UCOR Section Descriptions

Course Description

This course is about the historical role of the artist in society. We look at two moments in history when the identity of artists changed to learn how historical context helps us understand works of art. We ask why Renaissance artists argued that they were intellectuals rather than artisans and why Modem artists attacked the intellectual traditions of art to demand social change and radically question the purpose of visual art. To address these issues we explore themes such as Renaissance self-portraiture, 19th century paintings of labor, symbols of the liberal arts in the Renaissance, and German Dada artists' responses to the trauma of the First World War.

Course Description

What are the arts? What are methods of interpreting the arts - such as theatre, film, music, dance, and visual art - in relation to their cultural, aesthetic, and administrative contexts? Students analyze contemporary arts practices while learning about arts administration history, and community practices, such as staffing, financing, marketing, programming, and engagement. Course assignments include five “art critiques,” an art organization presentation, and a final research-based arts programming project.

Course Description

What happens when things fall apart? What leads some societies to pull together to overcome the challenges that face it, and others to fall apart and fail? This class is focused on trying to answer that question. Looking at both empirical case studies and speculative fiction, we will seek to understand what leads societies to fail, and ask ourselves whether America is on such a path.

Course Description

What happens when things fall apart? What leads some societies to pull together to overcome the challenges that face it, and others to fall apart and fail? This class is focused on trying to answer that question. Looking at both empirical case studies and speculative fiction, we will seek to understand what leads societies to fail, and ask ourselves whether America is on such a path.

Course Description

Appropriation of Breastfeeding is a 5-credit course designed to be taken for one-quarter of an academic year. The overall purpose of the course is to create culture of health and wellness among the students pursuing degrees in health and related disciplines. The specific aims of this course are to help the students explore personal values and attitudes toward breastfeeding and to hone new knowledge and skills to promote breastfeeding. The course will provide safe and inclusive learning environment in which breastfeeding is examined as a socio-cultural, political, and health construct through structured and direct engagement in diverse course activities.

Course Description

Disability is the only marginalized identity status which anyone could join at any point in their life. In this course, students apply a public health lens to ask and answer questions such as: Who is disabled? What are the diverse needs and strengths of disabled individuals? What rights do disabled people have? What is the difference between accessibility and universal design? And what would it mean if the future (of work, climate solutions, art and expression, and more) was disabled?

Course Description

How did the United States become the world's largest jailer? This course addresses many questions that arise from the phenomenon of mass incarceration (the more than tripling of the incarceration rate in America since the mid-1970s). We compare the U.S. criminal justice system to other countries in the world and explore major topics like police violence, sentencing, white collar crimes, gangs, the War on Drugs, conditions of confinement, and life after prison.

Course Description

This course examines the construction and consequences of borders across the world. Students develop their analytical, presentation and writing skills as they learn how international boundaries work on local, national and transnational levels. Substantive topics include borderland cultures, collective identities, international order, migration processes, and security policies. Assignments involve written essays, oral presentations, in-depth research, and group collaboration.

Course Description

We are increasingly bombarded with crises such as climate disasters, racial injustice, and toxic stress. In this course students will learn about types of crises and their effects on the mental health and social well-being of vulnerable communities. Students will be introduced to social work values and theories and interdisciplinary crisis intervention frameworks, and have the opportunity to analyze global and domestic case studies of crisis responses through a social work lens.

Course Description

How did the United States become the world's largest jailer? This course addresses many questions that arise from the phenomenon of mass incarceration (the more than tripling of the incarceration rate in America since the mid-1970s). We compare the U.S. criminal justice system to other countries in the world and explore major topics like police violence, sentencing, white collar crimes, gangs, the War on Drugs, conditions of confinement, and life after prison.