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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 MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • MET IS 401: Communication Skills I
    This undergraduate communication course incorporates writing skills with academic research. Both business and academic writing expectations are covered. This skills- oriented course focuses on the development of oral and written communication techniques, small and large group dynamics, presentations, and negotiations. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Research and Information Literacy; Writing, Research & Inquiry.
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Writing, Research, and Inquiry
  • MET IS 402: Communication Skills II
    This undergraduate communication course incorporates presentation skills with academic research. It reviews the writing standards of IS 401 Ex and covers interpersonal and management communications for professionals. Course writing and presentation assignments will be posted in student ePortfolios. This course is set in the context of communications skills for professionals.
  • MET IS 403: Natural Science in Contemporary Society
    This course will focus on controversial and critical social, environmental, business, and political issues in the various disciplines of science. The natural sciences will be explored in the context of public policy. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Scientific Inquiry I
  • MET IS 419: American Traditional Music
    Traditional American music is a dynamic cultural medium that defines identity and community. It is transmitted by long-practiced modes of observation and imitation, and it engages talented musicians who are part of a long-lived cultural continuum. It is based upon a collective understanding of what tradition is, but it is necessarily altered in each generation as new musicians bring their training, insights, talents, and instruments to the process. How traditional music has evolved into the current popular American musical forms, will be explored in lectures, musical examples and readings. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • MET IS 420: The Moral Self: Psychological, Religious, and Spiritual Perspectives
    This course will examine morality through three related yet different lenses: psychology, religion and spirituality. With war, terrorism, global climate change, geological disruptions, and other threats, humans tend to feel more vulnerable, more insecure, and to seek deeper understandings of themselves and their world. Accordingly, issues such as abortion, capital punishment, and stem-cell research take on new meanings as morality evolves with culture. How do we develop a moral understanding of what is appropriate behavior for ourselves and others around us' Is morality carved in stone or is it subject to change, depending upon life experience, religion, secular and social orientation, and other factors' The goal of this course is not to definitively answer questions but to generate them; not to agree on moral issues, but to facilitate understanding of others views; not to criticize, but to comprehend the strengths and limitations of each paradigm. Effective Summer 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Writing-Intensive Course.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • MET IS 421: The Art of Rhetoric in Life and Work
    The art of rhetoric is one of the original liberal arts and is a part of the trivium that includes grammar and logic. Rhetoric is as old as human communication and as diverse as the human imagination. In the twenty-first century, rhetoric has new forms and meanings but retains some of the dynamics of the classical age of Greece and Rome. This course is a study of the art of rhetoric in everyday life and work from both theoretical and practical perspectives with an emphasis on writing and interpretation. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
  • MET IS 450: Botany without Borders
    Online offering. Introduces students to practical problems in botany with a dual emphasis on plant evolution and plants in human affairs. The course crosses borders in time and geography as we examine the broad sweep of plants and their role on Earth over the past 300 million years. Plant form and function, evolution of seed plants, plant ecology, ethnobotany (human uses of plants), endangered plant communities, and prospects for conserving plant biodiversity are highlighted in this interdisciplinary course designed for undergraduates. While its focus is rigorously scientific, the course incor Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Scientific Inquiry I.
    • Scientific Inquiry I
  • MET IS 460: Romanticism and Its Off-Shoots: Countering the Enlightenment in Philosophical Literature and the
    This course explores various currents, paradoxes, and extensions of Romanticism, especially as this movement took shape in Europe and America, with a special focus on philosophical literature and the visual arts. We will begin with some central ideas and themes of German Romantic thinkers, exploring how these ideas and themes are also evoked by British and American writers as well as by European and American painters. We will identify and analyze Romantic themes and styles in early German expressionist films, in British gothic fantasy movies, and in American motion pictures about western front Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Aesthetic Exploration.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
  • MET IS 480: Physics of Motion: Something in the Way it Moves
    Mechanics is the study of the motion of objects and the forces acting on objects. It is hoped that the student will share some of the excitement felt by great scientists such as Galileo and Newton when they discovered many of the principles on which the physics of motion are based. The course assumes that the student has a working knowledge of algebra, but the emphasis will be on a conceptual understanding of physics rather than on advanced mathematics. Many demonstrations and animations will be presented in the course. Students will become familiar with the physics of everyday situations. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Scientific Inquiry I.
    • Scientific Inquiry I
  • MET IS 491: Directed Study
    Independent study under faculty guidance. Prior approval of program director required.
  • MET LX 250: Introduction to Linguistics
    Properties that languages share and how languages differ with respect to structure (sound system, word formation, syntax), expression of meaning, acquisition, variation, and change; cultural and artistic uses of language; comparison of oral, written, and signed languages. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Scientific Inquiry I
  • MET LX 501: Phonetics & Phonology: Introduction to Sound Systems
    Prereq: (METLX250) or consent of instructor. Introduction to the nature and patterning of sounds in human language. Presents articulatory and acoustic phonetics, and basic phonological analysis, focusing on cross-language typology and comparison. Hands-on development of practical skills, including IPA transcription, field techniques, and digital speech analysis. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Quantitative Reasoning I
    • Scientific Inquiry II
  • MET LX 503: Phonological Analysis
    Survey of phonological theory and analysis, with focus on cross-linguistic typology of phonological systems. Phonological reasoning and argumentation skills are developed. Empirical coverage includes contrast, distinctive features, rules and constraints, opacity, tone, syllabification, stress, and interactions with morphology and syntax.
  • MET LX 510: Special Topics in Linguistics
    LX510 is the designation for "Special Topics in Linguistics". The subject matter for LX510 courses changes from semester to semester, and more than one LX510 can be offered in a given semester. Course descriptions for all LX510 sections are listed below.
  • MET LX 511: Morphology: Introduction to the Structures and Shapes of Words
    Prerequisite: (METLX 250) or consent of instructor. Morphology, the study of the internal structure and the shapes of words across languages, straddles the boundary between syntax and phonology. This course covers the major empirical and theoretical issues in the study of morphology, emphasizing links to other components of grammar.
  • MET LX 517: "Having" and "Being" across Languages
    Prerequisite: METLX250 or consent of instructor. Languages differ startlingly in how they express the apparently basic concepts of "possession" and "essence". Students explore this variety and its implications, addressing fundamental questions about linguistic relativism, language universals, and the relationship between structure and meaning.
  • MET LX 521: Syntax: Introduction to Sentential Structure
    Prerequisite: METLX 250 or consent of instructor. Introduction to syntax as an object of inquiry. Students build an increasingly sophisticated model of syntactic knowledge to account for data from English and other languages, constructing and evaluating alternative hypotheses about how sentence structure works.
  • MET LX 522: Intermediate Syntax: Modeling Syntactic Knowledge
    Prereq: METLX 521, or consent of instructor. *Using linguistic data drawn from a wide variety of languages, students develop a precise model of syntactic knowledge through evaluation of hypotheses and arguments. Exploration of major discoveries and phenomena from the linguistic literature.
  • MET LX 528: Questions
    Exploration of question formation across languages, and from several theoretical perspectives, integrating syntax, phonology, semantics, morphology, pragmatics, and philosophy in pursuit of a general understanding of one of the central phenomena in theoretical linguistics.
  • MET LX 531: Semantics & Pragmatics: Introduction to Linguistic Meaning
    Prereq: (METLX250) or consent of instructor. Systematic examination of how meaning is encoded in words and sentences, and how it can emerge from the complexity of the grammar. This course also touches on various aspects of pragmatics--the study of how meaning is shaped by context. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Teamwork and Collaboration.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • The Individual in Community
    • Teamwork/Collaboration

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