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2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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Use the course filter below to search for active courses.
Course numbers followed by an ‘L’ are cross-listed with another department or program.
This catalog may contain course information that is out of date. Before registering for a course, always check the course information in WISER.
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Art |
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ART 305 - Early Medieval Art 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course is a chronological survey of the are and architecture of western Europe and Byzantium from the Early Christian period to the rise of the Holy Roman Empire (c. 200-c. 1100 C.E.). Lectures, readings, and discussions will focus on the religious, political, and socioeconomic contexts in which are objects were produced. Important themes of the course include the origins of Christian images, the debate over the place of images in religious worship, the role of patrons and politics, the impact of pilgrimage, the cult of relics and saints, and the changing depiction of Christ.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: The Arts
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 101 or permission of instructor
033529:1 |
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ART 310 - Special Topics 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: A course designed to provide in-depth study in different aspects of the history of painting, dealing with ideas, issues, movements, and major figures. Topics vary by semester and instructor. Consult current course announcement for specifics.
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 102 or permission of instructor
010231:1 |
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ART 311 - Early Italian Renaissance Art 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course focuses on early Renaissance art and architecture in Italy, 1300-1500. Focusing on Tuscany, it assesses how the visual arts were informed by humanism, politics, monastic reform, and the emergence of a wealthy mercantile class. The course also considers artists’ growing self-awareness as professionals contributing to intellectual developments. Artists to be studied include Giotto, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, Alberti, and Botticelli.
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 101 or ART 102
010244:1 |
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ART 312 - Late Italian Renaissance Art 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course concerns Italian Renaissance painting and sculpture of the sixteenth century, the age of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Bronzino, Giambologna, and Titian. It studies artistic style and theory in the High Renaissance, Mannerist, and Maniera periods in light of religious, political, and social developments. Emphasis is given to art produced in Florence, Rome, and Venice.
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 102
010248:1 |
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ART 314L - Art of the Moving Image 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This art history seminar explores the intersection between the moving image and art worlds. It considers issues that come up when the principles, materials, and contexts of each are brought to bear upon the other. How are paintings, sculptures, and/or the artists who work in these forms represented in films? How are moving images presented in gallery/museum spaces and what are the implications for how they interact with other art works? What are the implications of thinking of cinema as an art form, rather than, for instance, as a form of entertainment or a mechanical recording device? How are moving images related to other kinds of art? Students will consider these and other issues related to the course topic, investigating the vibrant range of ways moving images and art inform each other when they interact. ART 314L and CINE 314L are the same course.
040713:1 |
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ART 315 - Eighteenth-Century European Art 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course explores an extraordinary period in the arts in which experimentation and innovation produced some of the most peculiar objects int he history of art. We shall study a wide range of media, from painting, sculpture and architecture to porcelain, furniture, wax, and shells, as well as the styles of the Rococo, Neoclassicism, and Romanticism. Since the 18th Century was an age of global expansion and cross-cultural contact, this course examines the visual and material culture of Europe specifically in relation to other parts of the world, particularly Asian and the Americas.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: The Arts
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 102 or permission of instructor
040976:1 |
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ART 317 - Nineteenth-Century Art in Europe and the United States 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Nineteenth-century art in Europe and the United States marks a shift towards what today is recognized as “modernity” in art and society. At the same time, historicist, academic, and period-specific trends were crucially important aspects of visual culture. This class focuses on the dual tendencies of tradition and progress that define the nineteenth century through a survey of its artistic, visual, and material culture. The discussion of specific artistic trends will be framed by an examination of the social and political climate in which they were created.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: The Arts
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 102 or ART 250 or permission or instructor
010258:1 |
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ART 318L - Women and Experimental Cinema 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Focused on experimental moving images, this course addresses the ways in which some female film artists, lacking support for or interest in commercial and mainstream modes of production, distribution and exhibition, have turned instead to alternative networks. Whether in fully experimental mode, through the larger art world, or through alternative narrative filmmaking, such filmmakers engage a unique perspective - often in dialogue with feminist movements from the suffragists to 1970s feminist film theorists to more recent movements like #TimesUp.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: The Arts | Diversity Area: United States
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite:
- ENGL 101 or
- another CINE or ART course or
- permission of instructor
041420:1 |
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ART 326 - Materials, Materiality, Meaning 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: In this course, students will examine the technical processes employed when using paints and pigments, marbles, metals, and wood, in conjunction with the meanings attached to those materials and processes. We will investigate how notions of natural philosophy, religion, matter, technical work and labor, the creative act, and the artistic mediums–painting and sculpture in particular–informed the self-fashioning of artists and their identity. This “material turn” has been important–and successful–for how it opens the field to multiple issues and areas of study likely to remain consequential for the foreseeable future, among which: gender and sexuality (materials, and matter itself, often have been gendered); distinctions or hierarchies of class and labor (as mechanical labor, the visual arts were held in low esteem historically); notions of local, national, or ethnic identities (mediums and materials, even on a mineralogical basis, took on connotations of place-hood). The primary goals of the course are to broaden students’ understanding of artistic mediums and their development through history, and to deepen their own thinking about the intertwined mental and material processes of art-making. The course would be offered on a regular basis.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: The Arts
040738:1 |
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ART 327L - Hellenistic Art and Culture 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course introduces students to the Hellenistic period–the three centuries between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the defeat of Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BC–particularly primarily through a close examination of the visual arts. Hellenistic art and architecture are examined in their political, social, religious, and multi-cultural contexts, in order to arrive at a fuller portrait of the age. ART 327L and CLSICS 327L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: One 200/300-level CLSICS course or one ART course or permission of instructor
012181:2 |
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ART 338 - Nineteenth-Century Architecture 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course discusses stylistic and theoretical developments in architecture during the nineteenth century, with an emphasis on European architects. It looks at the changing character of classicism and the rise of a Gothic revival; as well as at the impact of new technologies, new types of building (the railroad station, the department store), and the architectural response to social problems through housing and town planning.
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 101 or ART 102 or ART 230 or permission of instructor
010291:1 |
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ART 351L - Documentary Moving Images 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This class addresses itself to the nexus of issues centered on the nature of images in terms of how they relate to the world. In what ways does the image provide evidence of the world, in what ways does it provide a challenge to what we think we know about the world and its people, things, and events? On one level, the course is a survey of documentary photography and cinema: it provides an overview of some of the key documentary trends like cinema verite, reenactment, portraiture, creative and experimental autobiography, and social, polemical, and ethnographic approaches to issues and cultures. To that tend, we will view several examples of these different version of documentary work and establish some of the parameters for the ways they function. On another level, the course considers art historical, theoretical, and philosophical notions of what is revealed by an image when it has referent in the world. When, for example, can a documentary image be considered a “true copy” of the world, and when does it require individual subjectivity to create and/or decipher it? The course emphasizes visual literacy and aims to develop students’ capacity for thoughtful engagement with images through creative, hands-on collaborations to community-based efforts for the final projects.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: Humanities
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite:
- ENGL 101 or
- another CINE or ART course or
- permission of instructor
041421:1 |
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ART 362L - Japanese Art from 16th to 20th Centuries: Japan and the West 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course looks at Japanese art across mediums during the sixteenth through twentieth centuries; in Japanese historical terms, from the Momoyama through Meiji periods. The course will pay particular attention to how Japanese are engaged with the West and Western art, beginning with Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century, moving the so-called “period of isolation” from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, and concluding with the opening of Japan following Commodore Perry’s arrival in 1853.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART /ASIAN 104L or ART 256 or ASIAN /JAPAN 252L or JAPAN 270 or ASIAN /HIST 115L or ASIAN /HIST 160L
033334:1 |
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ART 368 - History of Photography: 1839-Present 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course surveys the history of photography as a modern and contemporary mode of visual communication from its incipience until the present. While our primary focus will be on photography as an artistic medium in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, we will explore a range of its functions in society.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: The Arts
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 102 or permission of instructor
041677:1 |
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ART 369 - American Women Photographers 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course explores American women photographers and their contributions to the discourse and evolution of photography in America from the nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries.
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 102
038137:1 |
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ART 370L - Studies in Experimental Film and Video Art 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course surveys the history of experimental forms of cinema. For as long as cinema has been in existence, filmmakers and artists of many different backgrounds have used the medium to test the limits of its expressive tools. Thus, beginning with early cinema and continuing to the present day, experimental film and video have thrived, developing their own set of concerns and aesthetic interests. These oppositional, radical, creative, and revolutionary films challenge not only the dominant commercial form of the cinema– they also open up new horizons of expression for political, social, and aesthetic issues. By looking at the development of different forms of experiments over the course of cinema history, this course gives students a historical and theoretical background to hone their appreciation and understanding of the meanings produced by film and video art. ART 370L and CINE 370L are the same course.
