May 10, 2024

Catalogue 2016-2017

Catalogue 2016-2017 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions

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Art: II. Intermediate
	ART 290 - Field Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Projects undertaken in cooperation with approved galleries, archives, collections, or other agencies concerned with the visual arts, including architecture. The department. Prerequisite(s): ART 105 -ART 106 and one 200-level course. Open by permission of a supervising instructor. Not included in the minimum requirements for the major. May be taken either semester or in the summer.
	ART 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Open by permission of the instructor with the concurrence of the adviser in the field of concentration. Not included in the minimum for the major.
Art: III. Advanced
	ART 300 - Senior Essay Preparation Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 unit(s) Prerequisite(s): permission of the Chair of the Art Department. Optional. Regular meetings with a faculty member to prepare an annotated bibliography and thesis statement for the senior essay. Course must be scheduled in the semester prior to the writing of the senior essay. Credit given only upon completion of the senior essay. Ungraded.
	ART 301 - Senior Project Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 1 unit(s) Supervised independent research culminating in a written essay or a supervised independent project in studio art.
	ART 310 - Seminar in Ancient Art Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as GRST 310 ) Topic for 2016/17a: Pompeii: Public and Private Life. The volcanic eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79 blotted out life in Pompeii, but the Roman town lives on as a study site and tourist attraction. Its urban development with grand theaters and amphitheaters alongside of taverns and brothels exemplifies high and low Roman culture. The homes of private citizens demonstrate intense social competition in their scale, grounds, and the Greek myths painted on walls. Pompeii gave shape to the world of Roman citizens and others through its raucous street life and gleaming monumental centers. Eve D’Ambra. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period.
	ART 312 - Critical Readings in Art History Semester Offered: Spring 0.5 unit(s) This half-unit course investigates the history of art history, its changing methods, and its evolving theories. Interdisciplinary by nature, art history has roots and tributaries in many fields of knowledge and practice: philosophy, museology, social history, architectural theory, and others. Each year the course explores a different set of transformative episodes in the history of the discipline. Readings, focus, and instructors will change from year to year. Topic for 2016/17b: Radical Turning Points. The work of Erwin Panofsky, Aby Warburg, André Malraux, Walter Benjamin, Henri Focillon, Meyer Schapiro, T. J. Clark and Linda Nochlin will be studied. Brian Lukacher. Prerequisite(s): ART 105 -ART 106 . First six-week course. One 2-hour period.
	ART 320 - Seminar in Medieval Art Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Topic for 2016/17b: The Art and Architecture of the Pilgrimage Roads. The mindset of the pilgrim, the universal human desire to seek the transcendent through a spiritual or physical voyage, is inscribed from the very start, and at the deepest level, in the Christian faith. It is the physical manifestation of this desire that we study in this seminar: the art and architecture created to honor the saints whose tangible remains on earth, it was believed, retained miraculous powers; created to inspire, instruct, and some would say control those that came to venerate them. We begin in Jerusalem, where Christian pilgrimage, considered as an industry, began, and move to Rome, the site of the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul. We examine the pilgrimage which, beginning in the eleventh century, supplanted those of both Jerusalem and Rome: the road to the tomb of the Apostle James in Santiago de Compostela. We conclude by considering the cult of the unlikely martyr Thomas Becket at Canterbury, and then embark upon a pilgrimage of our own: to the shrine of Saint Frances Cabrini and to the Cloisters Museum in New York. Andrew Tallon. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period.
	ART 331 - Seminar in Northern Art Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) Topic for 2016/17a: Art and Science in the Age of Vermeer. The seminar explores the importance of empirical investigation in the “Age of Observation” to developments in seventeenth century Dutch art and thought. After examining responses to nature on the part of earlier northern European painters such as Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, and Pieter Bruegel, we go on to consider, among other topics, the impact of lenses and the camera obscura on the art of Vermeer and his scientific and artistic contemporaries, relationships between botanical illustration and Dutch still life painting, and Rembrandt’s depictions of anatomy lessons. Susan Kuretsky. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor One 2-hour period.
	ART 332 - Seminar in Italian Renaissance Art Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Reconsidering Raphael. Raphael devised new modes of designing and making art that changed the course of western visual culture. He has long been known as “the prince of painters,” but this label ignores the astonishing range of his activities: Raphael was also an accomplished architect, landscape designer, archeologist, draftsman, and designer of prints and tapestries. And despite his reputation as a cool classicist, he actually worked in an astonishing variety of styles and modes. This seminar reconsiders Raphael’s extraordinary career, taking a comprehensive view of his varied projects. We also examine his writings and his close collaborations with literary figures including Baldassare Castiglione, addressing the relation of text and image in Renaissance creative processes. This holistic approach allows a new appreciation of Raphael’s brilliance and originality, and the reasons his works served as models for artists down to modernism. Yvonne Elet. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period.
	ART 333 - The Art of the Garden in Renaissance and Baroque Italy 1 unit(s) Changing attitudes toward the relationship between art and nature were played out in the decoration of villas and gardens, c. 1450- c. 1650. These extensive estates by top artists and patrons featured paintings, sculptures, fountains, grottoes, and plantings that blurred distinctions between indoors and outdoors, and between nature and artifice. We examine sites from Florence, Rome, the Veneto, and Naples to France, considering the inheritance of ancient Roman, medieval, and Islamic gardens. We explore the influx of new flora and fauna during the exploration of “new” worlds, and changing patterns of collecting and display. Readings explore villa ideology, the relation between city and country life, utopian conceptions of garden and landscape, and human dominion over nature. On a field trip, we experience the role of the ambulatory spectator, and consider the reception of the Italian garden in America. Yvonne Elet. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17. One 3-hour period.
	ART 358 - Seminar in Asian Art Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as ASIA 358 ) Topics vary each year. Topic for 2016/17a: Art in China from 1900 to Today: Vision, Politics, and Globalism. This seminar offers an in-depth investigation of art in China from the early twentieth century to the present. We discuss a vast array of artistic media, from painting, printmaking, and sculpture, to popular imagery, photography, film, fashion, architecture and urban space. The course emphasizes careful visual analysis, supplemented by readings that examine the evolving circumstances in which artists in modern China have created their works. Issues we confront in the seminar include art’s role as an instrument of political authority, opposition, and subversion; artists’ experiments with technology and new media; and the rise of Chinese art as a global phenomenon, with attention to the complex and divergent realities of today’s China as envisioned by artists in the twenty-first century. Mr Seiffert. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period.
	ART 362 - Seminar in Nineteenth-Century Art 1 unit(s) Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period.
	ART 364 - Seminar in Twentieth Century and Contemporary Art Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as MEDS 364 ) Topic for 2016/17a: The Moving Image: Between Video and Experimental Curating. Already by 1930 experimental film had tested the boundaries for the exhibition of works of art; when video built on that foundation thirty years later, the borders were again expanded. Moving image and radical exhibition formats would continue to evolve in tandem, becoming a succession of inspirations and experiments. The seminar studies these as theoretical, practical and perceptual questions posed in fact since the invention of cinema; case studies from past and present are compared; the seminar plans and executes curatorial experiments of its own. Molly Nesbit. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor One 2-hour period.
	ART 366 - Art and Activism in the United States Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as AFRS 366 , AMST 366 , and WMST 366 ) Topic for 2016/17b: Exquisite Intimacy. An interdisciplinary exploration of the work and role of quilts within the US. Closely considering quilts as well as their creators, users, keepers, and interpreters, we study these integral coverings and the practices of their making and use with keen attention to their recurrence as core symbols within American history, literature, and life. Lisa Collins. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period.
	ART 367 - Artists’ Books from the Women’s Studio Workshop 1 unit(s) (Same as AMST 367 and WMST 367 ) In this interdisciplinary seminar, we explore the limited edition artists’ books created through the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York. Founded in 1974, the Women’s Studio Workshop encourages the voice and vision of individual women artists, and women artists associated with the workshop have, since 1979, created over 180 hand-printed books using a variety of media, including hand-made paper, letterpress, silkscreen, photography, intaglio, and ceramics. Vassar College recently became an official repository for this vibrant collection which, in the words of the workshop’s co-founder, documents “the artistic activities of the longest continually operating women’s workspace in the country.” Working directly with the artists’ books, this seminar will meet in Vassar Library’s Special Collections and closely investigate the range of media, subject matter, and aesthetic sensibilities of the rare books, as well as their contexts and meanings. We will also travel to the Women’s Studio Workshop to experience firsthand the artistic process in an alternative space. Lisa Collins. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period.
	ART 370 - Seminar in Architectural History: Rome of the Imagination Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as URBS 370 ) No city has had a greater influence on the architectural imagination than Rome. Throughout western history the standard for architecture has been measured by Rome. In this seminar we investigate the continuing hold and varied architectural interpretations of Rome and Romanness: the built Rome, the ruined Rome, and the imagined Rome. How has Rome changed its significance for architects over time? Among the architects we consider Andrea Palladio, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, E. L. Boullée, Giuseppe Terragni, Albert Speer, Gunnar Asplund, Louis Kahn and others. We may also consider those such as John Ruskin who reject the Roman stamps. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. One 3-hour period.
	ART 382 - Belle Ribicoff Seminar Semester Offered: Spring 0.5 unit(s) Topic for 2016/17b: Modern Days, Ancient Nights: African Art, Music, Cinema, and Fashion. This seminar explores what it takes to realize a major exhibition of African art-a traveling, international loan show-within the context of a major American museum. Carol Thompson, Curator of African Art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and co-curator of the upcoming exhibit “Modern Days, Ancient Nights: African Art, Music, Cinema, and Fashion” guides this seminar on this exhibition in the making. “Modern Days, Ancient Nights” juxtaposes masterpieces of African art with music, cinema, and fashion to foreground reciprocal conduits of myriad multisensory, multilayered exchanges. By highlighting the work of African artists-including musicians, photographers, film directors, and designers-the exhibition also foregrounds Africa’s role in shaping its own self-image. This exhibition features haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear alongside African art to explore the impact of African aesthetics on Western fashion and to show how Africa has “fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries.” Likewise, filmic representations of Africa are incorporated throughout to reveal how visions of Africa are framed by narratives that draw upon popular culture, “to recognize the importance of cinema as a medium through which to understand the richness” of African history. Through this dynamic prism, students become familiar with the fundamentals of African art, though no prior knowledge of the field is necessary. Some classes meet in New York City, with behind the scenes visits to the Metropolitan Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and galleries such as Jack Shainman, the Walther Collection, Axis, Salon 94, and Tambaran. This seminar offers students a firsthand experience of what is involved in realizing a major art exhibition. Six meetings to be held on consecutive Friday afternoons, 1:00-3:00 pm, after spring break. Some classes will meet at Vassar; most will take place in New York City. Transportation will be provided. Second six-week course. One 2-hour period.
	ART 385 - Seminar in American Art Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as URBS 385 ) Topic for 2016/17b: The Visual and Material Culture of U.S. World’s Fairs, 1853-1939. From the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, world’s fairs played a crucial role in facilitating the emergence of mass visual culture and shaping important developments in the fine arts, architecture, and urban design. Millions of visitors attended these immense global spectacles, wandering through the elaborate but temporary cities erected on the fairgrounds, in order to view public works of art and architecture, anthropological exhibitions, popular entertainments, and juried exhibitions of the latest cultural, scientific, and technological achievements. This interdisciplinary seminar focuses on the art, architecture, and techniques of display at major world’s fairs held in the United States, including New York (1853 and 1939), Philadelphia (1876), Chicago (1893), Buffalo (1901), St. Louis (1904), and San Francisco (1915). We consider how the visual and material culture of international expositions attempted to give form to (or, in some cases, subvert) a new social order during an era of rapid modernization, industrialization, and growing nationalism and imperialism. Lacey Baradel. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period.
	ART 391 - Advanced Fieldwork in Art Education at Dia: Beacon Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 0.5 unit(s) The Dia: Beacon-Vassar College program offers a yearlong, immersive fieldwork experience for the study of the Dia collection in the context of the philosophical mission of Dia Art Foundation and its public programming. In the first term, interns focus on the ideas, work, and histories of the individual Dia artists, who were and continue to be some of the most ambitious and pioneering artists of the late 1960s through to the present day. Interns also study the latest advances in museum education: constructivist learning theories vis-à-vis the work of Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and John Dewey; their practical application in art museums; the research being done at other institutions, for example, Harvard University’s Project Zero. In the second term, interns draw from these perspectives in order to design and give tours to school groups, primarily from the Dutchess County public schools. Admission by special permission and limited to no more than 6 students with advanced coursework in contemporary art or education. Students must commit to working 6 hours each week at Dia on either Thursdays or Fridays from 10am - 4pm, with a lunch break, and occasional weekends in both the fall and spring terms. Interns report to the Dia:Beacon Arts Education Associate. Molly Nesbit. Prerequisite(s): students with advanced coursework in contemporary art or education. Six hours each week at Dia on either Thursdays or Fridays, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.
	ART 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Open by permission of the instructor with the concurrence of the department adviser in the field of concentration. Not included in the minimum for the major.
Education: I. Introductory
	EDUC 136 - Early Childhood Education Semester Offered: Fall 0.5 unit(s) This course explores the “why” behind the components of a quality early childhood education learning environment. Drawing on research from early childhood education and developmental psychology, students explore the following topics: school, classroom and playground design; pedagogical methods; core curriculum components; guidance and discipline; the role of parents and families; models of inclusion and diversity; and interfacing with state agencies (e.g., licensing, health department). Observation at Wimpfheimer Nursery School is required. Julie Riess. First six-week course. Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 162 - Education and Opportunity in the United States 1 unit(s) In this course, students identify, explore, and question prevailing assumptions about education in the United States. The objectives of the course are for students to develop both a deeper understanding of the system’s historical, structural, and philosophical features and to look at schools with a critical eye. We examine issues of power and control at various levels of the education system. Participants are encouraged to connect class readings and discussions to personal schooling experiences to gain new insights into their own educational foundations. Among the questions that are highlighted are: How should schools be organized and operated? What information and values should be emphasized? Whose interests do schools serve? The course is open to both students interested in becoming certified to teach and those who are not yet certain about their future plans but are interested in educational issues. Christopher Bjork. Open only to freshmen; satisfies the college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 182 - Centering Black Women and Girls’ Lives Semester Offered: Fall 0.5 unit(s) (Same as AFRS 182 , AMST 182 , ANTH 182 , SOCI 182 , and WMST 182 ) Vassar College, as one of the seven sisters, has a long history of being at the forefront of controversial and critical conversations about issues that confront women’s lives. In line with that history, this course contributes to this important tradition by expanding and extending the historical and contemporary discourses on women and intersectionality that have become so vibrant on Vassar’s campus and beyond. Specifically, it provides students with a critical space to consider and be challenged by how they define, understand, think about, talk about and write at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, spirituality, art and literature in the U.S. Colette Cann, Luis Inoa, Candice Lowe Swift, and Samuel Speers. Second six-week course. One 3-hour period.
	EDUC 183 - Centering Justice: A Speaker Series Semester Offered: Spring 0.5 unit(s) Vassar College’s national reputation draws renowned scholars to its campus annually. This semester, is no exception. With speakers like Jerusha Lamptee, Carlos Decena, Wilma King, Aisha Simmons, Claire Jean Kim and Jared Sexton coming to campus after spring break, there is a pedagogical and curricular opportunity available for students to reflect critically across speakers about how identity intersects with policy, coalition building, resistance movements and liberation. These speakers together present students with a unique curriculum; I propose to provide a framework, pedagogy, space and time for students to draw connections across speakers, across readings and across each their peers’ own experiences as they relate to the speakers. Colette Cann. The course will be structured as follows: Mondays: Students enrolled in the course will attend the selected lecture Tuesdays: Students will receive a reading or set of readings along with a series of questions related to the speaker. Students are responsible for reading and responding to the questions. Thursdays: Students will meet on alternating weeks with their assigned discussion group and with the professor to reflect on the lecture, readings and questions. Second six-week course. One 2-hour period plus one 50-minute period.
Education: II. Intermediate
	EDUC 235 - Issues in Contemporary Education Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 1 unit(s) This course introduces students to debates about the nature and purposes of U.S. education. Examination of these debates encourages students to develop a deeper and more critical understanding of U.S. schools and the individuals who teach and learn within them. Focusing on current issues in education, we consider the multiple and competing purposes of schooling and the complex ways in which formal and informal education play a part in shaping students as academic and social beings. We also examine issues of power and control at various levels of the U.S. education system. Among the questions we contemplate are: Whose interests should schools serve? What material and values should be taught? How should schools be organized and operated? The department. Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 237 - Early Childhood Education: Theory and Practice Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as PSYC 237 ) What is the connection between a textbook description of preschool development and what teachers do every day in the preschool classroom? This course examines curriculum development based on contemporary theory and research in early childhood. The emphasis is on implementing developmental and educational research to create optimal learning environments for young children. Major theories of cognitive development are considered and specific attention is given to the literatures on memory development; concepts and categories; cognitive strategies; peer teaching; early reading, math, and scientific literacy; and technology in early childhood classrooms. Julie Riess. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 231 and permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period; 4 hours of laboratory participation.
