Courses

• CAS BI 594: Topics in Biology
  Examines contemporary topics in the biological sciences. Topics can include behavioral biology, cell and molecular biology, ecology and conservation biology, evolution, neurobiology, biochemistry, or other issues in current biological research. This course may be repeated for credit if the topic is different each time.
• CAS BI 598: Neural Circuits
  Reviews modern techniques and toolsets that are capable of dissecting neural circuits, which are critical for understanding how coordinated patterns of neural activity lead to complex behavior. Recent literature on information processing, guided behavior and cognition is discussed. Also offered as CAS NE 598.
• CAS BI 599: Physiology of the Synapse (PER/Neuro)
  Neuron development and maturation, synapse formation, structure and molecular components of synapses, synaptic transmission, synaptic plasticity, neurotransmitter receptors, cellular basis for learning and memory, synaptic pathology in neurological diseases. Two hours lecture, two hours paper presentation and discussion.
• CAS CC 101: Core Humanities I: Ancient Worlds
  The origins of civilization, an interdisciplinary study. Beginning with Mesopotamia and the Hebrew Bible, we move on to the development of Greek civilization through Homer, tragedy, and the philosophy of Plato. Students also engage with the visual culture of ancient Greece and the relation of beauty and power by examining the Parthenon and works at the Museum of Fine Arts. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS CC 102: Core Humanities II: The Way: Antiquity and the Medieval World
  How to live: examining Aristotle, Confucius, Laozi, the Bhagavad-gita, Virgil, and the Gospels, students compare Biblical and Classical, and explore Eastern, views of "The Way," or the best human life, concluding with Dante's Divine Comedy. A study of Western and Asian art at the Museum of Fine Arts brings out the contrast of traditions and highlights our focus on the relation of the individual to culture and to nature. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS CC 111: Core Natural Science I: Origins
  The origins of the physical world, a scientific parallel to CC 101. Explores how the fields of astronomy, earth science, biology, and anthropology help us to understand our place in the cosmos from a scientific perspective. Topics include Big Bang theory, evolution of the stars and earth, evolution of life, and the origins of human life and society. Assignments include computer-based and experimental laboratory work. Carries natural sciences (with lab) divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS CC 112: Core Social Science I: Religion, Community, and the Birth of the Social Sciences
  Examines the religious basis of society and attempts to reform it (St. Augustine, Luther and Calvin, John Locke), early European attempts to understand other cultures (Spanish missionaries in Latin America, Jesuits in China), concluding with twentieth-century social scientists analyzing religious experience (William James, Durkheim, Evans-Pritchard). We discuss what is a just war, whether we have natural rights, and whether tolerance is a utopian ideal. Carries social sciences divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS CC 201: Core Humanities III: The Renaissance, Rediscovery, and Reformation
  Reading Petrarch, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Descartes, we examine the revival of the Classics and explore the new interest in the physical world. Topics studied include the rise of national literatures, the origins of modern political and scientific thought, and the beginning of the novel. The art of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and the music of Bach complete this journey through a period that laid the foundations of the modern world. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS CC 202: Core Humanities IV: From the Enlightenment to Modernity: Journey from the Enlightenment through the Romantic Revolt to the Modern World
  Through Voltaire, Kant, Rousseau, Austen, the English Romantic Poets, Whitman and Dickinson, and the music of Beethoven, we examine questions of social hierarchy and what it means to know, the relation of subjectivity to reason, and our relationship with nature. A look at the radical perspective of Nietzsche, returning to 20th-century America with W.E.B. DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk, and ending with Virginia Woolf's Modernist response to World War I. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS CC 211: Core Social Science II: Power, Political Forms, and Economics
  Considers the major events and processes that have shaped the modern world both in the United States and globally and looks at the roots of these changes in the works studied in first year Core. Ideas of human rights and self-determination, the relation of the individual and society, and the relation of power and economics to society. Readings are drawn from classic works of social and political theory: Thucydides, Ibn Khaldun, Hobbes, Rousseau, Tocqueville, Weber, Adam Smith, Marx, Durkheim, and Malinowski. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS CC 212: Core Natural Science II: Reality, Science, and the Modern World
  Studies the paradigm-shifting scientific theories which created a new world-view and forced the 20th century into a new understanding of our relation to reality, beginning with quantum theory and relativity and then exploring the Second Law of Thermodynamics, emergent properties, neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Carries natural science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS CC 250: Core Capstone
  A workshop for students pursuing the Core Interdisciplinary Minor to develop skills in writing, presentation, and public speaking. Students learn to synthesize, refine, and share conclusions reached in pursuit of their capstone project.
• CAS CG 111: Beginning Modern Greek 1
  Course may not be elected by anyone with previous study of modern Greek without consent of the department. Provides a basic reading knowledge of modern Greek (demotic) and introduces students to the spoken language.
• CAS CG 112: Beginning Modern Greek 2
  Review of grammar and syntax of modern Greek, reading in both prose and poetry, intensive oral practice.
• CAS CG 211: Intermediate Modern Greek 1
  Intensive review of modern Greek grammar and syntax and drill material from CAS CG 111 and 112. Development of advanced oral and reading skills.
• CAS CG 212: Intermediate Modern Greek 2
  Discussion in Greek on everyday themes. Development of reading skills through the analysis of contemporary texts. Analysis of contrasting modes of expression and their influence on separate national cultures in Greek and in English.
• CAS CG 350: The Modern Greek Short Story
  A study of Greek short fiction from its beginnings to the present with emphasis on its historical context and cultural ideologies. Close reading of Papadiamantis, Vizyenos, Myrivilis, Venezix, Nollas, Gritse-Milliex, and others. Conducted in Greek.
• CAS CG 356: The Modern Greek Novel
  A study of representative modern Greek novels with analysis relating the author's work to the rest of his life and the situation in Greece. Cannot be taken for credit in addition to CAS CL 356.
• CAS CG 357: Modern Greek Culture and Film
  Introduction to Greek cultural, social, historical, political, economic, and religious issues through a range of films that have reflected and shaped contemporary Greek society. Entertainment, education, popular culture, propaganda, and identity- and nation-building practices as reflected in Greek cinema. Also offered as CAS CI 378.
• CAS CG 359: Cavafy and History
  A study of the Modern Greek poet, Konstantinos Kavafis (Cavafy), addressing the historical background, themes, and settings of his works, which treat periods ranging from the Trojan War through the Hellenistic Period to Late Antiquity. Taught in English. Also offered as CAS CL 359.

Back to full list of College of Arts & Sciences