University Catalog 2006-2007

University Catalog > LAHS > Interdisciplinary Minors

Interdisciplinary Minors

In addition to departmental based minors, CAS offers many minors in interdisciplinary areas of study. These minors require course work from two or more disciplines and are administered by interdepartmental faculty groups. For policies governing all minors, see the Academic Policies chapter of the catalog.

African American Studies

Faculty

Brigety, Carbonneau, Carton, Cherubin, Clark, Dennis, Fauntroy, Fuchs, Haley, Horton, Johnson, Lepore, Levine, Manuel-Scott, Miller, Mobley, Paden, Richards Jordan, Smith, Stewart, Trafton, Travis (director), Weatherspoon, Wilkins

Course Work

The African American Studies program offers all course work designated AFAM in the Course Descriptions chapter of this catalog.

Requirements

African American studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines the cultural, historical, economic, and political dimensions and experiences of people of African descent in America, the Caribbean, Africa, and around the world. It introduces students to methodologies for examining the complex dynamics of race, class, gender, and ethnicity in America, and enables them to develop critical and analytical approaches to address contemporary issues in African American life and culture.

The interdisciplinary minor in African American Studies requires a minimum of 21 credits of related course work with a minimum GPA of 2.00 distributed as follows

Other electives may be approved in advance by the director.

Ancient Mediterranean Art and Archaeology

Faculty

Butler (coordinator), Cherubin, Lytton, Mattusch, Winkler

Course Work

This interdisciplinary minor is for students with diverse interests in the material culture of the ancient world. Course work combines the study of archaeology, literature, art, history, philosophy, myth, and religion. The minor’s scope is not limited to Greece and Rome, but touches on all the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, as well as the heirs of late antiquity such as Byzantium and early Islam.

The program represents foundation work crucial to graduate study in traditional departments of classical, near Eastern, or Mediterranean art and archaeology. Through this minor, students are given credit for acquiring practical linguistic skills and archaeological field experience as well as scholarly background. Students should consult with the coordinator in designing a program. At least 3 credits must be taken in ARTH, and at least 9 credits must be taken outside of ARTH.

Requirements

Students in this minor complete 18 credits distributed as follows:

Asia-Pacific Studies

Faculty

Butler, Chang, Cheng, Cuong, DeCaroli, H. Nguyen (coordinator), Lin, Liu, Paden, Platt, Ro, Wan, Zhang

The interdisciplinary minor in Asia-Pacific studies is for students whose interests focus on the humanities and social sciences and Asia’s role in global systems and the cultural mosaic of human experience. In particular, a new type of transregionalism is explored: the links between Asia and North America.

Requirements

Students must complete a minimum of 21 credits distributed as follows.

Other electives are possible including approved study abroad or internships with prior approval of the coordinator. Language courses in Chinese or Japanese are strongly recommended.

Film and Media Studies

Phone: 703-993-2768

Faculty

Christensen, Fuchs (director), T. Gibson, A. Landsberg, Lont, Ricouart, Roan, Sample, Scarlata, Winkler

The Film and Media Studies (FAMS) interdisciplinary minor explores mass culture in its visual manifestations, and helps students to develop an informed awareness of culture and media, their ideological tendencies, and effects on daily experience. Committed to interdisciplinarity, the program addresses the increasing complexity and multiplicity of visual cultures and offers students the tools with which to read a variety of texts, including film, television, video, and new media.

Most course work is offered through the departments of Communication and English, with other courses available through the Departments of Music and Modern and Classical Languages. The two required courses provide an introduction to the languages of film and popular media, and to modes of analysis appropriate to each. They are prerequisites for all advanced work in the minor. After completing the two required courses, students select four additional courses designed to introduce a more specialized level of study. Students may decide to focus on film, television, or the study of mass culture; or they may choose some mixture of courses that suits their own interests.

Communication majors must choose at least 6 credits outside of Communication for their FAMS elective courses.

Requirements

Students must complete 18 credits distributed as follows.

* Requires prior approval of FAMS coordinator

** May be repeated if topic is different

*** With permission of instructor and approval of FAMS

Folklore and Mythology

Phone: 703-993-1172

Faculty

Burns, Decaroli, ffolliott, Fuchs, Johnsen-Neshati, Mattusch (co-coordinator), Owens, Rutledge, Shiner, Shutika, Todd, Winkler, Yocom (co-coordinator)

Stories told in both sacred and secular contexts, along with festivals, foods, music, material objects, and other traditional art forms, continue to influence our lives. This interdisciplinary minor offers tools to explore the compelling meanings within these seemingly simple, everyday cultural texts, and become more aware of the ways these texts are used by individuals and institutions for various goals. Students study folklore and mythology by juxtaposing the multiple viewpoints of anthropology, art history, classical studies, literary studies, and religious studies.

Requirements

Students must complete 6 courses (18 credits) with a minimum GPA of 2.00 chosen from three groupings given below. If any of these courses is used to fulfill the 6 credits of literature required for the BA in LAHS, it may not be used to fulfill a requirement for the minor.

Students may take only one Group 1 course from a department for credit toward the minor.

Independent Study and Internships: ANTH 299, 495; ARTH 393, 490, 491; ENGL 498, 499; summer field work schools offered by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and other institutions approved by faculty.

To avoid duplication of courses, English majors who choose the folklore and mythology interdisciplinary minor should not select the English Department’s folklore, mythology, and literature concentration.

Global Systems

phone: 703-993-1400

Faculty

Harbour (coordinator)

Requirements

The program consists of 18 credits of non region-specific courses that deal with global connections or transactions. It is ideal for majors in business disciplines, economics, languages, geography, government and international politics, history, and other disciplines that take a global view. At least 9 credits must be at the 300 level or above.

Other globally oriented courses may also fulfill or substitute for the requirements of this program with written permission of the coordinator prior to registration.

Islamic Studies

Phone: 703-993-1261

Core Faculty

Amireh, Dakake, Hamdani (coordinator), Mandaville

Affiliated Faculty

Bakhash, Beyoghlow, Butler, Chamberlain, DeCaroli, Fatih, Friedlander, Hilmi, Katz, Lukacs, Paden, Sheers

The minor in Islamic Studies is designed for students interested in the societies, culture, history, and politics of the Islamic world. It is available to currently enrolled undergraduates.

Requirements

Students complete 21 credits distributed as follows:

Students may have this requirement waived by demonstrating proficiency in a relevant foreign language as determined by the Department of Modern and Classical Languages. Such students will have 3 additional elective credits. Courses in another language of the Islamic world can also be applied toward elective credits.

Special topics courses, when relevant, may be used to fulfill elective credits for the minor with prior approval of the coordinator.

Certificate in Islamic Studies

The certificate is for those seeking academic or professional enhancement through basic knowledge about Islam. A bachelor’s degree in any field is a prerequisite. The certificate requires a minimum of 9 required credits and 9 elective credits. Electives may include language credits. Credits taken for the minor cannot be applied toward the certificate.

Latin American Studies

See the “Latin American Studies” section of this chapter for a description of the minor.

Linguistics

Faculty

Chamberlain, Goldin, Holisky, Jones, Leeman, Levine, Roman-Mendoza, Weinberger (coordinator), Wulf

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Language is studied in a variety of ways—descriptively, theoretically, computationally, and psychologically—and as a social phenomenon. The field of linguistics thus informs and is informed by many other areas of study including philosophy, psychology, sociology, computer science, the study of individual languages and literatures, literary studies, and education.

The interdisciplinary minor in linguistics may be combined with a major in one of the areas listed above or in any other field. This minor introduces the fundamental concepts of modern linguistic theory, and explores how these concepts relate to various other disciplines.

Requirements

Students must complete 15 credits distributed as follows:

Multimedia

Faculty

Cambridge, Chung, Forche, Higgins, Hu, Lont, Martin, O’Connor, L. Smith (co-coordinators), Weinberger, White, Windmueller

In the multimedia minor, students learn how to create original work and communicate with others through the fusion of images, text, sound, and video. Students analyze and incorporate into their productions contemporary design principles and current software applications. As part of this process, students are encouraged to focus on how multimedia technologies, which offer new tools for investigating and disseminating ideas, can enhance undergraduate research and writing. These skills, now important in most academic disciplines, are also increasingly valuable not only in the specialized information technology industries, but also in business, education, and politics.

This minor is not available to students majoring in AVT with a concentration in digital arts.

Requirements

Students complete 18 to 20 credits distributed as follows:

The New Europe

Coordinator

Desmond Dinan, School of Public Policy

Students receiving this university-wide minor must complete a minimum of 18 credits, distributed as follows. Where relevant to the minor, special topics courses, seminars, independent study, internships, and study abroad may also be taken for elective credit, with prior approval of the coordinator.

Nonprofit Studies

Faculty

Benjamin, Borkman, Sacco, Smith (coordinator), Toepler

NCC and the Department of Public and International Affairs coordinate the minor in nonprofit studies.

The interdisciplinary minor in nonprofit studies provides basic skills and knowledge of nonprofit organization resource development, activities coordination, governance relations, and services that enable one to effectively perform the duties of an entry-level nonprofit organization administrator. Upon completion of the minor, students know the public-serving responsibilities, basic fundraising techniques, resource management tools, nonprofit financial accounting skills, and performance requirements of a private, nonprofit, charitable organization professional.

Requirements

Students must complete 15 credits, distributed as follows.

Each of the required courses is writing intensive with a requirement of at least 3,500 words in logs, essays, and analyses. Writing assignments are aggregated with a cover document at the end of the program into a portfolio that documents the student’s experience in studying the nonprofit world.

Experiential learning

Students must complete 135 contact hours in research on, and service to, nonprofit organizations in operational procedures, financial accounting, and resource development. These hours are divided into three, 45-contact-hour experiential credit units that are included in the three required courses. Students sign an agreement with a nonprofit organization that describes the learning objectives, tasks to be undertaken, outcomes of the experience, and some of the specific benefits that will accrue from the work.

For policies governing all minors, see the Academic Policies chapter of this catalog.

Political Philosophy

Faculty:

Bergoffen, Cherubin, De Nys, Feit, Gould, Harbour, Mandaville, Miller, Paden (coordinator), Snyder

The minor provides intensive study in the area of political philosophy and political theory, and includes courses that focus on the history of political philosophy; moral evaluation of political institutions; ethical, social, and political issues raised by globalization; and conceptual foundations of democracy and human rights. The minor provides the opportunity for students to study this field from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives; develop a deeper philosophical perspective on political institutions; and lay the foundation for further graduate study in philosophy, government, or policy studies.

Requirements:

Students must complete 15 credits, distributed as follows.

Special topics courses and independent studies courses, when relevant, may be used to fulfill elective credits with prior approval of the coordinator.

Urban and Suburban Studies

Faculty

Clapsaddle, Clark, Dumont, Gifford, Hackler (coordinator), K. Haynes, Horton, Hysom, Mattusch, Rosenzweig, Schintler, Sockett, Stough, Todd, Travis, Verheyen, Wong

Course Work

The program offers all course work designated USST in the Course Descriptions chapter of this catalog.

Requirements

The interdisciplinary minor requires a minimum of 18 credits of course work:

Women’s Studies

See the “Women’s Studies” section of this chapter for a description of the minor.