Search for Summer 2024 Term Courses

A survey of the theoretical, practical, and ethical issues associated with creative thinking and making. Examines strategies for promoting creativity and the creative thinker’s role in shaping culture. As a special “Taos Edition” of this course, taught in the beautiful and culturally-rich American Southwest, our exploration of creativity will feature extended discussions of the ways in which beauty plays a special role in our understanding of art and creativity with an emphasis on Georgia O’Keeffe who lived and worked for many years in the high-desert landscape surrounding Taos. The course will feature at least two field trips that takes full advantage of the unique opportunities offered by our learning environment. This course is devoted to understanding the mysterious nature of creativity as both art and science. Considerations from philosophy, ethics, biology, sociology, economics and the fine arts will all be brought to bear on our study of this elusive concept, cultiminating in an exploration of creativity as it takes shape in the realm of advertising - from ideation to execution, as well as in organizational dynamics.

The topic of Human Rights is a recently invented discourse, and one that has contributed to many positive changes around the globe since 1948. Even so, definitions, responsibilities, and the cross-cultural context of these “rights” remain a source of debate and accusation as a great many humans in the world continue to suffer. This course examines the concept of Human Rights critically, with an eye for cross-cultural variation, and with a particular focus on rights that are health-related including climate change, human environments, and human rights and health. A diversity of students will benefit from the lectures, case studies, and dialogues in this seminar, but a goal of the course is to prepare students for careful inquiry to and application of this powerful policy idea for both international and local settings. In the Taos campus version of this course, we engage heavily in applying anthropological frameworks and materials in New Mexico through various fieldtrips focusing specifically on engineering and human health in Taos and Northern New Mexico.

The course is an introduction to observational drawing. It is designed to expose students to various techniques and approaches relevant to the discipline. Moreover, it seeks to orchestrate encounters whereby students gain direct understanding of the act of perceiving and methods for recording those perceptions. Drawing from observation is an exercise in learning to see— and what better place to “learn to see” than Northern New Mexico! The landscape and history of Taos (and surrounding areas) offer an abundance of resources, both natural and cultural, to augment the content of the course. The indigenous inhabitants, Spanish Colonial settlers, Taos Society of Artists, and figures like Agnes Martin, Ken Price, and Dennis Hopper all responded to the immensity and beauty of Taos’s landscape, and in turn contributed to its rich and enduring history as an arts destination. Class work will be supplemented with field trips outside assignments, and readings.

An overview of the ecology, evolution, and identification of plants and animals of the Southwest region. The course will heavily rely on the wildlife around Taos as a teaching tool. You will go on 2 hikes, learn to identify plants and animals, and give two presentations on evolution and wildlife. An introduction to the major concepts of biological thought for the nonscience major. Learn about the geology and ecology of the Southwest, the role human plays in conservation and sustainability of our planet, and the major events that took place in the evolution of life. BIOL 1300 is not open to students with prior credit in BIOL 1301 or BIOL 1401.

Building key traits of authentic leadership and emotional and cultural intelligence that are critical to leadership success, including self-awareness, awareness of others, & managing self & relationships. Effective teamwork, interpersonal skills, empathic listening, mindfulness, inclusivity, and conflict resolution. Community engagement to complete a service learning project in an underserved community. Learn from local leadership through first hand experiences and strategies for addressing leadership challenges.Two field trips will visit significant cultural and spiritual sites for the tribes. Ongoing journaling and discussions will enhance this experiential learning. Improve clarity about personal mearning and purpose, values, and aims. Increase compassion, ethics, and connection with underserved communities in an increasingly interdependent world. Gain appreciation of the role of mindfulness techniques for increasing emotional intelligence, reducing stress, and improving focus, decision making, and creativity through the Koru Mindfulness Program, which was developed at Duke University for college students. Build self-trust, the foundation of trust in relationships, and learn how to increase trust in personal and business situations.

In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of experimentation research for the purposes of designing novel measurement studies for drone communications. Students will also learn about the unique problems that are facing wireless communications when designed for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which has the challenges of Doppler effects induced by high levels of mobility, limited power consumption, and highly-restrictive load capabilities. In the advanced version of the course (7393), students take on leadership roles with the labs and the projects and are expected to lead efforts to publications in top-tier conferences with measurement results. **This class meets May 12 as the arrival day and June 8 as the departure day.** Watch Course Video

This course examines the past interactions between human societies and the natural world on the North American continent (with specific attention to New Mexico and theSouthwest). This relationship is complex, for the environment reveals the effects of people’s influences but also shapes human history by creating and limiting our possibilities. Members of the course will investigate this reciprocal relationship through the investigation of specific themes, including the following: Native American resource management; the ecological impact of European arrival in the New World; resource exploitation and commodification in the industrial age; changing ideas about nature; and the roots of current environmental problems and the solutions devised to address them. This relationship is complex, for the We will take numerous field trips that use the area as a laboratory.

Mountain Sports is a class where students will have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of activities such as hiking, rafting, rock climbing, and fly-fishing. Students will have the opportunity to apply the five components of health related fitness to all of the activities that they pursue.

Addresses issues that pertain to how individuals adjust to various developmental, social, and cultural challenges across their lifespan and environments. Throughout life one is faced with many challenges whether that is learning how to walk and talk, developing one’s own identity, getting through school, starting and keeping friendships and romantic relationships, establishing a successful career, maintaining mental and physical health, or dealing with the impact of a global pandemic. Why do some individuals navigate these challenges seemingly easily while others struggle? Can we predict how successful people will be? What role did early life experience play in navigating such challenges? By taking a scientific look at the challenges that have shaped your life, and an empirical examination of individual differences and their association with life challenges, this course will provide you with the tools to both better understand your life challenges and apply what you have learned to everyday life. Through a combination of lectures, discussions, papers and presentations, and experiential learning in a field trip, this class will highlight the major theoretical perspectives and contemporary research findings regarding individual differences and how they are related to challenges throughout the lifespan. We will incorporate research and theory from Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Social Psychology, and Personality Psychology. Broadly speaking the course is split into two sections. The first section of the course will focus on individual differences and challenges during childhood and adolescences that have shaped your development in life up to this point. The second section will focus on adulthood and predicting challenges one might encounter into the future. As a whole, this class will push you to think critically about the application of psychological science to challenges of everyday life. The format of this course as an interim course will allow for in-depth discussions, application, and application of psychological concepts to a variety of life experiences and challenges.

WRTR 1313 takes as its mission the development and refinement of critical reasoning skills, skills that will allow us to both analyze and create arguments that adhere to time-honored principles of validity, persuasion, and soundness. Throughout the term we will hone our abilities to distinguish among reasonable claims, questionable assertions, and utter nonsense. We will also develop skills that allow us to create rational coherence in a world in which we are bombarded daily by competing truth claims, contrary “facts,” false information, and “gut-based” opinion, and in which time-honored techniques of rational discourse are under assault. We will explore techniques to forge credible, truth-based arguments and examine the social forces that undermine the reasonable exploration of issues, both personal and public. Teaches students to analyze arguments by employing high order critical thinking skills. Students learn to identify sound from faulty premises, detect logical fallacies, distinguish strong from weak conclusions, evaluate sources and become information literate. To demonstrate an understanding of the techniques of critical reasoning, students write essays, conduct research, and engage in a variety of additional university-level writing assignments. Watch Course Video

