Online Course Offerings

Description: University Seminar (Combined with ARTSC 0092) provides new and/or transfer students with the skills necessary to maximize their potential for academic success at the University of Pittsburgh. During this course students will be exposed to various University resources; explore educational and career planning; gain academic confidence; and will become familiar with and utilize cognitive science research-based skills necessary for college success.

Description: As the second course of a two-course series on academic and professional development, this course asks students to further examine the ways that their academic plans and career goals align. Students will identify their current competencies and those they still need to acquire in order to succeed in identified careers. Building on their new understanding of their competencies and interests, students will develop strategies to reach their identified career goals, such as obtaining the internships, informational interviews, and job shadowing experiences necessary to attract prospective career opportunities and build their professional network. Ideal for career launchers and career changers, no prerequisites needed.

Course Enrollment Requirements:N/A
Format: Hybrid
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 1

Description: This is an undergraduate course offered through the College of General Studies for student interns in CGS majors such as Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Media and Professional Communications, Dental Hygiene, and Health Services, as well as several CGS certificate programs. Students enrolled in this internship engage in formal and reflective writing, journaling, and analysis about their work experience and how it relates to their academic and career pursuits. Class workshops and group discussions provide further opportunities for debriefing and consolidation of ideas and skills. This is a hybrid course with one in-person workshop and faculty authorization is required. Students must be registered for the internship course at the time they are completing the internship in order to earn credit.

Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
<Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: Variable 1-6
Faculty Consent Required:

Description: Allows advanced students to pursue topics and research of special interest which are not otherwise available.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Hybrid
<Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Instructor: Mark Burdsall
Faculty Consent Required

What does this course count for in CGS:
Program Requirements: Elective (approval required)

Description: This non-lab, 3-credit course develops fundamental concepts, basic calculations, and problem-solving skills in General Chemistry. This course is designed for those who seek to gain knowledge and ability as a foundation to subsequently taking General Chemistry 1, or those students desiring to fill a Natural Science GER with a Chemistry experience without plans of taking additional Chemistry courses. Topics typically introduced include Measurement, Matter, Energy, Atoms, Elements, Molecules, Chemical Composition, Chemical Reactions, Stoichiometry, Periodic Properties of the Elements, and Bonding. A background in chemistry is not necessary while a fundamental knowledge of math is required and facility with basic algebraic concepts is recommended. Students concerned about their ultimate success in Chem 0110 are encouraged to talk to their advisor about the benefits of completing the Introduction to Chemistry course prior to enrolling in General Chemistry I.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: This course is an introduction to basic theories, models, and concepts in interpersonal, small group, organizational and intercultural communication.

Course Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite for many courses
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: This course is designed to introduce students to the basic concepts of mass communication research and to the history and development of various media (TV., Radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.).

Course Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite for many courses
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: The purpose of this course is to introduce students to theories and models of human communication in the face-to-face communication context. Focus of learning is on skill development; lecture, discussion, and practice of communication skills are used to facilitate student learning.

Description: Students in this course are provided with an overview of the relationship between communication and organizing processes. The course emphasizes theories, principles, and concepts of organizational communication. Students learn to analyze the communication which occurs in organizations to recognize sources of communication breakdown and develop an awareness of strategies for prevention and/or resolution of communication on breakdown.

Description: The purpose of this course is to examine the ways we communicate nonverbally. By nonverbal communication is meant that form of communication wherein messages are sent by virtue of an agent’s physical characteristics, adornment, eye behavior, design and selection of environment, spatial relationships, utilization of time, touching behavior, body movements, the choice of objects to fill space, and vocal behavior. Principles and applications of nonverbal communication are discussed.

Course Enrollment Requirements: (COMMRC 0300 or 0030 or 7300 or COMM 0101) and [ENGCMP 0200 or (ENGCMP 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0250 or FP 0003 or 0006 or ENGCMP 0004 or 0006 or 0020 or ENG 0102)]
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:

Description: This course surveys theories of persuasion that have been articulated during the twentieth century. It seeks to compare and contrast research about how the spoken word and the visual image influence public belief and action.

Course Enrollment Requirements: (COMMRC 0310 or 0320 or 0081 or COMM 0102) and (COMMRC 0520 or 0052 or COMM 0104) and [ENGCMP 0200 or (ENGCMP 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0250 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or FP 0003 or 0006 or ENGCMP 0004 or 0006 or 0020 or ENG 0102)]
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring, Fall
Credits: 3

Description: This course provides an in-depth historical examination of U.S. Media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television and/or advertising). Emphasis is placed on the media’s technological, political and cultural impact. Topics may vary depending on the particular historical period to be examined.

Course Enrollment Requirements: (COMMRC 0320 or COMM 0102) and [ENGCMP 0200 or (ENGCMP 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0250 or FP 0003 or 0006 or ENGCMP 0004 or 0006 or 0020 or ENG 0102)]
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: This course is designed to introduce students to major trends in media criticism (e.g., Psychoanalysis, genre analysis, feminist theory, and cultural studies). Course readings and discussions will focus primarily on television texts.

Course Enrollment Requirements: (COMMRC 0320 or COMM 0102) and ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006); MIN GRADE ‘C’ for all listed courses
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: This course will examine consumer culture in the twentieth and twenty-first century us. It examines advertising, the rise of the brand, and their roles in the commercialization of mass media. Of particular importance will be the role that race, class, and gender have played in shaping consumer culture (and vice versa), as well as the significance of the shift from a society based on an understanding of citizens based on democratic practices to one based on consumerist practices.

Course Enrollment Requirements: (COMMRC 0320 or COMM 0102) and [ENGCMP 0200 or (ENGCMP 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0250 or FP 0003 or 0006 or ENGCMP 0210 or 0212 or 0213 0004 or 0006 or 0020 or ENG 0102)]; MIN GRADE ‘C’ for all listed courses
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: COMMRC 1730 provides a broad introduction to the emerging field of health communication. Students will become cognizant of some of the critical issues in health-related interactions. Using texts and examples of clinical discourse, the course will examine theories of health communication, including scholarship on provider-client communication, intercultural health care, models of illness, and alternative health practices. Students will have opportunities to conduct their own analysis reflecting on current health communication practices.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: Today’s public relations professionals should understand and be competent in many areas of communication—and one of the chief areas is media relations. This course will focus on what defines media relations professionals: Who are they? What do they do? How do they get their stories? What tools are needed in today's media environment? You will learn how to best engage, connect and tell clients¿ stories and brand messages to a multitude of media outlets, using a wide variety of strategic multimedia tactics and methods. One critical skill both expected and developed in media relations is the ability to write well since most of the work communicating with journalists and other public involves clear, concise, and persuasive writing.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Hybrid
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course provides the student with knowledge and experience in classroom and clinical dental education. Emphasis is placed on the development of objectives and instructional units, teaching methods, learner characteristics, learning styles and conditions, instructional resources, utilization of media, and the evaluation process.

Course Enrollment Requirements: School of Dental Medicine (Undergraduate)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course provides the student with practical experience in both the dental hygiene classroom and clinical settings.

Course Enrollment Requirements: School of Dental Medicine (Undergraduate)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This seminar course is designed to provide the student with a broad-based understanding of the health care delivery system. Emphasis will focus on leadership, management, quality assurance, development of dental health programs, and current health care delivery issues.

Course Enrollment Requirements: School of Dental Medicine (Undergraduate)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course provides the student through a variety of field experiences with the opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in the health management seminar.