	EDUC 248 - The Human Rights of Children - Select Issues Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as INTL 248 and LALS 248 ) This course focuses on both theories surrounding, and practices of, the human rights of children. It starts from the foundational question of whether children really should be treated as rights-holders and whether this approach is more effective than alternatives for promoting well-being for children that do not treat children as rights holders.. Consideration is given to the major conceptual and developmental issues embedded within the framework of human rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The course covers issues in both the domestic and international arenas, including but not limited to: children’s rights in the criminal justice context including life without parole and the death penalty; child labor and efforts to ban it worldwide; initiatives intended to abolish the involvement of children in armed conflict; violence against street children; and the rights of migrant, refugee, homeless, and minority children. The course provides students with an in depth study of the Right to Education, including special issues related to the privatization of education and girls’ education. The course also explores issues related to the US ratification of the CRC, and offers critical perspectives on the advocacy and education-based work of international human rights organizations. Tracey Holland. Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 250 - Introduction to Special Education Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) This course explores the structure of special education from multiple viewpoints, including legislative, instructional, and from the vantage of those who have experience in it as students, teachers, therapists, parents, and other service providers. We tackle conceptual understandings of labeling, difference, and how individuals in schools negotiate the contexts in which “disability” comes in and out of focus. We raise for debate current issues in special education and disability studies such as inclusion, the overrepresentation of certain groups in special education and different instructional approaches. Erin McCloskey. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 162 or EDUC 235 . Two 75 minute periods.
	EDUC 255 - Race, Representation, and Resistance in U.S. Schools 1 unit(s) This course interrogates the intersections of race, racism and schooling in the US context. In this course, we examine this intersection at the site of educational policy, media and public attitudes towards schools and schooling- critically examining how representations in each shape the experiences of youth in school. Expectations, beliefs, attitudes and opportunities reflect societal investments in these representations, thus becoming both reflections and driving forces of these identities. Central to these representations is how theorists, educators and youth take them on, own them and resist them in ways that constrain possibility or create spaces for hope. Colette Cann. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 263 - The Adolescent in American Society Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) This course examines the lives of American adolescents and the different ways our society has sought to understand, respond to, and shape them. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between educational policies/practices and adolescent growth and development. Empirical studies are combined with practical case scenarios as a basis for understanding alternative pathways for meeting the needs of middle school and high school learners. This course is required for secondary school teacher certification. The department. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 235 . Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 269 - Constructing School Kids and Street Kids 1 unit(s) (Same as LALS 269 and SOCI 269 ) Students from low-income families and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds do poorly in school by comparison with their white and well-to-do peers. These students drop out of high school at higher rates, score lower on standardized tests, have lower GPAs, and are less likely to attend and complete college. In this course we examine theories and research that seek to explain patterns of differential educational achievement in U.S. schools. We study theories that focus on the characteristics of settings in which teaching and learning take place (e.g., schools, classrooms, and home), theories that focus on the characteristics of groups (e.g. racial/ethnic groups and peer groups), and theories that examine how cultural processes mediate political-economic constraints and human action. Eréndira Rueda. Not offered in 2016/17.
	EDUC 275 - International and Comparative Education Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as ASIA 275 and INTL 275 ) This course provides an overview of comparative education theory, practice, and research methodology. We examine educational issues and systems in a variety of cultural contexts. Particular attention is paid to educational practices in Asia and Europe, as compared to the United States. The course focuses on educational concerns that transcend national boundaries. Among the topics explored are international development, democratization, social stratification, the cultural transmission of knowledge, and the place of education in the global economy. These issues are examined from multiple disciplinary vantage points. Christopher Bjork. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 235 or permission of the instructor. Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 278 - Education for Peace, Justice and Human Rights 1 unit(s) (Same as INTL 278 ) The aim of this course is to introduce students to the field of peace education and provide an overview of the history, central concepts, scholarship, and practices within the field. The overarching questions explored are: What does it mean to educate for peace, justice and human rights? What and where are the possibilities and the barriers? How do identity, representation and context influence the ways in which these constructs are conceptualized and defined and what are the implications of these definitions? How can we move towards an authentic culture of peace, justice, and human rights in a pluralistic world? In order to address these questions, we survey the human and social dimensions of peace education, including its philosophical foundations, the role of gender, race, religion and ethnicity in peace and human rights education, and the function and influence of both formal and non-formal schooling on a culture of peace and justice. Significant time is spent on profiling key thinkers, theories, and movements in the field, with a particular focus on case-studies of peace education in practice nationally and worldwide. We examine these case studies with a critical eye, exploring how power operates and circulates in these contexts and consider ways in which to address larger structural inequities and micro-asymmetries. Since peace education is not only about the content of education, but also the process, the course endeavors to model peace pedagogy by promoting inquiry, collaboration and dialogue and give students the opportunity to practice these skills through presentations on the course readings and topics. Maria Hantzopoulos. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 162 or EDUC 235 . Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 280 - Foreign Language Learning and Teaching: Theory and Practice Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as GERM 280 ) This course is designed for students who intend to teach language in the United States or abroad, and for those who wish to gain a deeper understanding of how second languages are learned and taught. In the course, we explore major topics in foreign language teaching and learning, including writing, speaking, listening, reading, culture, and grammar, addressing questions such as: Does explicit grammar instruction actually help students learn grammar? Can you really learn a second language the same way you learn your first one(s), as some language learning software ads claim? What does culture have to do with language, and why should (or shouldn’t) we teach it? As we attend to these and other issues, students reflect on their own language learning experiences and become familiar with the history, scholarship, and practices within the fields of second language acquisition and foreign language pedagogy. Karin Maxey. Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 283 - Teachers as Cultural Workers Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Drawing on education traditions in the anthropology of education, culturally-relevant teaching, Freirian pedagogy and the learning sciences, this course focuses on the relationship between culture, learning and teaching. Our major work together is to design learning experiences rooted in children and youths’ cultural lives. We begin by reading narrative examples of teachers’ work as ethnographers in marginalized communities in the United States and globally. Then, we design our culturally-saturated curricular plans using the cultural wealth in communities surrounding Vassar as our guide. First, we document the rich instances of learning youth display in their out of school lives and everyday activities. Then, we experiment with lesson plan design to leverage and build bridges between young people’s out-of-school skills and formal school-valued skills. We also consider ways to negotiate acultural school policy like Common Core in order to protect culturally-relevant teaching. Erin McCloskey. Two 75 minute periods.
	EDUC 288 - The Politics of Language in Schools and Society Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) The United States is one of the most multilingual nations in the world, and, language is intimately connected to family and personal identity. This course explores how language, power, and ideology play out in public debate, state policy and educational justice movements. We examine the link between racism, language and national belonging by analyzing how Standard English, Black English (AAVE) and Spanish-English bilingualism are positioned as more or less “correct”, or politicized and even policied. We then turn our eye to curriculum and education policy, examining how debates around language in the classroom. Finally we pose possibilities, and examine the politics of language in multilingual, hybrid and global contexts. What do debates about “correctness” in language obscure? How do our fears, hopes and longing for identity shape our beliefs about language in the classroom? How does the history of U.S. language politics inform our present? What does equitable language education policy look like? Why are these issues important to all citizens? Christine Malsbary. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 235 or permission of the instructor. Two 75-minute periods.
	EDUC 290 - Field Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 2 unit(s) All candidates for certification must demonstrate competency in an intensive field work experience at the elementary, middle school, or senior high school level prior to student teaching. The department.
	EDUC 297 - Independent Reading Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 unit(s) Student initiated independent reading projects with Education faculty. A variety of topics are possible, including educational policy, children’s literature, early childhood education, the adolescent, history of American education, multicultural education, and comparative education. Subject to prior approval of the department. The department.
	EDUC 298 - Independent Study Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Individual or group projects concerned with some aspect of education, subject to prior approval of the department. May be elected during the regular academic year or during the summer. The department.