Taos provides a rich context for students to learn about Latin American cultural, political, and economic influences and expressions through exploration of anthropological scholarship on Latin America in conjunction with field trips in the Taos area. The course examines shared histories and influences between Latin America and the U.S. Southwest. Students will read anthropological scholarship from within the region typically conceptualized as Latin America—including Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Course readings will provide students with the conceptual and ethnographic lenses to observe and experience Latin American forms in Taos. This experiential approach encourages students to think critically about what constitutes Latin America and whether some areas of the United States may be onceptualized as Latin American. By tacking back and forth between anthropological literature on Latin America and fieldtrips in the Taos area, students will explore how shared histories and interactions move beyond the boundaries set by maps and national borders and to appreciate the arbitrary and fluid nature of regional and national boundaries. Field trips around the SMU-inTaos campus will provide students with hands-on observations which they will be invited to think through in relation to conceptual frameworks and ethnographic material in their readings. Particular attention will be paid to exploring artistic expressions, spiritual forms, naturalenvironments, gastronomy, and health and healing.

The overall goal of this course is to introduce undergraduate students to current societal issues around public health nutrition. This course examines the nature of poverty, food security and hunger at the community, regional, or national level. The Taos campus allows for APSM 3360 students to become embedded in the community and assist local farmers with harvesting and planting. Nutrition and Population Health students will also work with the local schools in the Farm-to-School lunch program and after school program. Lastly, the Taos campus allows for my students will also serve at the local food pantry alongside community members to hand out bags of food to individuals in need. Emphasis is placed on personal experience via community engagement, the applicability of cutting-edge research on creating effective national policies, and advocacy campaigns for low-income Americans. Finally, this course reviews existing local and national programs and policies, including strengths, weaknesses, and areas for modification or new interventions. Watch Course Video

Examines ancient Native American, Hispanic, Latino, and Anglo arts and cultures of the American Southwest. Considers the effects of ethnicity, gender, and community identity on regional art traditions and places artworks within their material, religious, political, and economic contexts. Most class days include field trips as well as interactive, collaborative projects. Films, readings, and the instructor’s PowerPoint slide talks set the stage for visits to artists’ studios, archaeological sites, pueblos, churches, and museums. Understand the rich cultural heritage and traditional arts of Native American and Spanish New Mexico and an introduction to 20th century art. Simple hands-on projects help students understand the technical and aesthetic qualities of artworks we study in this class. This course examines Native American and Spanish cultures of the American Southwest between 100 CE and the 21st century. It considers the effects of ethnicity, gender, and community identity on regional art traditions and places artworks within their material, religious, political, and economic contexts. Field trips to: Taos Pueblo, Millicent Rogers Museum, workshop with Gustavo Victor Goler. Many class days include field trips or interactive projects. Films, readings, and PowerPoint slide talks set the stage for visits to artists’ studios, archaeological sites, pueblos, churches, and museums. Hands-on art projects are simple and require no previous art experience to succeed. Watch Course Video

This non-major introductory biology course with a special focus on aquatic biology considers the ecological intricacies of aquatic systems in the American Southwest, emphasizing the unique challenges and adaptations of life in arid environments. The SMU campus in Taos serves as an ideal hub for this course by providing direct access to study these specific environments. Students benefit from hands-on field experiences, allowing them to conduct fieldwork, collect data, and directly observe the region's aquatic biodiversity, thus deepening their understanding of the ecological principles discussed in the course. Taos' geographical location and the richness of its surrounding aquatic environments serve as a living laboratory, enabling students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world settings. BIOL 1300 is not open to students with prior credit in BIOL 1301 or BIOL 1401.

Analysis, interpretation, and appreciation of poetry, with attention to terms and issues relevant to the genre. We will read the most interesting poetry written by contemporary American poets. Two ambitions compete for their attention. Whether considering contemporary race relations or datingconducted via text, poets explore how it feels to live now. They want their work to be “contemporary.” At the same time, the art of poetry enjoys a long history. When poets revise, extend, and contest its traditions, they write with an eye to the past, whether out of admiration, anger, or disgust. Five of the assigned poets will visit our class via Zoom to discuss their work. In addition to these meeting, we will discuss the poems, compose three formal imitations, an erasure, and a sonnet exercise, and take two exams. Our goal in the class is twofold. First, we will develop our ability to read poetry carefully and attentively. Second, we will clarify the sense that American poets make of our complicated historical moment. Watch Course Video

'Technologies And Our Society” (TAOS) examines the development and lasting impact of technological change in the contexts of US society and culture. The course introduces students to 9 networks essential to contemporary life while encouraging them to think critically about the challenges involved in revisioning/reforming these systems to advance sustainable development, environmental preservation, and socio-economic equity, among other concerns. Reading (and viewing) assignments along with course discussions are augmented by visits to select local sites giving students opportunities to examine, evaluate, and debate technological “progress” in juxtaposition with the physical environments and lived realities in which these technological networks operate today. Topics include examining food, communication, production, energy, environment, war, planning, consumerism, medicine, and 4IR. Watch Course Video

An introduction to principles and concepts of operations management with an emphasis on problem solving for common business analytics models. Topics include forecasting, product and service design, reliability, strategic capacity planning for products and services, optimization (in particular linear programming, sensitivity analysis, and transportation problems), decision analysis, computer simulation, supply chain management, inventory, scheduling, and project management. Coursework exposes students to quantitative business applications and includes problem solving and case assignments from a wide range of functional areas in business. For the experiential learning part, we will have a field trip to Taos Bakes to observe the production process of bars, discuss how strategy affect production and planning.

Moral problems and ethical dilemmas surround us: in our schools and workplaces, in our homesand families, and in the news and politics. In this course, we’ll begin to reflect on ethical problemsin a systematic and thorough way. We’ll learn some tools for helping us do this (ethical theories)and use these to grapple with some important contemporary issues we’re faced with, focusing inparticular on environmental ethics and Native American approaches to ethics to take advantage ofthe opportunities to explore nature, sustainability, and Indigenous history in Taos. An introduction to philosophical ethics focusing on questions in applied ethics. Students begin by exploring ethical theories and philosophical methods. The majority of the course is devoted to applying those theories and methods to some of the most controversial and pressing issues confronting contemporary society. Topics vary, but the following are representative: abortion, animal rights, affirmative action, capital punishment, economic justice, euthanasia, sexuality, war and terrorism, and world hunger. Class discussion is an important component of the course, as is reading and (in some sections) writing argumentative essays about these issues.

A survey of the ethical and philosophical issues surrounding resistance to state power and disobedience of civil law. Examines ancient, medieval, and modern perspectives on when such defiance is justifiable. This course explores the issues of revolution, regicide, civil disobedience, conscientious objection, and other attempts to defy the law and/or replace the government. What are the criteria for determining when such efforts are ethically justifiable and when they are not? How can a society respect the principle of individual conscience, while not inviting the anarchy of having people pick and choose which laws they will obey? The course considers answers to those questions that have been offered from the ancient world through the present day. This course really benefits from intensive, small-group discussion of the complex issues involved, and the Taos setting and course format will greatly facilitate that. In addition, several of the issues considered have clear relevance in the New Mexico context, including the issue of Native American use of peyote in religious rituals (9j defiance of state and federal anti-drug laws) and the Sanctuary Movement that has sought to defy U.S. immigration law and shield undocumented asylum-seekers from deportation.

Mountain Sports is a class where students will have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of activities such as hiking, rafting, rock climbing, and fly-fishing. Students will have the opportunity to apply the five components of health related fitness to all of the activities that they pursue.

This interdisciplinary and experiential course examines the intersections of food and identity in the Southwest. Through literary and scholarly texts, film, fine arts, pop culture, and experiences, students explore topics such as heritage and tradition, cultural contact and exchange, conquest, resistance and revolution, issues of gender, and responses to modernity and change in the so-called “American Southwest.” Examines how technology (including agriculture, cooking technology, commercial farming, global trade networks, and social media) impacts the production, consumption, distribution, dynamics of power, and systems of meaning of food and eating in this region. Watch Course Video