Course Enrollment Requirements: School of Dental Medicine (Undergraduate)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course will examine the role of basic nutrients in health and wellness. Emphasis will be placed on the evaluation of nutritional information and messaging as well as social determinants to health and nutritional wellness. This course is appropriate for students completing the Pre-Physician Assistant track in the CGS Natural Sciences major and the Community Health Assessment track in CGS Health Services Programs.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s):
Program Requirements: Natural Sciences major (Pre-PA track) and Community Health Assessment track in Health Services Program 

Description: Introduction to principles of economic analysis as applied to the study of prices and markets. The course builds a theoretical basis for understanding producer and consumer behavior and prepares students to appreciate the importance of markets in our economic system.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

Description: A one-term course designed primarily for the non-major. The main goals are to create interest in the study of economics and introduce some basic tools economists use to analyze social issues. Issues range from farm subsidies to changes in income tax rates to changes in spending on crime reduction.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: This introductory course offers students opportunities to improve as writers by developing their understanding of how they and others use writing to interpret and share experience, affect behavior, and position themselves in the world. Specific reading and writing assignments may vary from section to section, but student writing will be the primary focus in all sections. The course is designed to help students become more engaged, imaginative, and disciplined composers.

Course Enrollment Requirements: International Students required to take ENGCMP 0002 or 0003 or 0005 or 0010 or 0100 or 0150 or 0152 or ENG 0101 prior to enrollment; Enrollment not permitted if currently enrolled in ENGCMP 0200-level courses, FP 0003, or FP 0006.
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring 
Credits: 3

Description: This course explores the methods of inquiry, analysis and composition characteristic of written communication in professional settings. The course will examine such writing’s specialized use of language, conventions and formats, premises, motives, and purposes. By preparing letters, resumes, proposals, reports, etc. Students will get a feel not only for what “professional” communication is, but also for how and why it does, or can, or should function.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) or (ENGR 0012 or 0712 or 0715 or 0716 or 0718)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: Students in this course will be trained in the responsible development and articulation of written opinions. Material drawn from various media will be used to help students increase their powers of observation and analysis that they may learn the art of making discriminating evaluations of situations, events, issues, controversies, artifacts and objects.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) or (ENGR 0012 or 0712 or 0715 or 0716 or 0718)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: In this course, students will analyze and create the kinds of persuasive writing used in the fields of fundraising and advertising. Both types of writing attempt to influence the decisions people make about the money they spend, the attitudes they have, and the issues that shape our society.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212) or ENGCMP 0213 or ENGCMP 0214 or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) or (ENGR 0012 or 0712 or 0715 or 0716 or 0718)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall,
Credits: 3

Description: This course studies the ways an organization communicates with its public through news releases, speeches, brochures, feature stories, annual reports, etc. The course examines the stylistic choices each writer makes and develops a critical language to describe how meaning is created through the way information is arranged. Issues of the media, ethics, propaganda and the uses of ambiguity will also be addressed.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212) or ENGCMP 0213 or ENGCMP 0214 or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: Corporate writers play key roles in defining and developing the communications landscape for organizations and their audiences. But what exactly is corporate writing? How do we, as writers, ensure we are effectively advancing the goals of our companies and clients? In this course, students will explore the conventions of content marketing, search engine optimization, writing for the web, and the other forms of business writing in order to craft inventive and accessible messages. We will also examine corporate storytelling as a tool used to construct and maintain strong company personas. Assignments will incorporate written, visual, and oral components as students launch their own companies to simulate real world projects and dynamics. This course will help you strengthen and flex your creative communication skills to engage and influence readers in a variety of channels within the corporate setting.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212) or ENGCMP 0213 or ENGCMP 0214 or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) or (ENGR 0012 or 0712 or 0715 or 0718)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

Description:

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) *Applies to all WRIT Courses*
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: As philosopher George Santayana once said, Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. But how do history and ethics intersect to inform our decisions as writers? How do we serve the roles of advertiser and PR specialist simultaneously? What do the answers of these questions look like in the context of a real-world campaign? In this course, students will learn how pivotal ethical moments in advertising and PR history changed the face of these professions and influence our creative choices even now. Students will use the four-step planning process of research, strategy, implementation, and evaluation to construct innovative campaigns and tackle common ethical issues these professions face today. Topics to be explored may include manipulation and misrepresentation of facts, privacy concerns in the technology age, sensitivity to diversity and appropriation, responsible interaction with vulnerable populations, subliminal messaging tactics, and more. By the end of this course, students will produce a multi-faceted PR and advertising campaign that navigates a complex ethical issue and showcases their professional writing skills.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) or ENGR 0012.
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: This course allows students to study the practices related to proposing change, requesting funds, and defining projects.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212) or ENGCMP 0213 or ENGCMP 0214 or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) or (ENGR 0012 or 0712 or 0715 or 0718)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: This is an online course. Visual literacy is an emerging area of study which deals with the growing importance of visual culture in our contemporary world and how we interpret what is seen. This course will emphasize the process of critically viewing specific media artifacts and provide tools to students that will allow them to comprehend and evaluate information presented by a variety of forms of visual media, including television, video, film, photography, and the internet. This is a Critical Studies course and counts for Category II towards the Film and Media Studies major and minor.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format:
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: This course examines the definitions, functions, and values of literature by reading across a range of genres, styles, historical periods, and cultures. It will also introduce various reading strategies for making sense of plays, poems, novels, short stories, and essays.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) or (ENGR 0012 or 0712 or 0715 or 0716 or 0718)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: This course studies short stories that explore a variety of themes. It seeks to define the short story as a specific literary genre and to distinguish it from earlier forms of short narrative literature. It then goes on to examine the effects of literary, cultural and historical traditions on these stories and their reception.

Course Enrollment Requirements:  ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) or (ENGR 0012 or 0712 or 0715 or 0716 or 0718)
Format: Asynchronous
Term(s) Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

Description: This course offers the opportunity to experiment with forms of poetry and fiction and to read and discuss from a writer’s point of view contemporary writing in these genres.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

Description: This course is designed to develop your skills as a nonfiction writer. Through a combination of required readings, creative exercises, peer critiques and critical discussions, you will develop an understanding of the fundamentals of journalism as well as an introduction to the wide-ranging possibilities of nonfiction writing as a genre: narrative long form, the personal essay, immersion journalism and forms of creative nonfiction. This class will be divided into two components; gathering information and shaping stories.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

Description: Taught in English. From kissing to romantic escapades, from Paris to the Riviera, from Tahiti to Marrakesh, France and the Francophone world have a highly recognizable profile in matters of sex and love. Sexual behavior is always culturally inflicted, and it evolves through time in its creation of emotions, attachments, families and institutions. In this class, we will adopt a historical lens to retrace the cultural transformations of sex and love in the French cultural and social landscape. We will study contemporary visual and textual materials (especially film), and a variety of historical documents from the Middle Ages to the present day. We will address controversial issues such as virginity, adultery, same-sex relationships, women's sexual agency, gender definitions through sexuality, the shifting boundaries of pornography and other related matters. 