040268:1 |
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ART 375 - Contemporary Art: c. 1989-Present Formerly ART 259 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines major developments in contemporary art since 1989. Via lectures, readings, discussions, and a field trip, students become familiar with recent trends in art. We analyze works in traditional media, such as painting, sculpture, and photography, as well as those that span media or employ newer artistic techniques, like installation and performance. We will additionally critically assess the roles of art markets, museums, galleries, art fairs, biennales, curators, and critics in the increasingly globalized art world.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: The Arts
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART 102 or ART 250 or permission of instructor
037817:1 |
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ART 402L - American Visual Cultures 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course explores the historical, cultural, and aesthetic importance of visual images in shaping ideas about empire, race, gender, class, work, and nation in American culture. We will think about our reasons for looking and how different historical contexts change how and why we look as consumers. We will learn how to interpret and analyze visual evidence from a variety of forms, including film cartoons live performance, photographs, and print advertising, from the mid-nineteenth century through the twenty-first. AMST 402L and ART 402L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Diversity Area: United States
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisites: Two 300-level ART courses.
035306:1 |
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ART 478 - Independent Study 1 - 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit up to 6 times/6 credits
Description: This course is an independent investigation in Art History under the supervision of qualified faculty that is open to a limited number of students in any semester. A written prospectus of the project is required of applicants. Please note: ART 478 cannot be counted toward the minimum major requirement of twelve departmental courses.
Enrollment Requirements: Instructor consent
010387:1 |
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ART 479 - Independent Study 1 - 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit up to 6 times/6 credits
Description: This course is an independent investigation in Studio Art under the supervision of qualified faculty that is open to a limited number of students in any semester. A written prospectus of the project is required of applicants. Please note: ART 479 cannot be counted toward the minimum major requirement of twelve departmental courses.
Enrollment Requirements: Instructor consent
010394:1 |
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ART 481 - Seminar in Visual Studies 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Designed primarily for the art major, to provide advanced work in areas and topics not normally offered in existing courses. Course content varies with instructor.
Enrollment Requirements: Department consent
010403:1 |
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ART 488 - Special Problems: Field Work 1 - 6 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: An independent project with an off-campus project focus under the supervision of a qualified professional. Open to a limited number of students in any semester. A written prospectus of the project, and a written final report, are required of all applicants. Please note: ART 488 and 489 cannot be counted toward the minimum major requirement of twelve departmental courses. (Course offered in the fall only.) (Course offered on a pass/fail basis only.)
Enrollment Requirements: Instructor consent
010409:1 |
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ART 489 - Special Problems: Field Work 1 - 6 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: An independent project with an off-campus project focus under the supervision of a qualified professional. Open to a limited number of students in any semester. A written prospectus of the project, and a written final report, are required of all applicants. Please note: ART 488 and 489 cannot be counted toward the minimum major requirement of twelve departmental courses.
Enrollment Requirements: Instructor consent
010411:1 |
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ART 491 - Honors Project 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This is the first semester’s work of two leading to consideration for the award of Honors in Art. Course work includes an approved creative and/or research project under faculty supervision. Grades are to be awarded by supervising faculty as in regular independent study courses. Students may elect to withdraw from consideration for Honors and continue other course work without jeopardy to grades or credit. See departmental regulations for a description of this program.
Enrollment Requirements: Instructor consent
010414:1 |
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ART 492 - Honors Project 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Continuation of work begun in ART 491 . Candidacy for continuation in the Honors Program will be determined by the Honors Committee prior to enrollment in this course. Students may elect to withdraw from consideration for Honors and continue other work without jeopardy to grades or credit. Grades are to be awarded by supervising faculty as in regular independent study courses.
Enrollment Requirements: Instructor consent
010415:1 |
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ART 493 - The Marble Collection: Internship in Publications 3 Credit(s) | Field Studies | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This structured internship is offered by The Marble Collection (TMC), a non-profit organization housed on campus. It publishes the only juried, statewide print and online magazine featuring art by Massachusetts teens, grades 8 to 12. Interns assist in delivering services to TMC’s teen clients and publishing the magazine. Readings based on TMC training manuals and written responses require interns to learn and reflect on the real-world skills they are acquiring. A minimum dedication of 10 hours per week for the duration of 16 weeks is required.
Enrollment Requirements: Instructor consent
040182:1 |
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ART 494 - The Marble Collection: Internship in Non-Profit Arts Administration 3 Credit(s) | Field Studies | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This structured internship if offered by The Marble Collection (TMC), a non-profit organization housed on campus. It publishes the only juried statewide print and online magazine featuring art by Massachusetts teens, grades 8 to 12. Interns assist in managing the organization’s community relations, publicity, and events. Readings based on TMC training manuals and written responses require interns to learn and reflect on the real-world skills they are acquiring. A minimum dedication of 10 hours per week for the duration of 16 weeks is required.
