Course Schedule

Introduction to the study of sustainability and human-environment interactions. Applies the principles of sustainability to current environmental and social problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss, energy and resource use, waste management, food security, and environmental justice.

Introduction to biological anthropology and archeology. Biological anthropology: evolutionary theory and genetics, the human fossil record, and the study of non-human primates. Archeology scientifically reconstructs past cultures: the basics of archeological data and dating methods. The transformation from a hunting and gathering lifestyle to one based on food production and the consequences of this transformation that include, in some instances, the development of complex sociopolitical institutions and state societies.

This course includes a basic framework of political and economic historical developments in U.S. history, but it will focus more on post-1877 social, ethnic, cultural, and religious movements within a nation having ever greater interaction with the rest of the world. We will read a wide range of documents from a wide variety of people in the past, to research, analyze and discuss problems, proposed solutions, and outcomes over the past century and a half.

Music is a language.  The organization of tones communicates in a manner mere words cannot.  This course will decipher the language of classical music and put it in its proper historical context for a deeper understanding of a unique syntax.  We will examine how the language of classical music is shaped by a culture and how the music contributes to molding a civilization.  The course will also address the symbiotic relationship between music and other languages such as architecture, the visual arts, and literature.  No musical background is necessary.

New York’s second-largest city serves as our textbook in this experiential learning course.  In this course we will venture out to see of the most emblematic sites of the city and discuss what makes the city identifiable as text. During out travels and our in-class time, we will be examining the topic of the title of the course, “The Queen City: The Story Beyond the Surface.” As a group we will examine the history, culture, cuisine, and lived experience of those within the city.
Students MUST be available to participate in up to 10 off-campus explorations during the semester to be scheduled on Friday afternoons-early evenings from approximately 2:00-5:00pm. These excursions will involve considerable walking and use of public transportation.
Students MUST be available to participate in SIX off-campus explorations during the semester to be scheduled on Thursday afternoons from approximately 3:05-6:00pm. These excursions will involve considerable walking and use of public transportation.
THIS CLASS DOES NOT FULFILL GEN ED REQUIREMENTS

African history since 1800. Abolition of the slave trade, pre-colonial culture and society, partition of Africa by European nations, impact of colonial regimes, African resistance movements, colonial nationalism, world wars and decolonization, Apartheid in South Africa, impact of the Cold War, and neo-colonialism.

This course focuses on an introduction to generalist social work practice in the United States, social work values, roles, and settings of practice, as well as contemporary issues facing social workers with emphasis on social work practice with vulnerable populations.

What is the relationship between regime type and political stability? Does economic growth contribute to development? How has experience with colonialism shaped the domestic and international politics of post-colonial states? How has globalization affected relations between the developing world and the developed? These are but a few of the many questions that this course will aim to tackle as we review the political, social, and economic structures of developing countries.

This course examines the history and development of democracy with strong emphasis on comparing and analyzing various elements of democracy found throughout the Western and Non-Western world in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

TBD

Students will assess their current wellness and health status considering the interrelated dimensions of physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, social, environmental, occupational/financial, and community health. Students will practice and reflect on individual decision making to maintain and/or improve their personal and community wellness and safety. Students will 1) identify personal strengths and areas for improvement, implement and reflect on their behavior change process to achieve SMART goals in the dimensions of health; 2) develop and present their chosen career pathway; 3) identify a critical health issue for Buffalo State students and design, create, and present a public service announcement to address that issue. Course includes discussions of current health topics of interest to University students as well as several hands-on and applied opportunities related to all dimensions of health.

In this course we will examine the rise, transformation and ongoing consequences (through to the present) of a modern global market society. We will begin with the European expansion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and focus on how new international patterns of production and trade in commodities developed and how these patterns transformed the societies and individual consumption habits of the regions involved.  In the middle section of the course we will focus on the industrial revolution and its consequences for the further development of global networks of production and exchange. In the last section of the course, we will examine more recent (twentieth and twenty-first century) changes in patterns of global production and exchange and think about our location with these networks. This course is also intended to familiarize you with some of the most important ideas and works in various social science disciplines, including anthropology, economics, history and sociology. So, we will also pay close attention to the different disciplinary methods we encounter in the books and articles we read.