	EDUC 299 - Vassar Science Education Internship Program Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 1 unit(s) The Vassar Science Education Internship Program provides opportunities for science students from Vassar College to intern with science teachers in area schools for course credit. Students have an opportunity to gain teaching experience, to explore careers in education, and to help strengthen science education in the Poughkeepsie area schools. Each intern works with a science teacher to design a project and to obtain laboratory and/or computer based educational exercise for their class, and to acquire laboratory and/or computing resources for sustaining a strong science curriculum. Interns participate in a weekly seminar on science education at Vassar College. Noreen Coller. Enrollment is limited and by permission. Students wishing to pursue internships should meet the following criteria: four completed units of course work in the natural sciences or mathematics, with at least two units at the 200-level, a minimum GPA of 3.4 in science and math coursework, and 3.0 overall.
Education: III. Advanced
	EDUC 300 - Senior Portfolio: Childhood Education Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) This senior seminar focuses on analysis of the student teaching experience. Through the development of their teaching portfolio, senior students examine the linkages between theory, current research, and classroom practice. This course should be taken concurrently with the student teaching practicum. Maria Hantzopoulos.
	EDUC 301 - Senior Portfolio: Adolescent Education Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) Same as EDUC 300 , but for students earning certification in Adolescent Education.
	EDUC 302 - Senior Thesis/Project Semester Offered: Fall 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Individual reading, research, or community service project. The department. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 384 . Yearlong course 302-EDUC 303 .
	EDUC 303 - Senior Thesis/Project Semester Offered: Spring 0.5 unit(s) Individual reading, research, or community service project. The department. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 302 . Yearlong course EDUC 302 -303.
	EDUC 304 - Senior Thesis/Project Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Individual reading, research, or community service project. The department. One 1-hour period.
	EDUC 336 - Childhood Development: Observation and Research Application 1 unit(s) (Same as PSYC 336 ) What differentiates the behavior of one young child from that of another? What characteristics do young children have in common? This course provides students with direct experience in applying contemporary theory and research to the understanding of an individual child. Topics include attachment, temperament, parent, sibling and peer relationships, language and humor development, perspective taking, and the social-emotional connection to learning. Each student selects an individual child in a classroom setting and collects data about the child from multiple sources (direct observation, teacher interviews, parent-teacher conferences, archival records). During class periods, students discuss the primary topic literature, incorporating and comparing observations across children to understand broader developmental trends and individual differences. Synthesis of this information with critical analysis of primary sources in the early childhood and developmental literature culminates in comprehensive written and oral presentations. Julie Riess. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 231 and permission of the instructor. For Psychology Majors: completion of a research methods course. Not offered in 2016/17. One 3-hour period. and 4 hours of laboratory observation work.
	EDUC 350 - The Teaching of Reading: Curriculum Development in Childhood Education Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) The purpose of this course is to examine the nature and process of reading within a theoretical framework and then to examine and implement a variety of approaches and strategies used to promote literacy in language arts and social studies. Special emphasis is placed on material selection, instruction, and assessment to promote conceptual understandings for all students. Observation and participation in local schools is required. Erin McCloskey Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 , PSYC 231 . Year long course 350/EDUC 351 . One 2-hour period; one hour of laboratory.
	EDUC 351 - The Teaching of Reading: Curriculum Development in Childhood Education Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) The purpose of this course is to examine the nature and process of reading within a theoretical framework and then to examine and implement a variety of approaches and strategies used to promote literacy in language arts and social studies. Special emphasis is placed on material selection, instruction, and assessment to promote conceptual understandings for all students. Observation and participation in local schools is required. Erin McCloskey. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 , PSYC 231 , EDUC 350 . Year long course EDUC 350 /351. One 2-hour period; one hour of laboratory.
	EDUC 353 - Pedagogies of Difference: Critical Approaches to Education Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) This course continues the on-going work of raising awareness around difference, equity and social justice - particularly as they relate to race. In Pedagogies of Difference, we go beyond reflection of oppressive societal structures to build skills and engage pedagogy to interrupt oppression in its many forms, with an emphasis on aggressions within our own community. The primary goal of this course is to prepare students at Vassar to productively, honestly and ethnically engage their peers in dialogue about and across racial difference. Students experience and participate in a number of activities used to raise awareness around social identity, consider how they might facilitate such activities, work on facilitating around triggers (their own and those of others) and learn how to put together a workshop to facilitate. There are two prerequisites for Pedagogies of Difference: EDUC 235 - Issues in Contemporary Education and EDUC 255 - Race, Representation, and Resistance in U.S. Schools (or a similar course). In Education 235, you began the study of both the content and process necessary for facilitating dialogues across difference. In Education 235, students explored how and why students experience schools in vastly different ways and how these differing experiences result from inequitable treatment (and lead to inequitable outcomes). Thus, you began preliminary study of the content of focus in Pedagogies of Difference. In this course, students also begin the study of pedagogy, teaching for perhaps the first time. The second prerequisite for Pedagogies of Difference is Education 255 or another semester-long course that focuses on race and racism. In Education 255, you continued the study of both the content and process necessary for facilitating dialogue across difference (with a focus on racial difference, in particular). In Education 255, we attempted to set a foundation in race theory, studying different racial theoretical frameworks (with a focus on critical race theory). Students also engaged in courageous conversations about race and racism, pushing themselves to stay on their learning edge (in their risk zone). Colette Cann. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 235 and EDUC 255 or permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17. One 3-hour period.
	EDUC 360 - Workshop in Curriculum Development Semester Offered: Fall 0.5 unit(s) This course focuses on the current trends, research and theory in the area of curriculum development and their implications for practice in schools. Procedures and criteria for developing and evaluating curricular content, resources and teaching strategies are examined and units of study developed. Maria Hantzopoulos. Prerequisite(s): open to seniors only or permission of the instructor. First six-week course. One 3-hour period.
	EDUC 361 - Seminar: Mathematics and Science in the Elementary Curriculum Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) The purpose of this course is to develop the student’s competency to teach mathematics and science to elementary school children. Lectures and hands-on activity sessions are used to explore mathematics and science content, methodology, and resource materials, with an emphasis on conceptual understanding as it relates to the curricular concepts explored. Special emphasis is placed on diagnostic and remedial skills drawn from a broad theoretical base. Students plan, implement, and evaluate original learning activities through field assignments in the local schools. In conjunction with their instruction of instructional methods in science, students also teach lessons for the Exploring Science at Vassar Farm program. Christopher Bjork. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. Two 75-minute periods; weekly laboratory work at the Vassar Farm.
	EDUC 362 - Student Teaching Practicum: Childhood Education Semester Offered: Fall 2 unit(s) Supervised internship in an elementary classroom, grades 1-6. Examination and analysis of the interrelationships of teachers, children, and curriculum as reflected in the classroom-learning environment. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 , PSYC 231 ; EDUC 235 , EDUC 250 , EDUC 290 , EDUC 350 /EDUC 351 ; EDUC 360 , EDUC 361 may be concurrent. Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor. Open to seniors only. Ungraded only. One or more conference hours per week.
	EDUC 367 - Urban Education Reform Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as URBS 367 ) This seminar examines American urban education reform from historical and contemporary perspectives. Particular attention is given to the political and economic aspects of educational change. Specific issues addressed in the course include school governance, standards and accountability, incentive-based reform strategies, and investments in teacher quality. Maria Hantzopoulos. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 235 or permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period.
	EDUC 372 - Student Teaching Semester Offered: Fall 2 unit(s) Adolescent Education Supervised internship in teaching in a middle, junior, or senior high school, grades 7-12. Examination of the interrelationships of teachers, children, and curriculum as reflected in the classroom-learning environment. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 ; EDUC 235 , EDUC 263 , EDUC 290 , EDUC 373 ; EDUC 392 . (Ungraded only.) Permission of the instructor. Open to seniors only.
	EDUC 373 - Adolescent Literacy Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) This course combines literacy research, theory, and practice in the context of adolescent learning. We engage in case study research about the cultural, semiotic, and identity literacies our students produce in contrast to the literacies that are sanctioned and mandated in formal schooling. We define literacy broadly, and consider reading, writing, visual literacy and multimodal literacy– including new technologies. We look at how (im)migration status, race, ethnic heritage, and linguistic identity intersect with youth literacy production. Finally, we explore how literacy training is constructed through methods and curriculum with a special emphasis on diversity. The department. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 235 or permission of the instructor. One 3-hour period.
