's social media postings tell you about the way they want to be seen in the world? What
can you learn about poverty in the United States by observing a city like Boston? What do TV shows tell you
about our societal beliefs about the haves and the have-nots? This course introduces students to sociology by
studying U.S. economic stratification through an intersectional lens. We will learn to uncover patterns of
inclusion and exclusion and illuminate the invisible ways that power seems to operate. Additionally, we will
explore the simultaneous impact of race, gender, sexuality (and other identities) on economic insecurity.
Topics in this course include historical understandings of poverty; intergenerational class mobility; depictions
of poverty in pop culture; and bringing attention to populations that often get left out of mainstream
conversations about poverty.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC108 Title: Thinking Global: An Introduction to Sociology
How are your personal problems related to larger issues in society and the world? In what ways do global
economic and political shifts affect your personal trajectory as a college student in the United States? In this
course, you will come to understand sociology as a unique set of tools with which to interpret your relationship
to a broader sociopolitical landscape. By integrating classic readings in the discipline of sociology with the
principles of global political economy, we will analyze and contextualize a range of social, economic, and
political phenomena at the scales of the global, the national, the local, and the individual.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: S. Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC110 Title: Population and Society
This course provides a broad introduction to population studies, or social demography, which offers a
framework and tools by which to understand how fundamental human processes of birth, death, and migration
are inextricably linked to social change and inequality. Is racial inequality deadly? Is there such a thing as “too
many people” on Earth? Over the course of the semester, we will develop a conceptual and analytic toolkit that
allows us to consider these, among other big questions about societies, populations, and inequality and
change therein. In addition to developing a demographic vocabulary, students will learn how to use interpret
and calculate basic demographic measures and statistics, including population growth rates, life expectancies,
and racial/ethnic population compositions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Yi; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SOC137 Title: Reading Sociology: What Culture Teaches Us about Social Life
What do we learn about class, race, and gender by reading novels? What difference does it make when we
read about these ideas rather than watching programs about them on TV? This course treats novels, short
stories, poems, films, and radio and television programs as sociological texts. We will read and analyze them
together to learn new concepts, methods, and analytical approaches. Class projects include debates, "author"
interviews, and a creative writing project.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Levitt; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC150 Title: The Individual and Society
This course offers an examination of the relationship between the individual and society from a sociological
and interdisciplinary perspective. The course begins with an exploration of different conceptions of the
individual in Western and non-Western social thought and then explores sociological theories of the self and
society to explore a central question: to what extent are we determined by external social forces and to what
extent can we find individual autonomy, personhood, and dignity in relation to these forces? A central focus of
sociology is the study of social inequality, and the course offers detailed sociological case studies on the
stigmatization and marginalization of physically disabled and mentally ill individuals. Special attention is paid to
how sociological understandings of exclusion of physically and mentally disabled individuals have led to social
movements to protect their human rights and personhood.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. ; Instructor: Cushman;
Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC200 Title: Sociological Theory: A Critical History
What is sociological theory and what work does theory do in sociology? What makes a theory useful? Which
theories shape research agendas and why? The modern discipline of sociology primarily traces its origins to
the 19th and early 20th centuries, when social scientists were grappling with the social upheavals of
colonialism, industrial capitalism, urbanization, changing forms of governance, and the scientization of society.
Placing key authors from this era in their historical context, this course takes a critical perspective to examine
the origins of some of the foundational concepts that have shaped the history of sociology as a discipline:
solidarity, authority, domination, class, nationalism, exploitation, justice, revolution, and more. As we work to
understand the ideas of early sociologists, we will consider how their institutional locations shaped their
understandings of the role of sociology as a theoretical and/or applied science, with special attention given to
the roles race and gender have played in shaping the history of sociological theory. This will lead us to engage
in critical examination of later processes of canonization that designated some works as “classics” and shaped
our definitions of sociology and sociological theory.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One 100- or 200-level unit in sociology.; Instructor: Rutherford;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC201 Title: Critical Theory
Critical theories question power, domination, and the status quo. They aim to critique and change society by
uncovering the assumptions that keep humans from a full and true understanding of how the world works. In
this course, we will examine several different bodies of critical theories, evaluating how these theories explain
and offer practical solutions to social problems. Beginning with Marx’s historical materialism and critique of
capitalism, we will trace Marx’s influence through the Frankfurt School’s critique of culture and Bourdieu’s
critiques of symbolic power. From there we will turn to the social critiques of feminist theory, Critical Race
Theory, and post-colonial theory. Through all of these theories, we will seek to understand: What are the
possibilities for true human freedom?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: At least one 100- or 200-level unit in sociology, with SOC 200
strongly recommended; Instructor: Rutherford; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course can fulfill the requirement of a
second course in social theory for the sociology major but is open to all interested students.;
Course ID: SOC203 Title: Social Exclusion
Who is an outsider? Who is an insider? What role do systems and structures play in shaping exclusion and
inclusion in social life and organization? In this course, we will examine forms, conditions, causes,
experiences, and the very definitions of social exclusion and marginalization through a deep engagement with
sociological scholarship. We will focus on key topical contexts of interest including immigration, family and
kinship, and poverty, based on a shared foundation of core sociological theory and concepts. We will consider
not only how social exclusion helps us analyze sociological phenomena in new (or expanded) ways, but also
how social exclusion is enacted and/or recognized in the policy systems that structure our everyday lives.
Notes: This course can fulfill the requirement of a second course in social theory for the sociology major but is
open to all interested students.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: At least one 100- or 200-level unit in sociology, with SOC 200
strongly recommended.; Instructor: Yi; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SOC204 Title: Social Problems
This course investigates why certain problems become matters of significant public and policymaking concern
while others do not. We do not focus on a predefined list of social problems but rather on the process by
which some issues capture more attention than others. Our discussions analyze the actions of those
institutions involved either in calling public attention to or distracting public attention away from particular
problems in our society. This focus enables students to acquire a perspective toward social problems that they
are unlikely to gain from the many other forums where people discuss social problems, such as journalism or
politics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Silver; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: SOC205/WGST211 Title: Modern Families and Social Inequalities
Feminist scholarship demonstrates that American family life needs to be viewed through two lenses: one that
highlights the embeddedness of family in class, race, heteronormativity, gender inequalities and another that
draws our attention to historical developments – such as the aftermath of World War 2, technologies and
government social policies. In 2015 same-sex marriage became U.S. federal law; but at the same time fewer
people are marrying and parenthood is delayed. Moreover, new reproductive technologies coupled with the
Internet and the wish for intimacy is creating unprecedented families. Topics covered vary yearly but include:
inequalities around employment, the home front and childcare; intensive motherhood, social class
and cultural capital; welfare to work programs; immigrant families and the American Dream. Finally, we will
explore new developments from adoption to gamete donors by same-sex or single-parent families and how
science and technologies are facilitating the creation of new kinds of kin. A special feature of this class is
looking at the relationship of families and social policy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Hertz; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC210 Title: Social Movements in Global Perspective
Why do people protest and organize to change the world around them? How do social movements operate,
and why do some succeed while others fail? How do the powerful respond to protest movements? This class
examines the origins, dynamics, and consequences of social movements on three levels. First, the course is
grounded in the sociological perspective, looking at movements’ emergence, recruitment mechanisms,
leadership, interactions, tactical repertoires, and framing processes, and so on. Second, we see these
concepts in action through a global tour of activist hotspots, from the Arab Spring to Central American
revolutionaries to Black Lives Matters. Finally, students learn directly by conducting original research and
writing their own case study on a social movement of their choosing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC212 Title: Marriage and the Family: Past, Present, and Future
This course explores how marriage and the family have evolved over the past century, the changes both are
undergoing now, and what the future may have in store for these two social institutions. The course will focus
on the U.S. but students will be encouraged to make international comparisons. Using a variety of both
scholarly and popular sources, we will explore cultural understandings of marriage and family life and topics
like romantic love, Cinderella weddings, the nuclear family ideal, the Supermom syndrome, and the legal fight
for gay marriage. Family diversity and variation are recurring themes throughout the course and particular
attention will be paid to social class differences in family life and marriage, alternatives to the nuclear family like
cohabitation and non-marriage, and the consequences of different living arrangements to individuals as well as
to society as a whole. A primary goal of the course is to distinguish between the facts and many fictions
surrounding family and marriage in contemporary society. In the process, the course will introduce the
richness of the sociological approach and its use of surveys, in-depth interviews, analyses of film and literature,
and other methodologies for understanding the family. ?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Swingle; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC213 Title: Organizations and Society: What Sociology Has to Say about Management,
Careers, and Strategy
This course surveys the development of the modern organization and organizational analysis, with a focus on
corporate strategy and managing employees. We live in a world of organizations: organizations drive the
economy, innovation, and our careers, but are also the arenas in which policy issues like discrimination,
harassment, and equity are raised, fought over, and ultimately implemented. We will read business case
studies, management theory, and social scientific analysis to chart how organizations respond to internal and
external challenges, how they succeed and when they fail. The focus in on for-profit corporations, but we will
explore other complex organizations, from churches to governments to NGOs, and study the transformation of
firms from conglomerates to networks. Students will write a case study of their own based on original research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC214 Title: Medicine as a Profession and Vocation
Two abiding tensions exist in the making of a physician. The first is between the humanistic and scientific sides
of medicine, and the second is between defining the sociological foundation of medical practice and
understanding the promise and limits of that foundation. A basic introduction to the sociology of the medical
profession (applicable to the MCAT) will be offered in conjunction with a focus on physicians' self-reporting on
the nature of their vocation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Imber; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC223 Title: Feminist Geopolitics
How do our bodies and everyday experiences reflect and (re)produce geopolitical relations? How do
militarized discourse and technologies shape our sense of (in)security in the world and at home? How is war
gendered and how does gender become militarized? This course considers how war and militarism are
intimately intertwined with our everyday lives. Drawing on scholarship from political sociology and geography,
with a particular focus on feminist geopolitics, we will examine how war and militarism inform contemporary
political governance across a variety of sites and scales, including our state institutions, economies, bodies,
homes, and emotions.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC226 Title: Building Community in Theory and Practice
What makes community possible? Where does our sense of belonging come from? How do communities
attract and change us? How do communities socialize us to be good members or shape our beliefs?
Sociological theorists have wrestled with these questions of community from the beginnings of the discipline.
This applied theory course examines group formation via theoretical frameworks and thematic case studies of
several types of natural and intentional communities, starting with the most intimate and face-to-face
communities, friendship and marriage, before exploring important larger communities, including new religious
movements, communes, and social movements. We will use these cases to compare various perspectives on
the promises and pitfalls of social life in community. Students will apply theoretical frameworks to analyze each
group, and conclude by analyzing the potential for community in the post-pandemic world. Note: This course
can fulfill the requirement of a second course in social theory for the sociology major but is open to all
interested students.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC229 Title: Contemporary Politics of Debt and Indebtedness
This course considers how debt and indebtedness shape contemporary social life and governance. We will
examine how scholars have understood debt as—in addition to a financial obligation—a historically situated
relation of power that influences societies in myriad ways. We will consider the creation of debt and
experiences of indebtedness across a range of interlinked scales, including those of the transnational, nationstate, family, and individual, and in respect to class, race, gender, and age. Case studies might include
medical, educational, housing, and carceral debts in the US; sovereign debt, structural adjustment loans, and
international financial institutions; legacies of colonial debts in the present; and practices of debt resistance.
We will work to interlink and contextualize case studies within an understanding of both how states and
transnational institutions mobilize debt to govern labor and how the experience of indebtedness is intimately
embodied in our everyday lives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51
Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: SOC238 Title: Crime and Punishment
What is a crime? Who or what is a criminal? How do individuals and societies respond to crime? These are the
broad questions that will structure our work together in this sociological introduction to criminology and
criminal justice. We will begin by developing a shared foundation of key terms, concepts, and theoretical
perspectives that are used to help us describe and understand crime. Using this shared foundation, we will
then turn our attention to a set of real-world historical and contemporary “moments” to help us understand key
challenges and possible futures currently facing communities and the criminal justice system.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Yi; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and
Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: SOC252 Title: Emotions and Society
This course explores the distinctive contributions of sociology to the study of emotions. We explore
sociological concepts, theories, and case studies that consider emotions, which are perhaps the most deeply
felt experiences in the consciousnesses of individuals, as fundamentally social phenomena. Topics include:
the social construction of moral panics and “folk devils”’ in social movements; hedonic cruelty; emotional labor
in work organizations; emotional socialization in high-risk professions; the social structure of empathy,
sympathy and pity; racial, class, and status stratification and the invidious social emotions of resentment, envy
and Schadenfreude. Emphasis on showing how sociological perspectives on emotions can enhance students’
abilities to navigate the “complexities of feeling” in order to foster individual and collective human flourishing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Cushman; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC260 Title: Courage and Conscience: Dissent and Freedom of Expression in The Modern
World
Freedom of expression is considered one of the most fundamental human rights. Why is this the case? Why
are people willing to suffer, fight, and die and to protect the right of freedom of expression? Why is freedom of
expression so dangerous to those with political and social power? How do powerful elites mobilize against
dissent and dissidents? What is the role of charismatic individuals and freedom of expression in social
change? This course examines sociological theories of communication and freedom of expression; the idea of
“civil courage” and its relation to social change; the origins of dissent and dissidents in comparative-historical
perspective. Emphasis is on case studies of dissent and dissidents in authoritarian societies of the 20th and
early 21st centuries in order to understand, sociologically, the elementary forms of dissent and “the dissident
life.” The course introduces students to the life-history method of social research in examining case studies of
dissent.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Cushman; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SOC290 Title: Methods of Social Research
This course introduces some of the more prominent qualitative and quantitative methods used by sociologists
to study the social world. The course emphasizes hands-on experience with several small-scale research
projects with the goal of teaching students how to 1) integrate social theory with research methods, 2) ask
good research questions, 3) define key concepts, 4) choose appropriate samples, 5) collect high-quality data
in an ethical manner, 6) analyze data, and 7) write formal research papers. A section of this course will build
upon the statistics learned in SOC 190, but statistics will not be the main focus.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: ECON 103/SOC 190 or permission of the instructor. Required of all
sociology majors. Not open to students who have taken SOC 301.; Instructor: Swingle; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SOC304 Title: Seminar: Modernity and the Self
Sociology as a discipline emerged in 19 th and early 20 th century Europe as a response to rapid social
changes that dramatically transformed traditional societies and ways of life. Classical sociological theorists
such as Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, W.E.B. Dubois, and Georg Simmel sought to explain the
nature of these changes, but also offered critiques of what has been called “modernity.” The seminar begins
with an exploration of these classical theories of modernity and continues with an examination of
contemporary works that seek to understand and critique the consequences of modernity in a variety of social
and cultural spheres. The seminar focuses on theories relevant to a central sociological question: how do large
scale, transformative social and cultural changes affect individual self-identity, self-consciousness, and ways of
being in the world? Central topics include: the challenges to individuality posed by pressures for ideological
and social conformity; the quest for authenticity of the self; capitalism and the commercialization of emotions;
the uncontrollability of the social world and the difficulties of experiencing resonance and harmony in social
life; empirically-based, non-Marxist critiques of the state and other bureaucratic processes that challenge the
quest for the autonomy and dignity of the self; the relationship between modernity and anxiety and the rise of
the neurobiological imaginary in the treatment of mental health disorders; and the transformation of love and
intimate relationships in the modern world. Particular attention is paid to non-Western social thought that is
relevant to understanding the nature of the self in the modern world. This course fulfills one of the theory
requirements for the Sociology major but is open to all interested students.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: At least one of the following is recommended - SOC 150, SOC
200, SOC 201.; Instructor: Cushman; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SOC306/WGST306 Title: Seminar: Women Leaders at Work
More women leaders are in work settings and public office than any prior point in history. However, the fraction
of women who are CEOs, board members of major corporations, heads of state and elected representatives in
global assemblies remains shockingly small by comparison to the sheer numbers of women workers,
consumers, and family decision makers. This course will examine the way that gender, race, and class shape
women's access to positions of leadership and power at work. Questions to be considered include: (1) Why
are there so few women leaders in work settings? (2) What can we learn about leadership from women who
have achieved it? Four modules for the course are (1) Strategies developed by women who lead; (2) Efforts to
achieve parity through policies, e.g., glass ceilings, affirmative action; (3) Tensions between work, family and
carework; and (4) Profiles of Productive Rule Breakers. Students will research women leaders in all sectors
and countries.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors and Seniors. Priority will be given to
SOC and WGST majors and minors.; Instructor: Hertz; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC309 Title: Nations in Global, Intersectional Perspective
In a seemingly borderless world full of hyphenated identities, do nations still matter? How and why are nations
built and sustained? This course examines these questions with attention to race, class, and gender as
interlocking systems of power, and utilizes the theoretical toolkits of feminism, post-colonial theory, and global
sociology. We examine Native American, immigrant, and Black forms of belonging in the United States in
relation to indigenous and post-colonial movements in various countries of the world, including India and
South Africa, among others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: At least one social science course, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: S. Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: SOC311/WGST311 Title: Seminar: Families, Gender, the State, and Social Policies
This course examines the politics facing contemporary U.S. families and potential policy directions at the State
and Federal Levels. Discussion of the transformation of American families including changing economic and
social expectations for parents, inequality between spouses, choices women make about children and
employment, daycare and familial care giving, welfare and underemployment, and new American dreams will
be explored. Changing policies regarding welfare and teen pregnancy will also be examined as part of
government incentives to promote self-sufficient families. Expanding family (i.e. single mothers by choice,
lesbian/gay/trans families) through the use of new reproductive technologies is emphasized as examples of
legislative reform and the confusion surrounding genetic and social kinship is explored. Comparisons to other
contemporary societies will serve as foils for particular analyses. Students will learn several types of research
methodologies through course assignments. Student groups will also produce an original social policy case.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 100 level and one 200 level course in either WGST or
Sociology. Open to Juniors and Seniors; to Sophom*ores by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hertz;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: SOC314 Title: Global Health and Social Epidemiology
Concerns about the health of communities date back to antiquity. Social epidemiology is the study of the
incidence and distribution of disease among populations. This course offers historical, sociological, and ethical
perspectives on the uses of epidemiology as it emerged from an age defined principally by infectious disease
to one of chronic illness. What are the social and collective responses to pandemics, real and imagined? Case
studies address in particular global public health issues, including smoking, nutrition, AIDS, mad cow disease,
and influenza, among others. Both governmental and nongovernmental approaches to health, including the
World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, are considered. Special attention is given to
disparities in health care, a core sociological focus.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 200-level SOC course or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Imber; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC315 Title: Intersectionality at Work
This course uses the feminist optic of intersectionality to delve into the sociology of work. As one of the most
fundamental aspects of human society, work shapes and is shaped by forces as big as the global political
economy and by circ*mstances as context-specific as our complex social identities. How do race, class,
gender, ability, age, and nationality constitute what kinds of work are possible in a given context, and for
whom? How does work both take advantage of social difference and inequality and transform it? We will
examine diverse kinds of work, including domestic work, factory work, precarious day labor, surrogacy, IT, and
finance in the U.S., India, and China, among other countries. As we study ethnographies of work, we will
conduct original qualitative research and share our research with the class through a sophisticated oral
presentation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Prior completion of any sociology course or permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: S. Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: SOC320 Title: Technology, Society, and the Future
This course explores the powerful roles that technology plays in contemporary social life and suggests that
some of the impacts that our ever-greater reliance on, and faith in, technology might have upon our lives. The
course begins with a critical overview of the heralded promises that technology often carries; here, we explore
some of the undersides of so-called "technological progress." The remainder of the course examines a variety
of salient contemporary issues concerning the social implications of technological change.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Silver; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC322/WGST322 Title: Seminar: Contemporary Reproduction
This course focuses on the politics of human reproduction which is inextricably linked with nation states, as
well as cultural norms and expectations. Reproductive issues and debates serve as proxies for more
fundamental questions about the intersecting inequalities of citizenship, gender, race, class, disability and
sexuality. What does reproductive justice look like? We will discuss how the marketplace, medical
technologies and the law are critical to creating social hierarchies that are produced, resisted and transformed.
We ask: Why is access critical to control for the use of fertility technologies (both pre-and during pregnancy),
gamete purchase, egg freezing? How is each accomplished and by whom? How are new technologies in
reproduction coupled with the global marketplace creating a social hierarchy between people (e.g. gamete
donors, gestational carriers). Finally, what is the relationship between the commercialization of reproduction
and the creation of new intimacies and forms of kinship? The course emphasizes both empirical research
situated in the U.S. and research involving transnational flows.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors only; must be a WGST or SOC major
or minor or a junior or senior who has taken WGST 211/SOC 205.; Instructor: Hertz; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: SOC334 Title: Consumer Culture
How and why does consumerism exercise so great an influence on global culture today? How are our
institutions and relationships shaped and transformed by the forces of commodification and consumerism?
Are there any realms of life that ought to be free from the market-driven forces of commodification? Can
consumerism offer a positive means of cultural critique to processes we wish to resist? In this seminar, we
explore the history of consumer culture in the United States and globally, with special attention to
understanding the effects of commodification upon the self, human relationships, and social institutions. We
will consider both classical and contemporary critiques of commodification and consumerism, as well as
arguments for the liberatory dimensions of consumer society. Course projects will give students opportunities
to connect theory with questions of practical interest and to develop skills for communicating ideas in a variety
of creative formats.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 100- or 200-level SOC course, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Rutherford; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: SOC350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: SOC360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: SOC370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: SOC 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
South Asia Studies
South Asia Studies
The Indus River Valley civilization (3300-1300 BCE), situated in what is now Pakistan, was one of the world's
great ancient civilizations. Today, the South Asian subcontinent, the region that stretches from Afghanistan
through Pakistan and India to Bangladesh (and onto Northeast India) and from Nepal and Bhutan in the
Himalayas to Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, is known as South Asia. Governments of these
eight countries comprise the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. South Asia Studies is the
study of this region, its cultures, languages, and people, including in the South Asian diaspora.
South Asia has contributed richly to the arts, humanities, and social, political, and religious thought of the
world. The South Asian subcontinent has produced a large body of knowledge on artistic, linguistic, and
literary practices; on varieties of imperialism; on the social construction of political and religious identities; on
the intersections of economics, ethnicity, gender; and on conflict and peace.
South Asia Studies at Wellesley
With 14 faculty who have research and teaching commitments in South Asia, across eleven departments and
programs, we are able to ensure that each student benefits from a unique, well-designed course of study.
We consider South Asia Studies to be an ideal liberal arts concentration because the subjects of inquiry are
complex and challenging and because the methods of inquiry are necessarily interdisciplinary. Students learn
to think multi-contextually and at the intersection of disciplines. Students also learn different ways of knowing.
For centuries, South Asia has developed its own ways of knowing. The South Asia Studies Program allows
students to learn both European and South Asian epistemologies. At the same time, students are required to
focus on a single method, such as literary analysis, or a single thematic focus, such as international
development. Students learn intercultural skills, including how to communicate in South Asian languages.
Individual courses aim to engage students in rigorous encounters with a crucial but underrepresented area of
the world. Majors and minors develop facility in aesthetic judgment; linguistic, historical and literary
interpretation; and behavior and social analysis.
We expect each student to gain broad understanding of the cultures, histories, religions, societies, and politics
of the region and to gain skills in the ability to speak and comprehend, and to write and read in Hindi and
Urdu, two of South Asia's principal languages, or in another South Asian language. We expect students to
acquire skills and sentiments needed to understand South Asian arts, cultures, histories, and politics. The
South Asia Studies Program works to develop in students the skills to become critical thinkers, cogent writers,
and effective researchers on a range of vital questions using the fertile fields of South Asia for evidence and
inspiration.
Designing a Program of Study
If you are considering declaring a major or minor in South Asia Studies, please speak with the director of the
program or one of the South Asia Studies affiliated faculty. They can apprise you of upcoming courses and
other learning opportunities and help you to design a study plan that best meets your learning objectives.
The Curriculum
In addition to the courses offered by South Asia Studies faculty, almost fifty South Asia Studies related
courses can be used to satisfy major and minor requirements. These are offered by faculty in eleven
departments and programs. Also, many courses that are not designated as SAS related courses can be used
to satisfy SAS major and minor requirements if the instructor agrees and the student's final project pertains to
South Asia Studies.
South Asia Studies and South Asian Studies related courses offered in 2024-25
FALL 2024
ARTH 239 / SAS 239
Art and Architecture of South Asia
1.0
HIST 266 / SAS 266
The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian
History
1.0
HIST 367 / SAS 367
The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian
History
1.0
HNUR 201
Intermediate Hindi-Urdu I
1.0
MES 261 / REL 261*
Cities in the Islamic World
1.0
MES 365 / REL 365*
Cities in the Islamic World
1.0
MES 367 / REL 367*
Seminar: Muslim Travelers
1.0
POL2 204*
Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment
1.0
REL 108*
Introduction to Asian Religions
1.0
REL 253*
Buddhist Thought and Practice
1.0
SAS 232 / SOC 232
South Asian Diasporas
1.0
HIST 272
Political Economy of Development in Colonial and
Postcolonial South Asia
1.0
HNUR 202
Intermediate Hindi-Urdu II
1.0
MES 267 / REL 267*
Muslim Ethics
1.0
MES 347 / REL 347*
Muslim Ethics
1.0
POL3 223
International Relations of South Asia
1.0
POL2 310*
Seminar: Politics of Community Development
1.0
REL 259*
Christianity in Asia
1.0
SPRING 2025
Courses with an asterisk ( * ) require permission of the instructor(s) and South Asia Studies Program director
to count toward the South Asia Studies major or minor; they normally require a final paper related to South
Asia Studies.
South Asia Studies Major
A major in South Asia Studies requires nine South Asia Studies or South Asia Studies related units, including
completion of Intermediate Hindi-Urdu, or demonstration of advanced proficiency in a South Asian language,
at least two units in the humanities, and at least two units in the social sciences. Two units may be at the 100level; at least two must be at the 300-level (excluding 350).
Graduating with Honors
Honors is granted to majors who research, write, and defend an honors thesis. Admission to the honors
program requires a grade point average of at least 3.5 in work in the major above the 100-level; the
department may petition for an exception to this college policy for students with a GPA between 3.0 and 3.5.
Courses for Credit Toward the South Asia Studies Major
AMST 222 / PSYC 222*
Asian American Psychology
1.0
ANTH 232 / CAMS 232*
Anthropology of Media
1.0
ANTH 237 / SAS 237
Enthnography in/of South Asia
1.0
ARTH 239 / SAS 239
Art and Architecture of South Asia
1.0
ARTH 240*
Asian Art and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 247*
Introduction to Islamic Art and Architecture
1.0
ARTH 312*
Seminar: Art and Empire in the Long Nineteeth Century
1.0
ARTH 397*
India and the British
1.0
CAMS 243 / REL 223 /
SAS 243
Shades of Love in Indian Cinema
1.0
HIST 266 / SAS 266
The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian
History
1.0
HIST 270
Colonialism, Nationalism, and Decolonization in South
Asia
1.0
HIST 272
Political Economy of Development in Colonial and PostColonial South Asia
1.0
HIST 273
Food, Sports, and Sex: Body Politics in South Asia
1.0
HIST 275
The Emergence of Ethnic Identities in Modern South Asia
1.0
HIST 276
The City in Modern South Asia
1.0
HIST 367 / SAS 367
The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian
History
1.0
HIST 383
Seminar: 1947: Partition in History and Memory in South
Asia
1.0
HIST 395
Port Cities of the Indian Ocean (International History
Seminar - Topics Course)
1.0
HNUR 101
Elementary Hindi/Urdu I
1.0
HNUR 102
Elementary Hindi/Urdu II
1.0
HNUR 201
Intermediate Hindi/Urdu I
1.0
HNUR 202
Intermediate Hindi/Urdu II
1.0
MES 260 / REL 260*
Religion and Culture in Muslim Societies
1.0
MES 261 / REL 261*
Cities in the Islamic World
1.0
MES 263 / REL 263*
Islam in the Modern World
1.0
MES 267 / REL 267*
Muslim Ethics
1.0
MES 271 / REL 271*
Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian
Literature and Film
1.0
MES 347 / REL 347*
Muslim Ethics
1.0
MES 359 / REL 359*
Seminar: Power, Legitimacy and Authority in Muslim
Societies
1.0
MES 363 / REL 363*
Seminar: Law and Community in Muslim Societies
1.0
MES 365 / REL 365*
Cities in the Islamic World
1.0
MES 367 / REL 367*
Seminar: Muslim Travelers
1.0
MES 371 / REL 371*
Love and Longing in Middle Eastern and Iranian
Literature and Film
1.0
PEAC 104*
Introduction to the Study of Conflict, Justice, and Peace
1.0
PEAC 204*
Conflict Transformation in Theory and Practice
1.0
PEAC 225 / SAS 225
Gandhi in His Indian Contexts
1.0
PE 127
Classical Indian (Kathak) Dance
POL2 202*
Comparative Politics
1.0
POL2 204*
Political Economy of Development and
Underdevelopment
1.0
POL2 211
Politics of South Asia
1.0
POL2 310*
Seminar: Politics of Community Development
1.0
POL3 223
International Relations of South Asia
1.0
POL3 351*
Seminar: Global Governance
1.0
PSYC 346*
Seminar: Culture and Emotion
1.0
REL 108*
Introduction to Asian Religions
1.0
REL 206 / SAS 206
The Hindu Worlds
1.0
REL 222 / SAS 222
Classics of Hindu Spirituality
1.0
REL 241 / SAS 241
Courtesans in South Asian Literature and Films
1.0
REL 253*
Buddhist Thought and Practice
1.0
REL 257*
Contemplation and Action
1.0
REL 259*
Christianity in Asia
1.0
REL 270*
Religions of the Silk Road
1.0
REL 280 / SAS 280
South Asian Religions in the USA
1.0
REL 281 / SAS 211
Sacred Arts of South Asia
1.0
REL 301 / SAS 301
Seminar: Religion in Modern South Asia
1.0
REL 302 / SAS 302
Seminar: Traditional Narratives of South Asia
1.0
REL 303 / SAS 303
Seminar: Models of Religious Pluralism from South Asia
1.0
REL 357*
Seminar: Issues in Comparative Religion
1.0
REL 364*
Seminar: Sufism: Islamic Mysticism
1.0
SAS 232 / SOC 232
South Asian Diasporas
1.0
SAS 242
South Asian Diaspora Voices - Literature of Negotiations
1.0
SOC 309*
Nations in Global, Intersectional Perspective
1.0
Note: Courses with an asterisk (*) also require the permission of the instructor(s) and South Asia Studies
program director to count toward the South Asia Studies major or minor; they normally require a final paper
related to South Asia Studies.
South Asia Studies Minor
A minor in South Asia Studies requires five South Asia Studies or South Asia Studies related units. At least one
of these must be in the humanities, at least one in the social sciences, and at least one at the 300-level
(excluding 350). Only one course at the 100 level may count toward the minor. Introduction to Hindi-Urdu
cannot count toward the minor; Intermediate Hindi-Urdu can.
HNUR Courses
Course ID: HNUR101 Title: Elementary Hindi/Urdu I
An introduction to the most widely spoken language in the South Asian subcontinent, which is also used
extensively for interregional and international communications. Learning this language provides a linguistic
passport to things South Asian. The language-often referred to as "Hindustani"-is written in two different
scripts: the Perso-Arabic based Urdu, and the Sanskrit based Devanagari (Hindi). Students will learn to
converse in the language and to read and write in both scripts. Conventional teaching materials will be
supplemented by popular songs and clips from contemporary Indian cinema and television, the two
internationally popular media that use this language.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Delacy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HNUR102 Title: Elementary Hindi/Urdu II
Continuation of the introduction to the most widely spoken language in the South Asian subcontinent, which is
also used extensively for interregional and international communications. Learning this language provides a
linguistic passport to things South Asian. The language-often referred to as "Hindustani"-is written in two
different scripts: the Perso-Arabic based Urdu, and the Sanskrit based Devanagari (Hindi). Students will learn
to converse in the language and to read and write in both scripts. Conventional teaching materials will be
supplemented by popular songs and clips from contemporary Indian cinema and television, the two
internationally popular media that use this language.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: HNUR 101 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Delacy;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HNUR201 Title: Intermediate Hindi/Urdu I
Intermediate Hindi/Urdu will build on the reading, writing, and speaking skills acquired in Elementary
Hindi/Urdu (HNUR 101-HNUR 102). The readings, drawn from simple literary texts as well as from social and
journalistic writings, will reinforce the grammar learned in the introductory course and introduce new grammar
topics. The writing exercises-mainly in essay formats-will stress usage of idioms and sentence constructions
by students. The class will be conducted in Hindi/Urdu with a part of every class dedicated to conversation on
the theme of the day in the language.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: HNUR 102 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Delacy;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: HNUR202 Title: Intermediate Hindi/Urdu II
Intermediate Hindi/Urdu will build on the reading, writing, and speaking skills acquired earlier.The readings,
drawn from simple literary texts as well as from social and journalistic writings, will reinforce the grammar
learned in the introductory course and introduce new grammar topics. The writing exercises-mainly in essay
formats-will stress usage of idioms and sentence constructions by students. The class will be conducted in
Hindi/Urdu with a part of every class dedicated to conversation on the theme of the day in the language.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: HNUR 201 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Delacy;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
SAS Courses
Course ID: ANTH237/SAS237 Title: Ethnography in/of South Asia
Anthropology has a fraught and complex history within South Asia. Many of its techniques of knowledge
production were honed within the colonial context. In the postcolonial period, these techniques have been
taken up by scholars within the region and beyond to update and challenge long-standing understandings of
the region. Much historical and recent scholarship grapples with how one ought to understand the unique
nature of the region's forms of culture and social organization, and to place them in relation to modernity and
the West. South Asia proves an insistently fruitful case for assessing the universality or provincial nature of
Western social theory and to consider the connections between knowledge and power. In this course,
students will come to comprehend and assess the history of ethnography and anthropology in India, Pakistan,
and other parts of South Asia. Through contemporary ethnographic texts, they will also gain insight into the
major social and cultural categories and phenomena that have come to define South Asia today such as caste,
kinship and gender, class, nationalism, and popular culture. Throughout, we will consider the politics of
representation and knowledge production that are particularly fraught in this postcolonial context.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Walters; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTH239/SAS239 Title: Art and Architecture of South Asia
This course covers the visual culture of India from ancient Indus Valley civilization through Independence. It
follows the stylistic, technological, and iconographical developments of painting, sculpture, architecture, and
textiles as they were created for the subcontinent's major religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam.
We will examine the relationship between works of art and the political, economic, and social conditions that
shaped their production. It will emphasize such themes as religious and cultural diversity, mythology and
tradition, and royal and popular art forms. Attention will also be paid to colonialism and the close relationship
between collecting, patronage, and empire.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. ARTH 100 or WRIT 107 recommended.; Instructor: Oliver;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CAMS243/REL223/SAS243 Title: Shades of Love in Indian Cinema
This course explores the treatment of various types of love – for the beloved, the family, the community, the
motherland or the divine – in Indian cinema, the largest film industry in the world. We examine
Indian cinema's early phase in the colonial milieu, its flourishing in popular and art films since the 1950s, and
contributions of diaspora Indians. We will watch films by prominent directors of the postcolonial era who
articulated India’s national identity as well as the socio-religious and political aspirations of its common people
integrating indigenous sacred symbolism. We will consider how several films reflect a religious sensitivity in
portraying the motherland almost as a divine entity worthy of worship. Paying particular attention to the
distinctive grammar of song, dance and intense drama, we will analyze the ways in which the film-makers
reworked long-prevailing South Asian conventions of narration and performance in a medium imported from
Europe.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: HIST266/SAS266 Title: The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian History
This course examines the history of interaction of Africans, Arabs, Persians, and South Asians in the coastal
regions of East Africa, the Arabian/Persian Gulf, and India, which together enclose the western Indian Ocean.
In the period under study (1500 to the present), European imperial expansion and a globalizing economy
played an increasingly transformative role. We will read about the port cities connecting these shores; the
movements and networks of people; the objects and patterns of trade; the intensifying slave trade; shared
environmental and health hazards, and the exchange of legal and commercial practices, and religious and
political ideas.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to students with at least one course in either History or
African, Middle Eastern, or South Asian studies.; Instructor: Kapteijns and Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS Historical Studies; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as HIST 367/SAS 367 with additional assignments.;
Course ID: HIST367/SAS367 Title: The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian History
This course examines the history of interaction of Africans, Arabs, Persians, and South Asians in the coastal
regions of East Africa, the Arabian/Persian Gulf, and India, which together enclose the western Indian Ocean.
In the period under study (1500 to the present), European imperial expansion and a globalizing economy
played an increasingly transformative role. We will read about the port cities connecting these shores; the
movements and networks of people; the objects and patterns of trade; the intensifying slave trade; shared
environmental and health hazards, and the exchange of legal and commercial practices, and religious and
political ideas.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken
HIST 266/SAS 266.; Instructor: Kapteijns and Rao; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also
offered at the 200 level as HIST 266/SAS 266. At the 300-level, student writing assignments will encompass a
wider set of readings than at the 200-level of this course and include a short research paper. ;
Course ID: PEAC225/SAS225 Title: Gandhi in His Indian Contexts
PEAC/SAS 225 is a combined fall/Wintersession course, focusing on Mohandas Gandhi as a figure of global
significance, and also one deeply rooted in Indian history and cultures. During the fall at Wellesley, students
will study the sprawling and diverse cultural/political history of India; the many cultural and religious currents
that influenced Gandhi's thought; his model of nonviolent action (Satyagraha); various models of
contemporary grassroots organizing in India; and the art/skills of travel journaling. Then, during the winter,
students will travel to Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Coimbatore, residing and studying for then days at FLAME
University in Pune. The remaining ten days will be divided between Chennai and Coimbatore, where we will
partner with Praxis- Institute for Participatory Practices- an organization working on social justice issues with a
commitment to equity and participatory governance for poor and marginalized sectors of society. Students will
keep an extensive travel journal during their time in India. This course will meet every other week. First day of
the course will be Friday, September 14th.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: PEAC 104; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt, Confortini; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL206/SAS206 Title: The Hindu Worlds
This course will examine the major aspects of the constellation of distinct but interrelated religious traditions of
South Asia generally entitled “Hinduism.” The course will have three foci. One will be the sacred texts as well
as the intersecting ritual, philosophical, and devotional currents that laid the historical foundations of this
tradition and form integral parts of it to this day. These texts and currents are also linked to aesthetic
expressions that form a core of Hindu religious life. The second focus will be on Hindu social organization and
issues of political identity. This will cover the Hindu social divisions of caste, gendered roles and rituals as well
as issues related to Hindu nationalism. The third focus will be on practices followed by and negotiations made
by diaspora Hindus, especially those settled in America. This area will focus especially on Hindu responses to
diversity and interfaith dialogue.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and
Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL222/SAS222 Title: Classics of Hindu Spirituality
Hindu thinkers in all historical periods have interpreted the classics of Hindu spirituality and ethics within the
tradition for their own times. Do these texts have contemporary relevance? Do they offer spiritual inspiration for
individuals and ethical norms for a healthy society for our times? How have these been interpreted by modern
thinkers? We will examine a few major Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita from ancient times, and the lives
and lyrics of saintly poets from pre-modern times as primary texts as well as their modern interpretations. We
will also look at uses and abuses of the texts in social and political arenas. Most of these texts are structured in
a question-answer format, reflecting the spirit of questioning and dialog prevalent in the contexts of their
composition. Our examination will follow suit.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL241/SAS241 Title: Courtesans in South Asian Literature and Films
Mystifying and complex, the figure of courtesan has appeared as the foil to the virtuous and docile wife in
Sanskrit and Tamil classics of ancient India, early Urdu novels, and literary works of several South Asian
languages. Since the mid-twentieth century, the courtesan has appeared in films produced in South Asia as a
self-sacrificing character with a strong will. In this course, we will examine literary works in South Asian
languages since the antiquity with courtesans as central characters and films based on them. For each work,
we will first consider the figure of the courtesan in view of the cultural context of the time of its composition and
various theories of literary criticism. We will then analyze the film based on the work in terms of how the
interpretation of the character here compares with the literary work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other
year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL280/SAS280 Title: South Asian Religions in the USA
The form of a religion changes according to the social and historical contexts.. In the past century, a large
number of South Asians of diverse religious backgrounds have migrated to the USA and have established their
religious communities in its various regions. How have the Hindu, Muslim, Jain, and Buddhist South Asians
contributed to the growing religious diversity in the US? What adjustments have they made to meet the
expectations from religion in their new homeland where their children have grown? In this course we will
explore these questions employing the case-study approach. We will begin with a review of the historical forms
of religions in South Asia, followed by their study in the USA. Groups of students will pursue case-studies of
various South Asian communities in New England. The final project will bring the findings of all groups in a
collective study of South Asian religions in this part of the USA.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL281/SAS211 Title: Sacred Arts of South Asia
South Asia is one of the most religiously diverse regions of the world where Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, Jain,
Sikh, Christian, Jewish and native traditions have co-existed for centuries. The vibrancy of its cultural life
derives greatly from artistic expressions of devotion in its multiple traditions. Yet, the sacred artistic
expressions are not limited to the sphere of religion. This course explores visual as well as performative sacred
art forms of South Asia including architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and dance from a historical
perspective. The exploration focuses on symbolic vocabulary of various art forms, their significance as media
of religious/spiritual knowledge, and their role as sites of social encounters.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL301/SAS301 Title: Seminar: Religion in Modern South Asia
As a world Region, South Asia provides an important locus to understand the dynamics of religion and
modernity because of its long religious history and immense diversity. In many parts of South Asia, encounter
with modernity (as broadly defined) occurred in the context of colonial rule. The nature of the early processes
of modernization continues to impact the social and religious fabric of the region even today, often with deeply
divisive implications. This seminar will examine processes related to religion in South Asia since the late 19th
century to the present day. Along with the historical survey of events within South Asia, the implications of
current world affairs and the processes of globalization for South Asia's religious landscape will also be
examined.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Two units at the 200 level in South Asia studies, or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion,
Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: REL302/SAS302 Title: Traditional Narratives of South Asia
Narratives have long provided channels for shaping and reshaping of cultures around the world. South Asia
has one of the largest collections of folktales, mythology, epics, and romances in the world. This course will
explore traditional narratives from South Asia that have had significant cultural impact in the region. We will
examine them in translations not only as channels for transmission of cultural values, but also as sites of
debate through contested interpretations. Along with texts, performative traditions based on them and their use
in identity politics will be discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two units at the 200 level in South Asia studies, or permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral
Philosophy; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: REL303/SAS303 Title: Seminar: Models of Religious Pluralism from South Asia
Turning religious diversity into vibrant pluralism is a challenge faced by many parts of the world today. This
seminar will explore the development of pluralistic discourses, ideologies, and interactions in the history of
South Asia and will consider lessons this history may have for other religiously diverse societies. Readings will
include ancient texts; writings of Buddhist, Sufi, Sikh and Hindu saints of the medieval period; historical
documents about policies of the Mogul emperor Akbar; and modern writings on pluralism by Gandhi and
others. We will also discuss current scholarship on religious pluralism and visit interfaith organizations in the
Boston area. Final projects will give students opportunities to interact with local South Asian religious
communities and examine how engage with diversity in the diaspora.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution
Requirements: HS or REP - Historical Studies or Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SAS232/SOC232 Title: South Asian Diasporas
If any mention of South Asian culture conjures for you Bollywood films, Bharatanatyam dancers, and Google
engineers, then this course will prompt you to reconsider. Adopting a sociological perspective that examines
culture from the specific context of migration, we will study the histories of Punjabi-Mexican families in
California, Gujarati motel owners across the United States, South African Indians at the end of apartheid, and
Bangladeshi garment workers in London’s East End, among others. Through our study, we develop a
nuanced understanding of race, culture, migration, and upward mobility in the United States and beyond,
while also considering the power of mobile South Asian cultures, including movies, music, dance, and religion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: S. Radhakrishnan; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SAS242 Title: South Asian Diaspora Voices - Literature of Negotiations
Since the nineteenth century South Asians have migrated to different parts of the world as indentured laborers,
merchants, professionals, and some as refugees. Some have suffered great financial difficulties, and some
have enjoyed privilege. The writings that have emerged from South Asian diaspora communities reflect these
differences; yet they also tell a shared story of negotiating the two worlds - the homeland left behind (even for
the descendants of the immigrants) and the land of the new home far away from it. This course examines
writings – memoirs, essays, narratives, and poetry (in English) – of South Asians in the diaspora (in the West
Indies, Fiji, Africa, Europe, and the Americas) since the early twentieth century. It considers the common
themes as well as differences in diaspora experiences as well as stylistic differences in the use of the shared
language (English) among the writers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Shukla-Bhatt; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SAS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: SAS250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Independent (half-credit) research project supervised by a faculty member.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 3; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: SAS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: SAS350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: SAS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: SAS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: SAS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Spanish
Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the United States and the world today. The
Department of Spanish & Portuguese offers a variety of courses intended to help students acquire proficiency
in the language and develop critical skills of analysis and interpretation for exploring the rich and varied
literatures and cultures that have emerged over 10 centuries in the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world.
The program emphasizes fundamental links between the study of language and its broader cultural contexts.
Spanish Information
Courses are normally conducted in Spanish; oral expression is stressed.
The department reserves the right to place new students in the courses for which they seem best prepared
regardless of the number of units they have offered for admission.
SPAN 101-SPAN 102 and SPAN 201-SPAN 202 are counted toward the degree, but not toward the major.
Spanish Major
Learning Goals for the Spanish Major
Develop an advanced level of linguistic fluency in Spanish
Recognize texts from a wide array of societies and time periods
Analyze texts in academic papers and/or public essays
Utilize diverse critical approaches to the study of literature and culture
Value the ability to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with others across cultures
Requirements for the Spanish Major
A minimum of eight units exclusive of SPAN 101-SPAN 102 and SPAN 201-SPAN 202 must be presented for
the Spanish major. Also required are at least two 300-level units, including a seminar during the senior year.
Both of the 300-level courses counted toward the major must be taken at Wellesley. SPAN 350, SPAN 360, and
SPAN 370 count toward the major, but normally do not fulfill the two 300-level courses requirement.
The major in Spanish incorporates considerable flexibility in designing a program of study, but must include
the following elements, chosen in consultation with the major advisor:
Foundational work: normally SPAN 241 or SPAN 243. Qualified students may begin the major at a
higher level
Breadth: course work focused on Spain as well as offerings focused on the Americas
Depth: two units in which a student concentrates on a special field of her choice, such as:
A single literary or artistic form (i.e., prose narrative, poetry, film)
A broad cultural movement or theme (i.e., modernity, feminism, human rights)
A specific region of the Spanish-speaking world (i.e., Mesoamerica, Southern Cone, the
Caribbean, U.S. Latino) and its cultural production
Historical perspective: at least one unit in Medieval, Renaissance, Golden Age, or Latin American
Colonial literature and culture
Upon approval from the department, up to four courses taken during a semester of study away from Wellesley
and up to five during a full academic year away may be counted toward the major. No credit for internships,
regardless of having a course component, will be counted towards the major.
One course in Portuguese taken at Wellesley at the 203-level or above may be counted toward the major in
Spanish.
For students interested in an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Latin America, also available is the
interdepartmental major in Latin American Studies, which allows students to choose from a list of courses in
different departments, including Spanish. Majors devise their own programs in consultation with the directors
of Latin American Studies. Students are referred to the Latin American studies interdepartmental program
listing for further information.
Honors in Spanish
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. For students entering
in Fall 2020: To be admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.75
in all work in the major field above the 100 level and to be approved by the department; Student with a GPA in
the major is between 3.5 and 3.75 can petition the department. See Academic Distinctions.
Teacher Certification in Spanish
Students interested in obtaining certification to teach Spanish in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should
consult Professor Hawes of the Department of Education.
Advanced Placement Policies and Language Requirement in Spanish and Portuguese
Students who demonstrate adequate preparation for advanced work in the language through a
placement exam, through an AP score of 5, or through an IB Higher Level Score of 5 or above, may complete
the language requirement by completion of one unit of work taught in that language in an advanced
course. identified by the department or program, or by completing two semesters of introductory work in
a different language.
International Study in Spanish
Qualified juniors are encouraged to spend a semester or a year in a Spanish-speaking country either with
Wellesley's consortium program in Córdoba, Spain, and in partnership with Middlebury in Santiago, Chile, or
another approved program. To be eligible for study in Córdoba for one or two semesters in Wellesley's
Programa de Estudios Hispánicos en Córdoba (PRESHCO), or in Santiago with the Wellesley/Middlebury in
Chile Program a student should ordinarily be enrolled in SPAN 241 or a higher-level language or literature
course the previous semester.
Courses for Credit Toward the Spanish Major
EDUC 325
Seminar: English as a Second Language via Immersion
1.0
Global Portuguese Studies Minor
The Global Portuguese Studies Minor is an interdisciplinary program at Wellesley College that gives students
the opportunity to combine the study of language, literature, history, film, music and culture.
Goals for the Global Portuguese Studies Minor:
Communicate effectively in written and spoken Portuguese;
Develop analytical and writing skills by studying and understanding the diverse cultures of the
Lusophone world;
Identify key topics in contemporary film, music and fiction within the social, political and historical
contexts of the modern Lusophone world;
Recognize pivotal historical events and representative historical figures in the Lusophone world;
Develop abilities to participate in a global multilingual and multicultural community; and
Enable students to pursue these goals across multiple disciplines and departments.
Requirements for the Global Portuguese Studies Minor
The Global Portuguese Studies Minor requires a minimum of five units of course work. Students with advanced
level of linguistic fluency in Portuguese may not have to complete Intensive Elementary and/or Intensive
Intermediate Portuguese, but still must complete five units of course work. Before declaring a minor, students
should consult with their faculty advisor and the Portuguese program director. Requirements for the minor in
Global Portuguese Studies include:
Three Required Courses:
PORT 203 – Intensive Intermediate Portuguese
PORT 241 – Introduction to Lusophone Studies
PORT 256/AFR 256 – The Cultures of the Portuguese-Speaking World through Film, Music, and Fiction
(all graded work must be in Portuguese)
Two Elective Units:
All elective courses, research or individual studies, must be approved by the Portuguese Program
director if not listed as pre-approved below.
One unit must be in a course where all graded work is in Portuguese.
Transfer Credit:
Only one unit can be transferred from another institution and must be approved by the Portuguese program
director. It can be, for example, from MIT or Study abroad.
Study Abroad Credit:
Must be pre-approved by the Portuguese program director.
Possible Elective Courses
Pre-approved Portuguese elective courses taught at Wellesley College and MIT:
PORT 250 – Research or Individual Study
PORT 350 – Research or Individual Study (awaiting approval)
PORT 314/MUS 314 – Seminar: Brazilian Music (all graded work must be in Portuguese)
(MIT) 21G.821 – The Beat of Brazil: Portuguese Language and Brazilian Society through its Music
Pre-approved courses taught in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese related to the Portuguese-speaking
world:
PORT 266/SPAN 266 – Private Feelings, Public Lives: An Introduction to Early Modern Iberian
Literatures and Cultures
SPAN 272 – Understanding Modern Spain
PORT310/SPAN 310 - Seminar. Foreign Affairs: Spain and Portugal
Pre-approved courses taught in the Department of History related to the Portuguese-speaking world:
HIST 206 – From Conquest to Revolution: The History of Colonial Latin America
HIST 358 – Pepper, Silver, and Silk: The Political Culture of Early Modern Commodity Circulation,
Seminar
HIST 377 – Seminar. The City in Latin America
Potential Courses for Credit Toward the Global Portuguese Studies Minor
Courses that do not deal exclusively/specifically with the Lusophone world but can possibly be used for credit.
This list is only a sample and other courses, not listed here, may be considered for credit. Students must get
approval from the instructor teaching the course to focus their research on the Portuguese-speaking world. To
receive credit for the Global Portuguese Studies Minor, students must concentrate research and final paper(s)
on the Portuguese-speaking world and receive advance approval from the Portuguese program director.
AFR 244 – Women & Slavery in the Trans-Atlantic World
ECON 241 – Poverty and Inequality in Latin America
ES 214 – Social Causes and Consequences of Environmental Problems
HIST 265 – History of Modern Africa
LAST 101 – Introduction to Latin American Studies
SPAN 252 – The Making of Spain: Christians, Jews, and Moslems
SPAN 253 – The Latin American Short Story
SPAN 257 – The Word and the Song: Contemporary Latin American Poetry
SPAN 265 – Latin American Cinema
SPAN 273 – Latin American Civilization
SPAN 275 – The Making of Modern Latin American Culture
WGST 314 – Seminar: Transnational Feminisms
WRIT 158 – Bestsellers after the Boom: Contemporary Latin American Literature in Translation
PORT Courses
Course ID: AFR256/CPLT256/PORT256 Title: Cultures of the Portuguese-Speaking World through Film, Music
and Fiction (In English)
This course is conducted in English and will introduce students to the cultures of the Portuguese-speaking
world through selected films, music and readings. In this interdisciplinary course, we will explore how
filmmakers, musicians and writers respond to social and political changes in Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde,
Mozambique and Portugal. Topics covered include colonialism; postcolonialism; wars of independence in
Africa; Brazil’s military dictatorship; Portugal´s New State dictatorship; evolving national identities; and
representations of trauma and memory. Readings are in English and films have subtitles.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Igrejas; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: MUS314/PORT314 Title: Brazilian Music and the Politics of Culture
From the dawn of the 20th century, Brazil has promoted itself to the world as a particularly musical country. In
addition to samba, the country is the birthplace of many well-loved genres including choro, bossa nova, and
funk carioca. Brazilian popular song is considered by many to be a literary genre where songwriters such as
Vinicius de Morais and Arnaldo Antunes describe themselves as poets and their lyrics are major topics of
study by scholars of Portuguese literature. In this course, we will uncover the historical and cultural origins of
many of the major musical developments in Brazil and explore how they express polemics around citizenship,
social activism, and cosmopolitanism. Students familiar with Portuguese will have the option of additional,
focused study of Portuguese lyrics and will be encouraged to compose their writing assignments in
Portuguese.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: MUS 100 or permission of the instructor. Students with prior
experience with World Music, Portuguese, or Latin American Studies courses are especially encouraged to
register.; Instructor: Goldschmitt; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PORT101 Title: Elementary Portuguese
Introduction to listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Portuguese. Authentic cultural readings, art, music,
and films from Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe,
and East Timor will be included.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Igrejas; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PORT102 Title: Elementary Portuguese
Introduction to listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Portuguese. Authentic cultural readings, art, music,
and films from Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe,
and East Timor will be included.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: PORT 101 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Igrejas;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PORT103 Title: Intensive Elementary Portuguese
Introduction to listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Portuguese. Authentic cultural readings, art, music,
and films from Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and
East Timor will be included. The course covers the full-year elementary language curriculum in one semester.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Igrejas; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PORT203 Title: Intensive Intermediate Portuguese
Review and expansion of all language skills and continued study of Lusophone art, music, film, and literature.
Emphasis on oral and written expression and critical analysis. The course covers the full-year intermediate
language curriculum in one semester.
Units: 1.25; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: PORT 103 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Igrejas;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PORT241 Title: Introduction to Lusophone Studies
Practice in oral and written Portuguese at the advanced level. Serves as a transition between language study
and cultural studies through the examination of Lusophone cultural and artistic production. Designed to
enhance communicative competence, this course will include a review of advanced grammatical structures
within cultural contexts of the Lusophone world. Class discussions focus on the readings and films, as well as
current events from around the Portuguese-speaking world. Oral interactions and critical writing will be
stressed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: PORT 203 or equivalent, and to heritage speakers with permission
of the instructor.; Instructor: Igrejas; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PORT250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Topics will vary.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Instructor: Igrejas; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: PORT250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Research or Individual Study.
Topics, assessment, and reading will vary.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Igrejas; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: PORT266/SPAN266 Title: Private Feelings, Public Lives: An Introduction to Early Modern Iberian
Literatures and Cultures
How did authors find new ways to think about the self in the Iberian Peninsula? How do their lives and works
relate to the transformation of Spanish and Portuguese into global languages? This course constitutes an
introduction to the literary and cultural production of Spain and Portugal from 1492 to 1681. We will discuss
why the works of this period are considered "classics" and have an enduring impact in the Hispanic world.
Analysis of key texts will be accompanied by samples of painting and music. Topics include: the importance of
concepts such as love and honor in the private and public spheres, the role of ethnic identities and political
processes in the representation of the Iberian modern subject, women writers, and self-representation through
writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Arraiza-Rivera; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PORT310/SPAN310 Title: Seminar. Foreign Affairs: Spain and Portugal
This course explores how early modern Spanish literature and other forms of cultural production (such as
music, paintings and engravings), depict peoples and places perceived as foreign or other in relation to
Spain's political dimension as a world power in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe. Places like Italy and
England or social groups such as Spain's moriscos appear in Golden Age literature in complex, often
surprising ways. We will analyze the historical and cultural processes that inform such representations and
also read how is Spain, and its dwellers, represented in contrast to people viewed as culturally and ethnically
different in major works. Novels by Cervantes and María Zayas, plays by Calderón de la Barca, and poetry by
Garcilaso and Camões will be discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Arraiza-Rivera; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PORT350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Topics will vary.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 4; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Igrejas; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
SPAN Courses
Course ID: JWST277/SPAN277 Title: The Jewish Women Writers of Latin America
This course will explore the vibrant literary culture of Jewish women writers of Latin America from the 1920s to
the present. We will examine selected works by these authors, daughters of immigrants, whose various literary
genres reveal the struggle with issues of identity, acculturation, and diasporic imagination. Writers include
Alicia Steimberg of Argentina, Clarice Lispector of Brazil, and Margo Glantz of Mexico, as well as a new
generation of writers who explore issues of multiculturalism and ethnicity.
This course is taught in Spanish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or SPAN 242 or
equivalent (AP 5) or by permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken JWST 377/SPAN
377.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the
300-level as JWST 377/SPAN 377.;
Course ID: JWST377/SPAN377 Title: The Jewish Women Writers of Latin America
This course will explore the vibrant literary culture of Jewish women writers of Latin America from the 1920s to
the present. We will examine selected works by these authors, daughters of immigrants, whose various literary
genres reveal the struggle with issues of identity, acculturation, and diasporic imagination. Writers include
Alicia Steimberg of Argentina, Clarice Lispector of Brazil, and Margo Glantz of Mexico, as well as a new
generation of writers who explore issues of multiculturalism and ethnicity.
Students in JWST 227/SPAN 277 and JWST 377/SPAN 377 will all get the same material, but students taking
the 300-level version of the course will have additional assignments, including formal presentations and longer
writing and independent work.
This course is taught in Spanish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to Junior and Senior majors or by permission of the
instructor. Not open to students who have taken JWST 277/SPAN 277.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as JWST 277/SPAN 277.;
Course ID: LAST273/SPAN273 Title: Latin American Civilization
An introduction to the multiple elements constituting Latin American culture. An examination of the principal
characteristics of Spanish colonialism and Creole nationalism will inform our general understanding of Latin
American culture today. Readings and class discussions will cover such topics as military and spiritual
conquest, the Indian and African contributions, the emergence of criollo and mestizo discourses, and gender
and race relations. Readings will include the works of Latin American writers, filmmakers, and historians.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or SPAN 242 or
equivalent (AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Guzauskyte; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAST275/SPAN275 Title: The Making of Modern Latin American Culture
An examination of the principal characteristics of the search for identity and independence of the emerging
Latin American nations as expressed in literary, historical, and anthropological writing. We will examine the
experience of each of four distinct regions: Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, the Andean countries,
and the Southern Cone. Readings will include the works of contemporary Latin American writers, filmmakers,
and historians. Special attention will be given to the relationship between social issues and the evolution of
literary form.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or SPAN 242 or
equivalent (AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Selimovic; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAST287/SPAN287 Title: Creativity and Imagination: Twentieth Century Women Poets of Spain
and Latin America
Beginning with Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin-American Nobel Laureate for Literature, this course focuses on
the leading women poets in both Spain and the Americas. Central to this production are themes of human
rights and social justice, gender, and the expression of love and desire. While the class will examine
connections between women poets on both sides of the Atlantic, differences in terms of negotiating a maledominated publication infrastructure will be examined. Other than Mistral, poets will include Concha Méndez,
Rosa Chacel, Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Clara Janés, Cristina Peri Rossi, Gloria Fuertes, and from the Americas,
Delmira Agustini, Alfonsina Storni, Idea Villarino, Violeta Parra and others.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Students who have completed Spanish 241 and Spanish 242, or
AP 5, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LAST317/SPAN317 Title: Seminar: Intermedial Pleasures in Latin American Film
This course centers on connections between recent Latin American films and other media, especially music,
literature, and television. We will explore how such connections critique certain sociopolitical and cultural
milieus that the selected films spring from, seek to represent, or both. Interdisciplinary readings will anchor our
discussions as we focus on illuminating the films’ nuanced commentaries on local particularities—but also
foreign influences—through the intersections of politics, agency, gender, and race. Alejandro González
Iñárritu, Juan José Campanella, Fabián Bielinsky, Martín Rejtman, Paula Markovitch, Paz Encina, Jayro
Bustamente, and Lucrecia Martel will be at the heart of the course, for their films have reconfigured
contemporary Latin American cinema in unexpected ways.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to Senior and Junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Selimovic; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: LING270/SPAN270 Title: Language, Sociopolitics, and Identity: Spanish in the United States
This course provides a sociolinguistic overview of Spanish in the US by examining concepts such as language
ideologies, language identity, language attitudes, language maintenance and shift, the politics of language,
language contact, bilingualism, the relationship of language to Latinx identities, and how language ideologies
and policies reflect and shape societal views of Spanish and its speakers, race, identity, and education. This
course will provide a descriptive, historical and linguistic overview of the different Spanish-English bilingual
communities in the US. For instance, we will examine the use and representation of Spanish and
misconceptions about Spanish varieties and Latinx communities in a wide array of contexts, including
everyday speech, contemporary culture, media and the portrayal in the media, education, and policy. Reading
selections will be in Spanish (for the most part) and English. Homework, projects, exams and class
discussions will be strictly in Spanish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or SPAN 242 or
equivalent (AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bassa Vanrell; Distribution Requirements: SBA
- Social and Behavioral Analysis; LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: MER248/SPAN248 Title: Cordoba: City and Myth
Few cities are as imbued with history, culture and myth as is Cordoba in the south of Spain. As of 2018 it can
boast even more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other city in the world. As “City of Three Cultures” it
witnessed the convergence over centuries of the three main monotheistic religions, a commingling that, while
unique in medieval civilization, was rarely completely harmonious and may have oftentimes been overly
idealized. Print materials (including philosophical and literary production), recent educational media (including
digital architectural reconstructions) and samples of dance and music will offer students the opportunity to see
how cultural cross pollination resulted in significant and lasting contributions to the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Instructor: Vega; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PORT266/SPAN266 Title: Private Feelings, Public Lives: An Introduction to Early Modern Iberian
Literatures and Cultures
How did authors find new ways to think about the self in the Iberian Peninsula? How do their lives and works
relate to the transformation of Spanish and Portuguese into global languages? This course constitutes an
introduction to the literary and cultural production of Spain and Portugal from 1492 to 1681. We will discuss
why the works of this period are considered "classics" and have an enduring impact in the Hispanic world.
Analysis of key texts will be accompanied by samples of painting and music. Topics include: the importance of
concepts such as love and honor in the private and public spheres, the role of ethnic identities and political
processes in the representation of the Iberian modern subject, women writers, and self-representation through
writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Arraiza-Rivera; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PORT310/SPAN310 Title: Seminar. Foreign Affairs: Spain and Portugal
This course explores how early modern Spanish literature and other forms of cultural production (such as
music, paintings and engravings), depict peoples and places perceived as foreign or other in relation to
Spain's political dimension as a world power in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe. Places like Italy and
England or social groups such as Spain's moriscos appear in Golden Age literature in complex, often
surprising ways. We will analyze the historical and cultural processes that inform such representations and
also read how is Spain, and its dwellers, represented in contrast to people viewed as culturally and ethnically
different in major works. Novels by Cervantes and María Zayas, plays by Calderón de la Barca, and poetry by
Garcilaso and Camões will be discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Arraiza-Rivera; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN101 Title: Elementary Spanish
Introduction to spoken and written Spanish; stress on interactive approach. Extensive and varied activities,
including oral presentations, cultural readings and recordings, and video program.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Arraiza Rivera, Staff; Typical Periods Offered:
Summer; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SPAN102 Title: Elementary Spanish
Introduction to spoken and written Spanish; stress on interactive approach. Extensive and varied activities,
including oral presentations, cultural readings and recordings, and video program.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: SPAN 101 or placement by the department.; Instructor: Arraiza
Rivera, Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN201 Title: Intermediate Spanish
Intensive review of all language skills and introduction to the art, literature, and cultures of Spain and Latin
America. Emphasis on oral and written expression and critical analysis.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: SPAN 102, or placement by the department.; Instructor: Bassa
Vanrell, Selimovic, Staff; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SPAN202 Title: Intermediate Spanish
Intensive review of all language skills and introduction to the art, literature, and cultures of Spain and Latin
America. Emphasis on oral and written expression and critical analysis.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: SPAN 201 or placement by the department.; Instructor: Bassa
Vanrell, Selimovic, Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Summer; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN241 Title: Spanish Around the World
Practice in oral and written Spanish at the advanced level. Designed to enhance communicative competence,
this course will provide an intensive review of advanced grammatical structures within cultural contexts of the
Spanish-speaking world. Each section will explore a specific theme through the examination of Hispanic
literary texts and the arts, as well as other cultural phenomena. Varied oral interactions, technological
applications, and critical writing will be stressed.
Topics for Fall 2024:
Culture, Politics, and Creativity; Instructor: Selimovic
This course studies cultural expressions as invigorating glimpses into socio-political realities of Latin America
and Spain. We will explore how writers, film directors, poets, and artists respond to social demands, political
changes, and cultural shifts in particular times, places, and communities. Selected works engage students with
diverse cultural repertoires of the Hispanic world in interdisciplinary ways. We will spotlight the relationship
between political violence and literature in Argentina and Chile; displacement and photography in Spain and
Uruguay; domestic workers and film in Mexico and Peru; education and artistic activism in El Salvador and
Nicaragua; and exile and poetry in Cuba and Paraguay.
Art with a Cause in Modern Spain; Instructor: Ramos
Artists in Spain have a long tradition of confronting violence and injustice as well as raising awareness, about
pressing issues from the effect of wars on civilians to domestic abuse. This class will explore how modern
Spanish artists have used their work to comment on and change minds about the thornie*st matters of their
time. Our analysis will range through many different forms of art, including painting, performance art,
photography, graphic novels, film, and popular music.
Topics for Spring 2025:
The Marvelous in Latin American Literature and Culture; Instructor: Guzauskyte
This course explores the intersections between fantasy and reality in literary texts, art, film, cultural events, and
digital content from various Spanish-speaking countries (Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia,
Argentina, and Spain). Texts and materials to be studied range from pre-Hispanic indigenous myth and art, to
works from colonial and contemporary periods. We will study how societies and individual authors have
explored fantasy and imagination in their various forms including myth, fable, magic, superstition, miracle,
hallucination, magic realism, and the fantastic. Course materials will include readings, works of art, film, and
music. Focus on class discussions, public speaking, and student writing, both critical and creative. Ann E.
Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.
Biodiversity and the Arts; Instructor: Staff
This course explores the representation of biological diversity in literature written in Spanish, and in other
forms of cultural expression. Through creative writing exercises, short essays, translations, and oral
presentations, students will analyze both the conservation efforts to preserve the diversity of plants, animals
and ecosystems by cultures of the Americas, and how biological diversity has been central to that region.
Course materials will include readings, artwork, movies, and music.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: SPAN 201, SPAN 202 or placement by the Department.; Instructor:
Guzauskyte, Ramos, Selimovic, Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: SPAN243 Title: Spanish for Heritage Learners: Learning Language Through Culture
This course is for Heritage Learners of Spanish. Heritage Speakers have learned Spanish primarily as an
immersion experience at home. Participants will improve their written and oral Spanish through the
examination of cultural assumptions and values. Content is based on a variety of topics such as legends,
differing historical perspectives, traditions, and others. The review of language structures and grammar will
emerge from students’ language levels. Participants will read novels, short stories, plays, and essays. Students
will examine multimedia illustrating experiences of Latinos/Hispanics in the United States. By the end of the
semester, students will gain an understanding of how their culture influences language learning and how
language learning affects their perspective of Latino/Hispanic culture. The course is conducted entirely in
Spanish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: For students who have learned Spanish primarily through an
immersion experience abroad or at home.; Instructor: Arraiza Rivera; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SPAN244 Title: Spain in the US: Facing the Past, Imagining the Future
The legacy of Spain in the US is a complicated one. On the one hand, Spanish conquest and colonization had
devastating effects on indigenous peoples of North America. On the other, Spain has had an extensive and
lasting influence on American and Hispanic cultures, especially in the areas of language, religion, art, and
architecture. Through a multidisciplinary approach, this class will explore the space that Spain has occupied in
shaping America, from the early 16th century to today. It will also look ahead, as we try to envision what impact
Spain will have on the US in the years to come. In order to understand the past, assess the present, and
imagine the future, we will read chronicles from early Spanish explorers of North America, investigate
Mission/Spanish revival architecture and painting, examine the testimonies of American travelers to Spain, and
learn about social justice interventions of contemporary indigenous activists, including attacks on statues
linked to colonialism and slavery in the United States depicting prominent figures from Spain’s past.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Ramos; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300
level as SPAN 344 with additional assignments.;
Course ID: SPAN246 Title: Spanish Through the Lens of Theatre
This class integrates the reading, studying and performing of some of the most important plays in Spanish
Theatre. Students will learn about the Spanish theatrical tradition while developing their language and critical
skills. Taught in Spanish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: SPAN 241. Not open to students who have taken THST 246.;
Instructor: Ramos; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN247 Title: Colonial Andes
The course explores the mythological, literary, artistic, and cultural landscapes of the Andes spanning the
ancient civilizations (including the Nazca, Moche, and Inca) and throughout the colonial period, prior to the
proclamation of Independence of the countries in the region. Emphasis on Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and
Colombia, including their Afro-Andean and immigrant communities. Authors and texts will include pre-Hispanic
oral traditions in Quechua, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Guamán Poma de Ayala, Catalina de Erauso, Baltasar
Jaime Martínez Compañón, Ricardo Palma, Clorinda Matto de Turner, as well as select postcolonial writers
and theorists.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Guzauskyte; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SPAN250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring;
Course ID: SPAN250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: SPAN251 Title: Youth in Argentine Fiction and Film
This course explores the construction of the child and adolescent voices in Argentine contemporary fiction and
film. We will consider how young protagonists’ curiosities, trepidations, and transgressions in adult-regimented
worlds have critical implications for class, gender, sexual and racial politics. Our discussions will center on
diverse portrayals of children and adolescents as navigators of their settings, which range from shantytowns to
country clubs, rural provinces to urban centers, homeless shelters to sheltered existences. Short stories, films,
novels, and flash fiction by Ariel Magnus, Lucrecia Martel, Mariana Enríquez, Daniela Seggiaro, Paula
Markovitch, Andrés Neuman, and Agustina Bazterrica will be considered.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Selimovic ; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SPAN252 Title: The Making of Spain: Christians, Jews, and Moslems
A study of selected works, creators and historical events that shaped Spain's multiethnic and linguistically
diverse identity from the 10th to the 17th centuries. Authors and topics explored in this class include El Cantar
de Mío Cid, Alfonso X el Sabio and the Spain of the "three cultures", the poetry of Hebrew and Arabic Spain,
the Reconquista, and the writing of American Chronicles, as well as some examples of the work of Garcilaso
de la Vega, Fray Luis de León, Santa Teresa, San Juan de la Cruz, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderón de
la Barca.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Vega; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN253 Title: The Latin American Short Story
A survey of the genre with in-depth analysis of works in Spanish by foundational writers Ricardo Palma, Rubén
Darío, and Horacio Quiroga, as well as twentieth-century masters Jorge Luis Borges, Clarice Lispector, Julio
Cortázar, Juan Rulfo, Carlos Fuentes, and Gabriel García Márquez, among others. Special attention to voices
that have emerged since 2000, such as Mayra Santos (Puerto Rico), Rita Indiana Hernández (Dominican
Republic), Edmundo Paz Soldán (Bolivia), and Roberto Bolaño (Chile/Mexico). Contemporary texts published
in indigenous languages will be read in Spanish translation. We will explore themes of identity, memory, class,
freedom, creative expression, myth-making, violence, mass media, race, education, women, children, and
urban and rural life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN254 Title: Alienation and Desire in the City: Spanish Literature Since 1936
A study of the struggle for self-expression in Franco's Spain and the transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Special attention will be devoted to the literature of the Civil War and exile. The readings will include more
recent explorations of the Spanish Civil War in literature, cinema and politics. Authors include Mercè Rodoreda,
Carmen Laforet, Manuel Rivas, Alberto Méndez, Adelaida García Morales, and Víctor Erice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Ramos; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN257 Title: The Word and the Song: Contemporary Latin American Poetry
A study of the major twentieth-century poets of Latin America, focusing on literary movements and aesthetic
representation. Poets to be examined include Vicente Huidobro, Gabriela Mistral, Octavio Paz, and César
Vallejo.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN263 Title: Women's Art and Activism in Latin America
Since the early 1970s, women in Latin America have been at the forefront of social justice initiatives and have
held important leadership positions. Artistic expression has both informed and driven much of this activist
engagement. Literature, film, textile arts, and painting are only a few dimensions of this dual agenda of artistic
expression and ensuring human rights. The course will examine key movements in Latin America-from the
rejection of dictatorial regimes to a call for greater indigenous rights-paying particular attention to the role of
women, both as individuals and as a group, in these movements.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN265 Title: Latin American Cinema
This course will explore the history of Latin American cinema, from the early 1960s to the present. Different
forms of cinematic expression will be explored: narrative film, the documentary, the cinema of exile, and
others. Issues of national culture and identity, as well as cultural exchanges of films between Latin America and
abroad, will be addressed. In addition to the films themselves, students will be required to read selected works
on film criticism and several literary texts that have been made into films. Films to be examined may include
Angelitos negros, México:Agua para chocolate, Rojo amanecer, Novia que te vea, Roma; Argentina: Camila,
Kamchatka, La historia oficial; Chile: El último traje, Machuca, Una mujer fantástica: El Salvador: Voces
inocentes: Colombia: María llena de gracia, Cuba: Memorias del subdesarrollo, Azúcar amarga, Miel para
Oshún. Documentary films may include Reportero, Cartas del otro lado, 911, Pedro Pan: Del otro lado del
cristal, 90 Millas; La República Dominicana: Trópico de la sangre.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN267 Title: The Writer and Human Rights in Latin America
The role of the Latin American writer as witness and voice for the persecuted. Through key works of poetry and
prose from the 1970s to the present, we will explore the ways in which literature depicts issues such as
censorship and self-censorship; the writer as journalist; disappearances; exile; testimonial writing; gender and
human rights; and testimonial narratives. The works of Benedetti, Timmerman, Alegría, and others will be
studied.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; REP - Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Not open to students who have taken SPAN 261.;
Course ID: SPAN269 Title: The Caribbean Experience: Literature, Culture and History
An introduction to the major literary, historical, artistic and cultural traditions of the Caribbean. Attention will
focus on the Spanish-speaking island countries: Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. We will discuss
such topics as slavery, independence, nation-building, race, gender, dictatorship, and immigration. We will use
a variety of texts, films and artworks. Authors may include Juan Francisco Manzano, José Martí, Julia de
Burgos, Alejo Carpentier, Nicolás Guillén, Nancy Morejón, Luis Palés Matos, Mayra Santos Febres and Junot
Díaz.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN272 Title: Understanding Modern Spain
A multidisciplinary introduction to contemporary Spain’s life and culture. Literary, historical, artistic, and
anthropological readings will inform our understanding of recurrent themes in the construction and
questioning of Spanish national identity and culture: Spain as a nexus of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic
thought; centripetal vs. centrifugal forces; religion and class; long-term economic and cultural consequences
of global empire; dictatorship and democracy. Attention will be paid to Portugal and to the diversity of
languages and cultures of the Iberian Peninsula.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Ramos; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SPAN278 Title: Writing Women: Early Modern Spain
This course offers an introduction to the works of Spanish women authors ranging from the fifteenth century to
the seventeenth. Topics include: the links between gender constructs and literary genres, representations of
women's voices in early poetry, novels, letters and autobiography, rhetorical and artistic self-fashioning, and
the analysis of women's access to writing, education, and socio-political institutions in early modern Spain.
Texts by, among others, Teresa de Cartagena, Florencia Pinar, Teresa of Ávila, María de Zayas, Ana Caro,
Hipólita de Narváez, Sor María de Ágreda and Sor Marcela de san Félix along artworks by Sofonisba
Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana will be read and discussed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5); or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Arraiza-Rivera; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN279 Title: Female Fashion in Colonial Latin America
In this interdisciplinary course, students will acquire a deep understanding of the colonial Latin American
period, while learning to identify and interpret textiles, clothing items, and fashion movements. Focus on
female garb in the 17th and 18th centuries Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Mexico. Topics will include dress as a
form of language, representation, and performance; morality, and sexuality; dress and politics. Materials will
include primary and secondary sources; illustrations of clothing in printed and manuscript texts; textiles and
clothing in museums, Special Collections, and digital collections; films and webcasts; and representations of
clothing in various art forms and digital sources. Students will undertake a digital humanities project. Museum
and Wellesley College Special Collections.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241, or placement
by the department.; Instructor: Guzauskyte; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN291 Title: Goddesses, Muses, Warriors: Women in Pre-Hispanic and Colonial Latin America
The course focuses on women’s literary expression and the roles women played in the societies of preHispanic and colonial Latin America, ranging from serving as concubines and slaves to being recognized as
key figures of leadership and prominent literary voices. The course will integrate writing by women with the
ways in which women are depicted in visual and material culture, historical sources, and film. Authors to be
studied may include Anacaona, la Malinche, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda,
among others. In Spanish.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Guzauskyte; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language
and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN293 Title: The Legacy of the Nineteenth Century: Race, Gender, and Nation in Latin
American Literature and Culture
An examination of the interweaving relationship between race and gender in the framework of nation building
during Latin America's era of independence. Through literary, cultural, and historical studies, we will explore
how the ideological trends that defined the fundamental characteristics of the nineteenth century continue to
shape Latin American identities today. A wide range of literary genres will be discussed (essays, novels,
poems, and chronicles), as well as other cultural products, such as art, music, and film. Topics covered
include wars of independence, art and nationalism, anti-imperialism, the role of gender and sexuality in the
national imagination, slavery and violence, and popular culture (e.g. folkloric music, dance, visual arts).
Readings may cover texts by Simón Bolívar, Andrés Bello, Domingo F. Sarmiento, José Martí, José Enrique
Rodó, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Clorinda Matto de Turner, and José de Alencar.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed SPAN 241 or equivalent
(AP 5) or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hagimoto; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN299 Title: Affect and Emotions in Latin American Literature and Film
This course focuses on the tensions between affect and emotions in contemporary Latin American films and
literary texts as terrains of sociopolitical and cultural critique. Focus on the works of Quiroga, Borges, Cortázar,
Enríquez, Zambra, Bizzio, Valenzuela, Eltit, Valdés, Jodorowsky, Puenzo, Martel, Llosa, and Markovitch.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: SPAN 241 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Selimovic;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN301 Title: Seminar: New Argentine Cinema
This course focuses on a burst of creative expression across different cinematic genres in Argentina from 1995
to the present. Renowned as the New Argentine Cinema (NAC), which continues to regenerate imaginatively,
this aesthetic tendency has evolved and propagated its founders’ inimitable artistic and thematic explorations
in unexpected ways. We will illuminate distinctive contributions to the formation and evolution of NAC,
including those of Lucrecia Martel, Lisandro Alonso, Albertina Carri, Adrián Caetano, Martín Rejtman, and
Pablo Trapero.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to junior and senior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Selimovic; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: SPAN302 Title: Seminar: Freedom and Utopia: Don Quijote in the 21st Century
A close reading of the Quixote with particular emphasis on Cervantes' invention of the novel form: creation of
character, comic genius, hero versus anti-hero, levels of reality and fantasy, and history versus fiction.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Arraiza-Rivera; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN303 Title: Seminar: Argentine Women Filmmakers
This course focuses on fundamental films by prominent contemporary Argentine women filmmakers. We
examine these directors’ influence on the New Argentine Cinema (NAC) and explore their diverse aesthetic
contributions to the country’s film industry. Interdisciplinary readings about the country’s socio-political and
cultural changes from 1995 onwards guide our discussions, explorations, and analyses. Films by Albertina
Carri, Lucrecia Martel, Julia Solomonoff, Paula Markovitch, María Victoria Menis, Gabriela David, and Lucía
Puenzo.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to junior and senior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Selimovic; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN305 Title: Seminar: Hispanic Literature of the United States
A study of U.S. Hispanic writers of the Southwest and East Coast from the Spanish colonial period to the
present. Political, social, racial, and intellectual contexts of their times and shared inheritance will be explored.
Consideration of the literary origins and methods of their craft. Authors may include: Cabeza de Vaca, Gaspar
de Villagrá, José Villarreal, Lorna Dee Cervantes, José Martí, Uva Clavijo, Pedro Juan Soto, Miguel Algarín, and
Edward Rivera.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN307 Title: Seminar: Clothing and Nakedness in Colonial Latin America
A study of the cultural notions of clothing and nakedness in colonial Latin America, and their uses in
construing ideas of superiority, social and economic status, gender, race, and power during the conquest and
the colonial period. The role of clothing in indigenous cultures pre- and post- conquest will also be studied
throughout the semester. We will examine a broad range of representations of clothing, costume, veiling,
textiles, as well as perceived nakedness, uses of body paint and body mutilation, jewelry and adornments,
among other expressions of the culture of clothing in both literary and historical written accounts (chronicles,
letters, historias, poetry, treatises, and novels), oral traditions (such as myth and song in Aztec, Maya, Inca,
and other indigenous cultures), and visual culture (codices, sculpture, religious paintings, portraiture).
