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.

• CAS AA 982: Certified Full-Time Study
  CERTIFIED FULL
• CAS AA 983: Continuing Study Part-Time
  Continuing Study Part-Time
• CAS AA 984: Continuing Study Part-Time
  CONT PART
• CAS AA 985: Continuing Study Full-Time
  Continuing Study Full-Time
• CAS AA 986: Continuing Study Full-Time
  CONT FULL
• CAS AH 500: Topics in History of Art & Architecture
  May be repeated for credit as topics change. Two topics are offered Spring 2026. Section A1: Global History of Camps: 19th Century to the Present. The image of the camp dominates contemporary representations. This course examines this spatial device from a global historical perspective, tracing a genealogy from colonial camps, Nazi camps, Soviet gulags, US internment camps to contemporary detention camps, refugee camps, border camps. Section B1: Pigments and Prisms: Histories of Color in North American Art. This course positions color as a framework to examine artworks and artistic practices within North America. Through case studies, students consider color and its various regional, historical, cultural, and social contexts. Topics include color theory, technology, pigments, dyes, and minerals.
• CAS AH 502: Practicum in Museum Studies
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of the Director of Museum Studies, and stamped approval; prior museum/gallery experience an asset. - Graduate Prerequisites: consent of Director of Museum Studies, and stamped approval; prior mus eum/gallery experience an asset. Graduate internships must be taken in a non-profit institution in order to count for credit. - Centered on an internship, which must comprise a supervised project approved in advance by the Director of Museum Studies. Stamped approval prior to the internship is necessary for registration in the course. Internships in Boston-area museums, galleries, historical agencies, and houses arranged for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, 10-12 hours per week (150 hours per semester) at the host institution, with written report.
• CAS AH 507: Digital Curation: Towards National Parks: Art and Nature, Nature and Nation
  Prerequisite: CASAH 112, or at least one course on art or literature in Europe/US 1300-1750 or 1750-present. - Before national parks, wild locations attracted artists, photographers and poets. Their works made these areas known to tourist-viewers. Prepare a digital exhibition and map artist- advocates as they explored mountains, forests and waterfalls. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
• CAS AH 520: The Museum and The Historical Agency
  History, present realities, and future possibilities of museums and historical agencies, using Boston's excellent examples. Issues and debates confronting museums today examined in the light of historical development and changing communities. Emphasis on collecting, display and interpretation.
• CAS AH 521: Curatorship
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. Introduces students to curatorial strategies and the pragmatics of exhibition-making.
• CAS AH 525: American Cultural Landscape Studies
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. - This seminar provides an introduction to analyzing and interpreting American cultural landscapes and acquaints students with the historiography of interdisciplinary study of the built environment. Also offered as CAS AM 525.
• CAS AH 527: Topics in Art and Society
  May be repeated for credit as topics change. Three topics are offered Fall 2026. Section A1: American Art and the Environment. Employing a variety of "green" ecocritical approaches, this class explores the relationship between artistic practice and natural science, extractive industry, and environmental activism in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States. Section B1: The Mount Auburn Cemetery. An exploration of remembrance, and the invention, appropriation, and development of imagery and landscape for commemorative monuments. Much of this seminar takes place on site in the Mount Auburn Cemetery and in regional early burying grounds. Many outdoor site visits during class time are required. Section C1: The Silk Road Seminar. This course explores the arts of the Silk Road. Focusing on objects and sites along land-bound and maritime trade routes, from jewelry, ceramics, silk, to Buddhist caves and port cities, the course explores important questions of cultural exchange, trade, diplomacy, faith, and gender.
• CAS AH 528: Landscapes: Art and Environment in China
  Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120). - This seminar examines the visual culture of landscapes in China. Topics include mountain cults, Daoist grotto-heavens, ink painting, gardens, and contemporary art projects that engage with environmental concerns. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AH 530: American Art and the City
  Topic for Fall 2025: Visual Culture of the American City. This course examines the art forms, popular pictorial media, visual entertainments, and structures of looking that developed in American cities in the years between 1790 and 1917.
• CAS AH 531: Modern Asian Art in a Global Context
  Topic for Fall 2025: Japan on World Display. Thematic study of the presentation and performance of Japan at international events, starting with 19th-century world’s fairs, with attention to domestic regional fairs, colonial expositions, and the Olympics hosted in Japan. Focus on architectural, artistic, and visual expressions of nation.
• CAS AH 533: Seminar: Greek Art and Architecture
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120) - Topic for Fall 2026, Section A1: Greek Architecture. A of study classical architecture broadly conceived, from the origins of monumental stone architecture in Greece, including the emergence of the Doric and Ionic orders, to the use of architecture in sanctuaries, the form of houses, and construction techniques. Meets with CASAR 533. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AH 546: Places of Memory: Historic Preservation Theory and Practice
  Covers key aspects of the history, theory, and practice of historic preservation. Preservation is discussed in the context of cultural history and the changing relationship between existing buildings and landscapes and attitudes toward history, memory, invented tradition, and place. Also offered as CAS AM 546 and CAS HI 546.
• CAS AH 548: Global Heritage Conservation
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Examining global approaches towards heritage conservation through a study of concepts, charters and case studies, using themes such as world heritage, cultural tourism, historic towns, new design, intangible heritage, authenticity, integrity, recent past, historic landscapes, conflict, disasters, revitalization and reconstruction.
• CAS AH 554: Boston Architectural and Community History Workshop
  Focusing on a single neighborhood in Greater Boston, this course explores ways to assess and narrate architectural and urban development. Emphasis is on primary sources—land deeds and plans, building permits, historic maps, etc. —coupled with fieldtrips and classroom discussion.
• CAS AH 557: High Renaissance and Mannerist Art in Italy
  The seminar considers Italian Renaissance art theory and its role in shaping and responding to the interests and concerns of artists. Texts take a variety of literary forms such as commentaries, dialogues, poems, and courtly handbooks. Effective Fall 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-Intensive Course.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Writing-Intensive Course