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This is the second part of our elementary language course sequence. In these proficiency-oriented courses students begin to learn how to communicate in German. The course emphasizes all four skills - speaking, listening, reading, and writing - and introduces students to the culture of the German-speaking countries. Students will be working towards the A2-level of the Common European Framework of Reference. Students should plan to take either German 0103 or German 0203 during the following semester.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Synchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

Description: This is the second part of our elementary language course sequence. In these proficiency-oriented courses students begin to learn how to communicate in German. The course emphasizes all four skills - speaking, listening, reading, and writing - and introduces students to the culture of the German-speaking countries. Students will be working towards the A2-level of the Common European Framework of Reference. Students should plan to take either German 0103 or German 0203 during the following semester.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Synchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Language
Program Requirements:

Description: German 1502 is a study of the esthetic, psychological, and social values reflected in a variety of European folklore genres, including magic tales, legends, proverbs, superstitions, and jests. The Grimms’ pioneering collections constitute the course’s nucleus, but it draws numerous supporting examples from other European countries as well.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: What is sex? What is gender? What is sexuality? How are these concepts related to culture? To nature? To help you answer these important questions, this course will introduce you to the exciting field of gender and sexuality studies. We will use a range of interdisciplinary concepts, tools, and methods to understand and analyze sex, gender, femininity, masculinity, and sexuality. Through readings, multimedia, and class discussion, we will study how gender and sexuality are socially and culturally constructed. In addition, we will consider how gender intersects with other identity categories such as race, class, ethnicity, nation, age, ability, and sexuality. Because we all have a gender and a sexuality, this course is crucial for any profession and for understanding the world around us. Taught in discussion-based sections, it is also a great opportunity for you to develop your written and oral skills. Also, you will learn to apply the critical vocabulary used in gender studies to other fields of study. The course is open to all students regardless of background and has no pre-requisite. As a prerequisite for more advanced courses in the GSWS program and as the intro course for current or future students in the GSWS major and minor, this course will prepare you for more advanced coursework. Check the individual section to determine whether the section is a ‘W’ section.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) *Applies to all WRIT Courses*
Format: Hybrid (w/ In-person/Con-campus)
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: How are the goals and concerns of feminism relevant in a variety of workplaces? Why haven’t women achieved equal pay for equal work, compared to men? What is unpaid labor, and why does it matter? Why should my organization create policies that support individuals regardless of gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality (and what do those terms mean, anyway?)? To help you answer these important questions, this course will take an introductory, intersectional approach to gender in the professions. We will use a range of interdisciplinary concepts, tools, and methods to understand and analyze sex, gender, and sexuality as they relate to the world of work. Through readings, multimedia activities, and class discussion, students will develop tools to critically analyze the ways in which social and cultural forces shape us as gendered individuals and influence our career aspirations, professional interactions, and service experiences. In addition, we will consider how gender and sexuality intersect with other identity categories such as race, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, and ability. Because we all have a gender and a sexuality, this course is crucial for any profession and for understanding the world around us.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to the feminist ideas and debates concerning gender, women and men, and their political, social and economic positions over the last two hundred years. While we will focus on the United States, there will be some engagement with global feminist perspectives on gender, race, class, and sexuality. In keeping with the activist nature of feminist theory, this course will approach ‘theory’ as attempts to answer fundamental questions about the power relations that structure our everyday lives and consciousness. Theory in this sense is a tool for thinking systematically about how the world works, and for constructing arguments about how it should work. Consequently, we will pay particular attention to the (de)construction of power in both public and private relations as we critically analyze texts, discuss and present ideas in class, and complete written analyses. Students will have opportunities to apply feminist theories to their work in their home disciplines.

Course Enrollment Requirements: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) *Applies to all WRIT Courses*
Format: Hybrid
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

Description: For centuries, the biological sciences have embraced the human body as a product of nature in need of study, measurement, and treatment. Much of this knowledge has contributed to discourses of “normal” and “healthy” bodies. However, contemporary social science and feminist perspectives offer alternative readings of the human body as a social construction based upon cultural conventions and perceptions of gender, race, class, and sexuality. As Lorber and others have argued, “the result is a gendered body, produced for a gendered social world.” This class will examine a wide variety of gendered social constructions of the human body at work, in sports, and in media images that reflect standards and ideals of “beauty,” “health” and “deviance.” We will also consider the meaning of gendered bodies in light of contemporary technologies - such as plastic surgery, steroids, infertility treatments - that help to reveal the ways in which males, females, and “others” become “men” and “women.”

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: This course will explore the relationship between identity, media, and digital culture, specifically how gender is constructed and contested through forms of media. Students will consider how media also informs notions of race, class, sexuality, religion, and ethnicity, among other identity markers. This course will rely on thoughtful and academically stimulating analyses of media, such as television, film, music, advertising, online spaces, video games, among others, and in various combinations.

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

Description: This course explores the question `what is art through a close analysis of select art works from around the globe, introducing students to the types of questions art historians bring to the images, objects and sites human beings have taken particular care to craft and conceptualize. What role has art played in a diverse range of human cultures across time?

Course Enrollment Requirements: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

Description: This introductory course is intended to provide a thorough familiarity with the history of photography from its development in the 19th century to the present day, and to link that history to major trends in the history of modern art, such as realism, impressionism, cubism, surrealism, abstract art, etc.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): The Arts, Cross-Cultural Awareness. Historical Analysis, Philosophical Thinking or Ethics
Program Requirements:

Description: This course is a historical introduction to the religious traditions that developed in ancient Near East and the Mediterranean. Our major emphasis is on the history of the religious traditions that emerged in late antiquity in this area, and which continue to be major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We will also touch on Zoroastrianism. We focus on key concepts, historical developments, and contemporary issues. Throughout the course, we also examine interactions among these religious traditions. In the last part of the course, we examine the issue of globalization and the spread of these religions around the world as well as the presence of "non-Western" religion in the "West." The course also serves as an introduction to the academic study of religion and provides a foundation for further coursework in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s):  Cross-Cultural Awareness, Global Issues, Historical Analysis
Program Requirements:

Description: This course is an introductory survey of world history, by which is meant an overview of major processes and interactions in the development of human society since the development of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. It is a selective overview, emphasizing large-scale patterns and connections in political, social, cultural, technological, and environmental history, yet it also provides balance among regions of the world. It encourages students to apply historical techniques to issues of their own interest.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s):  Cross-Cultural Awareness, Global Issues, Historical Analysis
Program Requirements:

Description: This is an exploration of the ancient and global history of piracy. Using primary historical documents (written by and about pirates) as well as the accounts of modern historians, we will discuss a range of topics such as the role of piracy in the building of empires, the later struggle of merchants and their allies to eradicate piracy through bloody campaigns of capital punishment, and the meanings of the pirate as represented in popular culture through the ages.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Awareness, Global Issues, Historical Analysis
Program Requirements:

Description: The course will survey the history of sports, focusing primarily on the 20th century. We will balance consideration of professional sports with that of the games the people play. We will look both at the impact of television as well as the new fitness (revolution). Topics considered will include women in sports, the commercialization of culture and collegiate sports. A major focus will be the role in sports in Pittsburgh in the past 50 years.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A

Program Requirements: 

Description: Provides an overview of the social history of medicine from prehistory to the present. Focuses on the emergence of medical institutions, education, theories, practices and the Orthodox and irregular medical sects. Describes the growth of the separate health disciplines of nursing, pharmacy and public health. Examines the impact of socioeconomic factors, religions and war on the evolution of medical science. Discusses the changing roles of government in the development of the American health care system.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: The history of sport and global capitalism is designed for students seeking to make their way as professionals and/or for those interested in global sport as a social and political force both in the US and around the world.  Focusing on the evolution of sport as a global industry and the creation of an imposing scholastic, community, and non-profit infrastructure, it equips students to understand and navigate those arenas. 
If, after graduation, students venture into the sports industry, scholastic sport, or sport for development, they should do so with their eyes wide open.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Global Issues & Historical Analysis 
Program Requirements: Liberal Studies BA 

Description: This course will examine Europe’s post-war xenophobic, racist and exclusionary policies. We will use memoirs, photo-journalism, film and interviews to understand recent discrimination against refugees, guest workers, Jews, linguistic and religious minorities. We will also put the question into scholarly context, as we examine how historians, sociologists, psychologists and anthropologists try to understand the way in which Europeans construct the categories of “us” and the “others”.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Diversity, Historical Analysis, Specific Geographical Region 
Program Requirements: 

Description: This is an upper division course that develops the history of the North American English colonies from around 1400 through the early 1760s.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Historical Analysis
Program Requirements: 

Description: This is an upper division course that considers the impact of the Civil War upon the development of the United States.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Historical Analysis
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course examines the global development of the modern “pharmaceutical era” through historical, anthropological, and sociological analyses. It traces the ever-increasing role played by chemical substances in shaping conceptions of health, treatment, and society itself from the early modern period until the present day. Topics include pharmaceuticals as an arena for competing and complimentary interests, the social character of drugs (both legal and illegal), the blurred lines between medicinal and recreational use, and the evolvement of government and scientific regulation of medications.

Prerequisites: N/A:
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Global Issues, Historical Analysis
Program Requirements: 

Description: Mind and medicine deals with fundamental problems and questions that arise in considering the nature of mental health, mental illness, and branches of medicine that aim to promote mental health and treat mental illness. We will begin by considering the concepts of 'health', 'disease' and 'illness' in general, and several different models of medicine. From there we will move on to a consideration of the nature of explanation in medicine generally. We will examine some explanatory successes in the domain of physical health and disease and consider how those successes were achieved. In the second half of the course, we will look at controversies over the question of whether there is such a thing as mental illness, and if so, how one is to define, diagnose and treat it. In order to better understand what is at stake, we will explore these controversies by focusing on a specific mental illness, schizophrenia.

Prerequisites: N/A:
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): 
Program Requirements: 

Description: Ethical dilemmas in the practice of health care continue to proliferate and receive increasing attention from members of the health care profession, ethicists, policy makers, and the general public as health care consumers. In this course we will examine a number of ethical issues that arise in the context of contemporary medical practice and research by analyzing articles and decision scenarios. Topics to be covered typically include the physician-patient relationship; informed consent; medical experimentation; termination of treatment; genetics; reproductive technologies; euthanasia; resource allocation; and health care reform. Students who successfully complete this course will be able to identify and analyze different philosophical approaches to selected issues in medical ethics; have gained insight into how to read and critically interpret philosophical arguments; and have developed skills that will enable them to think clearly about ethical questions as future or current health care providers, policy makers, and consumers.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: Enrollment Alert: Effective Spring 2022, this course replaces ADMJ 0100 SOCIETY AND THE LAW. If you have previously taken ADMJ 0100, contact your advisor about course repeat limitations/rules. This course introduces students to socio-legal theory related to the nature of crime, criminalization, and the purpose of punishment in the American criminal justice system. We use theory to explore and evaluate the workings of criminal justice institutions in a broader societal context, including how criminal justice compares with other institutions of social control/welfare (e.g. the education system). We also learn and apply major approaches to law & society in order to interrogate broader issues concerning law’s intersection with societal values, power, and inequality. In so doing, we explore the nature, strengths, and limitations of legal reasoning and its application to the criminal justice issues examined throughout the semester.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: Enrollment Alert: Effective Spring 2022, this course replaces LEGLST 0200 RACE, CLASS, GENDER, & THE LAW. If you have previously taken LEGLST 0200, contact your advisor about course repeat limitations/rules. That “justice is blind” is a central value and claim of criminal justice institutions, and modern legal systems more generally. This course takes a mainly historical approach to examine the overt and subtle ways that this blindness has been compromised by being commodified, gendered, and racialized. In terms of overt class boundaries, this ‘blindness’ emerged with the rise of the nation-state, but it was long gendered and racialized in overt ways and commodified in more subtle ones. Since roughly the 1960s, the U.S. has been in an era where all three social boundaries impinge on law’s blindness in ways that tend to be more subtle than overt. Using a social boundary approach, students in this course will learn these historical trajectories to the present as a foundation for thinking critically about criminal justice, the legal system, and contemporary social inequality more generally. A major focus is law’s relationship to inequalities based on race, class, and gender. Topics covered include slavery, Jim Crow, the development of formal equality under the law, affirmative action, and the commodification of legal rights.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Diversity, Historical Analysis
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course introduces students to major laws governing the rights of consumers. The evolution of consumer rights is traced from the common law to our present statutes. Students are introduced to state and federal laws, including: the Truth in Lending Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): 
Program Requirements: 

Description: This is a capstone course for LCJS majors in their final year. This writing-intensive course will employ a combined practical and theoretical approach to the study of ethics in relation to the American criminal justice system. We will examine ethical dilemmas at all levels of the criminal justice system from policing and investigations to prosecution and adjudication, paying particular attention to those that lead to discrimination based on race, class and gender and abuse of authority. To that end, we will examine in-group/out-group dynamics and noble cause corruption in both policing and prosecution. We will consider prosecutorial discretion and the ethical mandate of the public prosecutor as well as judicial conduct and oversight. Additionally, we will examine the role of structural biases in the criminal justice system in perpetuating race, class and gender inequality. Above all, we will ask how the criminal justice professional can operate ethically within a morally imperfect system. We will consider not only what is ethical behavior, but also common barriers (cognitive, interactional, organizational) to ethical action. The course will revisit topics introduced early in the major such as the nature of crime, the decision to criminalize and the purpose of punishment in the American criminal justice system, and it will ask students to assess the legitimacy and fairness of these approaches.

Prerequisites: ENG 0102 or ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212 or 0213 or 0214) or ENGFLM 0210 or FP (0003 or 0006) *Applies to all WRIT Courses*
Format: Synchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Writing-Intensive, Philosophical Thinking or Ethics
Program Requirements: 

Description: Effective Spring 2022, this course replaces ADMJ 1400, LEGLST 1140. INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW. If you have previously taken ADMJ 1400, LEGLST 1140, contact your advisor about course repeat limitations/rules. This course acquaints students with the basic principles of criminal law derived from the English common law heritage and from more recent statutory penal code revisions in the American states. It examines criminal law in terms of what conduct is defined as criminal and what punishments are prescribed. Students will learn and apply the principles of criminal liability, theories of punishment, and the definition of specific offenses. Students will be encouraged to develop their own criminal law imagination as they engage with the course material.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course examines the procedural aspects of criminal law, including constitutional rights, state criminal procedure, and appellate decisions and rules. Students will gain knowledge of the legal rules that govern the procedures by which crimes are investigated, prosecuted, and punished. Topics examined include the exclusionary rule, interrogations, the right to counsel, search and seizure, and police use of force.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credit: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements: 

Description: Enrollment Alert: Effective Spring 2022, this course replaces ADMJ 1265 ADVANCED TOPICS IN CRIMINOLOGY. If you have previously taken ADMJ 1265, contact your advisor about course repeat limitations/rules. This class explores criminological theory from an interdisciplinary perspective. Throughout the semester, we examine major theories of criminality, crime causation, and criminalization. After a general introduction to theory, the first part of the course examines conventional or mainstream theory in criminology, which tends to focus on developing explanations for criminality and why people engage in criminal behavior. The second part of the course examines a relatively newer branch of criminological theory (environmental criminology), which endeavors to explain crime events and patterns rather than criminals and criminality. The last part of the course theorizes crime and criminalization from the perspective of critical criminology.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course examines the concept of deviance, including types and theories of deviant behavior as well as how deviancy and responses thereto are socially constructed. We will examine the hypothesis that social, emotional, and legal responses to many types of behavior depend on myriad factors distinct from the behavior itself, including historical context and the social status of those both judging and being judged. Special attention will be given to variation in criminalization and punishment across historical contexts and social groups.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course examines the criminal justice system as a set of interlocking institutions that have dynamic inter-relationships with one another and the larger society. We explore the history, structure, and function of policing, prosecution, the courts, and corrections. Special attention is given to trends in and contemporary problems of the criminal justice system.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course examines law enforcement history, principles, and practices. We consider a range of topics including the origins and development of policing; different philosophical positions on law enforcement and its justification; and the emergence of the bureaucratized urban police force that is prevalent today. Attention is given to a critical examination of different approaches to policing, both past and present, as well as to the constitutional and social issues related to policing in a large-scale society.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: 
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course introduces various historical and philosophical approaches to corrections. We explore the origins of correctional institutions and the evolution of correctional practices in contemporary society. The overall goal of this course is to stimulate critical thinking about the state of corrections in the United States today. To do this, we will examine key policy topics such as increasing correctional populations, the characteristics of prisoners, the death penalty, and prisoner reentry.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: The general purpose of this course is to examine the law that has evolved in the U.S. to create and address the unique legal problems associated with children and adolescents. We examine the perception that young people constitute a special class under the law and identify the various ways in which the law operates to treat youth differently from adults as a result of that perception. We also explore various rationales that support this important distinction. In this overview of juvenile law concepts, we examine a number of important aspects of the juvenile justice system, including the nature, operation, and legal requirements of juvenile justice processes, as well as relationship between various parts of the juvenile system.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: The course introduces the student to basic and advanced procedures employed by crime scene investigators, with emphasis on the detection, collection, and presentation of physical and testimonial evidence. The course also identifies items commonly found at crime scenes and examines their significance as trace and physical evidence. Aspects of psychological and transient evidence associated with criminal activity will be explored, including the difficulties of presenting non-tangible evidence to a court and jury. Theories of information, observation and interrogation as they relate to crime scene investigation will be examined, as well the ethics of current investigative procedures utilized by modern law enforcement agencies. Finally, the course will emphasize the value of proper investigative techniques using discussions of case examples.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course examines methods commonly used in the scientific investigation of physical evidence. Lecture topics include: the collecting, preserving, and lifting of latent fingerprints; photographing evidence; microscopic examination of hair and fibers; blood testing and typing; tool mark and firearms comparisons; impression casting; and chemical testing of paints, drugs, soils, alcohol, and inks. This course is designed to provide the student with a variety of learning experiences, including but not limited to: lecture using graphic PowerPoint picture presentations, group discussions, examinations, and experiential learning exercises, such as observations and/or presentations. Students must be prepared to work in a participatory learning environment with their peers.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: With the ever-increasing connectivity of devices to services, the likelihood of cybercrime victimization is expanding exponentially. In this course, students will learn the types of crimes that occur online, and receive a very basic overview of how these crimes are conducted. A basic overview of technology and common cyber terminology will be provided to assist students new to this subject. The course also will cover the process of cybercrime response, including an overview of evidence collection, evidence preservation, and legal considerations. Students will learn about the challenges Cybercrime investigator encounter when tracking down offenders on the web. Special attention will be given to the current Cyber threats faced by the financial industry.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course will examine the scope of cyber-crime and its impact on todays system of criminal justice, both domestic and internationally. Topics include the use of computer technology to commit crimes such as hacking and other cyber-dependent crimes, as well as means of committing more traditional violations of law. Also included will be an analysis of the legal considerations facing law enforcement and other cyber-security professionals who are tasked with meeting the challenges of discovering, investigating and prosecuting cyber-crimes. Since our economy and security enterprises are so dependent on the electronic dissemination of information, effective measures to secure this vital resource will be explored. Given the fact that funds are transferred electronically, the electronic transmission of finances will be examined as well as the more basic methods of raising and laundering funds in order to advance transnational organized crime and terrorist activities throughout the world.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: Organized crime is no longer confined to a few countries such as Italy, the United States, and Japan. With the end of the Cold War and the immense technological advances that spread with globalization, organized crime has become much more pervasive, with a major impact in countries such as Russia, Mexico, and South Africa, and with increased operations (and especially co-operation) across borders. This course looks at the dynamics of transnational organized crime, explains why it develops in particular countries, the various forms it takes, and the responses of law enforcement agencies and international institutions.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Global Issues, Social Science
Program Requirements: 

Description: Gender, race and class are overlapping categories of experience that affect all aspects of life. This course examines relationship of the criminal justice system with these categories of experience. Using intersectional analysis, we analyze and evaluate theoretical approaches and data that seek to explain how gender, race, and class affect the workings of the criminal justice system, and in turn, how the criminal justice system affects symbolic and material inequality based on these social categories.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: 
Course Typically Offered: Irregular
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: Although the specific set of topics shifts from semester to semester, this course focuses on key issues at the intersection of law and criminal justice. Possible topics include: policies, goals, and procedures of criminal justice agencies; trends and controversies regarding law enforcement activities; the role of policing and corrections in ensuring human security; the role of law and the courts in ensuring justice; and the scope and impact of the criminal justice system.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: 
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course is a supervised placement with specific agencies in the criminal justice system and is offered through the College of General Studies for student interns in the CGS Administration of Justice and Legal Studies majors and minors. Students enrolled in this internship engage in formal and reflective writing, journaling, and analysis about their work experience and how it relates to their academic and career pursuits. Class workshops and group discussions provide further opportunities for debriefing and consolidation of ideas and skills. This is a hybrid course with three in-person workshops and faculty authorization is required. Students must be registered for the internship course at the time they are completing the internship in order to earn credit.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Hybrid (Synchronous)
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: Variable 1-6

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: Focusing on the United States, this course examines the relationship between law and politics both in general and with respect to specific substantive topics that are subject to change. Recent substantive topics have included low-level (misdemeanor) crime and police use of force. As we study these topics, we will observe the relationship between poverty, race, and the criminal justice system. “Case studies” for each topic will allow us to examine in greater depth the intersection of criminal justice, policing, race and poverty as we see how law and policy play out in real world encounters. Finally, for each topic we will ask “Can we do better?” and we will consider the suggestions of scholars who argue both that we can and we should. Following an initial introductory period on legal reasoning, each class will include student presentations of legal arguments using a courtroom format.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course introduces the student to the contributions of psychology to the legal process. Throughout the course, we will consider how psychological research can contribute to a better understanding of issues related to law and the legal process, how the legal and criminal justice system can be informed by the results of psychological research, and how the field of psychology can be more responsive to legal issues. Topics include the role of psychology experts in criminal proceedings, the problem of criminal insanity, the process of civil commitment, and the rights of those deemed to be mentally ill. Students will read and analyze legal cases as well as scholarly discussions of these and other related issues.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course provides students with an overview of the structure and operation of American law and legal systems. With an emphasis on legal institutions, the course examines the nature, functions, limitations, and operations of law in modern society. Various jurisprudential approaches are examined, and selected problems of law, power, morality, and social and economic stratification are studied.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements: 

Description: This is an introductory course to legal research using both primary sources (constitutions, statutes, case-law, and administrative law) and secondary sources (digests, citators, encyclopedias, legal periodicals and newspapers, treatises, annotations, Restatements) for Federal and Pennsylvania law. It assumes no knowledge on your part. It will provide online training for various free and subscription databases (including ULS databases and Westlaw).

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course is designed to acquaint students with multiple theories and practices associated with effective leadership. In answering the question, “what is leadership,” it examines such theories as situational, participative, transformational, and servant leadership. It also addresses those leadership and administrative skills and practices usually associated with effective community organization and professional management.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course is designed to develop in students an understanding of the conceptual and practical strategies of leadership. Through the use of readings, in-class activities and guest presenters, students are exposed to four factors that play a role in the development or modification of a leader. These include appreciation of the concept of organizational life; understanding the process of change; comprehending the impact of leadership style, delivery, and strategy; and finally, developing an awareness of individual strengths and weaknesses and how to most effectively match individual style to the leadership process. The course is required of all students pursuing the Undergraduate certificate in leadership. Students should have successfully completed both the emerging leaders program and the theories of leadership course prior to registering.

Prerequisites: LDRSHP 1100 or PUBSRV 1390
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: This course is designed for non-math majors or non-science majors. This course will parallel the topics in MATH 0031, but will stress real life data, problem solving and the use of technology to aid in mathematical understanding.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Math/Algebra
Program Requirements: 

Description: The course covers basic algebra skills. Linear, polynomial, rational, exponential, and logarithmic functions are included. Systems of linear equations are also covered.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Math/Algebra
Program Requirements: 

Description: A variety of topics are studied: functions, rational functions, logarithmic and exponential functions, graphs, asymptotes, inverse, conic sections, translation and rotation of axes, trigonometric identities and equations, and possibly vectors.

Prerequisites: MATH 0020 or 0031 or 0110 or 0002 (MIN GRADE ‘C’) or MATH PLACEMENT SCORE (61 or GREATER)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Math/Algebra
Program Requirements: 

Description: This class will examine the history, culture, and practice of ”’classical”’ music. We will explore the technical workings of music and learn what to listen for in a wide variety of musical styles. We will also discuss the values and meanings of music in different social and political contexts. No prior knowledge of music is necessary and there is no requirement to read music to succeed in the course.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): The Arts
Program Requirements: 

Description: NPHS 1510 covers overarching frameworks for the federal government’s planning and response to crises. These include the National Response Framework (NRF) and the National Incident Management Systems (NIMS), which establishes the Incident Command System (ICS) and the Emergency Support Functions (ESFs). Because the federal government is the interface with foreign governments for events with transnational elements, international aspects of crisis management and the international context for threat assessment are covered in this course.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Hybrid (w/ In-person On-campus meetings)
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: All response to crisis begins locally. NPHS 1520 presents ways in which states, regions and localities have implemented response planning for their jurisdictions. It also explores boundaries between federal and state law, and how, for example, decisions are made for evacuation versus sheltering in place. Case studies and models for drafting response plans will be offered and rehearsed, as well as templates for planning and allocation of resources.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Hybrid (w/ In-person On-campus meetings)
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: Efforts to professionalize the emergency management workforce include familiarizing the next generation with modern decision support software and analytical tools now used in planning and responding to crises. These include discrete- and agent-based simulation, geographical information systems, pattern recognition, virtual reality and predictive modeling tools. This course will offer introductory experience with these tools in realistic crisis scenarios. NPHS 1530 also will explore realities that are changing the delivery of emergency services to a model based on distributed versus centralized operations.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Hybrid (w/ In-person On-campus meetings)
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: 

Description: Along the lines of workshops conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the capstone course is dedicated to exploring a variety of solutions to a single, complex, interdisciplinary problem - a “wicked” problem - in emergency management. “Wicked” problems are complex problems for which there is an unlimited number of potential solutions, but choosing among them is difficult because they have huge impacts and there are no immediate or ultimate tests of their worth - they are neither true nor false but good or bad. The “wicked” problem considered in NPHS 1540 may change from term to term to meet emerging demands or class composition.

Prerequisites: (NPHS 1510 or 1520 or 1530); PLAN: National Prep & Homeland Secur (CERT-1)
Format: Hybrid (w/ In-person On-campus meetings)
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course provides a general background in the fields of neuroscience and psychopharmacology. The course examines the behavioral effects and biological mechanisms of action of the major groups of psychoactive compounds, including stimulants, depressants, narcotics, and hallucinogens. Drugs used in the treatment of common psychiatric neurological disorders, such as schizophrenia, depression, and Parkinson’s disease, will also be discussed.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Natural Science
Program Requirements:

Description: The overall objective of this course is to provide the student with a broad description of risk factors and health promotion for individuals, families and communities. Current federal, state and professional organization guidelines and recommendations for health promotion and disease prevention are applied. Current research on the efficiency of health promotion activities is presented.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: Purpose of course is to increase awareness of how delivery and acceptance of health care may be influenced by social, cultural, and environmental factors. It will provide an overview of how these factors influence a person’s response to stressors, daily health and living needs. Goal is to help students increase their understanding of culturally congruent care by utilizing cultural concepts, theories, and research. Students will analyze factors that facilitate/ hinder communication about health needs, acceptance of the health care regimen, and access to health care systems.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: An examination of the arguments for and against the existence of God. 

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: Summary of our present knowledge in fundamental areas of learning, sensation and perception, biological basis of behavior, developmental patterns, motivation, emotion, personality and adjustment, and measurement of behavior. Information and concepts are applied to problems in understanding human behavior. Additional out-of-class experiments or an equivalent research paper are a part of the course.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Natural Science
Program Requirements:

Description: An overview of social psychology. The scientific study of how one person’s behavior and/or characteristics can influence the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of others. Topics covered include social perception, attitude formation and change; prejudice and discrimination; altruism and aggression; cooperation, competition, and bargaining; group decision making, leadership; and environmental effects on behavior.

Prerequisites: PSY 0010 or 0012 or 0101 or 0200
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements:

Description: This course is an introduction to psychological theories and research on the impact of gender on the human experience. Experiences of cisgender men and women as well as trans individuals and those who identify outside of the gender binary will be discussed. Although the focus will be on societal constructs within the United States, we will also discuss cross-cultural research. Intersections with race and sexual orientation and the influence of power will be considered in the discussion of the effects of cultural factors that determine the gendered nature of cognitive abilities, emotional expression, interpersonal relationships, victimization, labor, and health.

Prerequisites: PSY 0010 or 0012 or 0105 or 0101 or 0200 or 0203 or 0210
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered:
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Diversity, Social Science
Program Requirements:

Description: This course provides an overview of the major issues in the area of mental illness. This course emphasizes the scientific approach to understanding the major psychological and behavioral disorders. The research and clinical literatures regarding the etiology, course and treatment of these disorders will be presented.

Prerequisites: PSY 0010 or 0012 or 0101 or 0200. ANTIREQ: Enrollment blocked if currently or previously enrolled in PSY 1205, PSY 0206, or PSY 1141.
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall. Spring. Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: The course focuses on development of the child from birth to adolescence, the current theory and research concerning social, emotional, intellectual, perceptual and language development. The organization of the course is topical. Coverage is confined to normal development; what develops, how and why in the average child. Little attention to abnormal development.

Prerequisites: PSY 0010 or 0012 or 0101 or 0200
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course introduces students to core issues, theories, and experimental finding in cognitive psychology. Topics to be covered include sensory perception, attention, memory, imagery, language, reasoning, problem solving and decision making.

Prerequisites: PSY 0010 or 0012 or 0101 or 0200:
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Natural Science, Social Science
Program Requirements:

Description: A topics course. Content will vary from term to term depending on instructor.

Prerequisites: PSY 0010 or 0012 or 0015 or 0200
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: The course presents a social-psychological and psycho-biological orientation towards the study of human sexuality. Current research is emphasized. Topics such as sexual attitudes, hormones and behavior, changing sexual behavior, sex education, gender-role development, alternative forms of sexual expression, and violence and sex are covered.

