SPECIAL NOTE: Classes, dates, and times are subject to cancellation/change based on enrollment.
Fall Course Schedule downloadable pdf.
Fall 2013 Course Schedule
MONDAY CLASSES 6:30 - 9:20 P.M.
The Human Experience: An Introduction to Graduate Liberal Studies (REQ), (INTRO)
HUMN 6316
Class #5866
Mondays
3 Credit Hours
Examine issues of human existence using interdisciplinary perspectives, primary readings, large group presentations and discussion groups. Learn the various disciplines of human thought and problems. Contribute to the overall knowledge of the many ways in which humans try to understand themselves and the world around them. Study what it means to be human including a consideration of the nature of products of human activity, and the world in which humans find themselves. Take a close look at the human condition, human creations such as social institutions, art and literature, and science.
Instructor: Jeremy Adams
America Enraged: From Integration to Watergate 1954-1974 (HUM), (HRJ), (AMS), (GEN)
SOSC 6355
Class #5868
Mondays
3 Credit Hours
The 20-year era spanning 1954 to 1974 was tumultuous, exalting, and foreboding -- and bewildering as well. A nation that had prided itself on political stability found its political system no longer equal to meeting the demands for change. A nation that had taken for granted a collective commitment to public order suddenly was stunned by the fragility of its institutions and the assault upon the values professed by the society. In this era Americans for the first time took to the streets by the thousands, sometimes by the tens of thousands, to resolve disputes once left to the established governmental processes.
Instructor: Rick Halperin
Intercultural Communication – MORNING CLASS (6:35a – 9:25a) (WI) or (CMT), (GLO), (ORG)
HUMN 7357
Class #5869
Mondays
3 Credit Hours
An overview of how differing worldviews, values, attitudes, and behaviors can affect the professional communication process as well as individual and organizational success. Students gain the skills (practical knowledge) and understanding (theoretical knowledge) needed to succeed in an increasingly international environment. Through a series of readings, reading responses, activities, class discussion, and formal papers, students experiment with and apply different concepts related to the intercultural communication process. This course may be applied to the following curricular field concentration: communication, media, and technology.
Instructor: Todd Rasberry
Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in a Global Economy (HRJ), (HUM), (GLO), (GEN)
HUMN 6326
Class #5870
Mondays
3 Credit Hours
This course provides a critical overview of present day issues facing indigenous peoples in the context of a global economy. Who are indigenous peoples and how have they been categorized in relation to "ethnic groups," colonization, and the international system of states? This course examines the current debates within the United Nations about indigenous peoples and human rights. It looks at the law and economics of colonization and emerging issues of international trade and globalization. In addition, it explores the relationship between jurisprudence and tribal custom in literature, history and anthropology.
Instructor: John Vernon
Interpretation and Performance of African-American Poetry (HUM), (GEN), (HRJ), (AMS)
HUMN 6351
Class #6657
Mondays
3 Credit Hours
The course is designed to extend the student's knowledge and awareness of the African American literary, aesthetics, and folk traditions. Historical, political, and sociological factors are strong influences in African American poetry. Therefore, selected poets are chosen from early to contemporary periods.
Instructor: Njoki McElroy
(NEW) Creating the Stage Play (CRW), (HUM)
FNAR 7366
Class #6261
Mondays
3 Credit Hours
This seminar focuses, primarily, on the analysis and writing of one-act plays. It explores a variety of stage play types (e.g., tragedy, comedic tragedy, comedy, one-person monologue, etc.). This course will not address the musical but seriously examine drama of all types. Special attention will be given to character, story lines, theatricality, and theme. The course will be conducted as a workshop that includes in-seminar and out-of-seminar writing exercises, with colleague critiques geared toward the goal of developing a tightly organized one-act play. This course may be applied to the following curricular field concentrations: Humanities and Creative Writing.
Instructor: Gary Swaim
Contemporary Economic Issues (FEI), (GLO)
SOSC 6345
Class #6377
Mondays
3 Credit Hours
Economics topics are subject to intense political, philosophical, and moral debate. How should society care for the poor? Is the current distribution of wealth and income fair? Should Americans allow jobs to be outsourced? What is the role of government in restricting or promoting business objectives? This course examines the market in the context of efficiency, fairness, and moral justifications. Through a combination of lectures, readings, and class discussions, students examine the theoretical basis of capitalism and its variations as a means of organizing and allocating resources.