In this course, we will be exploring diverse novels with a shared theme or resistance. While our novels and their thematic concerns will vary, they all speak to systems of oppression and violence that is resisted in varied ways. Some of this resistance may be political, while other novels will explore resistance as personal and existential.  All of the texts we are looking at are by contemporary writers, though they are not necessarily set in the contemporary period, and all invite us, in different ways to think about what resistance—to structures, to social expectations and norms, to beliefs—looks like and what it may cost the individual.

In this course, we will be exploring diverse novels with a shared theme or resistance. While our novels and their thematic concerns will vary, they all speak to systems of oppression and violence that is resisted in varied ways. Some of this resistance may be political, while other novels will explore resistance as personal and existential. All of the texts we are looking at are by contemporary writers, though they are not necessarily set in the contemporary period, and all invite us, in different ways to think about what resistance—to structures, to social expectations and norms, to beliefs—looks like and what it may cost the individual.

TBD
THIS CLASS DOES NOT FULFILL GEN ED REQUIREMENTS – it does count as an elective in any COM major, and towards the Women in Gender Studies and Film Studies minors.

This course examines the living prosimians, monkeys, and apes. We will explore taxonomy, social organization, feeding and ranging, community ecology, and conservation. Content will focus on field studies of natural populations. This course is not structured like a typical course, where I lecture and you take notes during class meetings. Instead, I have recorded lecture videos and posted them to Brightspace. You are responsible for watching the videos and taking notes before each Monday class. This will allow us to engage in active learning activities in class, synthesizing and diving deeper into the material.

In this course we will examine the rise, transformation and ongoing consequences (through to the present) of a modern global market society. We will begin with the European expansion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and focus on how new international patterns of production and trade in commodities developed and how these patterns transformed the societies and individual consumption habits of the regions involved.  In the middle section of the course we will focus on the industrial revolution and its consequences for the further development of global networks of production and exchange. In the last section of the course, we will examine more recent (twentieth and twenty-first century) changes in patterns of global production and exchange and think about our location with these networks. This course is also intended to familiarize you with some of the most important ideas and works in various social science disciplines, including anthropology, economics, history and sociology. So, we will also pay close attention to the different disciplinary methods we encounter in the books and articles we read.

TBD

This course considers film as both product and (re)producer of North American culture. In this course we will investigate cultural, political, aesthetic, ideological, and historical constructions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class and disability as represented and explored through the medium of film. We will learn how to critically analyze film structures, techniques and content and pay special attention to narratives that challenge fictional conventional around race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, class and disability as well to intersections between these categories. We will also explore differences between storytelling, representations and techniques in mainstream and independent films and explore what happens when people from marginalized communities are writing, producing and/or directing those films. Ultimately, we will consider the overall role of film representations and filmmakers in building and sustaining a diverse and democratic society. THIS CLASS DOES NOT FULFILL GEN ED REQUIREMENTS – it does count as an elective in any COM major, and towards the Women in Gender Studies and Film Studies minors.

Course focusing on researched writing and composition across academic communities and scholarly situations. Written and multimodal projects continue to develop students’ rhetorical use of critical reading and thinking; informational literacy; knowledge of conventions; and recursive writing processes.

All Honors students preparing to graduate should enroll in this course. During this course students will complete career-related assignments, read a social justice-focused book and produce a project around a social justice theme, describe their applied learning experience, and provide feedback for the Honors Program and other areas on campus. 
THIS CLASS WILL MEET AT A MUTUALLY AGREED ON TIME FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE ENROLLED. There will be an online or in-class option and the class meets infrequently over the course of the semester. The instructor will contact students the first week of class to determine the first meeting time and place.