June 27, 2017

Learn to think like a publicist, understand what it means to be a citizen scientist, and examine the idea of peace in these fall courses.

COMMUNICATION

Publicity & Promotion (COM T180.001)

This course will focus on how to think like a publicist. With this mindset, students will learn how to put together and carry out a successful publicity campaign. Practical skills to publicize products, businesses and events in today’s technology-driven world will be taught throughout the term.

Through readings, class lectures, guest speakers from the field, classroom participation and assignments, the student will be able to critically evaluate what tactics are needed to wage a successful publicity campaign and have a solid understanding of the role of publicity in today’s world.

This 3.0 credit course will be taught by Rebecca Goodman and is open to all Drexel students. The class will meet Tuesdays, 6:30-9:20 p.m. Location TBD.

What's So Funny About Peace? (COM T380.001)

We as a nation have been at war — have been thinking about war, been scared into believing we should be at war, been persuaded to view anyone who opposes the war with suspicion — for what seems like forever. But what would happen if someone threw a war and no one came? Or if we rediscovered peace? How would the media react? In this class, students will explore and dissect society’s now decades-long marginalization of the idea of peace.

This 3.0 credit course will be taught by Ronald Bishop, PhD, and is open to all Drexel students. The class will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2 - 3:20 p.m. Location TBD.

Cross-Cultural Issues in Media (COM 400.001)

This seminar examines cross-cultural issues in media representation from a critical media literacy perspective, including the construction of significance, the representation of identity and expertise, and the effects of translation. Participants will actively research, interview, develop, and present case studies of global and local media representation from a critical, cross-cultural perspective.

This 3.0 credit course will be taught by Barbara Hoekje, PhD, and is open to all Drexel students. This is a Hybrid class and will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, 3 - 3:50 p.m. Location TBD.

HISTORY

The Black Atlantic: Slave Societies of the Americas (HIST T180)

This course introduces students to scholarship on the history of the slave societies of the colonial Americas. It will trace how African and Afro-descendant people's varied experiences of slavery and freedom between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries forged an interconnected and diverse Black Atlantic world. Topics to be explored include the racial, gender, and class relations of slave societies; slavery and capitalism; strategies of resistance and the rise of abolitionist movements; archives, memory, and collective reckonings with slavery's legacies across the Americas.

This 4.0 credit course will be taught by Gabriel Rocha, PhD, and will be open to all Drexel students. The class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12 - 1:50 p.m. Location TBD.

The History of Drexel (HIST T180)

This courses surveys the 125-year history of Drexel University. Topics will include A.J. Drexel and the founding of the Drexel Institute, the early days at Drexel, student life, history of engineering, business and other disciplines, the history of Powelton Village and Mantua, and the future of Drexel going into the 21st century.

This 1.0 credit course will be taught by Scott Knowles, PhD, and will be open to all Drexel students. The class will meet on Thursdays, 12 - 12:50 p.m. Location TBD.

The Reformation Age (HIST 257)

The course covers the general background to the Reformation, both religious and secular, the growth of reform movements, including the big names (Luther and Calvin) but also other sects, the Catholic reform and counter-Reformation efforts, and the legacies of reform and the Reformation in Europe and beyond.

This 4.0 credit course will be taught by Jonathan Seitz, PhD, and will be open to all Drexel students. This class will meet on Mondays and Wednesday, 10 – 11:50 a.m. Location TBD.

The Study of History (HIST 301)

This course is for history majors in their pre-junior or junior year; it explores conventions and historiographical conversations in the discipline of history. Students will examine philosophies of history, great historical debates, and the nature of historical evidence.

This 4.0 credit course will be taught by Donald Stevens, PhD, and will be open to all Drexel students. This class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12-1:50 p.m. Location TBD.

PHILOSOPHY

Contemporary Ethical Philosophy (PHIL 215.001)

Students will explore the ethical theories of John Rawls. Topics include political liberty, fair equality, religious pluralism, public reason, reasonable agreement and civic virtue, among others.

This 3.0 credit course, taught by Carol Mele, PhD, is open to all undergraduate students. The class will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30 – 1:50 p.m. Location TBD.

Philosophy of Mind (PHIL T280.940)

The course will examine central issues in the Philosophy of Mind, including the issue of Mind/Body relation, Personal Identity and Freedom of the Will, innatism and developments in Artificial Intelligence.

This 3.0 credit course, taught by Daniel Casey is open to students above the freshman level. This is an online course.

Literary Theory (PHIL T380.001 / ENGL 380.001)

This course examines literary theoretical thinking, and focuses on 20th century structuralism, post-structuralism and contemporary theory. Students will examine the ways in which language is conceived and reconceived by major theoretical writers and the implications of this rethinking for conceptualizations of history, politics, ideology, sexuality and trauma, among others.

This 3.0 credit course, taught by Jennifer Yusin, PhD, is open to junior and senior English majors and Philosophy majors who have completed two 200-level or higher philosophy courses. Pre-requisites may be waived for interested students. This is a writing-intensive course. The class will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 - 12:20 p.m. Location TBD.

The Dialogues of Plato (PHIL 481.001)

The dialogues of Plato are foundational to the history of philosophy and modern thought. Students will focus on three major themes: “Death and Healing,” “Friendship and Love,” and “Knowledge and Philosophy.” While students will primarily be reading the dialogues of Plato, they will also be exposed to relevant secondary literature concerning these texts. This course is equivalent to PHIL421 Ancient Philosophy.

This 3.0 credit course, taught by Patricia Grosse, PhD, is open to juniors and seniors who have completed two 200-level or higher philosophy courses. Pre-requisites and restrictions may be waived for interested students. This is a writing-intensive course. The class will meet Mondays, 2 - 4:50 p.m. Location TBD.

POLITICAL SCIENCE

Race and Politics (PSCI T180.001)

This course provides an introduction for navigating complicated questions surrounding the subject of race, a biological fiction that nevertheless has serious political implications. Topics covered include the scientific status of "race," legacies of slavery, mass incarceration and police brutality, and contemporary movements like Black Lives Matter.

This 4.0 credit course will be taught by George Ciccariello-Maher, PhD, and will be open to all Drexel students. The class well meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2 – 3:50 p.m. Location TBD.

Power in Protest: Social Movements (PSCI 260)

This course considers theoretical approaches to comparative social movements by closely examining evidence about specific movements. Questions include: When and why do people mobilize to make demands against their states and societies? What contextual conditions enable such mobilization, and under what conditions does mobilization decline? Finally, do movements actually matter for bringing about change?

This course is designed to gain leverage on these questions by surveying an eclectic literature from international relations and comparative politics.

This 4.0 credit course will be taught by Phil Ayoub, PhD, and will be open to Drexel students who have completed PSCI 140 or PSCI 150 or by permission of the instructor. This class will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, 2 – 3:50 p.m. Location TBD.

Politics of Environment and Health (PSCI 334)

This course examines political aspects of environmental health issues. Students will discuss how “environment” and “health” are defined by different stakeholders. How, according to these political actors, is health impacted by environment, and how are environmental factors addressed in health care? How do scientists study human exposure in everyday environments? What institutions are responsible for regulating hazardous materials? How is community health impacted by pollution and what actions do communities take to protect health? Using historical and contemporary case studies, students will engage with these questions at different scales of analysis, learning about the politics of knowledge, social movements, the medical establishment, and the ethics of health in late industrialism.

This 4.0 credit course will be taught by Alison Kenner, PhD, and will be open to all Drexel students. This class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 –11:50 a.m. Location TBD.

Political Communication (PSCI 335)

This courses introduces an investigation of the relationship between politics and communication, with the goal of developing an understanding of political communication's role in election campaigns, news coverage, political debates, political advertising, and "normal" portrayals of the political system through media and interpersonal communication.

This 4.0 credit course will be taught by Bill Rosenberg, PhD, and will be open to Drexel students who are sophomores and above or by permission of the instructor. This class will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, 2 – 3:50 p.m. Location TBD.

The European Union in World Politics (PSCI 357)

This course combines an introduction to the history and institutions of the European Union with a special analysis of EU enlargement and institutional reform.

This 4.0 credit course will be taught by Phil Ayoub, PhD, and will be open to all Drexel students. This class will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, 10 –11:50 a.m. Location TBD.

PHYSICS

Electricity and Motion (PHYS T180)

With an interactive lecture format and an inquiry-based recitation, Electricity and Motion is a new special topics course that will give a conceptual introduction to topics in physics such as motion, forces, electricity and magnetism. Students will complete an interdisciplinary, real-world project that will relate their specific major to an area of physics. Students will also be able to solve one-step algebra problems and conceptually describe topics in physics.

This 4.0 credit course will be taught by Christina Love, PhD, and will eventually replace PHYS 103, PHYS 121 and PHYS 151. The class will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, 11 - 11:50 a.m. Location TBD.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY

Citizen Science (SCTS T580 / ENVS T580 / PSCI T580)

Increasingly, people without formal scientific training are participating in the process of generating new knowledge.  In this class, students will examine this phenomenon known as “citizen science” from a social scientific perspective. Students will compare two primary traditions of citizen science: one stemming from amateur naturalism, the other with its roots in movements to democratize science and empower communities confronting environmental hazards. The class will consider how key issues, especially data quality and reliability, manifest in each tradition, and examine current efforts to institutionalize citizen science at a variety of levels, including U.S. federal policy.

This course will be taught by Gwen Ottinger, PhD, and is open to advanced undergraduate students and graduate students. The course will meet Tuesdays, 6:30 - 9:20 p.m. Please email Dorian Adams (dma34@drexel.edu) for more information.

Digital Infrastructure, Power and Resistance (SCTS T580)

This course examines the implications of digital infrastructure for social processes, institutions, and practices. It charts the material, cultural, geographic, historical, ontological and environmental dimensions of an increasingly networked world. It aims to stimulate a critical reflection on the values, rationalities and norms inherent to design and everyday experience of digital infrastructure. The course explores how communication flows, numerical models and computational algorithms generate new kinds of collectives, and new ways to project ourselves into time and space. Special attention will be given to the effects of digital connectivity on social inclusion and exclusion, as well as on power and resistance — whether it be political, technological, or economic.

Key course topics include: the infrastructure of global communication networks; algorithmic surveillance; digital mapping; Big Data and memory practices; cryptocurrencies and high-frequency trading; the ecology of media production and usage; online crowds and clouds; and Internet addiction. We will draw upon conceptual tools and empirical work from anthropology, philosophy, media studies, and the social studies of science and technology. A variety of teaching methods will be used, including lecturing, group discussions, and the projection of short films.

This course will be taught by Vincent DuClos, PhD, and is open to advanced undergraduate students and graduate students. The course will meet Thursdays, 6:30 - 9:20 p.m. Please email Dorian Adams at dma34@drexel.edu) for more information.