Upper-Level BHP Courses Fall 2012

BHP-206 Politics and Literary Form
Professors Hernan Fontanet (Spanish Language and Literature) and Robert Ross (Political Science)
RE (Tuesday 6:30-9:30 p.m.)
3 credits
Substitutions: Political Science core or Literature core
This course investigates the relationships between political life and literary form. Students will analyze literary texts in the context of selected political periods and ideologies, going beyond literary content to understand how language, genre, and structure mirror, otherwise represent, or criticize the political order within which the author writes. For fall 2012 the course will focus on Latin America and the various legacies of the colonial enterprise, with emphasis on Chile, Brazil, and Argentina. Students will study works by noted writers such as Pablo Neruda, Garcia Marquez, and Isabel Allende as they relate to history, politics, economics, law, religion, and questions of gender identity. All literature is read in translation, and there are no foreign-language prerequisites.

BHP-259 The Environment: A Conflict of Interest
Professors Michael Brogan (Political Science) and Jonathan Yavelow (Biology)
Thursday 6:30-9:30 p.m. WCC
3 credits
Substitutions: Social Science core or Science core
This course will examine critical environmental issues such as global warming; food, water, and energy resources; population trends; and global industrialization. Topics for context will include the origin of the elements, the origin of solar systems, and the origin of life as well as the basic principles of the current biotechnical revolution. This scientific understanding of how the past relates to the present and to the choices we can make for the future, in conjunction with knowledge about strategies for raising community awareness and (re)formulating public policy, provides the basis for interdisciplinary problem-solving. In teams, students will be asked to define the problems; research available and prospective solutions; identify the technical, social, political, and economic constraints; and finally propose a workable strategy for making progress toward solutions.

BHP-260 Education and the Arts
Professors Don Ambrose (Education) and Tim McGee (Rhetoric/Literature)
WE (Wednesday 6:30-9:30 p.m.)
3 credits
Substitution: Literature core
Through the study of classic and contemporary artistic works as well as influential philosophies and theories of education, this course explores representations of education in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, film, and painting and the relationship between theory and practice. Society’s shifting, ambivalent attitudes toward teachers and the educational process will be studied from multiple perspectives, including those of artists who are important educators themselves. Readings on educational theory will address, among other topics, the controversial relationship between standardized testing and recent developments in cognitive science. Course texts will include works by Orwell, Dickens, Aristophanes, and G.B. Shaw as well as films such as "Educating Rita" and "My Fair Lady" and art by Norman Rockwell and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

BHP-307 The Presence of Mind: Artificial Intelligence and Human Creativity
Professors William Amadio (Information Systems) and Joel Phillips (Music Theory, History, and Composition)
L (T/TH 1:00-2:30) WCC
3 credits
Substitution: Fine Arts core
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)? In what ways can computers “think”? How is their “thinking” similar to and different from that of humans? Through readings, lectures, discussions, and creative projects, students will investigate evidence of intelligence in various disciplines including music composition, art, and human and non-human systems. We will examine predictions for AI that date back to the 1930s and ponder likely developments in this area in the 21st century. No prior experience with computers or music is required.

BHP-330 Campaign Persuasion: Theory into Practice
Professors Ben Dworkin (Political Science) and Myra Gutin (Communication and Journalism)
NN (Thursday 1:10-4:10)
3 credits
Substitutions: Social Science core or major/minor elective for Political Science major or major/minor electives for the following majors in Communication and Journalism: Speech and Interpersonal Communication, Public Relations
This course will explore both political campaign communication history and practice, with a particular focus on current campaigns in New Jersey. The interface between communication theory and politics and the way in which messages are framed by the media will be explored. Guest speakers will share their perspectives on selected campaign issues. To move from the classroom and theory to real situations, students will be required to volunteer for a campaign in New Jersey, and assignments will be focused on creating practical examples of political campaign communication materials.

Upper-Level BHP Courses Spring 2013

BHP-212 Children and the Media
Professors A.J. Moore (Communication and Journalism) and Cara DiYanni (Psychology)
K (M/W 4:30-6:00)
3 credits
Substitutions: Social Science or Psychology Major/Minor
This course examines how children and adolescents use and understand media and analyzes the role of media in their social and cognitive development. After studying the socializing presence of the media, students will analyze how exposure to television programs, movies, magazines and the Internet shapes children’s socio-emotional development and their understanding of cultural norms. This course will also explore the effects that media use has on children’s health, aggressiveness, and academic performance. These topics will be addressed through diverse course readings emphasizing theories of child development as well as communication theory and through primary research conducted throughout the semester.

BHP-232 Science and Politics of the Jersey Shore
Professors Ben Dworkin (Political Science) and Paul Jivoff (Biology)
NN (Thursday 1:10-4:10)
3 credits
Substitutions: Social Science core or Science core
This course is designed to acquaint students with the scientific basis for evaluation of coastal problems and the political realities of funding and policy, focusing on the New Jersey shoreline. Course topics will include consideration of waste disposal in ocean systems, depletion of ocean resources, physical and biological ramifications of human activities on the environment, and the political problems in dealing with mitigation of environmental stresses. Guest speakers will lend their expertise on a range of subjects. On occasion, a field trip may require that students plan to be present for a time period slightly longer than the official class period.

BHP-268 Love and Chivalry in the Arthurian Tradition
Professors Margaret Schleissner (German Language and Literature) and Mary Morse (English Literature)
O (T/TH 4:30-6:00)
3 credits
Substitution: Literature
The legends attached to King Arthur of Britain and the Knights of the Roundtable have fascinated audiences for the past 1500 years. This course will examine the origins, development and meanings of love and chivalry, two major themes in the Arthurian legends. Through study of the two major love triangles in the tradition—Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot, and Tristan-Isolde-Mark—and the chivalrous quests of Lancelot, Tristan, Gawain, Parzival, and other Knights of the Roundtable, students will discover how Arthurian ideals regarding love, chivalry, kingship, and heroism were established and why they still resonate in popular culture.

BHP-303 The Politics and Philosophy of the Sixties
Professors Carol Nicholson (Philosophy) and Frank Rusciano (Political Science)
ME (Monday 6:30-9:30 p.m.) WCC
3 Credits
Substitution: Philosophy core or Social Science core
This course examines three major American political movements of the 1960s – the black movement, the student movement, and the feminist movement – with an emphasis on the interactions among philosophy, politics, and culture. These themes are studied using original sources including theoretical writings by the movements’ main proponents and texts describing particular events and developments in political and social history. Source materials may also include documentary films and recordings which represent the cultural assumptions of the period.

BHP-312 Musical Expression and Political Culture
Professors J.J. Penna (Piano and Voice/Creative Writing) and Barry Seldes (Political Science)
WE (Wednesday 6:30-9:30 p.m.) WCC
3 credits
Substitutions: Fine Arts core or Social Science core
This interdisciplinary course examines the relationships between political culture (e.g., enlightened reform, revolution or reaction) and musical discourse in periods selected from Viennese classicism, Biedermeier/romanticism, post-romanticism and expressionism. Major emphasis will be placed upon how composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler and Schoenberg exploited and developed musical forms, and chose and set texts to respond, affirmatively or not, to the imperatives of their political and cultural environments.