Enrollment Requirements: Instructor consent
040183:1 |
Asian American Studies |
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ASAMST 200 - Introduction to Asian American Studies 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This collaboratively taught course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to issues and methods relevant within the field of Asian American Studies. Possible areas of exploration may include: particular ethnic and geographic communities (e.g. South Asians and Cambodian Americans or Dorchester and Chinatown neighborhoods), women and gender, history, civil rights, media portrayals, literature, art and performance, and health or mental health issues.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: Humanities | Diversity Area: United States
010614:1 |
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ASAMST 220 - Special Topics 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Various courses in Asian American Studies are offered experimentally under this heading. Topics and faculty sponsors are announced before the beginning of each semester.
010615:1 |
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ASAMST 223L - Asians in the United States 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This multidisciplinary course examines the social, historical, and structural contexts defining the Asian American experience from 1850 to the present. Topics include immigration, labor, community settlement, ethnicity, stereotypes, and race relations. AMST 223L and ASAMST 223L and SOCIOL 223L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: Humanities | Diversity Area: United States
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ENGL 102
000185:2 |
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ASAMST 225L - Southeast Asians in the United States 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines issues arising from the resettlement of one million Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian refugees in the US since 1975. Topics include resettlement policies, adjustment and acculturation, changing roles of women and family, and the continuing impact of international politics. Media presentations and lectures by local Southeast Asian community leaders highlight the course. AMST 225L and ASAMST 225L and SOCIOL 225L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: Social & Behavioral Sciences | Diversity Area: United States
000184:2 |
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ASAMST 226 - Becoming South Asians 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines the history and contemporary issues of people in the US with ancestry from countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Through course readings, films, guest lectures, and student projects, the course explores global migrations and immigrant patterns, The formation of diverse South Asian communities, and cross-cutting issues of race, ethnicity, class, and gender.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: Humanities | Diversity Area: International
000563:1 |
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ASAMST 228L - Asian Women in the United States 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Drawing on women’s voices in literature, sociocultural research, and historical analysis, this course examines the experience of Asian women in the United States from 1850 to the present. Topics include the transformation of Asian women’s traditional roles as part of the acculturation process; exclusion; changing roles within the Asian American family; resistance to oppression as defined by race, gender, class; and the continuing impact of international politics. AMST 228L and ASAMST 228L and SOCIOL 228L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: Social & Behavioral Sciences | Diversity Area: United States
000181:2 |
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ASAMST 238L - Asian American Psychology 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course is an introduction to the psychological experience of Asian Americans, including the historical, sociopolitical, and cultural influences that shape personality and mental health in community, family, and individual contexts. The course also explores prevention and intervention possibilities through specific examples, such as trauma and intergenerational conflict, that are relevant for Asian American populations. ASAMST 238L and PSYCH 238L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: Social & Behavioral Sciences | Diversity Area: United States
000262:1 |
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ASAMST 265L - World War II Internment of Japanese Americans (A) 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: The US Government in 1942 commenced the internment of 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry. This course considers political, economic, legal, sociological and historical matters in the examination of this chapter in American life. The course encompasses experiences beyond the internment, including early Japanese immigration, the battle for redress and reparations, and the current status of Japanese and Asian Americans. ASAMST 265L and POLSCI 265L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Diversity Area: United States
000311:1 |
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ASAMST 270 - Cambodian American Culture and Community 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course explores significant themes from the cultural and historical past of Khmer/Cambodian Americans, and examines issues concerning their cross-generational realities as refugees, immigrants, and racial minorities, including their development of communities in the U.S. and their continuing diasporic relationships to Cambodia. Local student/community examples from Lynn, Revere, and Lowell will be highlighted.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: Humanities | Diversity Area: International
010616:1 |
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ASAMST 294 - Resources for Vietnamese American Studies 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course introduces students to the field of Vietnamese American Studies - what theories, methods, resources, and voices are helpful to examine the migrations and reconstructions of identity, culture, and community for Vietnamese in the U.S. and their diasporic relationships to Viet Nam and around the world. The course will feature presentations by local Vietnamese American researchers, writers, and community leaders.