	EDUC 381 - Teaching Teachers about Race Semester Offered: Spring 0.5 unit(s) The first prerequisite for this course is Education 235 (Issues in Contemporary Education). In Education 235, you began the study of both the content and process necessary for facilitating dialogues across difference. In Education 235, students explored how and why students experience schools in vastly different ways and how these differing experiences result from inequitable treatment (and lead to inequitable outcomes). An important aspect ofthisstudy was the focus on identity-based difference in a module called Identity as Negotiated Space. During this module, we studied the ways that gender, sexual orientation and race are constructed in society and negotiated in K16 spaces. Thus, you began preliminary study of the content of focus in Pedagogies of Difference. The second prerequisite for Pedagogies of Difference is Education 255 (Race, Representations and Resistance). In Education 255, you continued the study of both the content and process necessary for facilitated dialogue across difference (with a focus on racial difference, in particular). We set a foundation in race theory, studying different racial theoretical frameworks (with a focus on critical race theory). We also studied how K16 Students of Color experience schooling institutions. In Education 255, students engaged in courageous conversations about race and racism, pushing themselves to stay on their learning edge (in their risk zone). This present course, Teaching Teachers about Race, continues the on-going work of raising awareness around difference, equity and racial justice. In this course, you work collaboratively with local K12 teachers to reflect on race, racism and racial justice. Students in this course continue their own work to excavate internalized racism while working as guides with K12 teachers embarking on thisjourney. The primary goal of this course isto provide a space for enrolled students to talk across differences about race and the education system with practicing teachers. This course builds on the work done in Education 255 by asking students to take what they’ve learned and apply it to facilitation work with those who work with Youth of Color at the K12 level. Students revisit a number of activities used in Education 255, consider how they might facilitate such activities with K12 teachers, and facilitate small group discussions in affinity and intergroup spaces with K12 teachers. When we talk about facilitation, what do we mean? We use University of Michigan’s description of facilitation to guide our work: Different people have used the term “facilitation” in different ways. We use the term to mean a certain kind of role in a group. The following is a list of the values and responsibilities attached to this role. ● Democracy: Each person has the opportunity to participate in any group of which he or she is a member. For the time during which the facilitator is working with the group, no hierarchical organizational structure is functioning. ● Responsibility: Each person is responsible for his or her own life, experiences, and behavior. This extends to taking responsibility for one’s participation in group experiences. You must be sensitive to how much responsibility the participants at any meeting are prepared and able to take. Through experience, participants can learn to take on increasing amount of responsibility. ● Cooperation: The facilitator and participants work together to achieve their collective goals. (One might say that leadership is something you do to a group; facilitation is something you do with a group.) ● Honesty: As facilitator you represent honestly your own values, feelings, concerns and priorities in working with a group and you should set the tone for an expectation of honesty from all participants. Goals of the Course The stated goals of this course align with the on-going life work that you need to pursue to continue in this field. Students will: 1) Continue to do their own self-work to raise awareness of their own racisms; 2) Consider what it means to guide others in anti-racist work; 3) Engage in multiple opportunities to facilitate; 4) Practice facilitator skills; 5) Give and receive feedback on their facilitation efforts; 6) Engage in a variety of self-care practices. Colette Cann Prerequisite(s):EDUC 235 and EDUC 255 . Second six-week course. One 4 hour period.
	EDUC 384 - Advanced Seminar Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) This course explores various approaches to research methods in the field of education, with emphasis on qualitative approaches. The course provides an overview of the different types of educational research, the varied philosophical groundings that drive particular methodological approaches, and discussion on data collection and analysis. Maria Hantzopoulos. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 162 or EDUC 235 . One 2-hour period.
	EDUC 385 - American Higher Education: Policy and Practice .5 unit(s) This seminar examines American higher education from historical and contemporary perspectives, paying particular attention to how students themselves experience college preparation, admission and campus life. Particular attention is given to the social, political, economic, and cultural challenges associated with policy and practice in private higher education. The types of questions the course addresses include: What changes in policy, administration, and/or instruction are likely to improve student outcomes in higher education in America? What research tools are available to decision-makers in higher education to help inform policy and practice? Who and what are the drivers of reform in higher education and what are their theories of action for improving the college experience? How should consumers of educational research approach the task of interpreting contradictory evidence and information about American higher education? What is an appropriate definition of equality of educational opportunity and how should we apply this definition to American private higher education? What roles do race and socioeconomic status play in American higher education? This semester, our texts and supplementary readings focus on issues pertinent to American higher education in general and highly selective private liberal arts college more specifically. Topics in the course include, but are not limited to: college admissions; student affairs policy and practice; micropolitics within colleges and universities; standards and accountability mechanisms, and efforts to promote diversity and inclusion. Small group case study projects give students the opportunity to develop potential solutions to contemporary problems in American higher education. Christopher Roellke. Prerequisite(s): one course in Education, American Studies, or Political Science. Open to juniors and seniors only. Second six-week course. Not offered in 2016/17.
	EDUC 386 - Ghetto Schooling Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as LALS 386 and SOCI 386 ) In twenty-first century America, the majority of students attend segregated schools. Most white students attend schools where 75% of their peers are white, while 80% of Latino students and 74% of black students attend majority non-white schools. In this course we will examine the events that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka and the 60-year struggle to make good on the promises of that ruling. The course will be divided into three parts. In part one, we will study the Brown decision as an integral element in the fight against Jim Crow laws and trace the legal history of desegregation efforts. In part two, we will focus on desegregation policies and programs that enabled the slow move toward desegregation between 1954 and the 1980s. At this point in time, integration efforts reached their peak and 44% of black students in the south attended majority-white schools. Part three of the course will focus on the dismantling of desegregation efforts that were facilitated by U.S. Supreme Court decisions beginning in the 1990s. Throughout the course we will consider the consequences of the racial isolation and concentrated poverty that characterizes segregated schooling and consider the implications of this for today’s K-12 student population, which is demographically very different than it was in the 1960s, in part due to new migration streams from Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean. Over the last 40 years, public schools have experienced a 28% decline in white enrollments, with increases in the number of black and Asian students, and a noteworthy 495% increase in Latino enrollments. Eréndira Rueda. One 2-hour period.
	EDUC 388 - Schooling in America: Preparing Citizens or Producing Workers 1 unit(s) (Same as SOCI 388 ) We consider the role that education plays in US society in relationship to the political economy at different historical periods. In Part I, we examine democratic views of schooling (i.e. schooling functions to prepare citizens for participation in a diverse society) and technical views of schooling (i.e. schools prepare students to participate in the capitalist economy), as well as critiques and limitations of each view. In Part II, we examine current school reform efforts, such as modifications of school structure, curriculum and instruction, and the move to privatize schooling. In Part III, we discuss the future of education in our increasingly global capitalist society. Eréndira Rueda. Not offered in 2016/17.
	EDUC 392 - Multidisciplinary Methods in Adolescent Education Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) This course is designed to engage prospective middle and high school educators in developing innovative, culturally relevant, and socially responsive curricula in a specific discipline, as well as in exploring ways to branch inter-disciplinarily. In particular, students strive to develop a practice that seeks to interrupt inequities in schooling and engender a transformative experience for all students. The first part of the course explores what it means to employ social justice, multicultural, and critical pedagogies in education through self-reflections, peer exchange, and class texts. The remainder of the course specifically looks at strategies to enact such types of education, focusing on methods, curriculum design, and assessment. Students explore a variety of teaching approaches and develop ways to adapt them to particular subject areas and to the intellectual, social, and emotional needs of adolescent learners. There is a particular emphasis on literacy development and meeting the needs of English Language Learners. Maria Hantzopoulos. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 235 . One 2-hour period.
	EDUC 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Special permission. The department.
English: I. Introductory
	ENGL 101 - The Art of Reading and Writing Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 1 unit(s) Development of critical reading in various forms of literary expression, and regular practice in different kinds of writing. The content of each section varies; see the Freshman Handbook for descriptions. The department. Open only to freshmen; satisfies the college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar. Although the content of each section varies, this course may not be repeated for credit; see the Freshman Handbook for descriptions. Two 75-minute periods.
	ENGL 170 - Approaches to Literary Studies Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 1 unit(s) Each section explores a central issue, such as “the idea of a literary period,” “canons and the study of literature,” “nationalism and literary form,” or “gender and genre” (contact the department office for 2015/16 descriptions). Assignments focus on the development of skills for research and writing in English, including the use of secondary sources and the critical vocabulary of literary study. The department. Open to freshmen and sophomores, and to others by permission; does not satisfy college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar.
	ENGL 174 - Poetry and Philosophy: The Ancient Quarrel 0.5 unit(s) No specialized knowledge of poetry or philosophy required. The class is ungraded. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	ENGL 177 - Special Topics Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 0.5 unit(s) (Same as AMST 177 and URBS 177 ) Topic for 2016/17a & b: Imagining the City. This six-week course surveys various approaches to thinking and writing about the city. How do our surroundings change us? What power does an individual have to reshape or reimagine the vast urban landscape? We consider a diverse array of depictions: the ethnic underground of Chang-rae Lee’s Queens; the forlorn Baltimore depicted in the television show The Wire; the midnight wanderings of Teju Cole and Junot Diaz; the global bustle of Jessica Hagedorn’s Manila; present-day graffiti artists and urban farmers reclaiming their “right to the city.” Hua Hsu. First six-week course. Two 75-minute periods.
English: II. Intermediate Prerequisite: open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors with one unit of 100-level work or by permission of the associate chair. Students applying for permission to elect 200-level work must present samples of their writing to the associate chair. Freshmen with AP credit may elect 200-level work after consultation with the department and with the permission of the instructor. First-year students who have completed ENGL 101 may elect 200-level work with permission of the instructor. Intermediate writing courses are not open to Freshmen.
	ENGL 203 - These American Lives: New Journalisms 1 unit(s) (Same as AMST 203 ) This course examines the various forms of journalism that report on the diverse complexity of contemporary American lives. In a plain sense, this course is an investigation into American society. But the main emphasis of the course is on acquiring a sense of the different models of writing, especially in longform writing, that have defined and changed the norms of reportage in our culture. Students are encouraged to practice the basics of journalistic craft and to interrogate the role of journalists as intellectuals (or vice versa). Amitava Kumar. Not offered in 2016/17.
	ENGL 205 - Introductory Creative Writing Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 1 unit(s) Study and practice of various forms of prose and poetry. Reading and writing assignments may include prose fiction, journals, poetry, drama, and essays. The a-term course is open by special permission to sophomores regardless of major, in order of draw numbers, and to juniors and seniors, in order of draw numbers, with priority given to English majors. The b-term course is open by special permission to sophomores, juniors, and seniors, in order of draw numbers, with priority given to English majors. To gain special permission, students must fill out a form in the English department office during pre-registration. One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
	ENGL 206 - Introductory Creative Writing Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 1 unit(s) Open to any student who has taken ENGL 205 or ENGL 207 . Special permission is not required. One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
	ENGL 207 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Literary Non-Fiction Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) Topic for 2016/17a: Writing About Culture. This seminar considers the relationship between individuals and “culture” broadly defined, with special attention paid to the question of “taste.” Guided by an eclectic range of texts-music and film reviews, memoir, travel writing, arts reportage-we pursue the possibility of a cultural criticism attentive to the subjectivity and instability of personal experience. Our semester is guided by a few basic questions: does criticism matter? What shapes our personal tastes? What can we demand from culture? What does it mean to love or hate a song? And how do our arguments about books, bands and TV-the ephemeral stuff of “culture”-connect to broader dreams about politics, faith, our sense of the world? Hua Hsu. Open to any student who has taken ENGL 205 or ENGL 206 . Special permission is not required. One 2-hour period.
	ENGL 208 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Literary Non-Fiction 1 unit(s) Development of the student’s abilities as a reader and writer of literary nonfiction, with emphasis on longer forms. Assignments may include informal, personal, and lyric essays, travel and nature writing, memoirs. Hua Hsu. Prerequisite(s): open to students who have taken ENGL 207 or by permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17. One 3-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
	ENGL 209 - Advanced Creative Writing: Narrative Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) Development of the student’s abilities as a writer and reader of narrative, with particular emphasis on the short story. Jean Kane. Deadline for submission of writing samples is before spring break. Yearlong course 209-ENGL 210 . One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
	ENGL 210 - Advanced Creative Writing: Narrative Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Development of the student’s abilities as a writer and reader of narrative, with particular emphasis on the short story. Jean Kane. Deadline for submission of writing samples is before spring break. Yearlong course ENGL 209 -210. One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
	ENGL 211 - Advanced Creative Writing: Verse 1 unit(s) Development of the student’s abilities as a writer and reader of poetry. In addition to written poetry, other forms of poetic expressions may be explored, such as performance and spoken word. Deadline for submission of writing samples is before spring break. Yearlong course 211-ENGL 212 . Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
	ENGL 212 - Advanced Creative Writing: Verse 1 unit(s) Development of the student’s abilities as a writer and reader of poetry. In addition to written poetry, other forms of poetic expressions may be explored, such as performance and spoken word. Deadline for submission of writing samples is before spring break. Yearlong course ENGL 211 -212. Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
	ENGL 213 - The English Language 1 unit(s) Study of the history of English from the fifth century to the present, with special attention to the role of literature in effecting as well as reflecting linguistic change. Treatment of peculiarly literary matters, such as poetic diction, and attention to broader linguistic matters, such as phonology, comparative philology, semantics, and the relationship between language and experience. Mark Amodio. Not offered in 2016/17.
	ENGL 214 - Process, Prose, Pedagogy Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as CLCS 214 ) This course introduces the theoretical and practical underpinnings of writing and teaching writing. Students interrogate writing’s place in the academy, discuss writing process from inception to revision, and share their own writing and writing practices. The course offers an occasion to reflect on and strengthen the students’ own analytical and imaginative writing and heighten the ability to talk with others about theirs. Students are asked to offer sustained critical attention to issues of where knowledge resides and how it is shared, to interrogate the sources of students’ and teachers’ authority, to explore their own education as writers, to consider the possibilities of peer-to-peer and collaborative learning, and to give and receive constructive criticism. Texts may include Roland Barthes’ The Death of the Author, Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and Stephen King’s On Writing, as well as handbooks on peer consulting. Matthew Schultz. Prerequisite(s): Freshman Writing Seminar. By special permission. Students who successfully complete this class are eligible to interview for employment as consultants in the Writing Center.
	ENGL 215 - Pre-modern Drama: Text and Performance before 1800 Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Study of selected dramatic texts and their embodiment both on the page and the stage. Authors, critical and theoretical approaches, dramatic genres, historical coverage, and themes may vary from year to year. Topic for 2016/17b: Medieval Drama and Performing. The York Cycle. The York Cycle of plays began after the plague in England devastated the population in 1349. York’s medieval streets and its civic guilds produced annual plays that were produced into the 1560s. Thus, they were staged during the time of Shakespeare. This class examines the documentary artifacts of the York Cycle (its manuscripts, accounts of viewings, production notes, etc.) to think about what it would require for an entire civic community to produce and perform this play on a yearly basis. We examine all of the York Cycle and think about it not just as a medieval artifact, but about how its dramatic shape can change depending on the historical, political, and religious pressures during the several centuries it was performed. The class considers the architecture, history, and space of York as a medieval city. We think about what it means to stage it in relation to civic architecture and space, the construction and use of pageant wagons, the questions of costuming, music, visual Catholic iconography in the British Isles, and how this cycle could be performed even into the Reformation. Dorothy Kim. Two 75-minute periods.
	ENGL 216 - Modern Drama: Text and Performance after 1800 1 unit(s) Study of modern dramatic texts and their embodiment both on the page and the stage. Authors, critical and theoretical approaches, dramatic genres, historical coverage, and themes may vary from year to year. Not offered in 2016/17.
	ENGL 217 - Literary Theory and Interpretation Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) A study of various critical theories and practices ranging from antiquity to the present day. Wendy Graham. Two 75-minute periods.
	ENGL 218 - Literature, Gender, and Sexuality Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Topic for 2016/17b: Gay Male Narratives in America after 1945. An exploration of various narrative modes and genres through which modern gay male identity has both expressed and created itself. The first half of the course focuses on the evolution of the gay male literary novel, and may include works by Gore Vidal, James Baldwin, Christopher Isherwood, Andrew Holleran and Mark Merlis. For the second half of the course we organize the class into affinity groups of four or five students who investigate and present an aspect of gay narrative of their own choosing. Possibilities include: gay pulp fiction, gay porn narratives, the literature of AIDS, gay blogs, genre writing (science fiction, detective, slash, etc.), children’s and young adult literature, film adaptation and gay comics. Paul Russell. Two 75-minute periods.
	ENGL 222 - Founding of English Literature 1 unit(s) These courses, English 222 and ENGL 223 , offer an introduction to British literary history through an exploration of texts from the eighth through the seventeenth centuries in their literary and cultural contexts. English 222 begins with Old English literature and continues through the death of Queen Elizabeth I (1603). ENGL 223 begins with the establishment of Great Britain and continues through the British Civil War and Puritan Interregnum to the Restoration. Critical issues may include discourses of difference (race, religion, gender, social class); tribal, ethnic, and national identities; exploration and colonization; textual transmission and the rise of print culture; authorship and authority. Both courses address the formation and evolution of the British literary canon, and its significance for contemporary English studies. Not offered in 2016/17.
	ENGL 223 - The Founding of English Literature Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as MRST 223 ) These courses, ENGL 222 and 223, offer an introduction to British literary history through an exploration of texts from the eighth through the seventeenth centuries in their literary and cultural contexts. ENGL 222 begins with Old English literature and continues through the death of Queen Elizabeth I (1603). ENGL 223 begins with the establishment of Great Britain and continues through the British Civil War and Puritan Interregnum to the Restoration. Critical issues may include discourses of difference (race, religion, gender, social class); tribal, ethnic, and national identities; exploration and colonization; textual transmission and the rise of print culture; authorship and authority. Both courses address the formation and evolution of the British literary canon, and its significance for contemporary English studies. Topic for 2016/17b: From the Faerie Queene to The Country Wife: Introduction to Early Modern Literature and Culture. This is a thematically organized “issues and methods” course grafted onto a chronologically structured survey course of early modern literature and culture. Its double goal is to develop skills for understanding early modern texts (both the language and the culture) as well as to familiarize students with a representative selection of works from the mid-1500s through the late 1600s. With this two-pronged approach, we will acquire an informed appreciation of the early modern period that may well serve as the basis for pursuing more specialized courses in this field. We explore a great variety of genres and media, including canonical authors such as Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton, but we also attend to less well-known authors, many of them women, through whose writings we can achieve a more nuanced and complex understanding of the times. By paying special attention to correlations between literature and other discourses, as well as to issues of cultural identity and difference based on citizenship, class, ethnicity, gender, geography, nationality, race, and religion, we engage early modern literature and culture in ways that are productive to the understanding of our own culture as well. Zoltán Márkus. Please note that ENGL 222 is not a prerequisite for this course; it is open to all students, including freshmen. Two 75-minute periods.
	ENGL 225 - American Literature, Origins to 1865 Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) Study of the main developments in American literature from its origins through the Civil War: including Native American traditions, exploration accounts, Puritan writings, captivity and slave narratives, as well as major authors from the eighteenth century (such as Edwards, Franklin, Jefferson, Rowson, and Brown) up to the mid-nineteenth century (Irving, Cooper, Poe, Emerson, Hawthorne, Fuller, Stowe, Thoreau, Douglass, Melville, Whitman, and Dickinson). Peter Antelyes.
	ENGL 226 - American Literature, 1865-1925 1 unit(s) Study of the major developments in American literature and culture from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Literary movements such as realism, naturalism, regionalism, and modernism are examined, as well as literatures of ethnicity, race, and gender. Works studied are drawn from such authors as Twain, Howells, James, Jewett, Chestnutt, Chopin, Crane, London, Harte, DuBois, Gilman, Adams, Wharton, Dreiser, Pound, Eliot, Stein, Yezierska, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, O’Neill, Frost, H. D., and Toomer. Not offered in 2016/17.
	ENGL 227 - The Harlem Renaissance and its Precursors 1 unit(s) (Same as AFRS 227 ) This course places the Harlem Renaissance in literary historical perspective as it seeks to answer the following questions: In what ways was “The New Negro” new? How did African American writers of the Harlem Renaissance rework earlier literary forms from the sorrow songs to the sermon and the slave narrative? How do the debates that raged during this period over the contours of a black aesthetic trace their origins to the concerns that attended the entry of African Americans into the literary public sphere in the eighteenth century? Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	ENGL 228 - African American Literature Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as AFRS 228 and DRAM 228 ) Topic for 2016/17b: From the Page to the Stage: Turning Black Literature to Black Drama. This course explores the dramatic possibilities of 20th century canonical black literature by means of critical reading, critical writing, and critical performance. Students examine key novels in their historical context paying attention to the criticism and theory that have shaped their reception. They then attempt to transform parts of these texts into scenes as informed by past and present theories of performance and theatre making. Their work culminates in a public performance of the pieces they have conceived. Tyrone Simpson and Shona Tucker. Two 75-minute periods and one 2-hour lab.
	ENGL 229 - Asian-American Literature, 1946-present Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) This course considers such topics as memory, identity, liminality, community, and cultural and familial inheritance within Asian-American literary traditions. May consider Asian-American literature in relation to other ethnic literatures. Hua Hsu.
	ENGL 230 - Latina and Latino Literature Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as LALS 230 ) This literature engages a history of conflict, resistance, and mestizaje. For some understanding of this embattled context, we examine transnational migration, exile, assimilation, bilingualism, and political and economic oppression as these variously affect the means and modes of the texts under consideration. At the same time, we emphasize the invented and hybrid nature of Latina and Latino literary and cultural traditions, and investigate the place of those inventions in the larger framework of American intellectual and literary traditions, on the one hand, and pan-Latinidad, on the other. Authors studied may include Americo Paredes, Piri Thomas, Cherrie Moraga, Richard Rodriguez, Michelle Serros, Cristina Garcia, Ana Castillo, and Junot Diaz. Hiram Perez. Two 75-minute periods.
	ENGL 231 - Native American Literature 1 unit(s) Drawing from a wide range of traditions, this course explores the rich heritage of Native American literature. Material for study may comprise oral traditions (myths, legends, place naming and story telling) as well as contemporary fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Authors may include Zitkala Sa, Black Elk, N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Silko, Louise Erdrich, Simon Ortiz, Sherman Alexie, and Joy Harjo. Not offered in 2016/17.
	ENGL 235 - Old English Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as MRST 235 ) Introduction to Old English language and literature. Mark Amodio.
	ENGL 236 - Beowulf Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as MRST 236 ) Intensive study of the early English epic in the original language. Mark Amodio. Prerequisite(s): ENGL 235 or demonstrated knowledge of Old English, or permission of the instructor.
	ENGL 237 - Chaucer Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) The major poetry, including The Canterbury Tales. Dorothy Kim.
	ENGL 238 - Middle English Literature Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Studies in late medieval literature (1250-1500), drawing on the works of the Gawain-poet, Langland, Chaucer, and others. Genres studied may include lyric, romance, drama, allegory, and vision. Topic for 2016/17b: Arthurian Literature in Medieval Britain. In 1191, the Glastonbury monks purportedly found the remains of King Arthur and Guenevere. They proceeded to publish their discovery and invited “reliable” witnesses (in the figure of Gerald of Wales) to come and experience the exhumation. The Glastonbury monks could funnel this find into a potentially large money-making venture for the monastery as the future site of an Arthurian pilgrimage. For the Norman royal house, this meant that they could use this find to squash any potential and future Welsh rebellion. Gerald of Wales writes up his account of this momentous exhumation and this is one of the many pieces of Arthurian literature that we will be looking at in this class. This class considers how Arthurian material becomes part of the political and religious rhetoric used to secure a sense of what constitutes medieval Britain and who should control it. This class examines the beginnings and rapid spread of Arthurian materials from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Brittaniae to Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. We move from historiography and chronicle to romance and lai, in both prose and verse. We begin in the twelfth century and finish at the end of the fifteenth century with the Winchester Malory and Caxton’s printed version of Malory’s work. We read materials from Latin, Middle Welsh, Anglo-Norman French, Middle Scots, and Middle English texts. Some of the texts we examine: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Brittaniae; La3amon’s Brut; Marie de France’s Lanval; Chrétien de Troyes’ Yvain, Perceval, Lancelot; Cullhwch and Olwen; The Dream of Rhonabwy; the Welsh Peredur and Ywain; the Welsh Triads; Of Arthour and Merlin, The Stanzaic Morte Arthure; The Alliterative Morte Arthure; Prose Tristan; The Awntyrs of Arther; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Lancelot of the Laik and Sir Tristem; and Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. Dorothy Kim.
	ENGL 240 - Shakespeare Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Study of some representative comedies, histories, and tragedies. Donald Foster. Not open to students who have taken ENGL 241 -ENGL 242 .
	ENGL 241 - Shakespeare Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as DRAM 241 ) Study of a substantial number of the plays, roughly in chronological order, to permit a detailed consideration of the range and variety of Shakespeare’s dramatic art. Zoltán Márkus. Not open to students who have taken ENGL 240 . Yearlong course 241-ENGL 242 .
	ENGL 242 - Shakespeare Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as DRAM 242 ) Study of a substantial number of the plays, roughly in chronological order, to permit a detailed consideration of the range and variety of Shakespeare’s dramatic art. Zoltán Márkus. Not open to students who have taken ENGL 240 . Yearlong course ENGL 241 -242.
	ENGL 245 - Pride and Prejudice: British Literature from 1640-1745 1 unit(s) Study of various authors who were influential in defining the literary culture and the meaning of authorship in the period. Authors may include Aphra Behn, John Dryden, Anne Finch, John Gay, Eliza Haywood, Mary Leapor, Katherine Philips, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Not offered in 2016/17.
	ENGL 246 - Sense and Sensibility: British Literature from 1745-1798 Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Study of the writers who represented the culmination of neoclassical literature in Great Britain and those who built on, critiqued, or even defined themselves against it. Authors may include Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Edmund Burke, William Beckford, William Cowper, Olaudah Equiano, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Mary Wollstonecraft, Ann Radcliffe, Anne Yearsley, and Hannah More. Robert DeMaria.
	ENGL 247 - Eighteenth-Century British Novels Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) One of the major literary events of eighteenth-century England was the “rise” of the novel, as critics have long described it. But where do they imagine it rose from and to? In this course we will build a literary-historical context for asking this question by reading English prose fiction of the long eighteenth century, from Aphra Behn’s fictional slave narrative Oroonoko (1688) to Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (1811). In considering why the novel gained commercial and cultural popularity in this period, our main questions will include—how did the novel absorb and adapt existing literary genres, such as the drama, the diary, and the letter? How did writers of the period use prose fiction to make fresh explorations of sexual politics, identity and power? How did the priorities and techniques of realism interact with those of more stylized narrative modes, such as the gothic and the sentimental novel? Authors include Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Cleland, Sterne, Radcliffe, Lewis and Burney. Kathleen Gemmill. Two 75-minute periods.

