Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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- African American & Black Diaspora Studies
- African Studies: African Languages: Akan Twi, Amharic, Igbo, Kiswahili (Swahili), Wolof, isiXhosa, Yoruba, isiZulu
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- Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies
- Writing
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CAS WR 120: First-Year Writing Seminar
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASWR 112, placement results, or transfer credit for WR 02TR (for English language learners only). - Topic-based seminar in critical reading and writing. Engagement with a variety of sources and practice in writing in a range of genres with particular attention to argumentation, prose style, and revision, informed by reflection and feedback, including individual conferences. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: First-Year Writing Seminar. -
CAS WR 151: Writing, Research, & Inquiry with Oral and/or Signed Expression
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g. CASWR 120) or transfer credit for CASWR 13TR or CAS WR16TR. - Topic-based seminar in critical reading, research, writing, and oral communication. Practice in sustained inquiry, including scholarly research and communication of findings to different audiences. Attention to argumentation, public speaking, prose style, and revision, informed by reflection and feedback, including conferences. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing, Research, and Inquiry, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS WR 152: Writing, Research, & Inquiry with Digital/Multimedia Expression
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g. CAS WR 120) or transfer credit for CASWR 13TR or CASWR 16TR. - Topic-based seminar in critical reading, research, writing, and digital/multimedia communication. Practice in sustained inquiry, including scholarly research and communication of findings to different audiences. Attention to argumentation, prose style, digital/multimedia communication, and revision, informed by reflection and feedback, including conferences. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression; Writing, Research, and Inquiry; Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS WR 153: Writing, Research, & Inquiry with Creativity/Innovation
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g. CASWR 120) or transfer credit for CASWR 13TR or CAS WR16TR. - Topic-based seminar in critical reading, research, writing, creativity, and innovation. Practice in sustained inquiry, including scholarly research and communication of findings to different audiences. Attention to argumentation, prose style, creative process, and revision, informed by reflection and feedback, including conferences. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Writing, Research, and Inquiry, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS WR 212: Translingual Writing
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 120). - Students analyze and produce writing that crosses, mixes, and plays with different languages, e.g. essays, poems; practice inclusive approaches to teaming; and apply translingual theory to help address social issues. Open to all, regardless of languages spoken, major, background. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Teamwork/Collaboration, Writing-Intensive Course. -
CAS WR 250: AI Literacy for Writing
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 120); Writing, Research, and Inquiry (e.g., CASWR 151, WR 152, or WR 153). This course provides a foundational understanding of generative AI and its impact on the writing landscape and society. Students explore generative AI tools, addressing ethical considerations and real-world applications, and create projects blending traditional writing with multimodal approaches. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Ethical Reasoning, Writing Intensive. -
CAS WR 318: Public Speaking
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 120); Writing, Research, and Inquiry (e.g., CASWR 151, WR 152, or WR 153). - How can public speakers engage different communities at different times and in different places? This course explores theories concerning how to construct narratives and arguments that resonate with specific audiences and invites students to put such theories into performative practice. Students may not receive credit for both CASCC 318 and CASWR 318. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CAS WR 320: Community Writing
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g. CASWR 120); Writing, Research, and Inquiry (e.g., CASWR 151, WR 152, or WR 153). Students explore concepts of community, creativity, and positionality; study and practice creative and metacognitive genres; and establish writing partnerships with a local organization as a form of community building and social action. Regular meetings with the community partner outside of class required. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, The Individual in Community, Creativity/Innovation. -
CAS WR 415: Public Writing
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g. CASWR 120); Writing, Research, and Inquiry (e.g., CASWR 151, WR 152, or WR 153); and junior or senior standing. - Students learn about the growing call for scholars to communicate their research to the public, study and practice several public genres, and learn to "translate" academic knowledge for public audiences. Occasional evening events required. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Writing- Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication. -
CAS WS 101: Gender and Sexuality: An Interdisciplinary Introduction
This course is the introduction to women's, gender, and sexuality studies, that considers the origins, diversity, and expression of sex and gender. Topics include the evolutionary origin of sexes; evolution, development, and social construction of sex, gender, and sexuality; sexual difference, similarities and diversity in gendered bodies, brains, and behavior. This interdisciplinary introduction is the foundation for the minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. -
CAS WS 200: Thinking Queerly: An Introduction to LGBTQ Studies
Explores historical and contemporary debates regarding LGBTQ identity, community, and politics through the relevant interdisciplinary (and often, competing) theories and research. Students gain skills in digital/multimedia expression through the development of a collaborative LGBTQ online magazine. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Digital/Multimedia Expression. -
CAS WS 201: Introduction to Trans Studies
This course introduces students to the field of trans studies alongside the increasing precarity and hypervisibility of trans bodies in public life. Students become familiar with intersectional issues of trans representation, healthcare, cissexism, bathroom legislation, book bans, and more. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Digital/Multimedia Expression, The Individual in Community. -
CAS WS 233: The Evolutionary Biology of Human Variation
Addresses human biological variation. An introduction to the fundamentals of comparative biology, evolutionary theory, and genetics and considers how research in these fields informs some of our most culturally-engaged identities: race, sex, gender, sexuality, and body type. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking. -
CAS WS 240: Sexuality and Social Life
Introduction to sociological perspectives on sexuality. Historical and comparative analysis of sexuality, with a focus on the social and cultural institutions that shape sexuality in the contemporary U.S. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking, Digital/Multimedia Expression. -
CAS WS 241: Sociology of Gender
An introduction to the social construction of sex and gender with a focus on the economic, political, social, and cultural forces that shape gender relations. Examines gender as a social structure that patterns institutional inequalities and everyday interactions on society. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CAS WS 263: The Behavioral Biology of Women
An exploration of female behavioral biology focusing on evolutionary, physiological, and biosocial aspects of women's lives from puberty through pregnancy, birth, lactation, menopause, and aging. Examples are drawn from traditional and industrialized societies, and data from nonhuman primates are considered. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. -
CAS WS 297: African American Women's History
Survey of African American women's history from the slave trade to the present, investigating its critical role in shaping the meaning of race, gender, and sexuality during slavery, Jim Crow, and the civil rights era. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I. -
CAS WS 302: WGS Topics in the Social Science
Topics in women's, gender, and sexuality studies relevant to the social sciences. May be repeated for credit as topics change. -
CAS WS 305: Topics in Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
May be repeated for credit if topics are different. -
CAS WS 317: Gender and Crime
Examines social forces shaping gender discrepancies in crime. Using a feminist lens, students explore how cultural ideologies about masculinity and femininity shape criminalization, victimization, and offending. Topics include the gendered contexts of crime and punishment, gender-based violence, and intimate labor. Effective Spring 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration.