Undergraduate Courses

Examines folklore from cultures around the world. Applies folklore studies concepts to explore folklore in students’ everyday lives. Limited to three attempts.

Provides student writers with the skills and mindsets needed to effectively respond to a range of academic and public writing situations, with additional language support for building English fluency. Multilingual students with developing proficiency in English learn rhetorical reading and writing strategies that attend to the linguistic structures and moves enacted in non-fiction genres. Students learn to: engage in a process of discovery and consider diverse perspectives before making a judgment, taking a stance, or proposing a solution; locate, evaluate, and synthesize source material to discover and answer complex questions; and reflect on linguistic choices and research and writing processes. Students develop linguistic proficiency in English through context-specific instruction and practice in the interplay of grammatical structures and rhetorical aims and receive individualized feedback on language usage/writing development. Min. grade of C required to meet degree requirement. Equivalent to ENGH 101.

Provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the development of technological systems, including scientific, creative, and social perspectives. Identifies ethical issues through analysis of abstract AI/ML technology. Teaches students how to communicate those issues to various stakeholders using the correct vocabulary. Uses rhetorical theory and practical frameworks to evaluate projects and develop guidelines that encourage more fair and equitable outcomes. Limited to three attempts.

Introduces students to core questions and methods in screen studies. Looks at the dynamic relationship between screen-based media and their cultural and historical contexts. Teaches analysis of a variety of aesthetic objects including film, TV, video games, animation, social media, and photography while considering how aesthetic practices shape and are shaped by questions of identity, formations of power, and issues of social justice. Limited to three attempts.

Topics include folktales, personal narratives, legends, proverbs, jokes, folk songs, folk art and craft, and folk architecture. Considers ethnicity, community, family, festival, folklore in literature, and oral history. Discusses traditions in students' own lives. Limited to three attempts.

Studies how traditional mythologies are reflected in English and American literature and other texts as themes, motifs, and patterns. Notes: May be repeated when topic is different. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 6 credits.

Familiarizes students with an essential subfield of film and media studies—the relationship of urban space to screen cultures. Addresses the construction of the global city on screen in relation to questions of wealth and poverty; crime and criminality; surveillance, occupation, and the state of emergency; gender and sexuality; space, place, and shooting on location; among other things. Explores the central role the “global city” plays in the generation and global circulation of wealth while also attending to the marginal spaces of such cities. Limited to three attempts.

Exploration of various aspects of folklore and folklife such as folklore and literature, folk arts, folk song, and material culture. Notes: May be repeated when topic is different with permission of department. May be repeated within the term.

Examines the role of supernatural phenomena in individuals’ everyday lives. Introduces folkloristic approaches to the study of belief, paranormal experiences, and popular spirituality. Topics may include ghosts, spirit possession, superstitions, visions, near death experiences, dream interpretation, magic, the commodification of belief, and the supernatural and new media. Limited to three attempts.

Examines the traditional arts of everyday life, such as festive foods, mementos and other objects of memory, textile arts, pottery, carving in wood and stone, roadside shrines, and more. Explores the folk aesthetics of group-based creativity through the lenses of biography, history, literature, and folklore studies. Considers traditional objects as narratives in material form. Examples drawn from multiple cultures as well as traditions in students' own lives. Limited to three attempts.

Explores migration trends and concepts of identity and migration in folklore scholarship, literature, film, and popular media. Limited to three attempts.

Topic-based course in research methods. Students conduct advanced research in folklore studies using traditional and digital research tools and approaches. Notes: May be repeated when topic is different. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 6 credits.

A community-engaged research course. Students volunteer 15 hours with a community partner organization, study best community-partnership practices (particularly when working in historically marginalized communities), research a social issue of special interest to this organization, and compose “public” texts that draw on their research and experiences. Limited to three attempts.

Study and practice of ethnographic writing. Students conduct ethnographic investigations and practice journal keeping, field note recording, interviewing, transcription, and interpretation. Includes introduction to current issues in ethnographic writing. Limited to three attempts.

Prepares students for the Society for Technical Communication Certification in Technical Writing, focusing on proficiencies in project planning, project analysis, content development, content management, and organizational design. May be offered with a focus on global and international users. This course serves as the capstone for the Professional and Technical Writing Minor. Limited to three attempts.