For this introductory course, we will take a chronological approach to developments in the field of Anthropology. This allows gaining an understanding of various disciplinary developments against a background of historical processes and socio-cultural changes in Europe, North America, and beyond. As students read articles, watch videos, and participate in class discussions, they will learn about the many ideas, concepts, and theories devised by anthropologists over the course of two centuries for studying the human condition. In addition to this, students will participate in two graded projects: a 'glossary of terms' (contributions made throughout the course), and a 'modeling human motivation' workshop (three days during week four).
Architecture
ARCH 3500
Special Topics in Architecture
Sustainable Communities Around the World
10-day, interdisciplinary discussion seminar at UVA's magical Morven Farm in Charlottesville
This seminar investigates the principles of sustainable community design and development--environmental quality, economic health, social equity and esthetic beauty--as reflected in buildings, landscapes, towns, and cities. Through case studies, class activities and site visits, we will examine how we can promote and create better mobility, energy usage, air and water quality, sustainable food systems, and sense of place.
ARCH 5500
Special Topics in Architecture
Sust Communities & Glob Environment
10-day, interdisciplinary discussion seminar at UVA's magical Morven Farm in Charlottesville
This seminar investigates the principles of sustainable community design and development--environmental quality, economic health, social equity and esthetic beauty--as reflected in buildings, landscapes, towns, and cities. Through case studies, class activities and site visits, we will examine how we can promote and create better mobility, energy usage, air and water quality, sustainable food systems, and sense of place.
ART NOW is designed to familiarize you with the major themes, issues, and questions being pursued in today's art world. Focusing on the last twenty years, the class is organized around four themes that define the majority of art being made today: portraying, experiencing, performing, and agitating. I hope to take trips to the VMFA and to DC. This course fulfills the art history requirement for studio majors.
This course examines the concept of “cancel culture” in American visual culture of the 20th and 21st centuries. While the term has been coined in recent years to describe someone or something that has been “canceled” due to offensive remarks or content, this class shows how the concept of “canceling” has a long history throughout the 20th and 21st centuries in the United States. From the Hays Codes of the 1930s to the Culture Wars of the 1980s to the recent postponement of the Philip Guston retrospective, this course will investigate how visual culture played a role in constructing “cancel culture.” By examining the intersection of visual culture, politics, and mass media, this class explores why certain art and exhibitions have been censored or canceled, how social media and the popular presses have shaped audiences’ reception of images, and how artists have responded to these cultural forces in their representations. This course does not seek to “cancel” or recoup American art and artists of the 20th and 21st century, but to examine the complex forces and the artistic production that emerges from these powerful collisions.
The primary tool associated with project planning is the schedule. Therefore, this course focuses on teaching theoretical concepts and practical techniques for scheduling and controlling construction/engineering projects. The course will provide you with the ability to prepare a comprehensive schedule for a project, including bar charts, network diagrams, resource profiles, and an earned value analysis. You will learn manual and computer-based approaches – 2 for 1!
The winter of our discontent, the Ides of March, a midsummer’s dream, and a melancholy autumn. There is a Shakespeare play for every season, every mood, every student. In this class we’ll sample each of Shakespeare’s major genres--history (English and Roman), comedy, tragedy, and romance—in order to come to as full an understanding of his oeuvre as we can in four short weeks. And we’ll also think about Shakespeare’s endurance (how well he’s weathered centuries) and why he might be as important to read now as ever. Texts may include Richard III, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear and The Winter’s Tale. Close reading will be our priority, with particular attention paid to the weather, the wind and water, time, aging, and genre conventions.
ENGL 3570
Studies in American Literature
Black Superheros
What is possible when we examine blackness directly within the genres of superhero and speculative
What is possible when we examine blackness directly within the genres of superhero and speculative fiction?