010617:1 |
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ASAMST 315L - Asian American Cinema 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines the independently-produced films and videos by Asian American filmmakers and artists. Asian American independent cinema first emerged as early as the 1910s, but developed most significantly in the civil rights era and closely connected to both the Asian American political movement and the development of the Third World Independent filmmaking. This class begins with an exploration of the early history of Asian and Asian American son the American screen and then shifts to consider the role of Asian Americans behind the camera. We explore the post- 1960s production of Asian American film and video, ranging from documentary and narrative features to experimental, avant-garde, and short video. This is a hands-on, interactive course designed with the support of the Mellon Foundation.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: Humanities | Diversity Area: International
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ENGL 102
041279:2 |
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ASAMST 345 - Asian American Cultures and Health Practices 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Students examine critical health issues among diverse Asian cultures and communities, including cultural influences on health behaviors and practices of Asian Americans, and the relationships between health of Asian Americans and social, political, and economic contexts. A field work component enables students to develop culturally sensitive health intervention strategies or policies for individuals, families, and communities.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
001055:1 |
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ASAMST 370 - Asian American Media Literacy 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course will analyze media in three ways: media content (the message); the political and economic structure of mass media; and the impact of the media on culture, identity, and group relationships, particularly in relation to dynamics of race and gender for Asian Americans. The course will enable students to develop a critical eye toward images and representations in media, to examine thoughtfully how their media use has affected their own identities, and to explore the possibilities of creating alternative media which can express their voices more fully or effectively.
Course Attribute(s): Diversity Area: United States
001054:1 |
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ASAMST 390 - Asian American Community Internships I 3 - 6 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit up to 2 times/6 credits
Description: This seminar course supports students involved with internships and projects working with Asian American populations and issues. Students carry out specific activities that support the development and enhance the capacity of organizations, agencies, and projects focusing on critical issues and needs in Asian American communities in the Boston area. Students also are expected to reflect critically on what they learn in the process both about themselves and about the organizational and community contexts in which they work.
001057:1 |
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ASAMST 397 - Applied Research in Asian American Studies I 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course enables qualified undergraduates to participate in applied research projects directed by a faculty member affiliated with the Asian American Studies Program. Students engage in the research process through clarifying questions and reviewing relevant literature, designing appropriate methods for data collection and analysis, and sharing findings and recommendations. Project topics and faculty sponsors are announced before the beginning of each semester.
010620:1 |
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ASAMST 398 - Applied Research in Asian American Studies II 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course enables qualified undergraduates to participate in applied research projects directed by a faculty member affiliated with the Asian American Studies Program. Students engage in the research process through clarifying questions and reviewing relevant literature, designing appropriate methods for data collection and analysis, and sharing findings and recommendations. Project topics and faculty sponsors are announced before the beginning of each semester.
010621:1 |
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ASAMST 420 - Advanced Topics 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This advanced course offers intensive study of selected topics in the field of Asian American studies. Course content and credits vary according to topic.
010622:1 |
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ASAMST 423 - Boston’s Asian American Communities Formerly ASAMST 423L 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This advanced research seminar examines the dynamics of ethnicity and community change in Asian American communities. Using theories of community development and methods of community research, students analyze Boston’s Asian American communities as case studies of complex social systems. The course also looks at current research on immigrant acculturation, ethnic enclave economies, and the community control movement.
000171:1 |
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ASAMST 478 - Independent Study I 1 - 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course offers individuals and groups of students the opportunity to work with a specific faculty member on an approved project or plan of study in the field of Asian American Studies.
010623:1 |
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ASAMST 479 - Independent Study II 1 - 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course offers individuals and groups of students the opportunity to work with a specific faculty member on an approved project or plan of study in the field of Asian American Studies.
010624:1 |
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ASAMST 497 - Teaching and Learning in Asian American Studies I 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This seminar course enables advanced undergraduates, by invitation of the program, to develop conceptual approaches and directed practice relevant to pedagogy and curriculum design in the field of Asian American Studies. Students design and implement semester-long projects that address critical issues of teaching and learning with Asian American Studies content and/or Asian American student populations.
010625:1 |
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ASAMST 498 - Teaching and Learning in Asian American Studies II 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This seminar course enables advanced undergraduates, by invitation of the program, to develop conceptual approaches and directed practice relevant to pedagogy and curriculum design in the field of Asian American Studies. Students design and implement semester-long projects that address critical issues of teaching and learning with Asian American Studies content and/or Asian American student populations.
010626:1 |
Asian Studies |
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ASIAN 104L - Introduction to East Asian Art 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course is an introduction to East Asian art, focusing on Japan and China. It is divided into three historical segments: early forms of Buddhism, paintings of the scholar class, and the interaction of tradition with imported Western cultural forms. These topics provide a comparative context for exploring style, culture, class and gender. ART 104L and ASIAN 104L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
031940:2 |
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ASIAN 112L - Religions of Asia 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course surveys the major religions of South, Southeast, and East Asia: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Shinto, with attention also to Asian Islam and Christianity. The focus is on central teachings, practices, and institutions in their historical and social contexts, as well as interactions between these traditions. The course also considers the enduring vitality of these traditions in the modern world, in and beyond Asia. RELSTY 112L and ASIAN 112L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
039771:2 |
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ASIAN 115L - Survey of South Asia Formerly Survey of Contemporary Asia 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course introduces students to aspects of history, society and culture in early modern and modern South Asia to demonstrate its diversity and richness, and the variety of human experience in this region. This course is designed as a gateway for the Asian Studies major and satisfies Asian History breadth requirements for the History major. ASIAN 115L and HIST 115L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
035806:1 |
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ASIAN 155L - Great Books of East Asia: Classics of Love and War 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This class introduces students to some of the most famous works of literature in China, Japan, and Korea before 1900. The semester is divided into two parts: the first half examines poetry and fiction in which romances are centrally featured, and the second half looks at stories that present specific points of view about major wars, battles, and acts of violence. The course will provide a broad knowledge of premodern literature in East Asia, as well as of cultural and historical contexts that are relevant to the texts.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
040031:1 |
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ASIAN 160L - East Asian Civilizations to 1850 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: An introduction to the traditional civilizations of China, Japan, and to a lesser extent Korea, from the earliest times to the arrival of the modern industrial West in the mid-nineteenth century. (Course offered in the fall only.) ASIAN 160L and HIST 160L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
000532:1 |
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ASIAN 161L - East Asian Civilizations since 1850 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: An introduction to the modern transformation of China, Japan, and, to a lesser extent, Korea, from their encounter with the industrial West in the mid-nineteenth century up to the present day. (Course offered in the spring only.) ASIAN 161L and HIST 161L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
000531:1 |
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ASIAN 212L - Traditional Japanese Architecture 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Traditional Japanese Architecture introduces major forms of Japanese architecture, garden, and building practice prior to contact with the west. Students learn about Japan’s two major religions, Shinto and Buddhism, and discover how its architecture gives from to ideas about divinity, ritual, and national identity, by closely studying both the ways that Japanese city plans, and government buildings, illuminate notions of class identity and power, and the distinctive aesthetic principles embodied in residential and leisure sites. All of these examples show how culture provides a vital framework for thought and form. The study of its architecture prior to Japan’s opening to the West helps us understand how modern Japan builds upon its traditions as its engages with issues of contemporary life.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
040267:2 |
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ASIAN 232L - Asian Religions 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course focuses mainly on Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism, briefly touching also on Hinduism, Confucianism, and Shinto. It situates the classical teachings of these traditions in their historical contexts in India and East Asia, compares them to other worldviews more prevalent in the West, and invites students to consider their possible relevance to life in the world today. ASIAN 232L and RELSTY 232L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
000256:1 |
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ASIAN 233L - Introduction to Islam 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course acquaints students with the broad outline of the Islamic religion, including its origins and historical development, its sacred scriptures, and the main beliefs and practices of Muslims. It also considers Islam’s mystical dimension, its aesthetic expressions, its views of gender relations, and its orientation in the modern world.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
027397:2 |
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ASIAN 235L - Yoga in History, Philosophy, and Practice 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines the history, philosophies, and practices of Yoga in their religious and cultural contexts. In the modern west, Yoga has become popular as a secular form of exercise. However, the diverse Yoga traditions of India have also involved sophisticated analyses of the mind and systems of mediation. Intrinsic to no single religion, Yoga has had roles in most South Asian traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sufism or Islamic mysticism. The course surveys this rich history and the history of the various forms of meditative and physical discipline Yoga has entailed.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
039205:1 |
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ASIAN 239L - Hindu Myth and Narrative: the Epics and Puranas 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course studies Hinduism through its narrative literature, especially the great epics (the Mahabharata and Ramayana) and mythological texts (Puranas - the “Ancient Books”). Through stories of gods, devotees, villains, and heroes, the course explores the development of significant themes in the Hindu tradition, from ethics and philosophy to asceticism and religious devotion. An important focus of the course is the enduring cultural significance of myth and the epics of South and Southeast Asia, as retold through the ages in a variety of languages, cultural contexts, and media, including classical and vernacular texts, the oral tradition, drama, dance, and cinema.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
039433:1 |
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ASIAN 252L - Premodern Japanese Culture:From Ancient Times to 1868 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course surveys Japanese culture from the 8th century to the 19th century, with particular emphasis on literature, history, as well as contemporary material culture and social history. All readings are in English, and no knowledge of Japanese is required.
