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.

This course provides an overview of the science of weather and meteorology. In addition, there will be class discussions on current weather, especially as it relates to concepts discussed in class. The objective of this course is to provide you with a sound foundation in weather terminology and concepts, and an understanding of WNY’s weather, to prepare you for further study, and to provide you with an appreciation of weather in your daily life, in your travels, or in the news

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. 

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 aims to cultivate informed, responsible, and active citizens through the study of literature, media, and film. By examining various narratives, we will explore cultural and societal comparisons, significant historical events, and influential figures, and their lasting impacts on the present. Students will gain insights into cultural diversity, social structures, and community interactions. Engaging with current events, the course encourages the application of learned concepts to real-world situations, fostering critical thinking, source evaluation, and the analysis of diverse perspectives. This approach promotes the development of strong analytical and research skills.

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.

Exploration of culture, diversity, inclusion, personal biases, power, privilege, intersectionality, and the role of social work in addressing anti-racism, anti-discrimination, and anti-oppression

This survey course examines the main events that shaped Europe and its relationship to the rest of the world from 1914 until the end of the twentieth century.  Topics include World War I, the Russian Revolution, the rise of fascism, World War II, the Cold War, decolonization, and the collapse of Soviet Communism. Most attention will be paid to political history, but we will also pay attention to important social, economic, cultural and intellectual developments.

This course fulfills the World & Global GE23 category and the Western Civilization IF14 category.

A thematic and problem-based inquiry into selected aspects of the evolution of architecture in Western Civilization. 

This course fulfills the World & Global GE23 category and the Western Civilization IF14 category.

This class offers an interdisciplinary introduction to lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer, asexual, intersex, 2-spirited, + studies. Using films, television shows, literature, archival materials and community conversations, we will explore LGBTQAI@+ communities and identities from ancient history through the present. We will pay special attention to social constructions of gender and sexuality and their intersections with race, class, and ethnicity.  We will focus mainly on the U.S. and especially on Buffalo, which has a rich and well documented LGBTQ+ history.  

In this course we will look at the phenomenon of haunting/ghostliness/spectrality that manifests consistently across ethnic and diverse literatures. In some of the texts we will be looking at we have literal ghosts that emerge in the narrative, while in other texts haunting functions are broad motif that marks the work. Some of the questions that we will consider is why the persistence of ghosts and the ghostly in late 20th century and early 21st century literary production? What are the ghosts try to tell us? What are they reminders or remainders of? How do we live with the ghostly? Some of the writers we may consider include Jesmyn Ward, Maxine Hong Kingston, Toni Morrison, Daniel Jose Older, Louise Erdrich and Junot Diaz. 

Exploration of culture, diversity, inclusion, personal biases, power, privilege, intersectionality, and the role of social work in addressing anti-racism, anti-discrimination, and anti-oppression

This course will examine the social construction of gender identities and gender roles through the study of the material culture of past human societies.  Students will consider how we recognize gender in the archaeological record and how present-day understandings of gender and gender roles might influence our interpretation of human behavior in the past.  Archaeological examples will be drawn from cultures around the world.    

New York’s second-largest city serves as our textbook in this experiential learning course – including its people, neighborhoods, culture, architecture, history, geopolitical location, cuisine, and more. Through a combination of direct observation, mapping exercises, interviews, discussions, and reflections, we will work together to build a deeper understanding of the City of Buffalo and challenge our own perceptions along the way. Students will examine various dichotomies that exist throughout the city to answer questions such as: Who defines a place, and how? Is the “City of Good Neighbors” a reality for all? 

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

In this class, we will explore works on urban animals and how they live among and with humans. From cats in Istanbul to raccoons in Toronto, the "animal turn" has opened new ways of thinking about animal-human relationships. We will cover works by anthropologists, biologists, and historians. Requirements include attending, participating, reading and engaging with written and visual materials, as well as conducting small research assignments outside of class. 

THIS CLASS DOES NOT FULFILL GEN ED REQUIREMENTS

This course asks that you suspend many of the presuppositions you’ve held about literary and cultural analysis. Instead of trying to interpret the meaning of particular literary and cultural texts, we’ll take a step back and examine the very reasons we ask certain questions about the books we read, the culture we consume, and the knowledge we disseminate.  At one time (1980s-1990s), such a course was not without controversy, and courses such as this are under attack again, precisely because we are reexamining the relationships among literature, politics, and other forms of social interaction, and asking important questions such as: what do we read?  how do we read?  and why do we read?  We will study various thinkers from the major critical movements of the 20th and 21st centuries: formalism, structuralism, Marxism, psychoanalytic criticism, deconstruction, postcolonial studies, ethnic studies, feminist studies, theories of gender and sexuality, new historicism, and cultural studies, among others.  Some of the readings might feel familiar, others will be new.  Like you, critical theorists are part of an ever-evolving web of intellectual ideas.

THIS CLASS DOES NOT FULFILL GEN ED REQUIREMENTS

This is a course on American constitutional law, focused on governmental powers. The course makes use of the case-study method with a focus on judicial review, separation of powers, federalism, the growth of executive authority, and the emergence of the administrative state.

THIS CLASS DOES NOT FULFILL GEN ED REQUIREMENTS

This course explores ways in which society is sensitive to weather and climate, something which is becoming increasingly apparent in a warming world. Themes include tourism, human health, human behavior, economics, environment, agriculture, hazard management, to name but a few. The course is designed to be topical where the ordering and emphasis of content each semester is driven, in part, by current events.

THIS CLASS DOES NOT FULFILL GEN ED REQUIREMENTS. It does count toward the Environmental Geography major.

The literature of realism promises to tell the stories of ordinary people and their everyday struggles. Emerging as a literary form during the American Civil War, realism quickly grew in popularity and remains the dominant mode of literary fiction today. This course surveys the historical roots of literary realism in America and its enduring legacy. We will read various sub-genres within American realism, including regionalism/ local color, psychological realism, and naturalism, as well as contemporary adaptations of its aesthetics and concerns. 

THIS CLASS DOES NOT FULFILL GEN ED REQUIREMENTS

This course examines the global burden of disease and its impact on morbidity, mortality, and human development. We will explore how diseases have changed over our cultural evolution and shaped our biological evolution, as well as how cultural and personal practices influence disease. We will explore epidemiological concepts through recent events and investigate racism as a public health crisis. 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.

THIS CLASS DOES NOT FULFILL GEN ED REQUIREMENTS

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.

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.