Instructor: Charles Sullivan
TUESDAY CLASSES 6:30 - 9:20 P.M.
The Literature of Religious Reflection (WI) or (HUM), (GLO)
HUMN 6361
Class #5871
Tuesdays
3 Credit Hours
This course explores how writers from the Middle Ages to the present have used poetry and prose to express their spiritual emotions and concerns. Concentrating on poetry and fiction, we look at how English and American writers have expressed their concerns with good and evil, with their relation as humans with God, with the shape of a Christian life in the world, and with the problems of human suffering and the mysteriousness of God's justice. WI - Fulfills the writing intensive requirement.
Instructor: Rick Bozorth
Troubled Youth: Educating the Young in America (WI) or (HUM), (AMS)
HUMN 6397
Class #6490
Tuesdays
3 Credit Hours
Through fiction, non-fiction, and film this course examines the paired "problems" of adolescence and education from historical and contemporary American perspectives. Expand your understanding of contemporary issues in adolescent development and education by grounding current concerns in historical perspective.
Instructor: Bruce Levy
(New) Reaction and Resistance in the Holocaust (HUM), (HRJ), (GEN), (GLO)
HUMN 7366
Class #6401
Tuesdays
3 Credit Hours
Instructor: David Gruber
News in the Digital Age: From Traditional to Citizen Media (HUM), (CMT), (AMS)
HUMN 6395
Class #5872
Tuesdays
3 Credit Hours
Examine the impact of digital technology on news, and the free flow of information in a democratic society today. Learn about varied historical evolution of American journalism from its founding up to its current-day forms. The standards and practices of journalism for traditional media (print, radio and television), and new media (online reporting, blogging, video/audio podcasts, live streaming and RSS feeds) will be closely reviewed. Discover how the different technological methods of news distribution affect who does the coverage, what gets covered, who is reached and why this is important.
Instructor: Yolette Garcia
Reading Plato in Gatsby (HUM)
HUMN 7333
Class #5873
Tuesdays
3 Credit Hours
Plato's Symposium and Petronius' Satyrica, two seminal texts of Classical literature, have greatly influenced later texts, both philosophical and literary, in many ways. This class will consider their influence, both separately and jointly, on three important works of fiction of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Henry James' Daisy Miller, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies, in order to analyze how these modern writers use classical themes and models to present and articulate contemporary issues and concerns.
Instructor: Marsha McCoy
Shakespeare Through the Eyes of His Clowns (HUM), (ACT)
FNAR 6326
Class #5874
Tuesdays
3 Credit Hours
Present in most of Shakespeare's plays, the fool or clown character is one of the most intriguing and integral figures in Shakespeare's storytelling period. This course looks at the plays of Shakespeare - primarily the comedies - through the lens of the clown/fool role period. Beginning with his roots in ancient Greece, England's Saxon and Medieval periods, the class will first define and then investigate the importance of the clown in history. Moving to specific clown/fool characters in Shakespeare's tales, the class will look at how the clown's pointed and low humor mirrors the high characters, advances, and explicates Shakespeare's plots and gives insight into the politics of the polite world, Elizabethan England. In addition, it asks the student to mine Shakespeare's texts for the embedded physical comedy in specific scenes to hypothesize on how that comedy might have been played to support Shakespeare's intent and the world of the play as well as bring his textual story-telling to life.
Instructor: Sara Romersberger
The Fire of Transformation: Exploring the Mystical Life (HUM), (GLO)
HUMN 6338
Class #5875
Tuesdays
3 Credit Hours
In this course students explore how certain individuals throughout the world and during different periods of history came to have powerful and transformative spiritual experiences. Students carefully examine the ways in which different religious traditions understand mysticism. They investigate a variety of spiritual techniques designed to catalyze, deepen, and stabilize these alternate levels of consciousness. Students delve into philosophical and social-scientific analyses of the dynamics of mystical states of awareness; and they probe the metaphysical, ethical, and psychological implications of mysticism in the modern world.