Course Attribute(s): Diversity Area: International
020671:2 |
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ASIAN 265L - Icons of East Asia: Stereotypes, gender, and cultural history from geisha girls to martial masters 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: The purpose of this class is to explore, critically and comparatively, various discourses about popular cultural icons of East Asia. We will focus on two specific well-known examples - women entertainers and male figures adapt at martial arts- with the following aims: 1) to focus on specific historical contexts, which suggest how and why these categories were formed and became important; 2) to understand how dynamic and motivated these seemingly unchanging and timeless icons actually are; and 3) to investigate how gendered identities are constructed and manipulated for particular goals. ASIAN 265L and MLLC 265L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
037593:2 |
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ASIAN 271L - Religion and the Arts 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines the interplay between religion and aesthetics, as expressed through the literary, visual, and performing arts. Structured thematically rather than by religious tradition, this course covers topics such as religious seeing, visual representation of the divine through icons and iconography, iconoclasm and the power of images, aniconism, calligraphy and geometric design, sacred space and religious architecture, religion and the book arts, religious music, dance, and drama, visual narrativization, and religious ritual as performance. ASIAN 271L and RELSTY 271L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: The Arts
039367:2 |
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ASIAN 275L - Peoples and Cultures of China 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course describes and analyzes China and Chinese society through the perspective of culture. By looking at the ways in which Chinese people lead their lives, the beliefs and ideas they place importance upon and the ways in which these ideas are manifested in people’s actions, we hope to gain a more thorough understanding of China as a social, political and economic entity, and a more nuanced and analytical understanding of China’s diverse peoples. Some of the themes we will address include the following: unity and diversity in Chinese society, the role of the family, the place of the state, food and eating, gender relations, ritual and religion, popular culture (particularly movies and opera), economic and social change, nationalism and international relations. ANTH 275L and ASIAN 275L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
036997:2 |
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ASIAN 335L - Literature and the Arts of the Islamic World 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines the development of literature and the arts of the Islamic world from the early Islamic period to the modern day, focusing upon the specific ways in which religion interacted with the cultures of Islamic lands to inform these developments. The course will draw upon visual, performing, and literary traditions from across the Islamic world, from Andalusia to Mughal India, and from Indonesia to the Caribbean. Through the semester, students will be exposed to a diversity of geographical, religious, devotional, sectarian, and gender perspectives. This is a hands-on, interactive course designed with the support of the Mellon Foundation.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: A minimum of 15 credits
041509:1 |
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ASIAN 357L - Women in South Asian Religions: Gender Ideology and Practice in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines women in South Asian history through the intersections of women’s lives with three major faith traditions of the subcontinent - Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Using historical, literary, and anthropological lenses the course will consider how various institutions of authority - patriarchy, religion, and the state - have shaped and reshaped gender ideology in South Asia, and how women, throughout South Asia’s history, have, in turn, interpreted and negotiated their position in society.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
038176:1 |
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ASIAN 358L - Psychology, Politics, and Philosophy in East Asia 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Why do attitudes in China, Korea, and Japan differ from Western attitudes on such issues as human rights; individualism and community; child rearing; moral and psychological development; the role of government; and proper behavior in business organizations? This course explores the roots of these differences in the Confucian tradition. ASIAN 358L and RELSTY 358L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
000254:1 |
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ASIAN 359L - Women in Modern China 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines the social and cultural roles of Chinese women, and their changes over time. Emphasis is given to twentieth-century China, especially the People’s Republic period. ASIAN 359L and HIST 359L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
000004:1 |
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ASIAN 360L - Traditional China 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: A survey of traditional China from ancient times to about 1800, with emphasis on cultural, intellectual, and social developments. ASIAN 360L and HIST 360L are the same course.
000529:1 |
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ASIAN 361L - The History of Modern China 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: A survey of the political, social, and intellectual development of China from 1800 to the present, with emphasis on Sino-Western relations and twentieth century reform and revolution. (Course offered in the fall only.) ASIAN 361L and HIST 361L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Diversity Area: International
000528:1 |
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ASIAN 362L - Japanese Art from 16th to 20th Centuries: Japan and the West 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course looks at Japanese art across mediums during the sixteenth through twentieth centuries; in Japanese historical terms, from the Momoyama through Meiji periods. The course will pay particular attention to how Japanese are engaged with the West and Western art, beginning with Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century, moving the so-called “period of isolation” from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, and concluding with the opening of Japan following Commodore Perry’s arrival in 1853.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: ART /ASIAN 104L or ART 256 or ASIAN /JAPAN 252L or JAPAN 270 or ASIAN /HIST 115L or ASIAN /HIST 160L
033334:2 |
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ASIAN 363L - Modern Japan 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: A historical survey of economic, social, political and cultural developments in Japan from 1800 to the present, special consideration of economic and foreign policy problems. ASIAN 363L and HIST 363L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Diversity Area: International
000527:1 |
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ASIAN 366L - Re-made in Asia: Tellings and re-tellings from the Buddha to Godzilla 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: What is a “remake”? Why are people interested in stories that are told and re-told, sometimes in many versions? This class explores narratives that travel across time and space in Asia, in order to find some answers to these questions. The purpose of this class is to consider how texts from the past are rendered relevant to concerns contemporary to the remakes. Students are expected to have taken at least one 200-level course related to Asia.
Course Attribute(s): Distribution Area: World Cultures | Diversity Area: International
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: One 200-level course.
038364:1 |
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ASIAN 371 - Environmental Issues in China 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course will analyze China’s environmental and resource challenges including food security, wildlife, conservation, water, air, and land pollution, water distribution, deforestation, desertification and population control. We will study the issues from economic, scientific, and social perspectives and look at solutions as well as causes. We will also study China’s environmental initiatives and accomplishments. Topics covered include pollution remediation, environmental protection,and investments in clean energy technology.
037407:1 |
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ASIAN 478 - Independent Study 1 - 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: For those with special interest in a project dealing with East Asia.
Enrollment Requirements: Instructor consent
013493:1 |
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ASIAN 480 - Topics in Asian Studies 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit up to 3 times/9 credits
Description: Variable content course: offered on an irregular basis.
013488:1 |
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ASIAN 488L - The Idea of Asia 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This course examines the imagination of Asia from a variety of perspectives: historical, economic, religious, philosophical, literary, and artistic. It begin from the extreme social and cultural diversity of the continent as it is currently defined, and asks first, how the idea of a coherent Asia was constructed; and second, what effects this idea has had in both “Asian” and “European” history. This course fulfills the capstone requirement for the Asian Studies major. ASIAN 488L and MLLC 488L are the same course.
Course Attribute(s): Diversity Area: International
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisites: ASIAN /HIST 115L and PHIL 297 and two 200-level or higher ASIAN courses and a minimum of 90 credits
037070:1 |
Biochemistry |
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BIOCHM 187S - Science Gateway Seminar I 2 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This is a two-semester sequence, two credits each semester. Successful completion of the sequence will fulfill the student’s First-Year Seminar requirement. Course content will vary with instructor, but will focus on discussion of topics with broad societal impact, and will have important scientific underpinnings, with a particular focus on biochemistry. Using this approach, students will become increasingly familar with and experienced in scientific discourse, the scientif method, and important new scientific findings. Using this scientific framework, the course will address objectives of the UMass Boston First Year Seminar Program.
Course Attribute(s): Gateway Seminar
036085:1 |
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BIOCHM 188S - Science Gateway Seminar II 2 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: This is a two-semester sequence, two credits each semester. Successful completion of the sequence will fulfill the student’s First-Year Seminar requirement. Course content will vary with instructor, but will focus on discussion of topics with broad societal impact, and will have important scientific underpinnings, with a particular focus on biochemistry. Using this approach, students will become increasingly familar with and experienced in scientific discourse, the scientif method, and important new scientific findings. Using this scientific framework, the course will address objectives of the UMass Boston First Year Seminar Program.
Course Attribute(s): Gateway Seminar
036086:1 |
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BIOCHM 383 - Biochemistry I 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: In the first of a two-semester sequence, the chemistry of life processes is discussed in terms of structure and biological function of proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and other cellular components. Special emphasis is given to protein structure and function, enzymology, carbohydrate metabolism, transport mechanisms, energy transformations, and photosynthesis. It is recommended that BIOCHM 385 be taken concurrently.
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisites:
010953:1 |
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BIOCHM 384 - Biochemistry II 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: In the second of a two-semester sequence, discussion of cellular function is continued. The topics are biochemistry and synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins, structural motifs in protein folding, metabolism of lipids and amino acids, nitrogen fixation, molecular immunology, hormones, ion channels, neurochemistry, biological applications of nuclear resonance and biochemical evolution.
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisites:
010954:1 |
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BIOCHM 471 - Readings in Biochemistry I 1 - 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Topics vary depending on instructor. Contact the Chemistry Department or Biology Department for specific topics each semester.
010957:1 |
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BIOCHM 472 - Readings in Biochemistry II 1 - 3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Course can be counted for credit once
Description: Topics vary depending on instructor. Contact the Chemistry Department or Biology Department for specific topics each semester.
010958:1 |
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