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Guzauskyte; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN308 Title: Seminar: Masculinities in Medieval and Golden Age Spanish Literature
Analysis of how masculinity is constructed in key Spanish canonical texts of the period. Together with the “Don
Juan” and the “rogue/trickster” (“el pícaro”)—two literary archetypes bequeathed by Spain to the world,
models for defining aspects of manhood will include the battling hero, the saint, the villain, the “average guy,”
and the philosopher. Emphasis will be placed on how these figures interact with and defined by interaction
with women and how the un-enunciated queer is ever present. Together with examining how masculinity
reflects notions of honor, virility, social order, religion, and misogyny, the course will consider medical and
biological models of manhood and how those framed gender.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: SPAN 241 or higher, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Vega; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN309 Title: Seminar: Between Paradise and Prison: Cuban Literature and Culture in Transition
This seminar examines Cuban literature and culture from the nineteenth century to the present. As a tropical
island in the Caribbean ruled by numerous imperial powers and domestic tyrants, Cuba has often been
perceived as a paradise and/or a prison. We will study both the literal and metaphorical meanings of these two
symbols through various modes of cultural expression, including prose, poetry, art, music, and film. We will
discuss such topics as colonialism, slavery, the independence movement, the Cuban Revolution, socialism,
race and gender, immigration, and the changing relationship between Cuba and the United States. Readings
may include texts by Juan Franciscano Manzano, José Martí, Cristina García, Fidel Castro, Ernesto “Che”
Guevara, José Lezama Lima, Reinaldo Arenas, Yoani Sanchéz, and Sonia Rivera-Valdés.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Hagimoto; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SPAN311 Title: Seminar: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
An in-depth inquiry into the writings, life, and legacy of the salient Mexican woman poet, dramatist, scholar,
and nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651?-1695), known for her precocious literary talent, mastery of the
poetic forms of the Hispanic Baroque, thirst for knowledge, early defense of women’s learning, and dramatic
life. Students will be introduced to interdisciplinary Sor Juana studies through approaches from literary
criticism, women’s and gender studies, sexuality studies, and the studies of colonial and postcolonial
discourses. Readings will include sonnets, romances, and villancicos written in Spanish and Nahuatl, plays,
the long poem entitled First Dream, and prose texts including Letter Worthy of Athena, Allegorical Neptune,
and the autobiographical essay, The Answer. The course will also explore Sor Juana’s reception in
contemporary literary criticism, essays, visual art, and film.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to Senior and Junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Guzauskyte; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN318 Title: Seminar: Love and Desire in Spain's Early Literature
Medieval Spain, at the nexus of the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic cultures, witnessed a flowering of literature
dealing with the nature and depiction of love. This course will examine works from all three traditions, stressing
the uses of symbolic language in the linguistic representation of physical desire. Texts will include Ibn Hazm,
The Dove's Neck-Ring; the poetry of Yehuda Ha-Levi and Ben Sahl of Seville; the Mozarabic kharjas; the
Galician cantigas de amigo; Juan Ruiz, The Book of Good Love; Diego de San Pedro, Cárcel de Amor; and
Fernando de Rojas, La Celestina.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Vega; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered:
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN319 Title: Seminar: Creative Writing in Spanish
This course will explore the craft of writing poetry and short stories in Spanish. Attention will be given to the
study of the aesthetics as well as craft in lyrical works and short narratives. Emphasis will be placed on
discussion of student work, focusing on basic skills and grammatical knowledge involved in creative writing in
a foreign language. Readings from Latin America's most distinguished authors will the assigned.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN322 Title: Seminar: True Stories. Reading and Writing Nonfiction in Spanish
This seminar will explore how contemporary writers, artists, and activists from Spain, Latin America and the US
use various nonfiction forms to document personal experiences of love, loss, and identity, as well as important
political, cultural, and social issues. We will investigate their creative uses of the personal essay, biography,
memoir, autofiction, profiles, blogs, and longform journalism. In addition, we will examine visual, audio, and
multimedia forms such as documentaries, podcasts, photography, and graphic novels. We will pay particular
attention to the ways in which these examples of Creative Nonfiction use the tools and techniques of fiction to
develop material based on real personal experiences, public events, and cultural phenomena. Students will
have the opportunity to produce analytical responses to the texts and topics covered in the course, as well as
their own creative pieces .
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to seniors and juniors with advanced level of Spanish or by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Ramos; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN323 Title: Seminar: Modern Mexico
A study of post-Revolutionary Mexico through works by novelists, poets, essayists, artists, filmmakers, political
leaders and public intellectuals who explore what it means to be modern. Topics include the history of oneparty rule, the student movement of 1968, the 1985 earthquake, Zapatismo, women’s voices, the era of
Insecurity, and migration. Special attention to issues around poverty and economic growth, the criminal justice
system and public safety, climate change and sustainable development, the fight against racism and
exclusion, political innovation, and US bilateral relations.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to junior and senior majors or by permission of the
instructor. Not open to students who completed SPAN 281.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN324 Title: Seminar: Madrid, Barcelona and New York. Avant-Garde, Modernity and
Modernization in Spain
Using a gender-aware perspective and a wide variety of literary texts,, documents, films, and architectural and
artistic examples, this course will explore various forms of Modernity and Modernization in Spain. The analysis
will go beyond aesthetic modernity to consider social change and cultural transformation. Main figures will
include Federico García Lorca, Maruja Mallo, Vicente Huidobro, Antonio Gaudí, Luis Buñuel, Concha Méndez
and “las sinsombrero”, José Ortega y Gasset, Clara Campoamor, Victoria Kent, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo
Picasso. The connections between modernity and postmodernity will also be explored, as well as a
comparison of the attitudes towards change and innovation at the turn of the 21th and 21st centuries.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Ramos; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN325 Title: Seminar: Candid Cuisine: Food in Latin American Literature and Culture
An in-depth study of food in Latin American literature and culture, with a particular focus on its functions and
symbolism in indigenous cultures and in the context of the transatlantic exchanges of food products, plants,
animals, and recipes among the Americas, Europe, and Africa after 1492. We will also study the role of food
and cuisine in the search for new literary forms of expression during the Latin American independence era and
contemporary times. The course will study depictions of food, cooking, recipe books, private and public
spaces, hunger, deprivation, and body image to explore power relations, gender, race, sexuality, and identity
as rooted in long-standing, multicultural traditions involving preparation and consumption of food, global
exchanges of foodstuffs, plant, and animal species, as well as the emergence of new hybrid cultures. Readings
may include Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo's Historia, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz' Respuesta, Francisco de
Paula García Peláez' Libro del Chocolate, Fernando Ortiz' Contrapunteo cubano, and Laura Esquivel's Como
agua para chocolate.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Guzauskyte; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SPAN327 Title: Seminar: Latin American Women Writers: Identity, Marginality, and the Literary
Canon
An examination of twentieth-century women writers from Latin America. Perspectives for analyses will include
questions of identity (national, ethnic/racial, religious, sexual, gender), the extent to which Afro-Hispanic,
Indigenous, and non-Christian writers constitute distinct, marginalized groups in Latin American literature, and
a comparison of issues regarding identity in selected canonical and noncanonical works by Gabriela Mistral,
Remedios Varo, Elena Poniatowska, Nancy Morejón, Rosario Aguilar, Gioconda Belli, and Victoria Ocampo.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive
Course.;
Course ID: SPAN329 Title: Seminar: Chile: Literature and the Arts
From 1971 to 2003, Chile, one of South America's longest democracies, has experienced traumatic cultural,
political, and social change. From the election of Salvador Allende (1971—1973) through the Pinochet
dictatorship, during these turbulent times an unprecedented cultural life was manifested in literature, theatre,
and the visual arts. In this seminar, we will explore the cultural changes experienced in Chile during three
decades, the ways in which writers understood the complex web of creativity, as well as the specter of
censorship. We will analyze how historical figures were revived through writers such as Gabriela Mistral,
Rosamel del Valle, Pablo Neruda, and Salvador Allende. Narratives, journalistic essays, and theatrical and
visual productions will be examined vis-à-vis the social and political history in which the topics were created.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Agosin; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SPAN335 Title: Seminar: Asia in Latin America: Literary and Cultural Connections
Connections between two geographically remote areas (Asia and Latin America) that would seem to have little
in common will be studied. By analyzing prose, poetry, art, and music, we will examine diverse Asian
influences in Latin American literature and culture from the nineteenth century to the present. We will explore
how various images of the “exotic” Orient are represented in Latin America during the periods of
“modernismo” and “vanguardia.” We will also examine contemporary Asian-Latin American writers and artists
with an emphasis on the multicultural experience of immigration and assimilation. Authors may include Edward
Said, José Martí, José Rizal, Rubén Darío, José Juan Tablada, Enrique Gómez Carrillo, Octavio Paz, Jorge
Luis Borges, Cristina García, Anna Kazumi Stahl, José Watanabe, Siu Kam Wen, and Seiichi Higashide.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the
instructor.; Instructor: Hagimoto; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SPAN344 Title: Seminar: Spain in the US: Facing the Past, Imagining the Future
The legacy of Spain in the US is a complicated one. On the one hand, Spanish conquest and colonization had
devastating effects on indigenous peoples of North America. On the other, Spain has had an extensive and
lasting influence on American and Hispanic cultures, especially in the areas of language, religion, art, and
architecture. Through a multidisciplinary approach, this class will explore the space that Spain has
occupied in shaping America, from the early 16th century to today. It will also look ahead, as we try to
envision what impact Spain will have on the US in the years to come. In order to understand the past, assess
the present, and imagine the future, we will read chronicles from early Spanish explorers of North America,
investigate Mission/Spanish revival architecture and painting, examine the testimonies of American travelers to
Spain, and learn about social justice interventions of contemporary indigenous activists, including attacks on
statues linked to colonialism and slavery in the United States depicting prominent figures from Spain’s past.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Open to junior and senior majors or by permission of the
instructor. Not open to students who have taken SPAN 244.; Instructor: Ramos; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200 level as SPAN 244.;
Course ID: SPAN350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: SPAN350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: SPAN360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: SPAN370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: SPAN 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Studio Art
Studio Art practice is a key component of Wellesley College's liberal arts educational mission. The ability to
understand the ways that visual information and physical space are constructed and presented, now and
historically, is vital in today's world. The Studio Art Program provides students with a unique set of skills that
will allow them to question, navigate, and shape the complex visual and physical environments around them.
Students learn how to relate their studio research to other areas of study and how to draw unexpected
connections among many different images, ideas, materials, and historical contexts. The Studio Art Program is
committed to inclusive excellence and diversity in our curriculum as well as across our faculty, staff, and
students.
Within the Department of Art, students may choose to major in Studio Art or Art History, or construct a double
major combining these complementary fields. Students may also apply Studio Art courses towards a major in
one of our interdepartmental programs of study: Architecture, Cinema & Media Studies, or Media Arts &
Sciences.
Those majoring or minoring in the Studio Art Program develop:
Enhanced visual literacy and creative responsiveness
A more critical awareness of visual culture
A sophisticated understanding of art, its history, and the cultural conditions that shape an artist's
decisions
An understanding of the breadth and context of contemporary art in its global practices
A well-considered, original body of studio work for exhibition and advanced study
Studio Art Major
Learning to see more clearly and integrate disparate ideas, processes, and types of information is at the core
of studio investigation in a liberal arts setting.
Learning goals and expectations:
Develop strong, analytical observational skills to examine our visual, material, and cultural environment.
Relate ideas, processes, materials, and histories in order to create new and unexpected connections.
Sustain in-depth investigation in range of artistic media to acquire technical proficiency and develop a
personal material language.
Understand the logic of materials and processes.
Develop an exploratory studio methodology, identify problems through practice, and develop
methodologies to research and produce new work.
Locate creative practice within larger historical and cultural discussions.
Develop a clear, critical language to present work verbally, visually, and in writing.
Engage in critical discourse and extend it to the everyday.
Prospective Studio Art majors and minors should complete all 100-level art requirements (including ARTH 100
or CAMS 101) during their first two years at Wellesley before concentrating in a particular medium or studying
internationally. Note that AP or IB courses may not be counted toward fulfillment of a major or minor in Studio
Art. Given that most studio courses have prerequisites, students are advised to pace their course selections
carefully so as to be ready to concentrate on advanced and independent studio projects, culminating in a
major gallery exhibition in their senior year.
Requirements for the Major
For students who entered Wellesley in Fall 2021 and earlier, students must complete a minimum of 11 units to
fulfill the major, comprised of:
ARTH 100 or CAMS 101. Advanced Placement or transfer credit will not be accepted in fulfillment of
this requirement.
ARTS 105 (Drawing I)
Any two of the following: ARTS 106, ARTS 108/CAMS 138, ARTS 109, ARTS 110, ARTS 111, ARTS 112,
ARTS 113, ARTS 115/WRIT 115, ARTS 165/CAMS 135
An Art History course addressing twentieth-century or contemporary art.
At least five studio courses above the 100 level. At least two of these must be at the advanced (300)
level. Note that some 300-level Studio Art courses may be elected more than once for credit in the
major.
Formal presentation of an independent, thesis, or advanced studio project in a senior exhibition.
The capstone seminar, ARTS 317H-ARTS 318H, is required for senior majors and strongly encouraged
for senior minors.
Beginning with students who enter Wellesley College in Fall 2022 and later, students must complete a
minimum of 10 units to fulfill the major, comprised of:
ARTH 100 or CAMS 101. Advanced Placement or transfer credit will not be accepted in fulfillment of
this requirement.
ARTS 105 (Drawing I)
Any one of the following: ARTS 106, ARTS 108/CAMS 138, ARTS 109, ARTS 110, ARTS 111, ARTS 112,
ARTS 113, ARTS 115/WRIT 115, ARTS 165/CAMS 135
An Art History course addressing twentieth-century or contemporary art.
At least five studio courses above the 100 level. At least two of these must be at the advanced (300)
level. Note that some 300-level Studio Art courses may be elected more than once for credit in the
major.
Formal presentation of an independent, thesis, or advanced studio project in a senior exhibition.
The capstone seminar, ARTS 317H-ARTS 318H, is required for senior majors and strongly encouraged
for senior minors.
ARTS 317H-ARTS 318H is a yearlong capstone overlay offered as a half-credit seminar in the fall and spring
semester, leading up to a senior exhibition. Students considering majors in Studio Art should plan to enroll in
this course during their junior or senior year.
Honors in Studio Art
Honors in Studio Art is earned by the demonstration of excellence in both course work and a self-directed
senior thesis project. A Studio Art thesis consists of a sustained body of visual work produced over two
semesters, culminating in a formal exhibition in the Jewett Arts Center galleries, and accompanied by a paper
of 15-20 pages documenting the development of the project. Seniors who have completed all foundational
requirements in the major and have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in studio courses above the 100 level
may propose a thesis project for honors in the spring of the junior year. A Studio Art major interested in
pursuing an honors project should discuss their ideas with a potential thesis advisor in the spring of their junior
year and take at least one advanced course in their proposed media concentration before the senior year. If
approved, this yearlong project is guided by a studio faculty advisor and assessed periodically by the full
studio faculty. The gallery exhibitions and thesis paper are reviewed by an orals thesis committee in the spring
of the senior year in order to determine honors.
A more detailed review of the process and timelines related to thesis work is available on the department
website. Students should review this information in their junior year or earlier, before proposing honors work.
Graduate Study in Studio Art
Students considering M.F.A programs in the visual arts should aim to develop a deep major (more than the
minimum 11 units for students for students who entered Fall 2021 and earlier, more than the minimum 10 units
for students for students who enter in Fall 2022 and beyond) and pursue affiliated course work in Art History,
Philosophy and Visual Culture whenever possible. Since contemporary art is often interdisciplinary, students
are encouraged to discuss the breadth of their course selections with their studio advisors.
Studio Art Minor
Requirements for the Minor
Studio Art minors who entered Wellesley in Fall 2021 and earlier must complete a total of 7 units to fulfill the
minor, comprised of: an art history course (normally ARTH 100 or CAMS 101), two studio courses at the 100
level, plus four additional units in Studio Art, one of which is at the 300 level (ARTS 250s and ARTS 350s
excluded). It is strongly recommended, but not required, that students take at least one semester of the ARTS
317H-ARTS 318H seminar during their senior year.
Studio Art minors who enter Wellesley in Fall 2022 and later must complete a total of 6 units to fulfill the minor,
comprised of: an art history course (normally ARTH 100 or CAMS 101), one studio course at the 100 level, plus
four additional units in Studio Art, one of which is at the 300 level (ARTS 250 and ARTS 350 excluded). It is
strongly recommended, but not required, that students take at least one semester of the ARTS 317H-ARTS
318H seminar during their senior year.
Requirements for the Art History/Studio Art Double
Major
A double major in Art History and Studio Art must elect ARTH 100, eight additional units in Studio Art (following
the requirements for the Studio major) and eight additional units in Art History, for a total of seventeen units. A
minimum of two courses must be taken at the 300-level in Art History, and a minimum of two courses must be
taken at the 300-level in Studio. The Art History requirements for the double major follow the requirements of
the Art History major with two exceptions: 1) two (instead of three) courses are required that focus on the
period before 1800; 2) two (instead of one) courses are required in nineteenth- to twenty-first-century art
specifically. Therefore, the distribution is as follows:
1. One course in the Americas
2. One course in Africa, the Middle East, or Europe
3. One course in Asia
4. Two courses in the period before 1800
5. Two courses in nineteenth- to twenty-first-century art: students should consult with their advisers to
determine the courses best suited to fill these two units
Note: For the purposes of meeting the "17 units" requirement (See Academic Program, Other Requirements or
Articles of Legislation, Book II, Article I, Section 8, A), Art History and Studio Art are considered separate
departments. Courses in Studio Art are counted as units "outside the department" for Art History majors and
courses in Art History are counted as courses "outside the department" for Studio Art majors.
ARTS Courses
Course ID: ARTS105 Title: Drawing I
A foundational course that explores observational strategies and theories of perception using a range of
drawing tools. Project work is focused on observational drawing methods with attention to the articulation of
line, shape, time, form, gesture, perspective, and value. In-class drawing exercises, weekly homework
assignments, and group critiques address a variety of approaches to image making and visual expression,
with some attention put towards the human figure. Aimed at first years and sophom*ores and those
considering majors in Studio Art or Architecture. Also recommended for those considering majors in Media
Arts and Sciences, or Art History.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores, and Juniors. Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Cohn, McGibbon, Rivera; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts,
Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Spring; Notes: Required for majors and minors in Studio Art as well as majors in Architecture.;
Course ID: ARTS108/CAMS138 Title: Photography I
Photo I is a foundational studio course exploring key methods and concepts in photography and visual media.
Technical skills will be addressed through camera and darkroom work, lighting, and the discussion of
photographic images. Studio assignments, readings, discussions, lectures, gallery visits, and critiques will help
students understand photography's broader role in contemporary art, history, and society. Aimed for first year
and sophom*ore students, and those pursuing majors in Studio Art, MAS, or CAMS.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. Juniors and Seniors
by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Landeros; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Spring; Notes: Meets Production requirement for CAMS major.;
Course ID: ARTS109 Title: Two-Dimensional Design
This foundational studio course addresses the issue of composition in two-dimensional media. It focuses on
the fundamental elements of visual design (e.g., line, shape, value, space, color) and their compositional
impact. Studio projects emphasize visual problem-solving skills as a means of achieving more effective
communication, with some attention to the issues of typography. Assignments explore a range of media and
encourage creative experimentation with both analog and digital processes.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores, and Juniors. Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Miller; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTS110 Title: 4D Design Intro to New Media
This introductory, time-based media production course explores motion graphics, performance art, social
practice, installation, Internet art, game design, animation, and the expanding digital domain of 'new media.'
The focus will be on experimental, artistic practice using various methods of animation, video, and motion
graphics. Studio projects will utilize Photoshop, Maya, Animate, and other imaging and audio programs.
Aimed for first and second-year students.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years and Sophom*ores. Juniors and Seniors
by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTS112 Title: Introduction to Book Studies
This studio course addresses the theoretical and practical aspects of the manufacture, publication, distribution,
and survival of the book. Studio projects in Clapp Library's Book Arts Lab explore themes such as the
evolution of the book form, the sequencing of image and text, and the relationship between form and content.
Class sessions will feature demonstrations, visiting artists, and presentation of Special Collections materials.
Readings and studio projects culminate in a book-based studio project. The knowledge base and skills
acquired in this course can be applied to advanced coursework in a variety of disciplines.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores, and Juniors. Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Ruffin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of
Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory
requirement.;
Course ID: ARTS113 Title: Three-Dimensional Design
This introductory course explores the basic formal and spatial considerations when working with threedimensional structure and form. Studio projects incorporate a range of materials and methods of visualization.
Outside assignments and class discussions are aimed toward helping students enhance their creativity and
spatial awareness while acquiring sensitivity for placement, process, and materials. Required for Architecture
majors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Priority given to declared Architecture majors.; Instructor:
Mowbray; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place
Living Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory
requirement.;
Course ID: ARTS165/CAMS135 Title: Introduction to the Moving Image
This introductory course explores video as an art form. Organized around a series of assignments designed to
survey a range of production strategies, the course is a primer to the technical and conceptual aspects of
video production and to its historical, critical, and technical discourse. Relationships between video and
television, film, installation, and performance art are investigated emphasizing video as a critical intervention in
social and visual arts contexts. Weekly readings, screenings, discussions and critique, explore contemporary
issues in video and help students develop individual aesthetic and critical skills. Practical knowledge is
integrated through lighting, video/sound production and editing workshops.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Open to First-Years, Sophom*ores, and Juniors. Seniors by
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Joskowicz; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Fall; Notes: Meets the Production requirement for CAMS majors. Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive
Course.;
Course ID: ARTS205/MAS205 Title: The Graphic Impulse: Mediated Drawing
An intermediate studio course addressing a range of contemporary drawing methods, with considerable
attention put towards color, graphic sequencing and pictorial space. Project work integrates print and digital
design tools with sustained freehand drawing in wet and dry media. Weekly drawing assignments, readings,
and studio discussions consider the graphic conventions of reproducible media, such as the hatched mark,
halftone screen, and color separation layer. Building on fundamental concepts introduced at the 100 level, this
course helps students strengthen and expand their personal drawing practice and connect it to a wider range
of creative disciplines and topics. Following a series of coordinated drawing projects, each student assembles
a final portfolio and presents an independent final project.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one 100-level ARTS course taken at Wellesley.; Instructor:
McGibbon; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is repeatable one time for
additional credit.;
Course ID: ARTS207 Title: Sculpture I
This intermediate level studio course addresses a range of sculptural approaches by way of various materials,
including clay, wood, metal, plaster, and cardboard. Each of these materials will be used to explore a specific
technique or sculptural method such as carving, modeling, or fabrication. By the end of the semester,
emphasis shifts towards the completion of more independent projects and conceptual questions regarding the
tangible impact of materials, functions, and histories on sculptural artworks.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course or permission of the instructor
required.; Instructor: Mowbray; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Strongly recommended for Architecture majors.;
Course ID: ARTS208/CAMS238 Title: Photography II: The Digital/Analog Rift
Photo II focuses on digital photography, photographic color theory, studio and location lighting, digital
retouching, inkjet printing, and Adobe software. Assignments address contemporary and historic theories of
photography as contemporary art and the aesthetic and cultural implications of the ubiquity of digital
photography. Studio assignments, readings, discussions, lectures, gallery visits, and critiques will help
students prepare for project-based work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Landeros; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTS216 Title: Spatial Investigations
An intermediate studio course designed for architecture and studio art majors wishing to strengthen their
visual and spatial responsiveness. Class work explores various forms of drawing in two and three dimensions,
including basic architectural rendering, fixed viewpoint perspective, mapping, modeling, and some digital
work. Following a series of projects and discussions considering issues of space and place, the physicality of
space, and our historic relationship to architecture, each student produces a self-directed final project.
Strongly recommended for architecture majors before enrolling in the architectural design sequence at MIT.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course or permission of the instructor
required.; Instructor: Mowbray; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living
Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.
Strongly recommended for Architecture majors before enrolling in architectural design sequence at MIT.;
Course ID: ARTS217 Title: Life Drawing
Understanding the human form through sustained observational drawing, research, and experimentation. An
intensive, mixed media drawing course that balances careful visual analysis with empathetic, gestural
response. Tactile, experiential drawing exercises are complemented by shared readings and research
addressing questions of representation in art and cultural conceptions of the body.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course.; Instructor: Cohn; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course may be repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: ARTS218 Title: Painting I
An intermediate studio course centered on the fundamental issues of painting, emphasizing color,
composition, and paint manipulation through direct observation and response. Studio assignments,
presentations, discussions and critiques help students gain technical skills, visual sophistication, and critical
awareness of the medium. Students paint from a variety of subjects, including the self-portrait, nude model,
and still life.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course or permission of the instructor
required.; Instructor: Rivera; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course may be
repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: ARTS219 Title: Mark, Matrix, Multiplicity: Lithography/Screenprint
This intermediate level studio course centers on planographic ways of printing from stone and plate
lithography to screen printing and pochoir. Projects incorporate image/text juxtapositions, color theory,
patterning, digital photo processes, and vector graphics using the Dactyl Press facilities. Field trips, readings,
and collaborative print exchanges complement the individual studio assignments. Recommended for students
interested in drawing, design, architecture, media arts, book studies, and art history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course or permission of the instructor
required.; Instructor: McGibbon; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: ARTS 219, ARTS 220, ARTS 222 and ARTS 223
are complementary print media courses that may be elected in any order.;
Course ID: ARTS220 Title: Print Methods: Intaglio/Relief
A studio exploration of intaglio and relief printing methods, including copperplate etching, collograph, and
woodcut. Students develop visual and graphic flexibility through hands-on projects considering image
sequences, pattern, text, and multiples. Several projects address color and typography and/or incorporate
digital methods. Students participate in a collaborative print exchange in addition to completing individual
projects. ARTS 219, ARTS 220, and ARTS 221 are complementary graphic arts courses and may be elected in
any order.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course or permission of the instructor
required.; Instructor: McGibbon; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: ARTS 219,
ARTS 220, ARTS 222 and ARTS 223 are complementary print media courses and may be elected in any
order.;
Course ID: ARTS221/CAMS239 Title: Digital Imaging
Introduction to artistic production through electronic imaging, manipulation, and output. Emphasis on
expression, continuity, and sequential structuring of visuals through the integration of image, text, and motion.