Instructor: Bill Barnard
The Psychology of Hate (HRJ)
BHSC 6331
Class #5876
Tuesdays
3 Credit Hours
The course reviews and specifically details the leading and most recent theories of hate, and examines the depth of hate-related utility and its futility. Covers topics such as in-group/out-group bias, aggression and its origins, physiology of aggression, history of hate groups and hate crimes, hate on the Internet and in the media, pop culture's representations of hate, hate speech, implications for victims of hate crimes, and motivations of perpetrators of hate-motivated crimes. Also, the relationship between aggression, hate, and violence; the pros and cons of group distinctions; the distinctions in hate crime and hate speech; the pros and cons of enhanced penalty legislation for hate crimes; the justifications for "isms;" and the brain chemistry and physiology behind aggression and anger. Students debate controversial topics in the areas of race, sexual orientation, gender, identity or expression, and religion. In addition, students develop personal ways to combat hate and violence.
Instructor: Michael Lindsey
WEDNESDAY CLASSES 6:30 - 9:20 P.M.
THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE (REQ - INTRO)
HUMN 6316
Class #5877
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours
Examine issues of human existence using interdisciplinary perspectives, primary readings, large group presentations and discussion groups. Learn the various disciplines of human thought and problems. Contribute to the overall knowledge of the many ways in which humans try to understand themselves and the world around them. Study what it means to be human including a consideration of the nature of products of human activity, and the world in which humans find themselves. Take a close look at the human condition, human creations such as social institutions, art and literature, and science.
Instructor: Michael Callaghan
The Ethical Implications of Children’s Literature (HUM), (GEN)
HUMN 6341
Class #5878
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours
The course examines a wide range of children's literature, both historical and current, with an emphasis on building an adult understanding of the moral and cultural themes in these works. Issues of colonialism, race, ethnicity, gender, and class are confronted, and students become acquainted with different approaches to children's literature by using a variety of literary criticism.
Instructor: Martha Satz
Approaching Contemporary Art: Facing the Millenium – 1980-2010 (ACT), (HUM), (GEN), (GLO)
FNAR 6313
Class #5879
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours
This class is the second of a two-part course that focuses on contemporary art post World War II. This course encompasses the 30 years straddling the turn of the century, 1980 to 2010. You will witness evergrowing new ideas developed by adventurous, mostly young artists worldwide. Contemporary art is the art of today produced by artists living in the 21st century. It is a window on contemporary society that helps us understand the world and ourselves. The art combines materials, methods, concepts and subjects that challenge traditional boundaries and defy easy definition.
Instructor: Joan Davidow
The Intellectual and Cultural History of Europe: Romanticism to the Present (HUM), (ACT), (GLO)
SOSC 6377
Class #5890
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours
Explores major trends in the development of European literature, philosophy, art, and music in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Primary attention is devoted to the role of arts and ideas in the shaping of our contemporary world. Part II of a two-part series; Part I is not a prerequisite.
Instructor: John Mears
Bioethics and Public Policy (ENV), (GLO), (HUM), (GEN) (ORG)
SCCL 6303
Class #5891
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours
A study of the ethical dilemmas caused by rapidly changing medical technology. Issues to be examined include in-vitro fertilization, reproductive medicine, stem cell research, genetic screening and manipulation, abortion, fetal tissue experimentation, human subjects research, organ transplants, euthanasia, and end-of-life care. Public policy issues related to the allocation of medical resources are also discussed.
Instructor: Thomas McFaul
Art of the Baroque (HUM), (ACT)
FNAR 6317
Class #5892
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours
This course examines European painting, sculpture, and architecture of the 17th century, beginning with the foundation of the Baroque in Italy and traveling to France, Spain, and the Netherlands. We will study masterpieces by Bernini, Caravaggio, Poussin, Velazquez, Rubens, Rembrandt, and their contemporaries, explaining their significant contributions in terms of style and subject matter. For full interpretation, we will discuss the works within their historical context, paying particular attention to patronage, the religious milieu, and the social position of the artist. Topics include the Counter-Reformation and Protestantism, the status of women artists, the emergence of the art market, and the increase in genre painting, the still life and landscape.
