University Seminars

Follow the history and evolution of cellphone cinema to understand how technological advancements have not only made the industry more accessible, but have also created stylistic movements that continue to influence the industry to this day. Additionally, students will both watch landmark films produced entirely on cellphone and go out into their communities to create their own short cellphone films in order to better understand the connection between production methods and the narrative themes that are unique to the field of cellphone cinema.

What does it mean to be a citizen of the world? This course will explore this question from a historical, political, cultural and personal perspective. Students will develop a clearer understanding of what citizenship is, a clearer understanding of the ways citizenship is changing as a result of globalization, and a strategy to enact change in an era of globalization.

The class will explore the question of where one’s identities come from. The class will look at global issues, such as climate change, crimes against humanity, and global poverty. What role have global citizens played in addressing these issues in the past? What will the emerging role of “global citizens” be in the future? Students will ultimately be required to take a perspective on what citizenship in a global era means for each of them. What are the rights and responsibilities associated with being a global citizen?

Finally, we will raise questions about social change. Historically, how have definitions of citizenship been used to bring about social change? How is this different in light of globalization? How can global citizens have a positive influence on global issues? What are the change mechanisms through which they can act?

In times of personal and social upheaval and uncertainty, people have always turned to poetry. This seminar delves into this phenomenon, focusing on recent and contemporary poets whose work responds to the uncertainty, anxieties, and social-justice struggles of our current time. Students draft and share their own poems inspired by and responding to these poets; they will also experience how creative work itself helps feed our souls and shows us paths forward. Designed for students with or without experience in writing poetry, the course includes instruction and exercises in specific techniques and skills. It has a Writing designation and requires three short essays as well as a portfolio of revised, polished poems.

This course explores the relationship between art making and entrepreneurship with an active focus on self-discovery. Using the seminar format, classes consist of group discussions, lectures, projects, independent work (readings/videos), guest speakers, and field trips. The course has an online syllabus and website, including electronic versions of all readings/texts, links to artists, writers, theorists, galleries, business people, films, videos, case studies, and other online content; accounting and marketing software, e-commerce, social media, etc. Course content is organized into three units. “Unit I. Models” includes a historical and visual survey of entrepreneurship in the arts, including visual, theoretical, and quantitative analyses of artist/entrepreneur case studies, guest speakers, and online resources. In “Unit II: Creative Notions: Philosophies/Ethics/Commerce,” students address the questions and concepts raised in the process of blending art with commodity, contracts, copyright, intellectual property, budgeting, and financial statements. In “Unit III: Practice: Business Planning for a Creative Enterprise,” students carry out a practical application of course concepts by creating a business plan, using both visual and quantitative reasoning in their arts-entrepreneurial business plan development.