Image output for print, screen, and adaptive surfaces are explored in conjunction with production techniques
of image capture, lighting, and processing. Lectures and screenings of historic and contemporary uses of
technology for artistic and social application of electronic imaging.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course.; Instructor: Olsen; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTS222 Title: Print Methods: Typography/Book Arts
This intermediate studio course is centered on the relationship between text and image through letterpress
relief printing techniques and handmade book structures. Studio projects will include the production of limited
edition artist's books that focus on the interplay of two and three dimensions in the book form. Emphasis will
be placed on creative problem solving within the limitations of technology, and on the importance of the act of
revision. Class sessions in the Papermaking Studio and Special Collections will augment intensive studio work
in Clapp Library's Book Arts Lab.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course or permission of the instructor
required.; Instructor: Ruffin; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living
Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ARTS223 Title: Alternative Print Methods: Hand and Machine
This intermediate studio course explores new hybrid approaches to graphic thinking, integrating traditional
and new print technologies in experimental ways. Students develop greater visual and conceptual range in the
Dactyl Press studios while developing iterative projects involving color, text-based art, handmade books, and
installations. Some projects explore photo-digital print processes, laser-cutting, and vector graphics. Readings,
discussions, critiques, demonstrations, and collaborative exchanges consider the ongoing impact of media
culture. Especially recommended for students interested in design, architecture, media arts, and book studies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course or permission of the instructor
required.; Instructor: McGibbon; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: ARTS 219, ARTS 220, ARTS 222 and ARTS 223
are complementary print media courses that may be elected in any order.;
Course ID: ARTS250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ARTS250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: ARTS255/CAMS255 Title: Dynamic Interface Design
Critical examination of the expanding field of information and interface design for interactive media. Emphasis
will be on effective visual communication, information design, and creative content creation for online and
digital platforms. Hands-on production will focus on design methods, theory, limitations leading to
innovative approaches. Screenings and discussions on contemporary practices, theoretical, artistic, and
cultural issues.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course and either CS 110 or CS 111.;
Instructor: Olsen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTS260/CAMS230 Title: Moving Image Studio
Creative exploration of the moving image as it relates to digital methods of animation, video, and motion
graphics. Hands-on production of audio, image, text, and time-based media synthesis, with a conceptual
emphasis on nonlinear narrative, communication design, and visual expression. Screenings and lectures on
historical and contemporary practices, coupled with readings and discussions of the theoretical, artistic, and
cultural issues in the moving image.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course, or ARTS 221/CAMS 239.; Instructor:
Olsen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Wendy Judge Paulson '69
Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences
Laboratory requirement.;
Course ID: ARTS265/CAMS235 Title: Intermediate Film/Video Production
An intermediate level studio that guides students through different approaches to film/video production while
challenging linear narrative and documentary conventions. Students experiment with non-narrative
approaches to content, structure, and technique. Investigations of space and performance are informed by
poetry, literature, sound, color, fragmentation, and abstraction. Building upon the historical legacy of the
moving image, students incorporate self-exploration, social critique, and manipulation of raw experience into
an aesthetic form. Students develop independent or collaborative moving image and/or performance projects
and articulate their artistic process through a series of presentations and critiques.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course and either CAMS 101 or CAMS 201, or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Joskowicz; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music,
Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes:
Meets the Production requirement for CAMS majors. CAMS majors who have taken CAMS 201 are encouraged
to register for this class instead of ARTS 165/CAMS 135.;
Course ID: ARTS307 Title: Advanced Sculptural Practices
An exploration of sculptural concepts utilizing a variety of materials and methods. This course will integrate the
constructed and tangible, with process and practice, culminating in the development of independent projects.
Emphasis will be placed on conceptual considerations, such as audience, context/location, materials,
functionality, and histories.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: At least one 200 level ARTS course completed at Wellesley.;
Instructor: Mowbray; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTS308/CAMS338 Title: Photography III
Advanced explorations of aesthetic and content issues through the use of both traditional light-sensitive and
digital methodologies. Advanced photographic techniques and equipment will be presented in response to
each student's work. Continued emphasis is placed on research into the content and context of the
photographic image in contemporary practice through visiting artist events as well as gallery and museum
visits.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following - ARTS 108/CAMS 138, ARTS 208/CAMS 238,
ARTS 221/CAMS 239; or permission of the instructor required.; Instructor: Nhamo; Distribution Requirements:
ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ARTS313/CAMS313 Title: Virtual Form
Introduction to the design and production of three-dimensional objects and spaces using industry-standard
modeling software. Overview of basic modeling, surface design, and camera techniques. Emphasis on
creative application of the media, in relation to architectural, experimental, and time-based forms. Screenings
and lectures on traditional and contemporary practices, coupled with readings and discussions of the
theoretical, artistic, and cultural issues in the virtual world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any ARTS course. Strong computer familiarity needed.; Instructor:
Olsen; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered:
Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTS314 Title: Advanced Drawing (Marks, Signs, and Traces)
An intensive studio course for juniors and seniors, considering the visual, conceptual, and spatial issues
driving contemporary drawing practices. This course explores the act of drawing as a speculative and critical
thinking process as well as a visual language. Class work addresses various observational and technical
methods as well as reciprocities between sound, drawing, and time, and/or drawing and materiality. In-depth
studio critiques, field trips, and interaction with visiting artists and musicians augment the projects. Following a
period of intense studio exploration and dialogue, each student develops and hones an independent, cohesive
body of work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course and at least one 200-level ARTS
course.; Instructor: Rivera; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course may be repeated
once for credit.;
Course ID: ARTS315 Title: Advanced Painting
A project-based course that examines in depth the history and the processes of painting. This studio provides
an opportunity for advanced students to share their painting practice and benefit from intensive and wellinformed critical dialogue. The group interacts in a seminar fashion, in which topics and problems are
presented and students are asked to develop independent projects examining them. Students explore painting
as object, painting in space, site specificity, and consider the impact of digital technologies on image making.
Each student will continue to explore elements pertaining to the construction of painting while developing an
independent vocabulary and a substantial, cohesive body of work.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: ARTS 105 and ARTS 218, or permission of the instructor required.;
Instructor: Rivera; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course may be
repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: ARTS317H Title: Advanced Independent Senior Projects
Part I of a year-long seminar supporting advanced studio students, divided into one half-credit course offered
during the Fall semester and one half-credit in the Spring. This methodology-based course functions as an
overlay to advanced studio projects underway in the context of 300 level studio classes and thesis projects.
Students enrolled in the course will have access to independent workspace for the year and benefit from
sustained dialogue and studio critiques with a range of faculty and visiting artists, including those hosted
through the Frank Williams Visiting Artist Lecture Series. This course is mandatory for all Studio Art majors and
strongly recommended for Studio Art minors and related visual arts majors.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 11; Prerequisites: ARTS 105 and two other 100-level studio courses, and either (at
least two 200-level studio art courses; or one 200-level and one 300-level studio art course).; Instructor: Cohn;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Each semester of ARTS 317H and ARTS 318H earns one
half unit of credit; however, both semesters must be completed satisfactorily to receive credit for either course.
This course may be repeated once for credit, with the permission of the department.;
Course ID: ARTS318H Title: Advanced Independent Projects
Part II of a year-long seminar supporting advanced students, divided into one half-credit offered during the fall
semester and one half-credit course in the spring leading towards the senior exhibition in May. This
methodology-based course functions as an overlay to advanced projects underway in the context of advanced
studio classes or thesis projects. Students enrolled in the course will have access to independent workspace
and benefit from sustained dialogue and studio critiques with a range of faculty and visiting artists, including
those hosted through the Frank Williams Visiting Artists Lecture Series. This course is mandatory for all Studio
Art majors and strongly recommended for Studio Art minors and related visual arts majors.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 11; Prerequisites: ARTS 317H or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Cohn;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Each semester of ARTS 317H and ARTS 318H earns
one half unit of credit; however, both semesters must be completed satisfactorily to receive credit for either
course. This course may be repeated once for credit with the permission of the department.;
Course ID: ARTS321/CAMS321 Title: Advanced New Media
Various topics in New Media are explored through research, creative activity, and theoretical discussion.
Topics address historical as well as contemporary issues that bridge art and technology. This is an advanced
level New Media course giving students the opportunity to focus on personal projects, explore contemporary
and historical new media concepts as well as receive critiques from other students. Topics covered will focus
on media history and research, contemporary intermedia artists, designers, thinkers and scientists, along with
readings and discussions. Collaboration will be encouraged between Studio Art, Architecture, Music, CAMS,
Media Arts, Theater and Computer Science. This course may be used to fulfill the capstone requirement for
MAS.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Two 200-level courses in ARTS, CAMS, or MAS.; Instructor: Olsen;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course may be repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: ARTS322 Title: Advanced Print Concepts
What are graphic conventions and how do print methods inform contemporary artistic inquiry? A conceptually
driven studio aimed for juniors and seniors who have successfully completed at least one graphics based
studio course course at the 200 level. Readings, discussions, and field trips address sequential imagery,
text/image interactions and the use of multiplicity in a range of visual formats, from the artist book to the sitebased installation. Following a period of interactive studio experimentation and dialogue, each student
develops a comprehensive self-directed project using the Dactyl Press facilities. May be repeated for degree
credit.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: One of the following - ARTS 208/CAMS 238, ARTS 219, ARTS 220,
ARTS 221/CAMS 239, ARTS 222, ARTS 223, or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: McGibbon;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Normally alternates with ARTS 323 every third semester. This course can be
repeated once for credit.;
Course ID: ARTS323 Title: Advanced Graphic Projects: Theories of Travel and the Print
Print studios are packed with metaphors of travel, and for good reason: the movement of an image from here
to there is the central narrative guiding all graphic production. This advanced studio course is aimed for juniors
and seniors able to work independently in at least one print medium with in-depth print based projects
considering notions of travel and transformation. Students interact with visiting artists who address theories of
travel, while developing sustained, self-directed projects using the Dactyl Press facilities. Studio work will be
complemented by discussions, critiques, readings, and field trips. This course may be used to fulfill the
capstone requirement for the MAS major.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: McGibbon; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Normally alternates with ARTS 322 every third semester.;
Course ID: ARTS336/MUS336 Title: From Mark to Sound, From Sound to Mark: Music, Drawing, and
Architecture
This advanced, project-based course is aimed at students able to work independently in one of two broad
categories of contemporary art-making: Drawing (including visual art, new media art, architecture, sculpture,
and/or art theory) and Sound (composition, performance, analog or digital sound production, and/or sound
studies). Together we will explore elements such as rhythm, line, space, and composition from the
perspectives of sound studies and drawing, focusing in particular on the graphic mark. Students will interact
with several visiting artists, and will visit working artists in their studios and observe relevant art installations
and performances. Students will develop semester-long studio projects, which will be supplemented by
discussions, critiques, and readings.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Any of the following - ARTS 105, ARTS 109, ARTS 113, MUS 100,
MUS 122, ARTH 100, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Rivera; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTS350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ARTS350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: ARTS360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ARTS365/CAMS335 Title: Advanced Projects in Lens-Based Media
This advanced-level projects class centers on the production and critique of individual lens-based media,
including film/video, photography, and digital time-based media. Students will develop semester-long projects
and will articulate their artistic process through a series of presentations and critiques over the semester
structured alongside screenings, readings, invited lectures, and discussions that investigate various positions
from artists and directors on the dynamics of space on screen. This is a project-based rather than an
assignment-based class, and students will be encouraged to try new techniques and exercises as their work
progresses over the semester. Students work individually and in groups and will participate in their peers'
production exercises.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following - ARTS 165/CAMS 135, ARTS 208/CAMS 238,
ARTS 265/CAMS 235, ARTS 308/CAMS 338, ARTS 221/CAMS 239, ARTS 255/CAMS 255, ARTS 260/CAMS
230, ARTS 313/CAMS 313, ARTS 321/CAMS 321, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Joswkowicz;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Meets the Capstone requirement for MAS majors.;
Course ID: ARTS366/CAMS366 Title: Advanced Projects in Film and Architecture
This advanced-level studio class is for students interested in exploring the relationship between architecture,
narrative and digital space. The class will begin with research into filmic environments that utilize place,
architecture and objects as narrative tools. We will look at the use of interiors and exteriors, circulation between
spaces, and the use of props and/or computer generated imagery to create space. Our focus will be on the
construction of cinematic space as a formal and conceptual component of storytelling. Using architecture,
installation, performance, film, and literature as guides to navigating both constructed and conceptual
landscapes, students projects will explore advanced strategies of image and sound manipulation, both
technical and conceptual. Students will develop semester-long projects and will articulate their artistic process
through a series of presentations and critiques over the semester focusing on a project that integrates digital
and physical narrative spaces.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: One of the following - CAMS 101, ARTS165/ CAMS 135, ARTS 265/
CAMS 235, ARTS 216, an MIT Architecture Studio, or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Joskowicz;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ARTS370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: ARTS 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a studio
faculty member, with assessments from the full studio art faculty. If sufficient progress is made, students may
continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: ARTS380 Title: Everything but the Kitchen Sink: Food and Contemporary Art Practice
This conceptually-driven studio seminar uses food as a theoretical and material strategy of investigation and
production. It is a multi-disciplinary exploration of project themes spanning a range of creative disciplines (e.g.,
printmaking, sculpture and new media) that students have expertise in, with the added expectation of
collaborating across new fields of inquiry within and outside the Art Department. The conceptual insights from
texts will set the foundations for our understandings of literal and ideological consumption of food, as well as
inform the implications of those principles on art making and presentation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Any 100-level ARTS course and at least one 200-level ARTS
course.; Instructor: Nhamo; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Theatre Studies
The Theatre Studies major is both an academic field of study and a practical application of that study. The
purpose of our major is to provide students with an experiential and comprehensive awareness of the historical
and social contexts, the technical components, and the bounty of language and behavior possible
in theatrical craft. Our faculty strongly encourages in the inventive lives of our students a confident autonomy
as creators who can envision a project, articulate their goals, and relish navigating the research and
collaborative process towards its accomplishment. An educational investigation of theatre provides the unique
incentive to understand, engage in and challenge the many iterations of this ancient and global performance
art form. It compels participants to solve problems and take risks in real time. It foments a productive
confrontation between a student’s need to surrender to the unknown and to simultaneously embrace selfdiscipline – sitting the study of theatre at the crossroads of their journey here at Wellesley, and beyond.
Theatre Studies Major
Goals for the Theatre Studies Major
An understanding of the development of dramatic literature from the ancient to the present.
Problem solving independently and within an ensemble
Developing the humanist/artist and theatre practitioner for the next generation.
Providing a framework for artistic collaboration.
Inspiring critical thinking and artistic rigor.
Developing comprehensive knowledge of the elements of design and stagecraft.
Competence to compete with conservatory-trained graduates for graduate school or casting/hiring
opportunities within the industry
Major Requirements
Students who plan to major in Theatre Studies must take a minimum of 10 units.
These 10 units must be comprised of:
1 course in Acting (ex. THST 204, THST 155 + THST 214, THST 276, THST 305, THST 310,
THST 315, THST 345)
1 course in Directing (ex. THST 206, THST 306)
1 course in Playwrighting (ex. THST 200, THST 221, THST 321, THST 355)
1 course in Design/Technical Craft (ex. THST109, THST 207, THST 209, THST 222, THST 300,
THST 345, THST 355)
1 course in Critical Analysis (THST 104, THST 212, THST 215, THST 245)
2 courses at the 300 level.
At least eight of these ten units must come from within the Wellesley theatre studies program. The only
exception is if a semester-long study abroad conservatory intensive for four credits max is approved by the
program director, in which case the remaining six units must be completed within the Wellesley program. The
major requires a minimum of two 300-level courses to be completed within the Wellesley program, regardless
of credits earned abroad.
Developments in the theatre arts are a result of stage experiments. The theatre performance is an expression
of theatre scholarship. It is expected that students planning a major in theatre will elect to complement formal
study of theatre with practical experience in on-campus producing organizations, and - if offered the
opportunity - through paid internships for the professional Wellesley Repertory Theatre company. All majors
have the option to propose participation in THST 250 and THST 350 individual study offerings in order to
pursue more deeply their particular area of theatrical interest.
Exchange and International Study in Theatre Studies
Students majoring in theatre studies may elect to take at least one resident semester of concentrated work in a
discipline to supplement and enrich their work at Wellesley. They may attend the National Theatre Institute at
the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, another institution in the Twelve College Exchange Program, one of the
many London programs offering intensive study in their discipline, Accademia Dell'Arte (Physical and Devised
Theatre semester in Arezzo, Italy) or other programs approved by the department. On occasion, a student may
elect to take a relevant course in the exchange programs at Babson, Olin, or MIT. ***If approved, a student
may certainly elect to study at more than one exchange program, and the credits beyond the four applicable to
the Theatre Studies major will count towards the 32 total needed to graduate from Wellesley.***
Honors in Theatre Studies
The theatre program offers a variety of opportunities for honors. After consultation with the program director,
the candidate will devise a proposal that incorporates both the academic and the practical aspects for the
thesis. Generally, the candidate completes the research and writing segment of the thesis in the first semester.
In the second semester, the candidate produces the practical/theatrical component for public performance.
Applicants for honors should have a minimum 3.5 GPA in all work in the major field above the 100 level; the
department may petition on their behalf if their GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5.
No Minor Offered in Theatre Studies
However: participation in all department activities and productions is open to all. Come play with us - the
process is its own reward!
Courses for Credit Toward the Theatre Studies Major
AFR 218
Val Gray Ward: The Power of Black Arts, Theatre, and
Movement
1.0
CHIN 244
Classical Chinese Theater (in English)
1.0
CLCV 210
Greek Drama
1.0
ENG 223
Shakespeare Part I: The Elizabethan Period
1.0
ENG 224
Shakespeare Part II: The Jacobean Period
1.0
ENG 324
Advanced Studies in Shakespeare
1.0
SPAN 246
Spanish Through the Lens of Theatre
1.0
THST Courses
Course ID: ENG132/THST132 Title: America's Journey through Drama
A survey of American Drama that takes a journey through America’s history from the early 20th century to the
present. Issues explored will include: family trauma; the American Dream; evolving ideas of race, class, gender
and sexuality; and identity. Works will include: Eugene O'Neill’s classic, Long Day's Journey into Night; Edward
Albee’s absurdist satire, The American Dream; Lorraine Hansberry’s story of a Black family’s struggle, A Raisin
in the Sun; Sam Shepard’s dark story about secrets, Buried Child; Tony Kushner’s meditation on the AIDS era,
Angels in America; Melinda Lopez’s story of Cuban emigreés, Sonia Flew; Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer winner
about class, race and social inequality, Sweat; the filmed version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton; and the
playwright Celine Song’s film about transcultural romance, Past Lives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 5; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Ko; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and
Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: JPN251/THST251 Title: Japanese Literature from Myth to Manga (in English)
This course explores Japanese literature from the seventh to the nineteenth centuries––including myths,
poetry, narrative romances, diaries, essays, military tales, Noh drama, haiku, puppet plays, kabuki, and ghost
stories––then traces its modern afterlife to film, television, and manga. Students will develop a critical and
historically grounded appreciation of Japan's rich and varied literary tradition by analyzing it in light of such
topics as religious practice, aesthetic ideals, dreams, desire, subjectivity, Chinese influence, the supernatural,
war, gender, and sexuality.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Goree; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: THST101 Title: Can We Have an Argument? Understanding, Employing, and Delivering Effective
Rhetoric
This course will apply theatrical performance training to the art of public speaking or rhetoric. One of the three
original Liberal Arts, the art of discourse has long been recognized as fundamental to the creation of
knowledge, and the development of thought. Employing dramatic and nondramatic texts, original studentwritten work, and an occasional Saturday Night Live sketch, students will discover the power of words. The
course is intended to develop communicative and expressive skills in students who might not be drawn to the
fine arts, but who might benefit from theatrical training to become more effective thinkers, writers, and
speakers.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Arciniegas; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course. Summer Session
enrollment is open to all students.;
Course ID: THST104 Title: "Real World" Experience On and Off Stage
Exposing students to the live theatre in the Boston area and encouraging lively discussion of the productions
is the focus of this introductory course. Scripts will be read and rigorously analyzed in the classroom. Women's
presence in the arts, contemporary issues as seen on stage and the history of theatre in society will all be
addressed by the group.The syllabus will be fluid and drawn from classical, musical and contemporary
offerings each year. Visiting artists in all the disciplines will augment discussions. Attendance at productions
will be arranged for Thursday evenings and paid for by the Theatre Program. This is an opportunity to have a
hands on, up close and personal interaction with those who write, design, direct and act in the theatre.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: THST106 Title: Speaking Truth to Power
This course will introduce students to the art of developing personal narrative. From full speeches crafted for
their presentations to the improv of saluting a wedding, birth or graduation, students gain the confidence to
rise to the occasion as needed. Through guided writing exercises and exposure to the works of Nora Ephron,
Billie Holiday, and others, students will listen, write and support each other weekly, all while attending select on
campus sessions in the Ruth Nagel Jones Theater. Finally, while preparing for a final afternoon of speeches to
be offered to the public at the end of the semester, students learn to speak for others, placing their words in
context with authenticity and research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Roach; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: THST106Y Title: First-Year Seminar: Speaking Truth to Power
This course will introduce students to the art of developing personal narrative as a means to creating a viable
piece of theatre. Through guided writing exercises and exposure to the works of Nora Ephron, Billie Holiday,
and Susanna Kaysen, and others, students will explore the intricacies of their own and their family histories.
Based on the techniques that have produced numerous original plays here at Wellesley, the weekly exercises
will be centered around various aspects of life such as race, gender, class, body image, and personal history.
Students will hear and critique each other weekly while preparing for a final evening of “stories” to be offered
to the public at the end of the semester. The class will also focus on the final composition of the evening, and
the journey each student makes to bring it to fruition. Emphasis is on the development and refinement of the
dramatic content while building confidence for even the least experienced student.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Roach; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Other Categories: FYS - First Year Seminar;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: THST109 Title: Artistic Eras: The Essentials of Design for Beginners
Imagine you are the designer for an immersive visual production that takes place in Harlem, New York in the
1920's. The buildings, art, clothing, lighting and sounds of the neighborhood must be recreated to transport
the audience to another time and place. In this course you will work individually or in groups to create
complete environments representing periods and cultures such as the Harlem Renaissance or the French Art
Nouveau. Students will be introduced to a range of major artistic styles throughout history and interpret those
in to a set, lighting, costume and sound design. This is a project based course that culminates in an immersive
digital exhibit.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Howland; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Summer;
Course ID: THST122 Title: Fashion and Costume History in Film and TV
This course outlines and examines the role of costume and fashion design in media, from the movies of the
Golden Age of Hollywood to high-tech motion pictures to recent cable miniseries. Analyze the history and
social contexts of clothing in media, as well as the critical role of fashion in relation to the narrative, i.e., how it
enhances the mood and propels the dramatic action of the production. Using illustrated lectures, critical
thinking and writing, and research and presentation skills, students will focus on how/why clothing is worn,
how fashion design and costume design intersect, and how we can understand the economic and cultural
realities of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries through the shifting trends of fashion.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kerl; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Winter;
Course ID: THST155 Title: Improvisation: The Craft of Play
Theatre-making - like much of life - involves moment to moment evaluation and problem-solving.
Improvisational theatre is a performance tradition which joyfully embraces this challenge head-on! In this
course, we will immerse ourselves in the practice of this art form. We will create characters, stories and new
worlds through tapping our intuition, embracing the unknown, and letting the focus of a theatre game lead us
to collective discovery, Guided by the teachings of Viola Spolin, students will seek the bold and the
spontaneous in themselves through group agreement. Everybody can improvise!
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rainer; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Winter; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: THST155H Title: Improvisation: The Craft of Play
Theatre-making - like much of life - involves moment to moment evaluation and problem-solving.
Improvisational theatre is a performance tradition which joyfully embraces this challenge head-on! In this
course, we will immerse ourselves in the practice of this art form. We will create characters, stories and new
worlds through tapping our intuition, embracing the unknown, and letting the focus of a theatre game lead us
to collective discovery, Guided by the teachings of Viola Spolin, students will seek the bold and the
spontaneous in themselves through group agreement. Everybody can improvise!
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Rainer; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit;
Course ID: THST200 Title: That's What She Said: Trailblazing Women of American Comedy
This course invites students to take funny women seriously. Through their legacy of work as well as oral
histories, we will investigate the evolving challenges and triumphs of women whose comedic voices influenced
American expectations over the last century. Elaine May, Joan Rivers, Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner, Whoopi
Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Wellesley's own Nora Ephron and more will make us laugh. Forms to be explored
include writing, improvisation, stand-up, comic acting on stage and screen, cartooning, plus new media.
Creating belly laughs changed the culture on which these women were commenting — ultimately, through
deepening our understanding of the purposefulness and craft of comedy, our collective goal will be the
creation of several forms of original comedy works. Students will have the opportunity to participate in the
Theatre Studies Showcase at the end of the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rainer; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: THST204 Title: Acting l: Achieving Authenticity
Students are introduced to the fundamentals of contemporary acting, as devised by such stage theoreticians
as Constantine Stanislavsky, Lee Strasberg, and Sanford Meisner. Instruction focuses on the proper methods
for breaking scenes down into component units or "beats," and achieving a measure of authenticity discernible
in person or through the camera lens. Students perform with a rotating roster of partners, emphasizing
group learning and mutual support in the pursuit of an individual acting aesthetic. It is intended for any and all
levels of experience.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Arciniegas; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: THST206 Title: Introduction to Directing
This course studies the creative skills of the director in conjunction with the analytical skills of the dramaturge.
Particular emphasis will be placed on communicating with actors. Students will be encouraged to develop their
own unique directorial vision. Students will be expected to provide probing intellectual questions to each other
while collaborating. Dramatic material will be drawn from a variety of world literature with emphasis placed on
women playwrights. Students will be given opportunities to work with professional actors in a guest-artist "lab"
format.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Roach; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Not Offered; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: THST207 Title: Stagecraft for Performance
This course studies the craft and theory of the production arts in the theatre. We will cover the practice of
intent creation and explore how that intent is interpreted - from the designer's process to how that process is
implemented by various craftspeople and specialists.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Instructor: Towlun; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater,
Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: THST209 Title: Scenic Design as a Collaborative Art
Think outside the box! Learn the abstract art of scenic design for the theatre and beyond. Students will learn
basic drafting, sketching, script analysis and visual research to create a scenic environment for scripts written
by THST playwriting students. Students will be taught the artistic and technical skills needed in order to
facilitate communication and collaboration with directing and stagecraft students. Students will participate as
designers in the Theatre Showcase at the end of the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Howland; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: THST212 Title: Woman, Center Stage
This course will focus on plays where the voices of women are at the center of the story. This class will read,
discuss and write about the powerful female protagonists, playwrights and practitioners who captivate us as
they speak from their different cultural landscapes. From Shakespeare’s Desdemona to Lorraine Hansberry’s
“Les Blancs,” we will explore what it means to investigate the stories of playwrights like Josefina Lopez,
Young Jean Lee, Larissa FastHorse and Dominique Morisseau. What are the expectations of a society and an
audience? How do female playwrights craft their stories? How will you write your own? Students will also
explore their voice thru the writing of their own 10 min. play!
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: THST214H Title: Voice & Movement for Actors
This course will give students the tools and skills to develop a character either from the outside in, using
movement, or from the inside out, using the voice. Utilizing a dynamic survey of vocal and physical techniques
developed by influential theatre practitioners of the last five decades, students will move towards 'freeing their
natural voice' and developing range, color, and texture for effective stage use. Concurrently, students will work
on 'freeing their bodies' and using physicality to flesh out a character. Class work will focus on both individual
and group work with particular attention given to layering voice and movement with text to create vivid, fully
developed characters in devised contexts. Not offered every year.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Rainer; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Winter; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Winter; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: THST215 Title: Twenty Plays, Twenty Years
A survey of contemporary American plays, Pulitzer Prize winners as well as investigating inventive new
companies that break down the boundaries between performance and audience. We'll read texts ripped from
the headlines as well as what might be the "new classics." We'll also attend or stream productions and discuss
the journey from page to stage. This is not your parents' theatre class. No Plays Over 20 Years Old. Students
will use critical thinking to analyze trends in contemporary theatre, and contrast and compare contemporary
events with the events in dramatic texts. We will incorporate our knowledge into class projects, such as
adaptations, research papers, or original plays. Guest artists from the theatre world occasionally visit to
illuminate other perspectives.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: THST221 Title: The Art of Playwriting
This course will teach basic playwriting skills implemented through in-class exercises and at-home writing
assignments. This hands-on, practical approach will require writing one short play each week. Emphasis is on
experimentation, innovation, risk taking, and process. A spirit of fun, innovation, and creativity will dominate
this workshop format. Each class meeting will incorporate reading student work aloud with commentary from
the instructor and the class. Students will listen, critique, and develop the vocabulary to discuss plays,
structure, story, and content. Each student will begin to connect her dramatic voice and theatrical passion.
Students will ultimately write a one-act play as the capstone experience for this class. Students will have the
opportunity to participate in the Theatre Studies Showcase at the end of the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Roach; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. This course may be taken as THST 321 upon completion of THST
221. See the description for THST 321.;
Course ID: THST222 Title: Costume Design
Have you ever considered what goes into creating the costumes for your favorite characters? This is your
chance to try it yourself! Over the course of the term you will read scripts, do visual research, design for
different characters, and learn drawing and hand sewing techniques. The main focus is on developing design
ideas for different circ*mstances and enhancing how to communicate them. This is an immersive production
class, taught by a professional costume designer.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Kerl; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: THST225 Title: Seminar: Circus and Society: Performance of Identity and Culture in the Modern
Western Circus
Circus is not simply spectacle; it is a reflection of society. This course is an exploration of the Western circus as
a performance form that can construct, affirm, and even change cultural values and norms. Beginning with a
foundation in Western circus history, we will look at circus acts from the eighteenth century to the modern day
as spectacles that have the power to resist the status quo. Considerations of gender, race, sexuality, and
nationality, will guide readings, viewings, and discussions of freak shows, animal acts, aerial and acrobatic
performance in theatre, film, popular culture, and on the national stage. Through the lens of the circus, this
course seeks to explore the larger impact of popular, performing arts on society.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Meyer; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: THST245 Title: Theatrical Criticism: An Immersive Investigation at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Critics occupy a place of exciting responsibility in the evolving global conversation about theatre. Come
amplify your own voice! Students will immerse themselves in the craft of criticism during an intensive excursion
to the biggest arts and culture festival in the world. This summer session course timing coincides with the
festival timing, and so will run for two weeks in mid-August. Daily theatre productions in myriad genres (and
languages!) will be selected from hundreds of festival venues, be they castles, pubs, conference rooms,
observatories, volcanic playgrounds, or even in the cobbled alleys of historic Edinburgh. Daily critical
discussion in print and audio will be offered, evaluated, and published online. Reviews, profiles and more will
employ succinct analysis, vivid description, informed perspective and provocative questions. Collectively,
students will create a vibrant snapshot of the state of theatre in today’s world!
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 8; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Rainer; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: THST250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: THST250G Title: Research or Group Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: THST250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: THST276 Title: Storytelling Through Song: An Actor's Introduction to the Art of Cabaret
This course invites the developing student of acting to approach the solo interpretation and performance of
song as a powerful storytelling medium. In addition to reading, viewing, listening and evaluative assignments,
visits by working professional actors in the musical field will enhance our exploration throughout the course. Inclass/synchronous master classes rehearsing songs-in-progress should be expected weekly. Students will
learn to apply acting philosophies and performance techniques to disentangle the voice from the body and
expand their avenues of physical expression, while preparing the imagination through lyrical interpretation and
even character development. Students will get the in-joke "do you have an uptempo?" as they learn the
constitutive elements of the cabaret genre. Students will propose multi-song plot narratives for an imagined
one-person cabaret show, while considering how this underground art provides a liberating space for
representation and expression. Each student will ultimately prepare a selection chosen from that envisioned
show for public performance.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 8; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Rainer; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit;
Course ID: THST300 Title: The Art of Lighting Design
The purpose of this course is to explore and understand stage lighting design and how it plays a crucial role in
modern theatrical storytelling. Through the use of a scaled light lab students will investigate how the functions
and qualities of light affect an audience’s perception of actors and the stage picture. This course will also
provide an introduction to the Vectorworks CAD software as well as the ETC EOS programming environment.
The course culminates in a final presentation demonstrating the student’s mastery of the elements of lighting
design.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: THST 207 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Stetson;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: THST305 Title: Acting II: Advanced Scene Study
Building upon the work of its prerequisite, Acting I, this advanced scene study course broadens the scope of
plays, styles, and periods. Students will examine plays written prior to the advent of modern psychology for
acting techniques that do not rely exclusively on intention and motivation. They may also examine modern
plays written in alternative styles, (ex. Expressionism, Absurdism, Surrealism). Students will focus on a
particular playwright, period, or style to explore performance approaches beyond realism. Students may also
explore non-English texts in their original, relying upon their particular language or languages of study.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: THST 204; Instructor: Arciniegas; Distribution Requirements: ARS Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: THST306 Title: Advanced Directing: The Directors Art
From stage to screen! This class continues to build on the skills learned in playwriting and/or intro to directing
classes. Students become part of an ensemble in complete collaboration where all students write, direct and
act in each others plays (The 306 Rep). The plays will be staged and presented as part of a midterm festival;
then adapted, videotaped and edited for an end of semester screening. Tangible work products include a 10
min. play, a directors book of sketches and blocking notes plus a 10 min. video.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: THST 206 or permission of the instructor. ; Instructor: Roach;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: THST310 Title: Acting for (and with) the Camera
This course builds upon the basic techniques taught in Acting 1 for achieving authenticity on stage, and
reframes them in the context of the subtler, electronically sensitive environment of the small screen. Acting
students will learn to maintain emotional stakes and dramatic tension, while conveying them in stillness,
simplicity, and with breath control for the nuanced and electronically magnified environment of a camera
recording. Students will learn various techniques to calibrate performance for wide and medium shots, as well
as what to do in "close-up". Through classroom film sessions and independent recording assignments,
students will develop a personal performance aesthetic for film and television production.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: THST 204 or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Arciniegas;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every
other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: THST315 Title: Acting Shakespeare
This course focuses on the study and practice of skills and techniques for the performance of scenes and
monologues and the realization of theatrical characters from Shakespeare's texts. Speeches and scenes will
be performed for class criticism. The class will be subdivided by instructor according to skill levels. Students
are expected to rehearse and prepare scenes outside of class time.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: Any THST course and any Shakespeare course in the English
Department or permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Arciniegas; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: THST321 Title: The Advanced Art of Playwriting
THST 321 is an opportunity for former students of THST 221 to build on skills developed during that course.
Students will work in an intensive process with the goal of completing a two act play with related analysis
material. Similar to THST 221, there will be opportunities to hear the material during table reads as part of class
participation. Interested students should discuss their interest with the professor prior to registration. Students
will have the opportunity to participate in the Theatre Studies Showcase at the end of the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Roach; Distribution
Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit. This course is also offered at the 200level as THST 221.;
Course ID: THST345 Title: Practicum: Theatre Production
This course offers the advanced students of the theatre arts an opportunity to incorporate the performance,
stage management, set design, lighting design, costume design, sound design, and directing disciplines
available within the department into one focused and fully-produced project through an immersive
investigation of a full-length script. Students will conduct dramaturgical research to contextualize the world of a
play, establishing connections among the text, actors, and production elements, and creating a platform for
conversation in the Wellesley community. Concurrently, students will implement performance and production
techniques, engaging every aspect of the collaborative process of theatre-making. Actors and stage
management will commit to 3+ scheduled rehearsals weekly. Students interested in participating as a
designer or stage manager should contact the instructors significantly prior to registration. Students
interested in performance must audition in the first week of each semester - invitations will be issued by the
instructors within the add/drop period. The course will culminate with a fully supported public production, to
be directed, managed, and advised by Theatre Studies faculty, serving as a capstone of integrated learning in
the department.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required.; Instructor: Rainer, Towlun;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course may be repeated once for credit.
THST 345 meets MTW 6.30-9.30 + tech/dress/performances. ;
Course ID: THST350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: THST350G Title: Research or Group Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: THST350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: THST355 Title: Devising Theatre Performance
This course is for the advanced theatre student who desires to put into practice the collaborative creative and
research responsibilities of devising a one-act performance as an ensemble, centered around a collectively
chosen theme. In '20-'21, live streaming technology will be utilized to develop work and ultimately connect with
our audiences in real time online. Students will take inspiration from the multlimedia and physical strategies
and training of renowned devised contemporary global theatre companies, whose work we will investigate.
Students will learn how to build a production from physical impulse and observation, game, improvisation,
research, sound and image collage, group gesture, collaborative writing, and more - and to learn to engage
consistently with a design, tech and stage management team as co-creators. To prepare our students to
become autonomous artists in the world, this course provides the opportunity to explore the creation of a
performance event outside of text-driven theatre structures. To support this goal, students will receive the
technical & training tools, ensemble rehearsal and individual assignments, concurrent critique, and an
intensive structure within which to immerse themselves in the devising process.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Strong consideration will be given to
students who have completed THST 204, THST 214H, THST 221, THST 306, THST 345, or equivalent.;
Instructor: Rainer; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: This course is for the
advanced theatre student with previous acting/dance/production training. The expectation is that they will take
on the collaborative creative and research responsibilities of devising a one-act performance as an ensemble
by bringing their individual strengths to the process.;
Course ID: THST360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first
semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is
made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: THST370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 10; Prerequisites: THST 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis
Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Women's and Gender Studies
Women’s and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary field that explores gender and its intersections with other
relations of power such as race, sex, social class, sexuality, nationality, ability, age, and ethnicity. It critically
examines the worlds in which we live in their historical, contemporary, and transnational contexts. Department
faculty foster a supportive and inclusive community through intellectually rich and inclusive student-centered
learning environments. We are committed to small class sizes with innovative pedagogies and assignments
and encourage collaborative research opportunities and summer internships. Our research and teaching span
a wide range of theoretical and empirical scholarship within not only traditional disciplines but also various
interdisciplines. We provide a rigorous, exciting, and supportive intellectual experience for undergraduate
students eager to explore the complexities of gender and sexuality.
Women’s and Gender Studies Major
Learning Objectives for the Women’s & Gender Studies Major
By their senior year, students majoring in Women’s & Gender Studies will:
Demonstrate an understanding of the social and historical constructions of sex and gender, shifting
definitions of our ideas of sex/gender/race/nation, and why debates about definitions matter
Use gender as a category of analysis in their own writing
Be able to explain the intersectionality of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality and the
interlocking systems of privilege, oppression, and opportunities. They will also be able to explain how
structural changes and historical moments intersect with individual lives
Demonstrate an understanding of cutting-edge theories used in Women’s and Gender
Studies, including feminist theories, intersectional feminisms, queer and trans studies, disability
studies, reproductive and environmental justice, science and technology studies, and indigenous,
decolonial and postcolonial studies
Cultivate a transnational awareness about shifting frames in global geopolitics
Demonstrate knowledge of the history of women’s activism and of strategies for social change
Demonstrate understanding of methodologies used by scholars in Women’s and Gender Studies
Construct arguments with evidence obtained from research and scholarship
Think and write critically, engage in critical self-reflection and self- awareness, and compare different
perspectives on issues
Develop an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge by connecting knowledge and experience, theory
and activism, and connecting Women’s & Gender Studies courses with other courses
Requirements for the Women’s and Gender Studies Major
For students entering in Fall 2024 and beyond:
Minimum major is 9 units; There are 4 requirements:
One unit must be taken at the 100 level (WGST120, WGST 108, WGST 104 or WGST 102).
WGST 224: Feminist Approaches to Research
Two units must be taken at the 300 level within the WGST department. These can (but not required)
include WGST 313 (Fieldwork in Women’s and Gender Studies) and/or WGST 360/WGST 370 (Senior
Thesis).
A total of at least 6 units must be taken in the WGST department.
WGST is an interdisciplinary field that engages disciplines across the Humanities, Social and Natural Sciences.
We encourage students to develop a focus that helps towards their interests and career goals. For example
consider: Representations, Media, and Race; Feminist Science, Health and Technology; Labor, Families, and
the State; Transnational Feminism(s) in Global Contexts; Sexuality Studies; Queer and Trans Studies; Abolition
Feminism; Environmental Justice; Reproductive Health and Justice.
For students who entered Wellesley before Fall 2024:
WGST 224: Feminist Approaches to Research is not required.
Students may (but are not required to) choose to select from the following concentrations:
Representations, Media, and Race
Feminist Science, Health and Technology
Labor, Families, and the State
Transnational Feminism(s) in Global Contexts
Self-designed concentration (in consultation with and approved by the advisor).
About Courses
Courses at the 100 level are introductions to topics in Women’s and Gender Studies. They are taught from the
perspective of each faculty member’s specialty. Courses at the 200 level are overviews of substantive areas.
Courses at the 300 level provide in-depth examination of material covered in 200-level courses.
Honors in Women’s and Gender Studies
There are two routes to honors in the major. Under Program I, a student completes two semesters of
independent research (WGST 360 and 370) culminating in an honors thesis. Under Program II, a student
completes one semester of fieldwork or independent research (WGST 313) related to previous 300-level
course work, writes a formal paper, and then submits to an examination that includes both topics covered in
the general area of Women’s and Gender Studies and also one that is related to the 313 project. Honors may
only be undertaken in the senior year. To be admitted to the WGST honors program, a student must have a
grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level; the department may
petition on the student's behalf if the student's GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic
Distinctions.
If a student is a rising junior and is interested in either a WGST 360/WGST 370 (senior thesis) or in a WGST
313 honors they must have their paperwork, including a proposal, into the department by April 19, 2024.
Students applying for honors should see their WGST advisor for specific preparation and proposal guidelines.
Advanced Placement Policy in Women’s and Gender Studies
Women’s and Gender Studies does not allow students to count AP credits toward the fulfillment of the major
or minor.
Courses for Credit Toward the Women's and Gender Studies Major and Minor
AFR 212 / ENG 279
Black Women Writers
1.0
AFR 227 / EDUC 227
Black Girlhood
1.0
AMST 383 / ENG 383
Women in Love: American Literature, Art, Photography,
Film
1.0
ANTH 238
The Vulnerable Body: Anthropological Understandings
1.0
ARTH 230
Frank Lloyd Wright and the American Home
1.0
ARTH 245
House and Home: Domestic Architecture, Interiors, and
Material Life in North America, 1600-1900
1.0
ARTH 325
Seminar: Strong Women in Renaissance and Baroque
Italy
1.0
ARTH 339
Seminar: Who Was Frida Kahlo?
1.0
CAMS 203 / CHIN 243
Chinese Cinema (in English)
1.0
CHIN 245
Chinese Women in a Century of Revolution (In English)
1.0
CLCV 213
Gender in Antiquity
1.0
ECON 229
Women in the Economy
1.0
EDUC 214
Reimagining Youth: Exploring the Role of Family,
Community and Society
1.0
ENG 255
Reading Emily Dickensen
1.0
ENG 272
The Nineteenth-Century Novel
1.0
ENG 294
Writing AIDS, 1981-Present
1.0
ENG 346
George Eliot and Her Readers
1.0
ENG 352
Poetry of Luise Gluck
1.0
ENG 357
The World of Emily Dickinson
1.0
ENG 387
Authors
1.0
FREN 323
Liberty, Equality, Sexualities: How the Values of the
French Republic Have Both Protected and Limited Sexual
Freedom
1.0
HIST 293
Changing Gender Constructions in the Modern Middle
East
1.0
ITAS 210
Queer Italy: LGBTQ and Culture in Italy from Dante to
Pasolini and Beyond
1.0
ITAS 274
Women in Love: Portraits of Female Desire in Italian
Culture
1.0
JPN 353 / THST 353
Lady Murasaki and The Tale of Genji (in English)
1.0
KOR 256
Gender and Language in Modern Korean Culture (in
English)
1.0
MUS 222
Music, Gender, and Sexuality
1.0
MUS 224 / REL 224
Hildegard of Bingen
1.0
MUS 322
Music, Gender, and Sexuality
1.0
PEAC 205 / POL3 236
Gender, War and Peacebuilding
1.0
PEAC 393 / POL3 393
Seminar: Women and Conflict
1.0
PHIL 218
Feminist Philosophy of Science
1.0
PHIL 230
Epistemic Harms
1.0
POL2 367
Women and Gender in Middle Eastern Politics
1.0
POL4 344
Seminar: Feminist Theory from the Margins
1.0
REL 106
Queer Bible
1.0
REL 225
Women in Christianity
1.0
REL 226
The Virgin Mary
1.0
REL 243
Women in the Biblical World
1.0
REL 323
Seminar: Feminist, Womanist, Latina, and LGBT
Theologies
1.0
SOC 209
Social Inequality: Race, Class and Gender
1.0
SOC 315
Intersectionality at Work
1.0
SOC 308
Children in Society
1.0
SPAN 263
Women's Art and Activism in Latin America
1.0
SPAN 271
Intersecting Currents: Afro-Hispanic and Indigenous
Writers in Latin American Literature
1.0
SPAN 277
Jewish Women Writers of Latin American
1.0
SPAN 278
Writing Women: Early Modern Spain
1.0
SPAN 291
Goddesses, Muses, Warriors: Women in Pre-Hispanic
and Colonial Latin America
1.0
SPAN 327
Seminar: Latin American Women Writers: Identity,
Marginality, and the Literary Canon
1.0
THST 200
That's What She Said: Trailblazing Women of American
Comedy
1.0
THST 212
Woman, Center Stage
1.0
WRIT 110
Social Inequality: Race, Class and Gender
1.0
WRIT 116
Writing in the Distracted Age
1.0
WRIT 119
JWST 119 Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1.0
WRIT 122
Wellesley and the World
1.0
WRIT 145
From Penelope's Loom to the puss* Hat: Women, Art,
Craft, and Protest
1.0
WRIT 146
Alternative Worlds, American Dreams
1.0
WRIT 148
Sex in the Middle Ages
1.0
WRIT 158
Art and Activism in Latin America
1.0
WRIT 173
The Fiction of Edith Wharton
1.0
WRIT 176
What's Old is New: Classics and Modern Social
Movements
1.0
WRIT 178
Black Feminism and the Future
1.0
WRIT 185
Writing about Documentary Film
1.0
WRIT 186
The Unruly Body
1.0
Women’s and Gender Studies Minor
Requirements for the Women’s and Gender Studies Minor
A minor in Women’s and Gender Studies consists of five units:
One unit must be taken at the 100 level (WGST 120 or WGST 102, WGST 104 or WGST 108).
One unit must be taken at the 300 level (not WGST 350 or WGST 350H) offered within the department.
A total of at least three courses must be taken within the Women’s and Gender Studies department.
The Health and Society minor is no longer offered; however, students can focus on either a WGST major or a
minor around health-oriented coursework.
WGST Courses
Course ID: AFR332/WGST332 Title: “Rhodes must Fall”: Decolonial and Antiracist Research Methods
In 2015 a global movement began at the University of Cape Town to decolonize education, research, and
tackle institutional racism in academia. This course gives students an introductory engagement of decolonial
research practices. Decolonizing research and knowledge means to center the concerns and perspectives of
non-Western individuals on theory and research. Thus, this course will be a process of “unlearning” social and
scientific standards that we have taken as universal, resisting coloniality in academic production of knowledge,
and moving research into action. This course will broadly discuss research methods and praxis in social
sciences and in public health/medicine.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Franklin; Distribution Requirements: EC Epistemology and Cognition; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: AMST274/WGST274 Title: Gender and Race in Westerns: Rainbow Cowboys (and Girls)
Westerns, a complex category that includes not only films but also novels, photographs, paintings, and many
forms of popular culture, have articulated crucial mythologies of American culture from the nineteenth century
to the present. From Theodore Roosevelt to the Lone Ranger, myths of the Trans-Mississippi West have
asserted iconic definitions of American masculinity and rugged individualism. Yet as a flexible, ever-changing
genre, Westerns have challenged, revised, and subverted American concepts of gender and sexuality.
Westerns have also struggled to explain a dynamic and conflictive "borderlands" among Native Americans,
Anglos, Latinos, Blacks, and Asians. This team-taught, interdisciplinary course will investigate Westerns in
multiple forms, studying their representations of the diverse spaces and places of the American West and its
rich, complicated, and debated history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Creef, P. Fisher (American Studies); Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: ANTH254/WGST254 Title: The Biology of Human Difference
How do we account for the many similarities and differences within and between human populations? Axes of
human “difference”– sex, gender, race, class, sexuality, nationality – have profound consequences. These
differences shape not only group affiliation and identity but have been shaped by colonial and national
histories. They shape social structures such as socioeconomic status, professions, work mobility, as well as
stereotypes about personal traits and behaviors. The biological sciences have been very important in the
history of differences. Scientists have contributed to bolster claims that differences are determined by our
biology – such as research on sex and racial differences, notions of the “gay” gene, math abilities, spatial
ability etc. Conversely, scientists have also contributed to critiquing claims of difference – challenging the idea
that sex, gender, race, sexuality are innate, and immutable. How do we weigh these claims and
counterclaims? We will begin with a historical overview of biological studies on “difference” to trace the
differing understandings of the “body” and the relationship of the body with identity, behavior and intellectual
and social capacity. We will then examine contemporary knowledge on differences of sex, gender, race, class,
and sexuality. Using literature from biology, anthropology, feminist studies, history and science studies, we will
examine the biological and cultural contexts for our understanding of “difference.” How do we come to
describe the human body as we do? What is good data? How do we “know” what we know? The course will
give students the tools to analyze scientific studies, to understand the relationship of nature and culture,
science and society, biology and politics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Van Arsdale, Subramaniam; Distribution
Requirements: NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods
Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: CAMS241/WGST249 Title: Asian/American Women in Film
This course will serve as an introduction to representations of Asian/American women in film beginning with
silent classics and ending with contemporary social media. In the first half of the course, we examine the
legacy of Orientalism, the politics of interracial romance, the phenomenon of "yellow face", and the different
constructions of Asian American femininity, masculinity, and sexuality. In the second half of the course, we
look at "Asian American cinema" where our focus will be on contemporary works, drawing upon critical
materials from film theory, feminist studies, Asian American studies, history, and cultural studies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Creef; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: ENG294/WGST294 Title: Writing AIDS, 1981-Present
AIDS changed how we live our lives, and this course looks at writings tracing the complex, sweeping
ramifications of the biggest sexual-health crisis in world history. This course looks at diverse depictions and
genres of H.I.V./AIDS writing, including Pulitzer Prize-winning plays like Angels In America and bestselling
popular-science "contagion narratives" like And the Band Played On; independent films like Greg Araki's The
Living End and Oscar-winning features and documentaries like Philadelphia, Precious, and How to Survive a
Plague. We will read about past controversies and ongoing developments in AIDS history and historiography.
These include unyielding stigma and bio-political indifference, met with activism, service, and advocacy;
transforming biomedical research to increase access to better treatments, revolutionizing AIDS from death
sentence to chronic condition; proliferating "moral panics" about public sex, "barebacking," and "PrEP" (preexposure prevention), invoking problematic constructs like "Patient Zero," "being on the Down Low," "party and
play" subculture, and the "Truvada whor*"; and constructing a global bio-political apparatus ("AIDS Inc.") to
control and protect populations. We will look at journal articles, scholarly and popular-science books
(excerpts), as well as literary and cinematic texts. Also some archival materials from ACT UP Boston, the
activist group. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: González; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES302/WGST302 Title: Global Health and the Environmental Crisis
Social understandings of the relationship between human health and the environment are visible and
malleable in moments of crisis, from industrial disasters, weather-related catastrophes, and political conflict, as
everyday events like childbirth and routine sickness. But these understandings vary dramatically across time
and community. This course addresses the complex dynamics at work in the representations of and
responses to health and the environment that emerge during moments of crisis. By studying the way these
constructions are shaped by social, political, technological, and moral contexts, we will analyze the role of
nature, knowledge, ethics and power in such contemporary problems as human migration, hunger, debility,
and disease. The class will together consider the meaning of crisis and how it is shaped by social systems
such as gender, sexuality, ability, class, and race.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors or Seniors or by permission of the
instructor. A 200 level WGST course is recommended.; Instructor: Harrison; Distribution Requirements: SBA -
Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring;
Course ID: ES328/WGST328 Title: Seminar: Naturecultures: Feminist Futures & Environmental Justice
The stories we tell about the world make certain futures possible, while foreclosing other imaginable ones. This
course reveals how Western historical, theoretical, and scientific ways of knowing understood both women
and nature as inferior and thus needing to be controlled. Pushing back against the ideas of any inherent binary
separations between sex/gender and nature/culture, we will examine feminist ecological possibilities for
planetary futures. Learning from the intertwined histories of environment, race, and gender, that have led to
both personal and global inequity and disaster, we will also engage solutions that imagine different futures.
Recognizing that solutions to environmental problems require a feminist attunement, we can start to
understand the implications that our ethical commitments have to the future of life on the planet.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any WGST 200-level course or ES-200-level course. Juniors and
Seniors only. ; Instructor: Subramaniam; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Fall;
Course ID: ES343/WGST343 Title: Seminar: Feminist Critical Animal Studies: Humans and Horses
Equine cultural studies has become one of the most exciting fields to emerge out of Critical Animal Studies for
how it looks at the intersection of humans and horses across histories, cultures, and the humanities. This
seminar will provide an introduction to Equine Cultural Studies through the lens of feminist studies in its focus
on the boundaries between horses and humans. Some of the questions we explore include: Did Anna
Sewell’s Black Beauty (1877) inspire the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention Against Cruelty to Animals
as well as the backlash against Victorian women’s corsets? Is there a feminist way to ride a horse? How does
feminist thought offer a unique interrogation of race, flesh, and femaleness that sheds new light on equine
studies? How has the horse been an integral partner in therapeutic healing in both Native and Indigenous
communities as well as in non-Native communities?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. At least one course in either WGST or
ES or ANTH 240 is recommended. This course is intended for juniors and seniors.; Instructor: Creef;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters
Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: FREN336/WGST336 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Feminisms in the Wake of the
Global #MeToo Movement (in English)
From Hollywood’s casting couches, to the Copenhagen City Hall and the highest echelons of the French
media establishment, to the feminists in Mexico and Argentina and the demands of those in Japan, Iran, and
Egypt, the #MeToo movement has raised a global wave of protests against sexual abuse. The expression of
women’s voices has been undeniably transformed since the hashtag's emergence, but the aims and results of
the movement, and the consequences faced by those accused, have varied from place to place. Students will
consider #MeToo from a comparative and multilingual perspective, analyzing texts and media from around the
globe, in a collective effort to grasp how culture, language, and nation condition the international struggle for
women’s rights.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: At least one Language & Literature course at the 200-level in any
modern language department or by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Bilis; Distribution Requirements:
LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical
Periods Offered: Every three years; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: PEAC201/WGST221 Title: Gender, Race, and the Carceral State
What is the carceral state? What do girls, women, and transgender individuals’ experiences of policing and
punishment in 21st century America reveal about its shifting dimensions? Despite public concerns about mass
incarceration in the United States and calls for criminal justice reform, mainstream commentators rarely
account for the gendered, racialized, and class dimensions of punishment, nor address the growing ranks of
girls, women, poor and gender nonconforming individuals that experience carceral control and oversight.
Interdisciplinary in scope, this course critically examines how race, gender, sexuality and class intersect and
shape people’s experience with systems of punishment and control. It further explores the economic, social,
and political factors that have influenced the development of the contemporary American carceral state and
scholarly, activist, and artistic responses to it.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: One WGST course or permission of the instructor.; Instructor:
Melchor Hall; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: PEAC240/WGST240 Title: U.S. Public Health
A quarter century ago the Institute of Medicine defined the work of public health as "what we as a society do
collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy." Historically rooted in a commitment to
social justice, U.S. public health is now renewing this commitment through 1) an epidemiological shift to
examine the social, economic, and political inequities that create disparate health and disease patterns by
gender, class, race, sexual identity, citizenship, etc., and 2) a corresponding health equity movement in public
health practice. This broad-ranging course examines the debates shaping the above as well as the moral and
legal groundings of public health, basic epidemiology, and the roles of public and private actors. Highlighted
health topics vary year to year.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors and Seniors, or by permission of
the instructor.; Instructor: Harrison; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical
Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC104Y/WGST104Y Title: First-Year Seminar: The Body. Reproduction, Sex Education, Work,
Fashion
This course explores the ways in which the body, as a reflection and construction of the self, is tied to social,
cultural and political relations. Through this examination of the role that our bodies play in daily life we will
delve into the study of gender, race, sexuality and power. We focus on several major areas: (1) after Roe and
the medicalization of bodies (contraception, abortion, new reproductive technologies), (2) sex education and
the Internet as sites of bodily learning (3) body work (nail salons, surrogacy) (4) the use of the body as a
vehicle for performance, self-expression and identity (tattoos, getting dressed). Throughout the course we will
discuss how ideas about bodies are transported across national borders and social, sexual and class
hierarchies.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Hertz; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: SOC205/WGST211 Title: Modern Families and Social Inequalities
Feminist scholarship demonstrates that American family life needs to be viewed through two lenses: one that
highlights the embeddedness of family in class, race, heteronormativity, gender inequalities and another that
draws our attention to historical developments – such as the aftermath of World War 2, technologies and
government social policies. In 2015 same-sex marriage became U.S. federal law; but at the same time fewer
people are marrying and parenthood is delayed. Moreover, new reproductive technologies coupled with the
Internet and the wish for intimacy is creating unprecedented families. Topics covered vary yearly but include:
inequalities around employment, the home front and childcare; intensive motherhood, social class
and cultural capital; welfare to work programs; immigrant families and the American Dream. Finally, we will
explore new developments from adoption to gamete donors by same-sex or single-parent families and how
science and technologies are facilitating the creation of new kinds of kin. A special feature of this class is
looking at the relationship of families and social policy.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Hertz; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: SOC306/WGST306 Title: Seminar: Women Leaders at Work
More women leaders are in work settings and public office than any prior point in history. However, the fraction
of women who are CEOs, board members of major corporations, heads of state and elected representatives in
global assemblies remains shockingly small by comparison to the sheer numbers of women workers,
consumers, and family decision makers. This course will examine the way that gender, race, and class shape
women's access to positions of leadership and power at work. Questions to be considered include: (1) Why
are there so few women leaders in work settings? (2) What can we learn about leadership from women who
have achieved it? Four modules for the course are (1) Strategies developed by women who lead; (2) Efforts to
achieve parity through policies, e.g., glass ceilings, affirmative action; (3) Tensions between work, family and
carework; and (4) Profiles of Productive Rule Breakers. Students will research women leaders in all sectors
and countries.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to Sophom*ores, Juniors and Seniors. Priority will be given to
SOC and WGST majors and minors.; Instructor: Hertz; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: SOC311/WGST311 Title: Seminar: Families, Gender, the State, and Social Policies
This course examines the politics facing contemporary U.S. families and potential policy directions at the State
and Federal Levels. Discussion of the transformation of American families including changing economic and
social expectations for parents, inequality between spouses, choices women make about children and
employment, daycare and familial care giving, welfare and underemployment, and new American dreams will
be explored. Changing policies regarding welfare and teen pregnancy will also be examined as part of
government incentives to promote self-sufficient families. Expanding family (i.e. single mothers by choice,
lesbian/gay/trans families) through the use of new reproductive technologies is emphasized as examples of
legislative reform and the confusion surrounding genetic and social kinship is explored. Comparisons to other
contemporary societies will serve as foils for particular analyses. Students will learn several types of research
methodologies through course assignments. Student groups will also produce an original social policy case.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One 100 level and one 200 level course in either WGST or
Sociology. Open to Juniors and Seniors; to Sophom*ores by permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Hertz;
Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: SOC322/WGST322 Title: Seminar: Contemporary Reproduction
This course focuses on the politics of human reproduction which is inextricably linked with nation states, as
well as cultural norms and expectations. Reproductive issues and debates serve as proxies for more
fundamental questions about the intersecting inequalities of citizenship, gender, race, class, disability and
sexuality. What does reproductive justice look like? We will discuss how the marketplace, medical
technologies and the law are critical to creating social hierarchies that are produced, resisted and transformed.
We ask: Why is access critical to control for the use of fertility technologies (both pre-and during pregnancy),
gamete purchase, egg freezing? How is each accomplished and by whom? How are new technologies in
reproduction coupled with the global marketplace creating a social hierarchy between people (e.g. gamete
donors, gestational carriers). Finally, what is the relationship between the commercialization of reproduction
and the creation of new intimacies and forms of kinship? The course emphasizes both empirical research
situated in the U.S. and research involving transnational flows.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors only; must be a WGST or SOC major
or minor or a junior or senior who has taken WGST 211/SOC 205.; Instructor: Hertz; Distribution Requirements:
SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: WGST108 Title: The Social Construction of Inequalities: Race, Gender, Class and Sexuality
This course discusses the social construction -through social interactions and within social institutions- of
gender, race, social class and sexuality, with an emphasis on the ways in which gender intersects with race,
class, and sexuality. The processes and mechanisms that construct and institutionalize inequalities will be
considered in a variety of contexts, including political, economic, educational, and cultural.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST120 Title: Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
Introduction to the interdisciplinary field of women's and gender studies with an emphasis on an understanding
of the "common differences" that both unite and divide women. Beginning with an examination of how
womanhood has been represented in myths, ads, and popular culture, the course explores how gender
inequalities have been both explained and critiqued. The cultural meaning given to gender as it intersects with
race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality will be studied. This course also exposes some of the critiques made by
women's studies' scholars of the traditional academic disciplines and the new intellectual terrain currently
being mapped.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Musto, Staff; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Course ID: WGST121 Title: Reading Elvis Presley and 1950s America
Some have argued that Elvis Presley was the greatest cultural force in twentieth-century America. This course
will consider the early career of Elvis Presley as a unique window for the study of race, class, gender, and
heteronormative sexuality in postwar popular American culture. Specifically, we will look at the blending of
African American and other forms of musical style in Presley's music, the representation of masculinity and
sexuality across a sampling of his films and television performances, and key cultural film texts from the 1950s,
and we will end by evaluating Presley's lasting impact as a unique icon in American cultural history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Creef; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST202 Title: Trans Studies
This course introduces the interdisciplinary field of trans studies. We will explore the long history of gendervariant identities and the prevalence of gender diversity in America as well as global societies, leading to the
development of "transgender" as a recent social category and phenomenon. In this course we examine the
ongoing development of the concept of transgender as it is situated across social, cultural, historical, legal,
medical, and political contexts. Drawing on this interdisciplinary framework, we will explore central questions
posted by the field of transgender studies. What “natural,” “obvious,” or “timeless” ideas about gender, sex,
and sexuality turn out to be none of those things? How does transgender politics intersect or diverge from
feminist politics, queer politics, and anti-racist politics? How has transgender studies required that we reconceptualize the ways we think about bodies, communities, medical science, and media representation? The
readings and materials will reflect a range of voices, including diverse forms of scholarship like memoir and
manifesto, as well as film, art, graphic novels, memes, and blog posts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Nordgren; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: WGST205 Title: Love and Intimacy: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
This course explores love and intimacy in transnational context. In this course, we will examine the systems of
meaning and practices that have evolved around notions of love and intimacy and investigate their broader
political significance. We will further explore how love and intimacy are linked to economics, consumption
practices, structural inequalities, disruptive technologies, and shifting ideas about subjectivity. If we accept that
love, intimacy, and sexuality are socially constructed, how much agency do we exercise in whom we love and
desire? How and in what ways do our experiences and expectations of love and intimacy shift as a result of
economic arrangements, mobility, and technology? Finally, what, if any, ethical frameworks should mediate
our intimate connections, desires, and labor with others?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Musto; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: WGST210 Title: Health Activism
Health is a powerful manifestation of the economic, political and cultural substructures of society. This course
uses a public health approach, a focus on health at the population level and attention in the distribution of
disease, to explore the strategies related to and the power of health activism. Focusing on examples
throughout U.S. history and in the present day, we will apply an intersectional lens to understand how
inequalities (e.g. race, class, gender and sexual identity) are embodied via health and impact individuals and
communities. Using a case study approach we will examine social movements (eg, AIDS activism,
reproductive justice, workers’ rights), as well as structural efforts (eg, healthcare reform and legal challenges)
to discuss collective struggles and successful strategies for transformation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have taken WGST 310.;
Instructor: Agenor; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course is also offered at the 300-level as WGST 310.;
Course ID: WGST214 Title: Gender, Race and Health
This multi-disciplinary course introduces a broad range of concepts and issues related to the highly diverse
group we call “women” and their health with a primary focus on the United States. The class will cover three
areas of inquiry. First, the course explores basic definitions, concepts, data, and narratives regarding women's
health needs, status, and experiences, the social determinants of health, and women's health movements.
Second, the course interrogates sexual and reproductive health as an intersection between health, gender,
and broader social structures. Third, the course investigates current events as theaters or enduring patterns
around women and health, such as healthcare reform, innovations in remote heath care delivery, and the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Agenor; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: WGST215 Title: Gender Equality and Sexualities in Denmark and Sweden: Local Policies and
Transnational Markets
Feminist scholars have long recognized Denmark and Sweden as among the most gender equal, sexually
progressive countries in the world. Bolstered by a strong welfare state and egalitarian values, Sweden and
Denmark have been held up as prototypes for their cultivation of gender inclusive policies. The course will
cover a range of topics, including sexual and reproductive markets, sex education, and changing
configurations of family. We will also examine how both countries’ welfare states are influenced by markets
and consider the extent to which national legislation in a moment of heightened mobility and globalization is
equipped to transform societal norms, promote gender equality, and foster sexual freedom and reproductive
justice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Hertz, Musto; Distribution Requirements: SBA Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST216 Title: Women and Popular Culture: Latinas as Nannies, Spitfires, and Sexpots
This course proposes an analysis of popular cultural productions and the ways in which they represent
Chicanxs and Latinxs. Cultural productions go beyond just entertaining an audience; they help to inform how
we see ourselves and the world around us. These productions often support traditional stereotypes about
marginalized groups. The course will encourage students to question the ways in which Chicanx/Latinxs are
reduced to stereotypes that reinforce hierarchies of race and gender. By critically reading popular productions
as analyzable cultural texts, we will ask: How do cultural productions perpetuate the "otherness" of
Chicanx/Latinxs? What role does sexuality play in the representation of the Chicanx/Latinx subject? In what
ways do cultural productions by Chicanx/Latinxs resist/challenge negative images?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Mata; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST218 Title: Stage Left: Chicanx/Latinx Theatre and Performance
This course serves as an introduction to Chicanx/Latinx theater and performance and the role that class, race,
gender, and sexuality play in constructing identity on the stage. We will examine how members of the
Chicanx/Latinx community-individuals often marginalized from mainstream theater productions-employ the
public stage as a space for self-expression and resistance. Through an analysis of plays and
theater/performance scholarship, we will identify common themes and important differences in the various
productions. We will further consider how community, citizenship, and notions of belonging manifest
themselves on the public arena of the stage. We will begin by studying the role of theater in the social justice
movements of the 1960s and trace the changes that Chicanx/Latinx theater and performance have undergone
in subsequent years.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Mata; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: WGST220 Title: American Health Care History in Gender, Race, and Class Perspective
Traditional American medical history has emphasized the march of science and the ideas of the "great doctors"
in the progressive improvement in American medical care. In this course, we will look beyond just medical care
to the social and economic factors that have shaped the development of the priorities, institutions, and
personnel in the health care system in the United States. We will ask how gender, race, class, and sexuality
have affected the kind of care developed, its differential delivery, and the problems and issues addressed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: WGST 108 or WGST 120 or WGST 222, or by permission of the
instructor.; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not
Offered;
Course ID: WGST222 Title: Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary American Society
Drawing upon feminist, queer, and social science theories of gender and sexuality, this course will examine
transformations in the lives of cisgender and transgender people in a contemporary U.S. context. Particular
emphasis will be placed on technology, inequality, and activist and scholarly agitations for social justice.
Questions we will explore include: To what extent are categories of gender, sexuality, race and class socially
constructed? How have our understandings of these categories shifted across time and space? How do
networked and mobile technologies shape identities and alter individuals' understanding and performance of
gender, sexuality, race and class? Finally, how are carceral politics, border policies, precarious labor
arrangements and surveillance practices, among other topics, shaped by race, gender, sexuality, class and
citizenship and to what extent are these intersecting positionalities leveraged in building movements for
justice?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Musto; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST224 Title: Feminist Approaches to Research
What is feminist research? What is feminist methods? This course addresses these questions by exploring a
wide range of methods of interviewing, ethnography, surveys, archival research, focus groups, and
participatory action research from a feminist perspective. The class introduces students to feminist
approaches to research from across the humanities, natural and social sciences. The readings for the class
explore topics of engaged research and feminist politics of knowledge production. The course focuses on
situating multiple methods within feminist epistemologies, and critically examining self- reflectivity among
researchers and the ways they influence research.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Hertz; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: WGST225 Title: Politics and Sexuality
What does consent have to do with politics and sexuality? From the “consent of the governed” to “affirmative
consent,” notions of political and sexual agency and ethics develop in relation to consent. For example, much
of the thinking about democracy and the exercise of bodily autonomy refers to consent. So, too, the
contemporary feminist critique of rape culture advocates for the practice of affirmative, even enthusiastic,
consent as an index of agency. We will ask: who can consent and, as importantly, who can withhold consent?
Are all bodies, genders, and sexualities equally able to consent? We will read ancient and contemporary texts
in order to gauge the historical scope of consent. We will spend some time with feminist theory from the 1980s
that proposes new configurations of power, bodies, and pleasure, and explore how this work offers a counter
discourse to neoliberal accounts of individual pleasure and risk. Sample texts: Anne Carson, Antigonick; C.
Riley Snorton, Black on Both Sides; Judith Butler, Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly; Monique
Wittig, The Lesbian Body; Sandra Lee Bartly, Femininity and Domination; Sarah Schulman, Conflict is Not
Abuse.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 24; Prerequisites: One WGST course or permission of the instructor.; Distribution
Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST226 Title: The Body: Across Science, Society, and Public Health
This course will offer a critical representation of bodies across science, society, and public health. We explore
a variety of approaches to studying the body that challenge the Cartesian dualism, which splits the mind from
the body. We also draw from feminist theories that examine the body in relation to race, gender, sexuality, and
power. The course content shows how social values can have material and physiological effects on bodies
and in turn how aesthetic and medical representations of the body reflect social values. While the class
focuses primarily on examples in the U.S., we will include some cross-cultural examples that reveal how
bodies change through social and historical forces. Students will gain a critical understanding for how
conceptions of the body are important for understanding markets, beauty, reproduction, public health and
biomedicine writ large.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST230 Title: Gender and Technologies
Using examples from everyday life, this course investigates how preferences for certain technologies are
shaped by social arrangements that reflect power relations, including genetic testing, social media, and the
construction of a wall on the US/Mexico border.By considering the origins, materiality, and practices of use for
a diverse range of technologies, from the telephone to the underwire bra, this course will interrogate the sociopolitical and ethical fallout of consumer and medical technologies. Within the context of this history of
technology as a means of manipulating nature and maintaining control over groups of people, we will also
consider how users, tinkerers, and hackers challenge and negotiate the meanings and usage of technology in
ways that contradict the intended use.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: WGST250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: WGST255 Title: Sex, Gender, and Race in Transnational Perspectives
In this course, we will explore the ways individuals and nations reconfigure their conceptions of sex, gender,
and race due to globalization. We will explore transnational phenomena such as sex trafficking, sex tourism,
and marriage migration. We will address questions such as: In an era of increasingly fast-paced and
multifaceted globalization, how do we formulate sexual, gender, and racial identities across national and
cultural boundaries? How do migrants renegotiate their gender, sexual, and racial identities in their new
countries of residence? What motivates sex tourists to travel to other countries to form intimate relations? How
do these sex tourists influence the sexual, gender, and racial identities of the local people they interact with?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST260 Title: Critical Public Health: Feminist Politics of Health and Wellbeing
This course takes a critical perspective on the field of public health by applying a feminist lens to examine
current health crises such as pandemics, police brutality, racism, and gender violence. Drawing on Black
feminism and critical race studies we examine how logics of race/racism, gender binaries, and hierarchies of
power and knowledge shape the ways in which public health concerns are defined and intervened upon. We
explore emergent research topics that have only recently been framed as legitimate public health issues, such
as gun control and policing. In order to understand how far the field has come in expanding its scope of
study, and why it has taken this long, the course historically situates the field of public health within an
intersectional framework. We end by examining past and present inspirations of how public health contributes
to people’s well-being.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST264 Title: Gender, Race and Media
This course examines how media constructs expressions of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality through
normative and transgressive representations of gender and race within media. Through readings, screenings,
and class discussions, we will examine how gender, sexuality, and race are constructed within a cultural
domain of power that not only constitutes but also is constituted by the production, consumption, and
interpretation of media.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST265 Title: LGBTQ+ Lives Onscreen
This course examines how LGBTQ+ individuals have been depicted in media. Grounded in queer theory and
queer of color critique, the class charts the evolution of such depictions, mapping the progress media
industries have made in representing LGBTQ+ people onscreen, while also thinking critically about the work
still left to do. It asks the following questions: who has helmed these portrayals, both behind and in front of the
camera? How have these different representational modes informed (ostensibly) straight audiences’
understandings of queer identities? How do these cinematic depictions of queerness impact members of the
LGBTQ+ community?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST266 Title: Introduction to Queer Theory
This course will offer a critical introduction to queer theory, a major theoretical framework within women’s and
gender studies that emerges from the study of sex and sexuality as a guiding force in social and political life.
The course will start with an expansive background on the history and development of queer theory, before
exploring some of the key debates that continue to animate the field. Specifically, we will consider the
complicated relationships between queer theory, feminist theory, and queer of color critique. Finally, the
course will consider the relationship between queer theory and forms of queer expression in literature and
culture, such as in Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir Fun Home and its musical adaptation.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Staff; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: WGST267 Title: Visual History and Memory: Representations of the Japanese American
Incarceration Experience
The Japanese American incarceration experience during World War II has always had a vexed relationship with
the camera. Cameras and other recording devices were banned in the camps until spring 1943. This course
engages with the legacy of this incarceration experience in visual culture and American historical memory.
Using a gendered lens, we look at how the camps have been documented and remembered in photography,
film, graphic memoir, camp newspapers, museum exhibitions, and new media since 1942. We will closely
examine the photography of Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and Toyo Miyatake, the intersection of internment
camps and Indigenous lands, women filmmakers and activists, and explore major digital archives and recent
augmented reality installations focusing on the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: None.; Instructor: Creef; Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual
Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall;
Course ID: WGST296 Title: U.S. Women of Color & Economic Inequality
In the U.S. more women than men live in poverty. This class will highlight how income inequality and the
disproportion of wealth are gendered and racialized, impacting women of color at higher rates. Throughout the
course we will examine how such economic processes as globalization and such ideologies as neoliberalism
influences employment, labor, wages, health, social life, families, and other societal structures. Applying
feminist theories, we will also contextualize the life experiences of women of color from their perspectives and
question dominant ideals that perpetuate the concept of meritocracy. We will also engage and learn about the
different ways women of color resist economic inequality through life skills and strategies, activism, and social
movements.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 25; Prerequisites: None.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral
Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST303 Title: Sex, Gender, and the 1990s
This course provides an in-depth analysis of how the formative scholarship of the 1990s not only continues to
impact the field of WGST today, but also animates popular social and political debates happening in the world
around us. It explores the misunderstood ideologies at the center of contemporary controversies like the “don’t
say gay” Florida bill, or bans on critical race theory, by returning to the WGST texts that pioneered these
frameworks. Covering topics like gender performativity, intersectionality, queer theory, cultural theory,
reproductive justice, transgender theory, and U.S. Third World Feminisms, this course takes a deep dive into
all things 1990s to help students understand how the recent past informs the politics of today.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: WGST 120 and one 200 level WGST course. Open to Juniors and
Seniors only.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST305 Title: Seminar: Representations of Women, Natives, and "Others"
A feminist cultural studies approach to the representation of race, class, gender and sexuality in film,
photography, and art featuring Native Americans. This course examines the longstanding legacy of the
Hollywood Western and its depiction of "reel injuns" before exploring the rich history of Native American selfrepresentation and visual sovereignty in film and culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Recommended for Juniors and
Seniors with background in WGST, AMST, or CAMS.; Instructor: Creef; Distribution Requirements: LL Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST307 Title: Seminar: Techno-Orientalism. Geisha Robots, Cyberpunk Warriors, and Asian
Futures
This course examines Techno-Orientalism as a global science fiction genre in literature, film, and social media
to understand the broad historical and social formations of Otherness, Aliens, Citizenship, and Immigration.
We also study racial assumptions in popular culture, discourses of the human and human rights, science and
technology industries, and anti-Asian violence during the global pandemic. Finally, we also interrogate the
intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, and geopolitical divisions and interactions in Asian/American
Studies and Postcolonial Studies from the past to the present.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Recommended for juniors or seniors
with background in WGST, Asian American Studies, CAMS, Media Arts, East Asian Studies.; Instructor: Creef;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video;
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: WGST310 Title: Health Activism, Public Health and Epidemics
Epidemics and pandemics lay bare the economic, political and cultural substructures of society. The history of
changing explanations for infectious diseases dictate differing responses by health personnel and
governmental entities. The seminar explores the intersectional aspects of race, gender, class, and sexuality
that shape reactions and efforts to contain disease. Epidemics to be explored include plague, syphilis,
smallpox, cholera, polio, HIV/AIDS, flu and COVID-19.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 20; Prerequisites: One WGST course at the 200 level or permission of the instructor.
Not open to students who have taken WGST 210.; Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Notes: This course is also offered at the 200-level as
WGST 210, though not always in the same semester/year.;
Course ID: WGST313 Title: Fieldwork in Women's and Gender Studies
This is a supervised, independent fieldwork project resulting in a research paper, documentary, policy
initiative, creative arts presentation, or other research product. This project, developed in conjunction with a
WGST faculty member, will have a significant experiential component focusing on women's lives and/or
gender. Students may (1) work in an organization, (2) work with activists or policy makers on social change
issues or social policy issues, or (3) design their own fieldwork experience.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to majors or minors only. Permission of the instructor
required.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: WGST314 Title: Seminar: Transnational Feminisms
This seminar is structured as a critical engagement of transnational feminism(s) in a global context. In this
course, we will explore how neoliberal globalization, human rights discourses and an intersecting array of
complexes — including those of a humanitarian, non-profit, and prison industrial variety - dually shape and
constrain agitations for justice across national, political, and technological borders and boundaries. We will
further track how and in what ways ideas about different feminism(s), women's, LGBTQ, transgender and
human rights, and paradigms of justice travel across borders, shape systems of response, and promote and/or
ameliorate the vulnerability and life opportunities of particular bodies located within particular geopolitical
contexts.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One course in WGST.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Notes: Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.;
Course ID: WGST320 Title: Seminar: Race, Gender, Science: Exploring Feminist STS
What are ethnographic methods? And what is feminist ethnography? This course addresses these questions
by exploring the method of ethnography from a feminist perspective. The class grounds ethnographic
methods in anthropology and explores examples from across the social sciences. The readings for the class
explore topics of engaged research and feminist politics of knowledge production. The course focuses on
situating ethnographic methods within feminist epistemologies, and critically examining ethnographic
examples by attending to race, gender, and power.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: One WGST Course or one 100 level STEM course. Open to
Juniors and Seniors; to Sophom*ores by permission of the instructor.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social
and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST326 Title: Seminar: Crossing the Border(s): Narratives of Transgression
This course examines literatures that challenge the construction of borders, be they physical, ideological, or
metaphoric. The theorizing of the border, as more than just a material construct used to demarcate national
boundaries, has had a profound impact on the ways in which Chicana/Latinas have written about the issue of
identity and subject formation. We will examine how the roles of women are constructed to benefit racial and
gender hierarchies through the policing of borders and behaviors. In refusing to conform to gender roles or
hegemonic ideas about race or sexuality, the Chicana and Latina writers being discussed in the course
illustrate the necessity of crossing the constructed boundaries of identity being imposed by the community
and the greater national culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Any WGST 100-level course and WGST 200-level course or
permission of the instructor.; Instructor: Mata; Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST341 Title: Seminar: Anti-Carceral Feminism
Feminist scholars, activists, and community organizers have been at the forefront of the US and transnational
abolitionist movement to address structural violence, including but not limited to violence that occurs in jails,
prisons, and immigration detention facilities. Anti-carceral feminists share a broad commitment to divesting in
carceral systems and resisting racist ideologies and carceral feminist projects fueling the “global prison
industrial complex.” Anti-carceral feminist efforts have culminated in a rich yet understudied body of work
animated by intersectional and transnational insights. Interdisciplinary in scope, this seminar explores anticarceral feminist research and activism in the United States and transnationally. In addition to engaging with
anti-carceral feminist research, this seminar will explore abolitionist feminist methods and organizing strategies
to facilitate safety, accountability, and transformative justice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: WGST 120 and WGST 221, or permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Musto; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered:
Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST342 Title: Contemporary Feminist Movements
Grounded in feminist and critical race theory, this course provides students with the theoretical and historical
backgrounds so that they can critically consider contemporary feminist movements and their lineage to early
feminist activism and theory. The class considers how social media platforms and technological infrastructure
enables contemporary digital activism. Contemporary movements the course will explore include Black Lives
Matter, #MeToo, Women's March, Reproductive Justice.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: WGST 120 and one 200 level course. Open to Juniors and Seniors
only.; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WGST350 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: WGST350H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: WGST360 Title: Senior Thesis Research
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Permission of the department.; Typical Periods Offered: Spring;
Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research
(360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If
sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.;
Course ID: WGST370 Title: Senior Thesis
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: WGST 360 and permission of the department.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Students enroll in Senior
Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty
member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second
semester.;
Writing Program
Writing is central to academic life at Wellesley, and it will play an important role in students’ lives after they
graduate. The starting point for writing at Wellesley is the First-Year Writing (FYW) course.
Each year, we offer more than 30 different FYW courses, all of which fulfill Wellesley's writing requirement.
These courses are taught by faculty from many departments around campus and by those based in the
Writing Program. Our faculty are committed to helping students learn to use writing as a powerful tool of
thought and expression, and as a way to participate in civic life.
Each FYW course is focused on a particular topic or theme, which students explore through readings and
related materials, discussion, collaborative learning, research, and various forms of writing. FYW courses help
students establish a useful writing process, from developing ideas through drafting and revision. Students
practice analysis and interpretation; construct well-ordered, evidence-based arguments; provide support and
feedback to their peers; and learn to write with a stronger awareness of audience and a greater sense of
purpose.
Students may take a standard FYW course or a class that combines writing with an introductory course in
another department. Combined classes have a WRIT and a departmental number, for example, WRIT
115/ARTS 115. Combined classes carry one unit of credit, fulfill distribution and/or major requirements, and
meet for three or four class periods each week. Students are assigned to their writing course based on
preferences they express during the summer pre-registration process.
Students who need additional help making the transition from high school to college writing may take one of
several fall classes specially designed for them. Two sections are reserved for students participating in the
Wellesley Plus program. Six other sections provide extra support for students for whom one or more of the
following is true: they did not do much academic writing in high school beyond test prep; they lack confidence
in their writing or find writing a source of stress; they feel they have a slow or inefficient writing process; or they
speak English as a second or additional language. Courses reserved for students in the Wellesley Plus
program or for students wanting extra support have that designation in the “Notes” section underneath the
course description. These courses fulfill the Wellesley writing requirement.
Once students have completed the writing requirement, they are eligible to enroll in upper-level Writing
Program (WRIT) classes. Many Wellesley courses outside the Writing Program curriculum also emphasize
writing, including the Calderwood Seminars in Public Writing. Students interested in creative writing should
consult the English and Creative Writing Department course listings.
FYW courses offered in the fall semester are covered by the college's shadow grading policy. In most writing
courses, faculty members give students letter grades during the semester and on their semester grade reports,
though those semester grades are shadowed on students' official transcripts. In other fall writing classes, no
letter grades are given at any point. These latter types of courses are designated with "No letter grades given"
in the "Notes" section underneath the course description.
FYW courses in the spring are offered either with standard grading or as “mandatory credit/noncredit.” These
latter types of courses are so designated in the "Notes" section.