Instructor: Dianne Goode
(New) Refugees and Displaced Persons (HUM), (GLO), (HRJ), (GEN)
SOSC 7358
Class #6262
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours
An estimated 43.7 million people are currently displaced worldwide. Of the total, 15.4 million are refugees - 10.55 million under the care of the UN High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) and 4.82 million registered with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Some 27.5 million people are displaced internally by conflict and 837,500 are asylum-seekers. This course will focus on the causes of the massive displacement of ordinary people, the actions of those responsible for aiding them, the modern history of forced displacement, and the legal, charitable, and political structures that deal with the problem. It examines the various governments, international organizations, and private religious and secular charities that provide help to the displaced. Throughout the course, attempts will be made to understand the problems faced by these people by hearing their stories. Upon completion, students will have an understanding of this cast and little known humanitarian crisis. This course may be applied to the following curricular field concentrations: Humanities, Human Rights and Social Justice, and Global Studies.
Instructor: Hugh Parmer
Writing and the Search for Self (CRW), (HUM)
HUMN 6374
Class #6011
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours
What are the defining moments of our lives, and how do we incorporate the insights gained from these critical experiences into the stories we tell about ourselves? Examining memoirs and autobiographies, and offering practical advice on journal-keeping and overcoming writer's block, this course is for students interested in developing a strong individual voice, once that can address issues of personal concern with the authority that comes from experience.
Instructor: John Lewis
Little But Lethal (ENV), (HUM), (HRJ), (GLO)
SCCL 6335
Class #6012
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours
Studies the hazards of the new technology upon men and women. This course examines critical problems confronting humanity in an age of rapidly advancing technology, including overpopulation, malnutrition, pollution, and major diseases.
Instructor: John Ubelaker
THURSDAY CLASSES 6:30 - 9:20 P.M.
The Literate Mind at Work (WI) or (HUM)
HUMN 6370
Class #6014
Thursdays
3 Credit Hours
This course is designed to insure that beginning MLS students have mastered the critical academic skills—reading, discussion, and writing the researched argumentative essay—required to succeed in graduate liberal studies. The course is writing intensive and includes drafting, rewriting, and editing as part of the writing process. Students are also responsible for learning basic research technique and styles of annotation, as well as a review of academic integrity and issues of plagiarism. Short stories, Southwest literature, and a novel form the basis for exploring human experience in various literary voices and cultures and offer opportunities for writing, research, and collaborative learning.
Instructor: Janet Harris
Energy and Economy: Foundations of Sustainability (ENV), (GLO), (AMS), (HUM)
SCCL 6312
Class #6016
Thursdays
3 Credit Hours
"Sustainability" is by nature an interdisciplinary subject. But what exactly is it? How do we define it and what are its historical, scientific and philosophical underpinnings? In this course we will examine the role of energy and economics in the development of a sustainable world view. We will survey the fundamental sources of energy, how we harness them and what our prospects are in an industrial economy dominated by fossil fuels. We will examine how our energy systems are woven into our economic systems and how the history of industrial capitalism has brought us to where we are today. Finally, we will discuss the fundamental concepts behind "sustainability," physical, philosophical and political, as we synthesize what we learn about the field of "energetics" and our economic behavior in an environmentally challenged world.
Instructor: Tony Robinson
The Art of Public Speaking (HUM), (CMT)
BHSC 6302
Class #6017
Thursdays
3 Credit Hours
This course focuses on training in speech performance and speech evaluation skills. The major aims of the course are to make the student a more effective public speaker and a more discerning consumer of public communication. Students will begin by studying historical speeches, then learn both theory and practical applications related to the formulation, presentation, and evaluation of public speeches.
Instructor: Jan Sayers
Politics and Film (HUM), (CMT), (GLO), (AMS), (ACT)
SOSC 6330
Class #6018
Thursdays
3 Credit Hours
Designed to use film as a vehicle for enhancing our understanding of real-world politics and culture in the United States, the course considers political ambition, electoral politics, the nature of political leadership, theories of decision-making, and the role of the media in politics. Additionally, the course examines the "two faces of film:" as a portrayal (accurate or not) of politics; but also filmmaking as a political act in itself. From the 1940s to the present, films have had the potential to deepen our understanding of political change, but have also raised questions as to the political agenda of their makers, the use or misuse of history, and the extent to which filmmaking is motivated by the profit incentive and the cultural norms that govern the industry.
Instructor: Dennis Simon
Terrorism and Torture (HUM), (HRJ), (GLO), (GEN)
SOSC 6301
Class #6019
Thursdays
3 Credit Hours
The purpose of this course is to analyze the crimes of terror and torture from the perspective of international law, government, literature, culture, and philosophy. This course examines the origins and development of terror and torture in literature and the legal status of rights under United States domestic law and international law. It analyzes tensions between universal and culturally-specific definitions of rights, state sovereignty, and humanitarian intervention. And, finally, looks forward at future directions in regulating terrorism and torture in international law.
Instructor: John Vernon
(NEW) Creating the Novel (HUM), (CRW)
FNAR 7365
Class #6264
Thursdays
3 Credit Hours
This seminar focuses on learning the craft of writing a novel. Workshops will focus on writing exercises and analysis of novels (relative to structure, characterization, theme, plotline and its development). The primary intentions for this seminar involve writing in the direction of the completion of a novel. Work will involve the writing of some 45-60 pages as a ground beginning to a novel. Significant reading and writing will be essential to successful achievement in this seminar. This course may be applied to the following curricular field concentrations: Humanities and Creative Writing.
Instructor: Gary Swaim
The Moral and Spiritual World of Childhood and Adolescence (HUM)
BHSC 7357
Class #6491
Thursdays
3 Credit Hours
This course offers for discussion and critical reflection a developmental perspective on moral reasoning and religious experience in childhood and adolescence, in light especially of the theories of Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Lawrence Kohlberg, and James Fowler. These theories will be supplemented by a close look at the research of psychoanalyst Ana-Maria Rizzuto on the God-ideas of early childhood. A particular focus of the course will be on how both moral and religious development can be impeded by impositions of adult teaching on children and adolescents before their cognitive development is sufficient to permit assimilation and independent assessment of them. This course may be applied to the following curricular field concentration: Humanities.
Instructor: Leroy Howe
(NEW) Matters of Life and Death (HUM), (ENV), (GLO), (HRJ)
SCCL 6306
Class #6873
Thursdays
3 Credit Hours
Developments in science are coming with increasing rapidity with many impacting issues of personal and public health and well being. Many of the issues are sufficiently new that they could scarcely have been discussed in the not distant past. Critical thinking about them may require some individuals to challenge their long held views of what is ethical. The principles of morality which undergird modern biomedical ethics are respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and a sense of justice. These principles must guide our thinking as we discuss such controversial issues as beginning of life issues (assisted reproduction, abortion, prenatal diagnosis of disease, embryo selection), end of life issues (hastening death vs. permitting to die, right to die, assisted suicide), inherited disorders and other disabilities, allocation of scarce medical resources (vaccines, organs for transplantation), genetic modification of existing organs (gene therapy, production of medically useful products), genetically modified food for human consumption. Questions raised by such issues and the solutions that are offered touch human well being so intimately that they may truly be classified matters of life and death. There is significant science underlying these issues, and that will be described at a level consistent with the understanding of an educated lay person not involved in a scientific discipline.
Instructor: Morton Prager
SATURDAY CLASSES 9:30 A.M. - 11:50 A.M.
Reading to Write: Learning from the Masters MORNING CLASS (9:30a – 12:20p) (CRW), (HUM)
FNAR 6306
Class #6020
Saturdays
3 Credit Hours
Good writing is never imitative, but good writers always learn from other writers. Whether analyzing the successful techniques of a classic work by Hemingway, Warren, Munro, or the latest best seller, writers of fiction and nonfiction benefit from the study of others' storytelling. Through literary analysis and application of techniques studied, writers enhance their creative projects. The course will be a combination of close reading and creative writing.
Instructor: Janet Harris
STUDY AWAY PROGRAMS
INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS STUDY
In the Camps: Poland Holocaust Sites (December 18-30, 2012)
SOSC 6300
CONTACT MLS Office if interested.
Travel and lecture course that combines a visit to major Nazi death camps in Poland and a study of why and how genocide can happen in any time period.
Instructor: Rick Halperin
Contact Us
Email: mls@smu.edu
Phone: 214-768-4273
Fax: 214-768-2104
Postal Mail: Master of Liberal Studies, Southern Methodist University, P.O. Box 750253, Dallas, TX 75275-0253