Summary
Marvel’s depiction of the conflict between Professor X and Magneto has been read as an allegory for assimilation versus separatism for marginalized people. Specifically, Professor X has been compared to MLK and while Magneto is said to represent Malcolm X. What happens when the allegory is removed? What is possible when we examine blackness directly within the genres of superhero and speculative fiction? What can we learn from the manufactured outrage around critical race theory that has led to Spiderman (as Miles Morales) being banned alongside and other “divisive” literature? This course examines representations of Black superlatives in select literature, film, and television. We will consider the varied roles that Blackness plays as an asset and liability for characterization, plot, theme, and the cultural influence of these creative works.
Core Questions
• What are the limits of Blackness? Who draws those limits?
• What is imagined as possible for Black characters in the superhero, speculative, fantasy genres? Are black people allowed to transcend the boundaries of space, time, reason.
• Can black superheroes dismantle the greatest villain of all: the systems of power that rely upon dominance and violence as tools of extraction?
• Do such fictions and fantasies connect to the real world liberation of black people, if so how? If not, why not?
Writing and Rhetoric
ENWR 1510
Writing and Critical Inquiry
Writing about Culture/Society
The Almighty Dollar: Writing about Money, Mobility & the American Dream
In this section of ENWR-1510, we will be writing about money, mobility and the American Dream. This is not a finance or economics course. You need no knowledge of supply and demand, commodities, derivatives or interest rates. Instead, you will be expected to examine and analyze the way money intersects with society, culture and the human condition. Each week we will engage with writing and materials that reflect how money influences the world we live in. You will be expected to generate responses to the assigned topics, engage in discourse with your peers, then use this process to better your writing.
We will collectively take up questions such as--What is the role of money in American culture? Does material wealth make us happier? Is financial gain a necessary part of the American Dream? What does it mean to be a sell out? What happens when creativity and money collide? What do popular narratives and films say about the culture of making money in America? About wealth, inequity and upward mobility? What financial and monetary trends can we identify as unique to Gen Z? How do social media trends--such as influencers and flexing--reflect attitudes about money in contemporary culture? We will examine money’s moral, cultural and social complexity in order to better understand the power of the Almighty Dollar.
In this course, we will study and practice public-facing news writing. We will do a good deal of interviewing, so if you wish to take this class, please be prepared to talk to strangers. We will also practice editing our work, gaining skills of workshopping and revision that will be applicable to standard academic writing. We will focus on the rules laid out in the AP Style Guide, while also exploring novel storytelling techniques such as audience-engaged journalism and data journalism; for this reason, students with backgrounds in the sciences, particularly Computer Science, are most welcome to enroll.
In addition to reading published works of journalism and features writing, we will have a series of guest speakers who work in local, national, and international journalism, including writers and editors associated with Mother Jones, The Trace, GlobalNews.ca, Foreign Policy, and The Washington Post.
This course satisfies the Second Writing Requirement, as well as the Artistic, Interpretive, and Philosophical Inquiry Requirement.
ENWR 2800
Public Speaking
ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS COURSE: The Promises and Perils of Digital Publics (click course # for descr.)
The Promises and Perils of Digital Publics examines what it means to “speak” to a “public” in the digital age. Students will engage in the production and analysis of digital forms of public speaking and forums for address. These will include, but not be limited to, vlogs, Zoom presentations, podcasts, videos, and social media posts. We will collectively ask where and how digital publics are addressed, to what ends, and in what forms. We will develop rhetorical frameworks for analyzing and preparing forms of digital public address and reflect on how these frameworks might prepare us for public speaking IRL.
***Expect that this course will be held virtually***
***Please be prepared for this to be a REMOTELY HELD COURSE. Students will be welcome to join in from on grounds to utilize university computers, however lecturing and lab will be held via Zoom.***
Throughout this summer session course students will learn the basics of GIS software and its many applications. Students will be graded based on attendance, effort, and participation in class.
This class is a combined lecture and laboratory section.
A final project will be instated for students to showcase their new knowledge of the GIS software.
Global Studies-Environments and Sustainability
GSVS 3110
Sustainable Communities
10-day, interdisciplinary discussion seminar at UVA's magical Morven Farm in Charlottesville
This seminar investigates the principles of sustainable community design and development--environmental quality, economic health, social equity and esthetic beauty--as reflected in buildings, landscapes, towns, and cities. Through case studies, class activities and site visits, we will examine how we can promote and create better mobility, energy usage, air and water quality, sustainable food systems, and sense of place.