Prerequisites: [(PSY 0010 or 0012 or 0015 or 0101 or 0200) and (PSY 0105 or 0203 or 0210)] or (PSY 0160 or 0184 or 0204 or 0240)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course is directed toward the student seriously interested in the major issues pertaining to clinical psychology. The course provides an overview of the major therapeutic approaches and incorporates other germane issues such as history of the field, assessment issues, interviewing approaches, community psychology, behavioral medicine, and clinical research and methodology. Present therapeutic approaches are placed in the context of an evolving discipline, anchored in an empirical-scientific approach to the subject matter.

Prerequisites: (PSY 0010 or 0012 or 0101 or 0200) and (PSY 0205 or 1205 or 0206 or 1141)
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course will be devoted to a discussion of psychological theory and research in ASD.  Topics to be covered include the early history of the study, diagnosis, and treatment of autism; current classification and diagnostic issues and techniques; epidemiological and etiological issues; major neurological and psychological theories of ASD; research on sensory atypicalities and stereotyped and repetitive motor behaviors, early identification, early social and

Prerequisites: [(PSY 0010 or 0012 or 0101 or 0200)

Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: Natural Sciences (BS) and Liberal Studies (BA) 

Description: This course introduces students to the public health discipline of epidemiology, the data-driven science of health measures and determinants. Instruction focuses upon an overview of the key principles and practices of epidemiology as they relate to understanding the health of the population and the prevention and control of disease and other health problems. Lectures will introduce approaches to measure the frequency and burden of health problems in the community, measures to characterize factors that may increase the risk for health problems, approaches to study causes of common health problems, and measures and practices used to reduce health problems in the community.

Prerequisites: Must Be Sophomore Student Status
Format: 
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This introductory course covers fundamental concepts in global public health, including determinants of health, key health indicators, global burden of disease, and the relationships among health status, education, and poverty, cross-cutting issues such as culture, ethical and human rights aspects of health, and key actors in global health will also be explored.

Prerequisites: Sophomore level or higher 
Format: Asynchronous 
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: Health Services (BA), Liberal Studies (BA), Community Health Assessment Certificate 

Description: This course introduces students to the fields of public service. In addition to addressing the concept of public service, it provides students the opportunity to explore the various public service options. These include elected and appointed positions, volunteerism, and work in non-profit organizations. An effort will be made to give students an appreciation of the skills and talents required to effectively serve in these capacities. Classes will involve presentations by a variety of public service professionals, field visits and service learning opportunities.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course presents an overview of existing and emerging technologies that may be used by public service professionals to accomplish organizational goals or improve efficiency and effectiveness. Through discussions, readings, internet research and hands-on computer exercises, it will emphasize current information technology concepts, issues, and practices in the United States. In addition, it will provide students with a technology skill set utilized in subsequent courses and in the practice of a public service career.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course is an undergraduate course offered through the Public Service major by the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. It will be an introduction to Ethics and Accountability and will focus on enhancing the capacity of students to make difficult and necessary ethical choices on the basis of limited information and frequently conflicting values. The purpose of this course is that in their personal lives and future roles as professionals in a chosen field, students will face moral and unethical dilemmas that resist easy answers or a simpler formula and action.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: Participants are provided with an overview of the financial management concepts and practices. Stress is put on the strengths, weaknesses, and critical roles financial management plays in aiding public service managers to better realize their programmatic goals and objectives.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course will introduce the profession of urban planning through a review of the historical development of cities. With this framework we will look at the actual work of the planner: data gathering, analysis, policy, public process and politics. We will address the relation between the physical nature of cities and the quality of community that develops. Course underscores the importance of physical and geographic determinants to city growth, and makes the connection between democratic values and city development policy.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: Introduction to forms of non-profit organizations and their roles in American society. Course evaluates how non-profit organizations define their policy and service roles and examines the context of how they are organized, governed, financed, staffed, and managed. Other topics to be examined are law and philanthropy, voluntarism, strategic planning and marketing, training and developing boards, staff and volunteers, and ethical behavior.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course is an introductory survey of the understandings and skills needed by both managers and employees to cope with the myriad human resources management systems in non-profit organizations. Specific topics include the history and evolution of human resources management, the legal environment, human resources planning, position classification and compensation, recruitment, promotion, termination, performance evaluation and training.  Integrated with these topics will be the technical and legal concerns of labor relations, equal employment opportunity and volunteer management.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: Public Service (BA), Liberal Studies (BA), Nonprofit Management Certificate 

Description: This course is intended to help students become familiar with the major sources of financial resources available to support the program activities of non-profit organizations. It will introduce students to the basic component of grant proposals and other revenue raising techniques i.e. plan giving, general appeals and endowments.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course addresses legal and ethical issues encountered by health care practitioners as well as those working in health care management and public health. Strong emphasis is placed on legal and ethical issues that occur within the realm of direct patient care. Topics include, but are not limited to: advance directives, decision making capacity, informed consent, organ donation, end of life decision making, surrogate decision making, and confidentiality. Students will be able to articulate common health care ethics principles, theories, methodology, laws, and concepts and use the same to analyze health care ethics cases. Students will also develop concrete logical arguments in support of a chosen ethical stance.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements:

Description: his course analyzes public service from the perspective of minorities and women. The minorities examined are black American men and women, with lesser attention given to ethnic minorities, those over 45 and the handicapped. The experience and aspirations of these several minorities will be examined in terms of how minority culture illuminates the nature of public service.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Hybrid (Synchronous)
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course examines a variety of public policy issues as those issues are impacted by the role and significance of the news and entertainment media. It explores mass media law and policy, with particular attention to regulatory practices.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements:

Description: A supervised placement with a government or non-profit agency, or private sector organization undertaking public services. Students will meet several times during the semester with other students to review and discuss their public service experiences. CGS Public Service Majors and Non-Profit Management Certificate students are required to complete a minimum of a 3.0 credit internship. This internship course is optional for Public Service Minors and may vary from 1.0-6.0 credits. Instructor approval is required prior to enrolling in this course.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Hybrid (Synchronous)
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: Variable 1-6
Faculty Consent Required

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course is a historical introduction to the religious traditions that developed in ancient Near East and the Mediterranean. Our major emphasis is on the history of the religious traditions that emerged in late antiquity which continue to as the major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We focus on key concepts, historical developments, and contemporary issues. Throughout the course, we also examine interactions among these religious traditions and will make use of documentary film and sacred art to illustrate. In the final segment of the course we examine the issue of secularization and the rise of the category of the non-believer, or “none.” The course also serves as an introduction to the academic study of religion and provides a foundation for further coursework in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. No prior knowledge of any of the religions studied is expected or assumed.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Global Issues, Historical Analysis
Program Requirements:

Description: This course serves as an introduction to the major religious traditions of South and East Asia. During the course of the semester, we encounter Hinduism and Jainism; the native Confucian, Daoist (Taoist), and popular traditions of China; and the Shinto, folk and new religions of Japan. Buddhism, which originated in India but later spread to East Asia, is examined in its relation to the history of both Chinese and Japanese religions. We approach these traditions through lectures and discussion based on Chinese classical and popular literature, secondary scholarship, and films, which inform us about cultural and historical context, beliefs, practices, and personal experience. In the process we expect to learn something about the ways in which non-Western religious traditions see themselves and their world on their own terms, and to see how/if they can complement our own worldviews.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Awareness
Program Requirements:

Description: This course will compare and contrast major classical and modern sociological theories of religion, including discussion of the renewed focus on religion in mainstream, general theory. Attention will be narrowed to a focus on the relation between religions, states and individuals in comparative and historical perspective.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: The holocaust - that is, the genocide of six million Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II - was a critical event of the early twentieth-century that continues to resonate today. Our historical survey will look at the holocaust primarily through the experiences of its Jewish victims, though we will discuss some of the other groups, such as the roma, disabled people, and gay men, who were also targeted and systematically murdered by the Nazis.
Additionally, we will think about the perpetrators of the holocaust and the ideologies that led to the genocide, such as racism, nationalism, and antisemitism.
Finally, we will move beyond the history of the holocaust to think about the ways that this event has been remembered and reconstructed by survivors, nations, institutions, museums, the arts, popular culture and the media. Looking at how institutions here in Pittsburgh commemorate the holocaust will offer us local, concrete examples of how people continue to grapple with this history.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Geographic Region & Historical Analysis 
Program Requirements: Liberal Studies (BA) 

Description: Few countries can boast such an extensive and diverse religious heritage as can India. It is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, home to a large Muslim community, as well as to small, but ancient, communities of Syrian Christians, Parsis, and Jews. The course gives a brief historical overview of these religious traditions, introduces students to basic concepts related to each of them, and illustrates their rich practices through primary and secondary readings, films, art, and music

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Geographic Region
Program Requirements: Liberal Studies (BA) 

Description: The preservation and enhancement of health and well-being has confronted us with ethical questions since the dawn of culture. The last fifty years, however, have seen an unprecedented development of medical sciences and biotechnology. The discipline of bioethics emerged as a response to both new ethical dilemmas, and others with a much longer history as well. While Christian theological works on issues like euthanasia and organ transplants had served as the basis for the young discipline of bioethics, Asian religions have only much more recently started to participate in the conversation. This course is an invitation to participate in history in the making as this course class introduces bioethics vis-à-vis four of the major Asian religious traditions. It presupposes no previous knowledge of bioethics and thus briefly introduces the basics before presenting the Asian counterpart. This is a comparative course whose main goal is to analyze and contextualize different religious perspectives on bioethical issues. The first part of the course discusses the development of bioethics, its principles and its historical relationship with religions in general in the “West,” China and India. The second part focuses on Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian and Daoist ethical perspectives on the body, health and disease, and life and death. The third part discusses specific bioethical issues: euthanasia, abortion, organ donation and transplantation, and cognitive enhancement, from the perspective of Buddhist, Hindu, Confucian and Daoist traditions. The choice of these dominant topics obeys to the availability of sources that allows us to do a comparative analysis that would not be possible with other more recent issues. We approach these issues through lectures and discussion of academic texts, news, documentaries and films, which inform us about cultural and historical context, beliefs, practices, and personal experience. In the process we expect to learn how non-western religious traditions are responding to the challenges of controversial technologies and practices, and contributing to a more nuanced understanding of what it means to be human and enduring existential riddles like suffering and flourishing.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Awareness
Program Requirements:

Description: This course introduces students to Russian folklore through the oral genre of fairy tales so as to acquaint them with popular structures of thought underpinning modes of Russian behavior. A significant component of the course will consist of visual and audio representations of scenes from fairy tales.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Literature, Specific Geographic Region
Program Requirements:

Description: This course compares Slavic and Anglophone science fiction to assess how a given culture’s dominant values are articulated in a popular genre that enjoys different status in East and West. Those values emerge in works that imaginatively posit “fantastic” situations rooted in biological, spatial, and temporal explorations beyond those verified by science. On the basis of films, film clips, TV shows, stories, novellas, and novels we shall discuss such topics as utopia, progress, human perfectibility, the limits of science, and the nature of knowledge.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Awareness
Program Requirements:

Description: This course examines the phenomenon of vampirism in verbal and visual texts from different time periods in various cultures (Russia, Poland, France, England, America). We will analyze stories, novels, and films focusing on vampires from a variety of critical perspectives, contextualizing the works in the cultures that produced them.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Specific Geographical Region
Program Requirements:

Description: This course introduces the student to the discipline of sociology, its development, theories, major findings, and to the sociological interpretation of modern society. Emphasis will be given to the importance of careful empirical investigation for the understanding of recent social and cultural changes. Students should be prepared to encounter basic issues in sociological method and in theory; an inclination toward systematic and abstract reasoning will help.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Social Science
Program Requirements:

Description: This course introduces students to the sociological perspective on the family and analyzes how the structure and nature of family life are shaped by larger historical and social forces. We will look at how changes in the economy and technology affect the family; how ideas concerning gender roles affect male/female relationships and the socialization of children; how race, ethnicity, and class shape family life; and the wide variety of family forms, historical and contemporary.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This is a course presenting the central sociological interpretations of majority/minority relations. The course begins with a consideration of minorities around the world. With world minorities as a frame of reference, the course turns to the United States and its special opportunities and problems.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course studies the fate of being old in American society in terms of income-adequacy, participation in political life, family relations, the status of retirement as an institution, health, the loss of independence and life in nursing homes.  These and related issues are examined in cross-national perspective to assess the level and some nationally distinctive ways in which modern society cares for its elderly

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: Liberal Studies (BA) 

Description: This is a course on socio-cultural aspects of health, illness, disease and (medical) treatment in American society. The historical transformation of American medicine into a powerful sovereign profession with unparalleled authority, autonomy and control over all aspects of health and illness will be examined. On the basis of this historical survey, recent empirical studies of distribution of health, disease and medical care will be examined as well as specific substantive issues and contemporary debates.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This upper-level course investigates selected concepts in health, illness and medical care. We will examine the impact of medicalization, stratification, and the transformation of healthcare provision.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Diversity, Social Science
Program Requirements:

Description:

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: This course teaches methods of descriptive and inferential statistics. Topics include data collection and description, hypothesis testing, correlation and regression the analysis of variance, and contingency tables. Students will learn how to use a statistical computer package.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 4

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Quantitative and Formal Reasoning
Program Requirements:

Description: This course is an intensive introduction to statistical methods. It is designed for students who want to do data analysis and to study further ideas in applied statistics beyond this course. The topics covered include descriptive statistics, elementary probability, random sampling, controlled experiments, hypothesis testing, regression and the analysis of variance. Emphasis will be placed on the statistical reasoning underlying the methods. Students will also become proficient at the use of a statistical software package.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 4

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): Quantitative and Formal Reasoning
Program Requirements:

Description: This course introduces the practice of urban planning, focusing on the opportunities and challenges of professional planning in Pittsburgh’s metropolitan region. The course focuses on how planning processes and methods can address different urban needs. Students will engage with guest speakers and plans that illustrate approaches to land use, zoning, transportation planning, placemaking, public health, and sustainability.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements:

Description: The growing importance of big data and urban analytics are contributing to cities becoming ‘smarter’. Smart city planning requires creating data structures and methods frameworks to gather, store, and analyze information that can inform planning practices and policymaking. This course will outline the frontiers in urban data science, including the ethical and analytical considerations that underpin the smart city paradigm. Students will gain practical experience with analyzing, modelling, and interpreting quantitative and qualitative data using R and RStudio. The course is designed to accommodate students with diverse backgrounds, and while no prerequisites are required some familiarity with statistical methods and coding is beneficial. The course emphasizes a geographical perspective in addressing urban topics (including infrastructure, transportation, and sustainability), empowering students to contribute to future urban planning practices and policymaking.

Prerequisites: N/A
Format: Asynchronous
Course Typically Offered: Spring, Summer
Credits: 3

What does this course count for in CGS:
CGS General Education Requirement(s): N/A
Program Requirements: