SPRING 2008

GOVT112  CM Public Opinion and American Democracy
This course is concerned with understanding the political opinions that citizens hold and the relationship between these opinions and American democracy. We will consider what public opinion is, how it is measured, and themany influences that form it.

GOVT182  CM Liberty of Conscience
This course explores the historical and philosophical origins of the First Amendment’s protection of speech and religion. It begins with arguments for liberty of conscience in Milton’s Aeropagitica and Locke’s A Letter Concerning Toleration, tracing them through the American Founders and the framing of the First Amendment, which embeds freedom of speech and religion in the Constitution. Alongside these thinkers, we will examine Supreme Court opinions that take up the meaning and reach of the First Amendment, asking if liberty of conscience is truly the “first” liberty in our constitutional order.

HIST164  CM Mao’s China: Revolutionary Leadership and Its Consequences
This course explores the life, ideas, policies, and leadership style of Mao Zedong, one of them ost influential leaders of the twentieth century. Even today Mao remains a national hero to many Chinese, although others view Mao as the archetype of tyranny and despotism. This course uses Mao’s biography to illuminate a viariety of issues about Mao the man, Mao the leader, the Chinese revolution, and the meaning of the Maoist party-state. Each week’s assignment covers a choronological period while introducing thematic materials on topics such as child raising, peasant behavior, the cult of the leader, mass mobilization, and reactions to totalitarianism. The course also explores the nature of charismatic leadership and the role of the individual as an agent of historical change. Not open to students who have taken HIST101  CM Mao’s China.

HIST191  CM Environmental History of the Middle East
This seminar presents a history of the natural and cultural geography of the Middle East. It explores how people have used, constructed, and perceived natural environments in the region extending from North Africa to the Iranian Plateau. Concerned with the interrelated themes of environment, society, and culture, the course focuses on the transformation of naturla environments in modern times. Students will be asked to consider the ways in which different groups of people – peasants, pastoral nomads, imperial agents and engieners, among others – have shared in the making of these changes in the land.

MATH157  CM Monte Carlo methods
This course introduces concepts and statistical techniques that are critical to constructing and analyzing effective simulations, and discusses certain applications for simulation and Monte Carlo methods. Topics include random number generation, simulation-based optimization, model building, bias-variance tradeoff, input selection using experimental design, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), and numerical integration.

PHIL124  CM Classical Ethical Theory: Plato
Plato is considered the first philosopher in the Western tradition to propose significant theories in ethics, moral psychology and political philosophy. This course will focus on a close reading of Platonic dialogues such as the Protagoras, the Republic and the Statesman. We will examine Plato’s views on virtue and vice, psychological conflict, our moral obligations to others, and the political role of the philosopher. We will assess Plato’s views for their philosophical merit, as well as discuss their influence on subsequent philosophers.

PHIL160  CM Special Topics in Value Theory: The Ethics of War and Peace
This course covers special topics in value theory, including special topics in ethical theory, applied ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics. Course content changes each time the course is offered.

PSYC126  CM  Children and Educational Policy
In-depth analysis of the impact of selected educational policies on children and adolescents’ development, including achievement, motivation and subsequent labor outcomes. Basic concepts in developmental psychology, education, and applied research designs are reviewed. Readings will include policy briefs, court cases, evaluation reports, and empirical research articles from multiple disciplines including psychology, economics, education, and sociology.

PSYC131  CM Special Topics in Psychology: Adolescence in Korean/Korean American Cultures
This course, a conjunction of developmental psychology and cross-cultural psychology, will explore key issues in adolescent psychology with a special condieration of Korea’s cultural and social contexts. To understand the unique experiences of Korean/Korean American adolescents, we will develop a general knowledge base regarding adolescent psycholgy and Asian culture with an emphasis on Korean culture. Students will also have opportunities to reflect upon their own identity formulation process within their own cultural backgrounds.

PSYC131  CM Special Topics in Psychology: Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness
Success. Health. Love. Happiness. We all seek them. Positive psychology is the scientific examination of and the practice of developing methods for the promotion of human potential to achieve them – to help people confront challenges, appreciate others, and live lives of meaning and purpose. Psychology has had great success in studying and repairing “what went wrong” – positive psychology explores how to prevent things from “going wrong” in the first place and, more importantly, to develop methods to help things “go right.” This course reviews aspects of personality, social, cognitive and clinical psychology as well as cognitive and social neuroscience to explore the emerging understanding of subjective well-being, flow, optimism, joy, creativity, strengths, virtues, and happiness, as well as methods for their promotion in our day to day lives.  

PSYC163  CM Controversies in Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience serves as an interface between cognitive psychology (the study of information processing) and neuroscience (the study of the physical brain). In this course, we will discuss “hot” controversies in the field regarding how our brains give rise to important cognitive activity such as visual perception, attention, executive function, memory, motor control, language, and consciousness.

SPAN148  CM Special Topics: Visual and Literary Representations of Madrid, 16th Century to Present
This interdisciplinary course examines literary and artistic representations of Madrid since the 16th century to the present time. The course will focus on interrelationships between trends in art, social traditions, and literature. Readings will include works by Ramón de la Cruz, Emilia Pardo, Bazán, Mesonero Romanos, Galdós, Alberti, y Rosa Chacel. We will also study selected paintings by Manuel de la Cruz, Goya, Guierrez Solana and Antonio López. Prereq: SPAN101 or equivalent.