Writing courses offered at Wellesley during the summer do not satisfy the College’s writing requirement.
Writing Program Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete their first-year writing (FYW) course will have shifted their orientation as
writers from an inward-facing mindset (writing as a perfunctory performance of competence, reliance on the
five-paragraph essay, emphasis on the writer) to an outward-facing approach (writing as form of learning and
of teaching, use of more flexible and sophisticated forms of writing, emphasis on the reader).
This shift in orientation will be reflected in students being able to:
Approach writing as an evolving process that requires them to brainstorm, draft, share, reflect, and
revise.
Understand the mechanisms of sentence structure and writing design that produce precise and readerfriendly prose.
Write with an attentiveness to genre, medium, and audience, and make appropriate choices regarding
language, register, evidence, and argument.
Locate, analyze, and evaluate different types of sources, and integrate them effectively into evidencebased writing.
Write with purpose and have a stake in their ideas.
WRIT Courses
Course ID: ANTH277/WRIT277 Title: True Stories: Ethnographic Writing for the Social Sciences and
Humanities
Do you like to "people watch"? Do you wish you could translate your real-world experiences into narratives that
are readable and relatable, and also intellectually rigorous? If so, you probably have an ethnographic writer
hiding somewhere inside you, and this class will give them the opportunity to emerge. Ethnography, a “written
document of culture,” has long been a key component of a cultural anthropologist’s tool-kit, and scholars in
other fields have recently begun to take up this practice. We will read classic and contemporary ethnographies
to better understand the theoretical and practical significance of these texts. Students will also have the unique
opportunity to be the authors and subjects of original ethnographic accounts, and at various stages in the
semester they will act as anthropologists and as informants. Although this course will emphasize an
anthropological method, it is appropriate for students from various disciplines who are looking to expand their
research skills and develop new ways to engage in scholarly writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 14; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the First-Year Writing requirement. Not open to FirstYear students.; Instructor: Armstrong; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis;
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: WRIT106 Title: ENG 106: Narrative Theory
This course will teach you the basic tools and concepts of narrative theory, a branch of literary theory that
focuses on stories and story-telling. Using short stories as our primary examples, we will consider how
analyzing narratives can provide deeper insight into questions of social justice and injustice, including racial,
class, and gender difference as well as global distributions of inequality.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open only to first-year students.; Instructor: Y. Lee; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Spring; Notes: This course satisfies the First-Year Writing requirement and counts as a unit toward the English
major.;
Course ID: WRIT107 Title: ARTH 100 The Power of Images: An Introduction to Art and its Histories
Why does art matter? Because images, sculptures and buildings shape our ways of understanding our world
and ourselves. Learning how to look closely and analyze what you see, therefore, is fundamental to a liberal
arts education. Within a global frame, this course provides an introduction to art and its histories through a
series of case studies, from Egypt's Queen Nefertiti to Jean-Michel Basquiat's raw street art. Meeting three
times weekly, each section will draw on the case studies to explore concepts of gender and race, nature and
landscape, culture and power, repatriation, and other issues. Assignments focus on developing analytical and
expressive writing skills and will engage with the rich resources of Wellesley College and of Boston's art
museums. The course fulfills both the Writing requirement and the ARTH 100 requirement for art history,
architecture, and studio majors.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Lynn-Davis;
Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video; Degree Requirements: WFY First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall;
Notes: This course satisfies the First-Year Writing requirement and counts as a unit toward the major in Art
History, Architecture, or Studio Art. Includes a third session each week.;
Course ID: WRIT116 Title: Writing in the Distracted Age
We are living in an age of unprecedented access to information and have the means for immediate
communication, thanks to advances in technology. Connecting to this virtual, ceaselessly changing world,
however, often means turning away from the physical realm and prioritizing immediate reaction over thoughtful
reflection. In this interdisciplinary course, we will investigate the boundless opportunities, and the real
challenges, of living and writing in the age of distraction. How do we understand one another and ourselves as
we toggle between the virtual and physical worlds? How do we create meaningful ideas and united
communities? How does the reading and writing we do in the classroom inform what we read and write on
social media, and vice versa? Students will consider these questions as they study literature, art, psychology,
and technology, and as they explore both virtual spaces and physical ones, including the Wellesley campus
and other area locales.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: H. Bryant; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Notes: This course will provide extra academic support and intensive preparation for the demands of
writing at the college level. It is appropriate for students who have not done much academic writing in English
in high school, or who lack confidence in their writing. No letter grades given.;
Course ID: WRIT119 Title: JWST 119 Ruth Bader Ginsburg
This course will approach the life and work of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg as a springboard
for thinking about the experiences of Jewish women—especially those in the legal profession—in the 20thand 21st-century U.S. We will read texts in several genres and disciplines, including histories of anti-Semitism
and misogyny in American law, oral histories of female Jewish legal pioneers, and Justice Ginsberg’s own
opinions and dissents. In addition, the course will use Justice Ginsberg’s career and experiences as a
framework for examining broader issues at the intersection of feminism and popular culture. This will give us
the chance to explore representations of her in various media such as Tumblr, children’s books, and Saturday
Night Live.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open only to First-year students.; Instructor: Lambert;
Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies; Degree Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical
Periods Offered: Every other year; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course satisfies the
First-Year Writing requirement and counts as a unit towards a major in Jewish Studies. Includes a third session
each week.;
Course ID: WRIT122 Title: Wellesley and the World
Wellesley's mission is to educate those "who will make a difference in the world." In this course, we will study
some of Wellesley's change-makers and learn about the College's role in shaping American higher education,
promoting student wellness, advancing gender equality, influencing global politics, and improving public
health. We will also examine the world that is Wellesley, with special emphasis on its historic buildings and
unique landscape. Students will gain a deep understanding of Wellesley's story and their place in it, and they
will practice making a difference in the world through their own writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Jeannine Johnson;
Degree Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course will provide extra academic support and intensive preparation for the
demands of writing at the college level. It is appropriate for students who have not done much academic
writing in English in high school, or who lack confidence in their writing. No letter grades given.;
Course ID: WRIT127 Title: Writing for Change: Protest Literature in America
How have writers and artists in the U.S. used the power of words, images, and sound to promote social
change? We will explore this question by examining an array of texts within their specific cultural contexts,
including abolitionist narratives, intersectional feminist theory, and contemporary art from the Davis Museum.
Students will analyze the rhetorical strategies of these works of protest literature, assessing their influence on
laws, social practices, and cultural values. Students will also practice protest as they write for the change they
want to see in the world today.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: E. Battat; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Notes: This course will provide extra academic support and intensive preparation for the demands of
writing at the college level. Section 01 is appropriate for students who have not done much academic writing in
English in high school, or who lack confidence in their writing. Section 02 is reserved for students participating
in the Wellesley Plus Program. No letter grades given.;
Course ID: WRIT128 Title: Are We What We Eat? Writing about Food, Culture, and Community
This course will start with the premise that food is an essential ingredient in the making of selves, families,
communities, regions, and nations. We will explore the ways that we celebrate food traditions, create new
habits and tastes, and also respond to food problems (e.g. food scarcity and safety, climate change and land
use, and the complex networks of food producers, servers, and consumers). Our readings will draw from a
variety of different fields and perspectives, including literature, history, anthropology, and environmental
studies, as well as various genres of food writing - the personal essay, the recipe, food blogs and podcasts,
and scholarly essays on the intersections between food and culture.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Brubaker; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Notes: Reserved for students participating in the Wellesley Plus Program. No letter grades given.;
Course ID: WRIT130 Title: What is College For?
As college in the US becomes increasingly expensive and competitive, it’s worth asking what role institutions
of higher education play in our society. Do they promote equity and equality? Do they transform or preserve
the status quo? Do we prioritize their value as a private or as a public good, that is, as something that benefits
the individual, or as something that the public invests in for some broader social goal? Students will read and
write about the work of political theorists and educators in order to consider what the political and social
mission of the university should be. We will also investigate the business of higher education, examining what
happens when a college’s financial considerations might conflict with its educational mission. Other topics
we’ll explore include the public financing of college, student debt, practices of for-profit universities, and the
size of college endowments.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Krontiris ; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: This course will
provide extra academic support and intensive preparation for the demands of writing at the college level. It is
appropriate for students who have not done much academic writing in English in high school, or who lack
confidence in their writing. No letter grades given.;
Course ID: WRIT133 Title: Having it All? The Problem of Women and Work
American women often hear messages that they can "have it all"--a meaningful career, a loving family, and a
fulfilling personal life. Yet popular culture is also filled with images of working mothers as stressed-out and
miserable. In this course we will examine the highly varied aspirations, opportunities, and experiences of
American women as they relate to work. We will consider some of the advice high-powered professional
women have given to college graduates looking to advance their careers and "balance" that ambition with
family life. We will read memoirs of low-wage earners, including many single mothers, about the particular
challenges they face, and the limits that discrimination and systemic inequities place on their personal and
professional goals. We will also explore what social scientists have to say about how cultural norms and
economic markets generate the opportunities and constraints that women face. Finally, we will analyze how
public policy at the local and national level influences the choices women and families face, and how those
choices affect society more broadly.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 16; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Velenchik; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: WRIT138 Title: Memory Wars: The Politics of Race and Remembrance in the U.S.
This course examines how different communities commemorate racial conflict in U.S. history, and how these
historical memories operate as instruments of political power in the present. How do the stories we tell about
the past impact policy decisions, social values, and collective identity? How do historical narratives support
those in power, and are these narratives countered and contested? To explore these questions, students will
examine a range of texts and cultural artifacts, including monuments, museum exhibits, landscapes, images,
stories, and digital media. Students will build skills in analytical writing and scholarly research as they
investigate the complex interplay between past and present.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: E. Battat; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring;
Course ID: WRIT140 Title: Romantic (and Unromantic) Comedy
"Boy meets girl" has long been a classic starting point, in both literature and the movies. This course will focus
on romantic comedy in American cinema, with significant looks backward to its literary sources. We will view
films from the classic era of Hollywood (It Happened One Night, The Lady Eve), the revisionist comedies of the
1970s and beyond (Annie Hall, My Best Friend's Wedding), and perhaps some of the decidedly unromantic
comedies of recent years (Knocked Up). We will also read one or two Shakespeare plays, and a Jane Austen
novel, to get a sense of the literary precedents that established the paradigms within which cinematic comedy
operates.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Shetley; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: No letter grades
given.;
Course ID: WRIT144 Title: What’s in A Name? Investigating What We Call People, Places, and Things
Behind every name there is a story. In this course, we will explore those stories, learning the history and
meaning of the labels that we affix to people, places, and things. We will pay particular attention to the power,
responsibility, and consequences that come with naming and re-naming. We will examine recent controversies
on college campuses involving the names of buildings, monuments, mascots, local flora, and landmarks. We
will also study how the producers of all kinds of things–from poems to consumer products–use metaphor and
neologism to refresh our understanding of the familiar, introduce us to the unfamiliar, and name the
unnameable. In addition, we will explore how names and name changes can frame political discourse, sway
opinion, influence behavior, and alter history.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Jeannine Johnson;
Degree Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes:
Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: WRIT146 Title: Alternative Worlds
We will read a diverse range of modern science fiction stories with an aim toward understanding how these
texts represent, critique, and imagine alternatives to existing social, political, economic, and environmental
conditions. Through stories by writers such as Ray Bradbury, Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler, Nnedi Okorafor,
and Ted Chiang, we will explore how science fiction reimagines and challenges traditional ideas about
ourselves, complicating easy distinctions between mind and body, human and machine, alien and native, self
and other.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Brubaker; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: WRIT147 Title: Who Was Helen of Troy? Desire, Influence, and Identity in the Ancient World
Helen of Troy was a mythological beauty who was trafficked among men at the direction of the goddess
Aphrodite, and she’s been held responsible for the outbreak of the Trojan War. Her character is usually defined
as an object of desire (eros), and she is often seen as a passive figure at the center of larger events. Yet her
role in ancient literature extends far beyond this objectification: she is at various times presented as a poet, a
desiring subject, a metaphor for seduction, and a symbol for Athenian imperialism. In this course, students will
encounter representations of Helen including those written by Homer, Sappho, Gorgias and Euripides. We will
explore how these writers approached or avoided the interior experience of Helen, and what kind of agency
and responsibility they attributed to her. As we study the complex persona of Helen, we will engage with
contemporary approaches to understanding gender in ancient Greece. We will also explore the construction of
eros, and how it relates to subjectivity, persuasion, and politics.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Gilhuly; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Notes: No letter grades given.;
Course ID: WRIT150 Title: Weird Fiction
When fiction blurs or crosses the line between our "real" world and "other worlds," the reader (as well as the
narrator or main character) has entered the realm of "weird fiction," a genre that (broadly interpreted) contains
"horror," "fairy tale," "science fiction," and "magical realism." We will read, write about, and write some of our
own "weird" short stories by twentieth-century and twenty-first writers from all over the world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open only to First-Year students.; Instructor: Sides; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: WRIT160 Title: The Magic of Everyday Life: Stories About Our Culture
Fascinating cultural practices are found not only in far-off places but are also embedded in the stories of our
everyday lives. From our families and friends to taxi drivers and grocery clerks, everyone's personal history has
something to teach us. Written accounts of culture (called ethnographies) are created from these narratives of
how people live their lives. What extraordinary stories of culture are hidden in local, everyday places? What
does it mean to write someone else's story? Or our own? What can we learn about culture by translating oral
histories into words? With the understanding that some of the most interesting stories about human culture are
told in our own backyards, we will approach writing through ethnographic storytelling, using our life
experiences as our subject.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: J. Armstrong; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Ann E. Maurer
'51 Speaking Intensive Course. Wendy Judge Paulson '69 Ecology of Place Living Laboratory course. This
course does not satisfy the Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory requirement. Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit. ;
Course ID: WRIT161 Title: Hidden Worlds: Desert Islands, Ghost Towns, Invisible Cities, and Writing about
Place
Have you ever wondered why some places evoke strong emotions, or why particular locations are charged
with powerful meaning? Through the lenses of cultural geography and anthropology, this course explores the
complex relationship between human beings, their emotions, and their environment. Key questions include:
How can feelings for the places from our past and present be written into words? What are the qualities of a
place that evoke certain emotions and memories? How do our memories of places change over time? What
effect do collective memories have on individual remembrances? By reading memoirs, cultural histories, and
critical essays, students learn how space and place can be translated into texts. Students will create their own
written geographies of memory and analyze popular conceptions of space and place.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: J. Armstrong; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Notes: No letter grades given.;
Course ID: WRIT167 Title: Saints and Sinners in the Middle Ages
In medieval Europe, biographies of saints were one of the most popular forms of literature, providing readers
and listeners with examples of saintly behavior to emulate and sinful actions to avoid. More importantly the
biographies narrated the lives of some of the most important members of medieval society. Whether living or
dead, saints were seen as liminal beings able to move between this world and the next, communicating God’s
will to their fellow Christians and harnessing divine power to perform miracles. This course will examine the
lives of a diverse group of male and female saints from the Middle Ages (c. 300-1300 C. E.), utilizing the sacred
biographies both as a means for understanding medieval society and as a springboard for addressing larger
issues connected to the aims and function of biographical writing and the question of whether or not an
“objective” biography is ever possible.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Ramseyer; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: WRIT170 Title: The Value and Meaning of Work
In this course, we will examine the role that work plays in contemporary life and investigate how the value and
experience of working get shaped by modern capitalism. We’ll start by reflecting on the character of the 21st
century “gig” economy: Does working now mean something fundamentally different than it did for previous
generations? Are we really working harder for less reward, as some argue? Is the recommendation to “pursue
your passion” good advice? Next, we’ll examine theoretical perspectives on work, looking at how capitalism
shapes the relationship between people and their work, how it structures our relationship to time and leisure,
and how it codes certain forms of work as gendered labor. Last, we’ll take up questions about workers’ rights,
worker power, and the extent to which we have a responsibility, as a society, to ensure stable and fulfilling
work for all. This course asks students to think about the problem of work in both personal and structural
terms, considering how it features in their own lives and how it reflects the larger social structures within which
our lives play out.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Krontiris ; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory
Credit/Non Credit. ;
Course ID: WRIT171 Title: On the Clock: Capitalism and the Politics of Time
“Free time is shackled to its opposite,” writes the critic Theodor Adorno. In a world full of incessant demands
for productivity, our free time, he observed, never feels truly free. We’re always watching the clock, trying to get
the most out of our workday and then using our down time to ready ourselves to work again. We may be
managing our time, but we don’t really own it. This course asks: what does it mean to live your life ‘on the
clock’, and what might it look like to get ‘off’ of it? What would make your time feel like it is genuinely your
own? We’ll seek answers to these questions first by exploring the issue of time management, reading theories
about how to do it as well as histories and critiques of the impulse to maximize your time. Next, we’ll take up
political and theoretical perspectives on how capitalism shapes our relationship to time. We’ll discuss where
we get the idea that time is money and something we can spend or save. We’ll also consider what it means
that our time is something we can sell and that someone else can own, and we’ll ask what the stakes are of
commodifying time that way. Last, we’ll examine the idea and practice of leisure and explore what it takes for
free time to be truly free.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Krontiris; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: WRIT172 Title: The Medieval Body: An Examination
In this seminar, we will explore how the human body was represented in medieval writing. We will also
investigate how medieval authors considered the human body metaphorically as its own kind of text, or as the
medium within which society’s codes and values are written. Together we will trace enduring themes
associated with the body, such as: the relationship between the soul and the flesh; food and self-image; the
tensions of the sexed body (gender, power, and sexuality); the political meaning of fashion and clothing; rituals
connected to illness and death; and the link between human and the divine. The authors we will read include
poets and philosophers, lawyers and monks, mystics and wanderers. By studying their work, we will trace how
perceptions of the body shifted throughout medieval societies, and learn how medieval understandings of the
body have shaped our own modern perceptions of it.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Surh; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year:
Fall; Spring;
Course ID: WRIT174 Title: The Personal is Political: Celebrating the “I” in Politics
“The personal is political” is a feminist rallying cry. It affirms, among other things, that we act and write out of
our subjectivity, and that identity and politics are inseparable. In this course, we will explore our own
relationships to sociopolitical matters such as reproductive rights, immigration and migration, prison abolition,
environmental justice, and citizenship. We will also investigate the power structures that influence these areas
and that make them resistant to meaningful change. Using This Bridge Called My Back: Writings from Radical
Women of Color as our inspiration and guide, we will develop the critical thinking and writing skills needed to
transform sociopolitical systems and to assert the value of our lives in them.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Maurissette; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: No letter
grades given (Fall); Mandatory Credit/Non Credit (Spring);
Course ID: WRIT175 Title: What is a Gift?
We are supposed to offer gifts without expecting anything in return; we are urged to give our best effort for the
good of ourselves and others; we are born with, develop, and use our gifts in a range of contexts. But what,
exactly, is a gift? In this course, we will explore perspectives on gifts in literature, religious texts, economic
theories, and cultural criticism. We will consider questions such as: Why do we give things away? Are we
morally obligated to use our resources or natural talents for the greater good? How do we decide who is
worthy of a gift with no strings attached, and who must earn a subsidy or repay a benefactor? How does
America’s reliance on philanthropy reinforce structural inequities? How do norms of generosity and reciprocity
persist in a culture defined by contracts and debts? Can we imagine a society without money and based
instead on a principle of giving?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Moe; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Notes: No letter
grades given (Fall); Mandatory Credit/Non Credit (Spring).;
Course ID: WRIT178 Title: Black Feminism and the Future
In this course, we will examine Black feminist essays and speculative fiction as resources for thinking about the
future of feminism and its impact on the broader culture. These texts are helping to shift paradigms of what is
understood by the term “feminism”. They also contain critical information that students need not just to survive
but thrive in the future. We will discuss how these works offer new ways to think about kinship, gender,
reproductive rights, abolition, and representations of selfhood. In addition, they will provide a springboard for
looking inward to our own lives and perspectives, as we explore how writing, reading, and action are
influenced by the personal. Indeed, if the “personal is political,” as Audre Lorde aptly stated, then what we
write from our own experience can shape and change our world.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open only to first-year students.; Instructor: Maurissette;
Degree Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall; Notes: No
Letter Grades Given (Fall); Mandatory Credit/Non Credit (Spring);
Course ID: WRIT179 Title: Building a Better World
What makes a world? And what makes a world beautiful, sustainable, inclusive, or just? At a time when
humanity faces myriad global challenges, we can seek insight in writing that reimagines the world and helps
us change it for the better. Reading the work of activists, philosophers, fiction writers, and political theorists, we
will examine how past worlds shape those of the present and future. In particular, we will investigate the
dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in these different visions of the world, asking questions such as: Who
enjoys freedom, and when? What is a “human right,” and should those rights be the basis of social
organization? In what ways has the nation-state been a force for emancipation, and in what ways a vehicle of
empire? What would it look like to live in a world that was fully feminist in its design, or that was built on
reparations for past injustices, or that prioritizes the health of the planet above all? What are the conditions
necessary for individuals and societies to undergo transformation, improve, and thrive?
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Moe; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Fall; Notes: No letter grades given.;
Course ID: WRIT185 Title: Making It Real in the Documentary Film
Documentary film makes an implicit promise to its viewers to present reality. In this course, we explore the
complexities of this promise by examining the interplay between objective fact and the documentarian’s
subjective presentation of fact. Such an exploration will take us into questions concerning how we think about
the ‘real’ and the ‘fake’ on film and beyond. We will also consider what documentarians owe to those who
appear in their films and what ethical standards should apply to documentarians. Films (documentary and
otherwise) may include Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line, Albert and David Maysles’ Grey Gardens and its
fictional feature film offspring (starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange), Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man, Jian
Fan’s Still Tomorrow, Nicole Lucas Haimes’ Chicken People, Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning and Sara
Jordenö and Twiggy Pucci Garçon’s Kiki.
This class requires active and sustained participation from each student and will be speaking intensive;
students will be supported in developing participation skills and guided to additional resources as needed.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: Rodensky; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Notes: No letter grades
given.;
Course ID: WRIT188 Title: Stadium as Stage: Examining Sport as Performance
Since the earliest days of public competition, sports have shaped conversations about social relations, power
structures, and cultural values. Athletic performances express who we are individually and collectively,
embodying the stories we tell about ourselves. This course explores how sports both reflect and influence our
understandings of race, gender, class, sexuality, nation, ability/disability, religion, and more. We’ll examine
these subjects through the lens of major events like the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Super Bowl, and
the Boston Marathon, and of sports ranging from soccer to figure skating to wheelchair basketball. We’ll
consider how art, commerce, and politics mingle on the athletic stage. We’ll compare sports and the
performing arts, thinking about the narratives that we construct from these events and the role that spectators
play in shaping them.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.; Instructor: A. Meyer; Degree
Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic
Year: Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.;
Course ID: WRIT201 Title: Intensive Writing Workshop
This course will help students become more confident and proficient in the writing that they do at Wellesley
and beyond. Students will design an individualized syllabus around a topic of interest to them and focus on the
areas of writing in which they most want to improve. Building on what they learned in their 100-level WRIT
course, students will become more adept at working with sources, developing their thinking, and
communicating their ideas clearly and purposefully. There will be two class meetings per week. In one, all
students will meet as a group with the professor, engaging in writing workshops and discussing some short
common readings. In the second meeting, students will meet individually with a TA to discuss readings on
their own topic and to work on their writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the First-Year Writing requirement.; Instructor: H.
Bryant (Fall); E. Battat (Spring); Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods
Offered: Fall and Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring; Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non
Credit;
Course ID: WRIT231D Title: Writing the Wave: Women Writing the 21st Century Essay
This course will examine the recent, dramatic rise in the number of women writing and publishing essays. This
new wave of literary production, driven in part by the spirit of the #metoo movement, has inspired Cheryl
Strayed to call it the essay’s “golden age.” By studying the works of contemporary prose writers, we will
explore the causes and effects of this phenomenon. We will also investigate how women are using and reshaping the essay to foreground their experience and to confront difficult topics such as rape, harassment,
abuse, and shaming. Throughout, we will be mindful of the range of identities that are sometimes or always
women-centered, and we will read essays by authors who are cisgender, transgender, and gender nonconforming. The rise of all these voices is changing our literary and social landscape, and it is even shifting the
form of the essay itself. Students will study this movement and contribute to it through their own writing.
Wellesley Online courses are designed to be highly interactive and encourage group discussion; they require
participation through live online class meetings throughout the semester, as well as work in a collaborative
environment.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the First-Year Writing requirement. Students who
have taken WRIT 391 must receive permission of the instructor to enroll in this course.; Instructor: H. Bryant;
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Typical Periods Offered: Summer; Semesters Offered
this Academic Year: Not Offered;
Course ID: WRIT250 Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 15; Prerequisites: Open to qualified students who have fulfilled the First-Year Writing
requirement. Permission of the instructor and the director of the Writing Program required.; Typical Periods
Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: WRIT250H Title: Research or Individual Study
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 30; Prerequisites: Open to qualified students who have fulfilled the First-Year
Writing requirement. Permission of the instructor and the director of the Writing Program required.; Typical
Periods Offered: Spring; Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring;
Course ID: WRIT325H Title: Advanced Writing Seminar
This course supports senior McNair Program Scholars as they prepare to apply to graduate schools and
post-baccalaureate programs. Students will become more confident, effective writers as they produce drafts of
personal statements, fellowship applications, and other scholarly materials. Students in this course will engage
in professional development activities, practice communicating their scientific knowledge and research results
to different audiences, and gain the benefits of being part of a community of scholars. Open only to seniors
participating in the McNair Scholars Program.
Units: 0.5; Max Enrollment: 18; Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required. Fulfillment of the First-Year
Writing requirement. Open only to Seniors enrolled in the McNair Scholars Program.; Instructor: Jeannine
Johnson, J. Dolce; Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall;
Course ID: WRIT346 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Data for Humans
The growing field of data humanism recognizes data as foundational to our economic, political, and social
systems, while also seeking to recenter people in the process of its curation. In this course, we will explore the
use of data through a humanistic lens, not only to better understand the critical role data plays in our lives, but
also to discover how we can use data to become more humane. We will ask: if the word data comes from the
Latin root for “the thing given,” by and to whom is it given? When exactly did data get “big”? What do we mean
when we identify projects as “data-driven”? How can data intersect with social justice activism? And with art
and storytelling? Students will engage these questions by drawing on the work of historians, cultural critics,
journalists, social scientists, data analysts and designers, performing their own data tracking, and using their
research to craft opinion pieces, reviews, reports, and other forms of public writing.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: Open to juniors and seniors, or by permission of the instructor.;
Instructor: Brubaker; Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis; Other Categories:
CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing; Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this
Academic Year: Spring;
Course ID: WRIT391 Title: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: A Word After a Word After a Word is Power:
Women Writing the 21st Century
Margaret Atwood professes that, “A word after a word after a word is power.” Propelled by the #MeToo
movement, LeanIn, and the women’s march, women are baring their truths, beliefs, and experiences in an
explosion of public words. In this seminar students will become immersed in the dynamic contemporary
landscape of women’s writing, spanning memoir, poetry, journalism, and political commentary. Within an
intimate workshop setting, students will develop their own voices through assignments that will include book
reviews, op-eds, social media analyses, and interviews. By taking turns as writers and editors, students will
become skilled in evaluating and fostering their own writing as well as the writing of others. This course takes
as its premise the intensive Calderwood format of having students regularly produce, critique, and revise their
and their peers' writing by alternating being writers and editors throughout the semester.
Units: 1; Max Enrollment: 12; Prerequisites: This course is open only to juniors and seniors; all students must
have taken at least one 200-level course in the study of literature.; Instructor: H. Bryant; Distribution
Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; Other Categories: CSPW - Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing;
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered;