How is Ukraine able to stand up to Russia? Why did Britain leave the EU? What led Germany to start two world wars? The answer, in each case, is nationalism. This class explores what nationalism is, where it came from, and how it has shaped modern Europe.
Social media is one of the most ethically complex elements of modern life. What are responsible practices for living in the digital media-driven world? Do individuals, companies and governments have different obligations in that world? What does responsible mean and who gets to decide? Students will engage with contemporary philosophical theory, data, news and policy to better understand what the social media ecosystem looks like and what role they can play in developing a more safe and accessible social media landscape in the future. By studying the experience, power relations and uses of contemporary social media platforms alongside philosophical ethical theories, students will develop a foundational understanding of key ethical concepts and learn reasoning skills that will help them be more intentional about the choices they make online and off.
It often seems that you are free to choose between options: where to go to university, what career to pursue, whether you will get married and to whom. But it is also sometimes said that you are a biological machine – that the laws of nature force you down the one and only path that your life could have ever taken, and that therefore your "options" are all illusory. Are you really free to choose between your apparent options? Can anyone really be praised or blamed for the choices they make? Does neuroscience disprove free will? What is free will, anyway? In this intro-level course, we will read contemporary philosophy and think about issues like these.
This course examines the interaction between global economic integration and domestic politics, focusing on four main cross-border economic flows - international trade, foreign direct investment, international migration, and money and international finance. The goal of this course is to introduce students to the main theories behind domestic preference formation, and how these preferences are aggregated through institutions to inform foreign economic policies. There is no formal requirement to take the class.
Science, Technology, and Society
STS 2500
Science and Technology in Social and Global Context
STS 2500 – Technology and the Frankenstein Myth
Frankenstein lives! Mary Shelley’s cautionary tale of rogue engineering remains as arresting and relevant today as it did when her novel was first published in 1818. Why does Shelley’s monster still haunt our cultural imagination? What does her novel have to say about the pursuit of techno-science in both her time and ours?
We’ll begin the semester with a close reading of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which is widely regarded as the first science-fiction novel. We’ll pay special attention to how the novel represents the scientist/engineer and to its social and ethical concerns with monstrous forms of science and technology.
In the second part of the semester, we’ll analyze several films and short stories that allude to and update the Frankenstein myth, including James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993), and Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), as well as a selection of Isaac Asimov’s robot stories. We’ll consider how these works draw on themes in Shelley’s novel to address concerns about contemporary techno-science, including gene-editing, cloning, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
The course culminates in a short research paper that examines public responses to an emerging technology of your choice, together with a pitch for a companion science-fiction story that reflects on the technology’s potential social and ethical impacts.
This course will be offered asynchronously.
The textbook for the course is "The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook" by George, Rowlands, Price, and Maxey (~$18 on Amazon)
This course covers an introduction to Lean enterprise and Six Sigma, and will introduce students to various process improvement tools and techniques. These tools/techniques include (but are not limited to) DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control), value stream mapping, process mapping, gage R&R, data analysis, multivari-analysis, design of experiments, statistical process control, and process capability analysis. Through this course, students will gain enough proficiency to apply these tools, techniques, and methodologies to real-world situations.
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
• Recognize key attributes of a successful Six Sigma program
• Understand the fundamentals of DMAIC methodology
• Learn and be able to utilize Six Sigma problem-solving tools and techniques
• Learn the lean concept and utilize pertinent Lean tools
• Understand the need for advanced methodologies
Ultimately, this course should prepare students for Green Belt certification (if they choose to pursue it).
This course does not have official prereqs, but working knowledge of Statistics will be beneficial. The course will be offered asynchronously with lecture materials, assigned readings, etc. posted early so students can get ahead to better balance their schedules.
This course will be offered asynchronously.
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ANTH 1010
MoTuWeThFr 1:00pm - 3:15pm
MoTuWeThFr 10:00am - 3:00pm
Web-Based Course
06/25 Sa 1:00pm - 3:15pm
TBA