Liberal Arts and Sciences Courses

Students will explore the ongoing cultural, technological and social changes that impact our ways of reading and writing, and what does it mean to be literate in the digital world. A minimum grade of “C” (2.0) is required to pass this course.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of ENGL090 or placement through the Writing Placement Assessment.

Explores the key issues, problems, and events in art, history, music, literature, science, and design associated with and resulting from the social and cultural changes that occurred in the modern world.

Students select from course offerings that vary each semester.

A Sophomore Elective is required for all undergraduate majors.

Addresses a variety of issues in art, design, film, and culture from 1960 to the present. Students may focus on fine art, mass media, or design, or popular culture. See department schedule for topics.

Required for all undergraduate majors.

Addresses a variety of issues in art, design, film, and culture from 1960 to the present. Students may focus on fine art, mass media, or design, or popular culture. See department schedule for topics.

Required for the following majors: Communication Arts, Digital Media, Fashion Design, Product Design, and Toy Design.

Provides a critical and contextualized chronological survey of graphic design, illustration, and advertising and how these disciplines responded to and affected political, cultural, and social changes.

Required for Communication Arts majors.

An introduction to the relationship between design and functionality in objects with an emphasis on understanding designed objects in their broad sociocultural context.

Required for Product Design majors.

This is a survey of contemporary fine art on a global stage.

Required for Fine Arts majors.

Provides a historical, cultural, and social perspective on toys and games with discussions on their creation and use. Students will also learn about the development of the global toy industry.

Required for Toy Design majors.

Students select from course offerings that vary each semester.

Surveys the manifestation of cultural, political, religious, and economic forces through architecture, landscapes and interiors from prehistory to the advent of the industrial era.

Required for Architecture/Landscape/Interiors majors.

Surveys the manifestation of cultural, political, religious, and economic forces through architecture, landscapes and interiors from the industrial era to the present.

Required for Architecture/Landscape/Interiors majors.

Study fibers, yarns, and fabrics and acquire a practical understanding of how each affects the appearance and performance of the textile product. Issues of sustainability are examined as they relate to the cultivation and production of fibers. Learn to make fabric choices based on an understanding of the woven structure and knowledge of individual fabric properties.

Required for Fashion Design majors.

Study knit construction, its design possibilities, and how it affects the performance of the fabric and finished product. Knit swatches using a variety of stitches, combining yarns and varying gauge. Other topics include dyeing, printing and finishes as processes which affect the aesthetic appeal of the finished product, and as functional finishes which enhance performance. The impact of these processes is examined.

Required for Fashion Design majors.
Lab Fee: $25.

A comprehensive overview of child development from conception to adolescence, including developmental stages, critical periods, effects of early stimulation, environmental enrichment, and how to apply this information when designing children’s toys, books, games, products, and entertainment.

Required for Toy Design majors.

Surveys the history of photography as an art form from 1839 through the present. Students examine both technical and aesthetic developments through a chronological review of major figures and movements.

Required for Photography majors.

An in-depth study of fashion creators, trends, and the political climate that has created men’s and women’s fashion during the 20th century.

Required for Fashion Design majors.

Focuses on the study of clothing from prehistoric costume to the 19th century, and the factors that influence style changes. This course surveys costume from its ethnic origins through adaptation and assimilation into “fashion” trends in each century.

Required for Fashion Design majors.

Investigates a diversity of critical and generative approaches to twentieth century design situated historically while introducing current themes and debates in contemporary architectural practice and related disciplines.

Prerequisite: CRIT205 History + Theory I or CRIT206 History + Theory II.
Required for Architecture/Landscape/ Interiors majors.

Juniors and Seniors are required to take an upper division elective in each of the respective years, there are several courses that will fulfill this requirement. Current students should consult their departments for more information.

Required for all undergraduate majors.

Explores the connections between math and art in two and three dimensions. The class includes an exploration of Escher’s work, tiling the plane, fractals, and the golden ratio. It also covers topics such as graphing equations and geometric constructions.

Required for the following majors: Digital Media, Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Product Design, and Toy Design.

Covers topics in analytical geometry and trigonometry. There is an emphasis on algebraic manipulation and on applications of the topics covered to the design field.

Required for Architecture/Landscape/Interiors majors.

An overview of different topics that have to do with handling money such as banking, consumer credit, mortgages, investments, insurance and taxes.  Examine some common business practices such as payroll, markup/markdown, and business analytics, and go over some accounting practices such as record-keeping, inventory and depreciation. Case studies and real life application problems that will make this course highly useful and immediately relevant.

Natural Science Requirement
Fashion Design, Toy Design, and Product Design offer Natural Science courses that are specific to their curricula. All other majors choose one course from the following offerings.

The Psychology of Seeing
If you can see no colors at all, you cannot see white either. You recognize an old friend, even though she has changed. Your brain constructs these experiences, but how? And what happens when the brain doesn’t work normally?

Imagination and the Brain
Why can you imagine a new space monster, but not a new color? The worlds you can imagine are shaped by the way the brain constructs imagery. Thus, mental images leave their traces in the art you make.

The Science of Sleep and Dreaming
A multidisciplinary natural science class about sleeping and dreaming, focusing on the content and structure of dreaming and “dream logic.” Learn about the physiology of sleep and sleep disorders and about the neurology and phenomenology of dream content.

Required for the following majors: Architecture/Landscape/Interiors, Communication Arts, Digital Media, Fine Arts..

Anatomy is the study of the structures and functions of the human body, and ergonomics is the applied science of equipment design. This course examines the human anatomy and its implications for the ergonomic design of toys for children at different stages of physical maturation.

Required for Toy Design majors.

Uses the principles of physics to understand human anatomy as a mechanical system. Emphasis is placed on physiological issues related to age, gender, and physical disabilities. Consideration is also given to the implications of these principles for applied ergonomics.

Required for Product Design majors.

Toy Design offers a social science course that is specific to their curriculum. All other majors choose one course from a variety offerings.

A required senior- level course where students identify and critically reflect on a theme that intersects with their own studio practice, discipline and/or identity and their work in Liberal Studies. The capstone is the signature course and culminating expression of the Liberal Arts program.

Required for all undergraduate majors.
A minimum grade of “C" (2.0) or better is required to pass this course.
Note that Creative Writing, Art History, Cultural Studies, Sustainability minors and Fine Arts majors take specific capstones. Please see department for courses

The complicity of interior organizations with the collapse of labor and leisure is demonstrated through an examination of the spaces of work and consumption. Ergonomics, office landscaping, corporate parks, junk space, malls, themed environments, surveillance, and spectacle are addressed..

Prerequisite: CRIT304 History + Theory III.

Required for Architecture/Landscape/Interiors majors.

Landscape as a system of representation and performance is studied through the tradition of formal and picturesque gardens, the discourses of the beautiful and sublime, urban parks, the integration of modernism and landscape, earth art, everyday and extreme landscapes, industrial and natural ecologies, and landscape urbanism.

Prerequisite: CRIT304 History + Theory III.

Required for Architecture/Landscape/Interiors majors.

Juniors and Seniors are required to take an upper division elective in each of the respective years, there are several courses that will fulfill this requirement. Current students should consult their departments for more information.

Required for all undergraduate majors.