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Course Descriptions

ART 290 - Field Work

ART 298 - Independent Work

ART 300 - Senior Essay Preparation

ART 301 - Senior Project

ART 310 - Seminar in Ancient Art

ART 312 - Critical Readings in Art History

ART 320 - Seminar in Medieval Art

ART 331 - Seminar in Northern Art

ART 332 - Seminar in Italian Renaissance Art

ART 333 - The Art of the Garden in Renaissance and Baroque Italy

ART 358 - Seminar in Asian Art

ART 362 - Seminar in Nineteenth-Century Art

ART 364 - Seminar in Twentieth Century and Contemporary Art

ART 366 - Art and Activism in the United States

ART 367 - Artists’ Books from the Women’s Studio Workshop

ART 370 - Seminar in Architectural History: Rome of the Imagination

ART 382 - Belle Ribicoff Seminar

ART 385 - Seminar in American Art

ART 391 - Advanced Fieldwork in Art Education at Dia: Beacon

ART 399 - Senior Independent Work

EDUC 136 - Early Childhood Education

EDUC 162 - Education and Opportunity in the United States

EDUC 182 - Centering Black Women and Girls’ Lives

EDUC 183 - Centering Justice: A Speaker Series

EDUC 235 - Issues in Contemporary Education

EDUC 237 - Early Childhood Education: Theory and Practice

EDUC 248 - The Human Rights of Children - Select Issues

EDUC 250 - Introduction to Special Education

EDUC 255 - Race, Representation, and Resistance in U.S. Schools

EDUC 263 - The Adolescent in American Society

EDUC 269 - Constructing School Kids and Street Kids

EDUC 275 - International and Comparative Education

EDUC 278 - Education for Peace, Justice and Human Rights

EDUC 280 - Foreign Language Learning and Teaching: Theory and Practice

EDUC 283 - Teachers as Cultural Workers

EDUC 288 - The Politics of Language in Schools and Society

EDUC 290 - Field Work

EDUC 297 - Independent Reading

EDUC 298 - Independent Study

EDUC 299 - Vassar Science Education Internship Program

EDUC 300 - Senior Portfolio: Childhood Education

EDUC 301 - Senior Portfolio: Adolescent Education

EDUC 302 - Senior Thesis/Project

EDUC 303 - Senior Thesis/Project

EDUC 304 - Senior Thesis/Project

EDUC 336 - Childhood Development: Observation and Research Application

EDUC 350 - The Teaching of Reading: Curriculum Development in Childhood Education

EDUC 351 - The Teaching of Reading: Curriculum Development in Childhood Education

EDUC 353 - Pedagogies of Difference: Critical Approaches to Education

EDUC 360 - Workshop in Curriculum Development

EDUC 361 - Seminar: Mathematics and Science in the Elementary Curriculum

EDUC 362 - Student Teaching Practicum: Childhood Education

EDUC 367 - Urban Education Reform

EDUC 372 - Student Teaching

EDUC 373 - Adolescent Literacy

EDUC 381 - Teaching Teachers about Race

EDUC 384 - Advanced Seminar

EDUC 385 - American Higher Education: Policy and Practice

EDUC 386 - Ghetto Schooling

EDUC 388 - Schooling in America: Preparing Citizens or Producing Workers

EDUC 392 - Multidisciplinary Methods in Adolescent Education

EDUC 399 - Senior Independent Work

ENGL 101 - The Art of Reading and Writing

ENGL 170 - Approaches to Literary Studies

ENGL 174 - Poetry and Philosophy: The Ancient Quarrel

ENGL 177 - Special Topics

ENGL 203 - These American Lives: New Journalisms

ENGL 205 - Introductory Creative Writing

ENGL 206 - Introductory Creative Writing

ENGL 207 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Literary Non-Fiction

ENGL 208 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Literary Non-Fiction

ENGL 209 - Advanced Creative Writing: Narrative

ENGL 210 - Advanced Creative Writing: Narrative

ENGL 211 - Advanced Creative Writing: Verse

ENGL 212 - Advanced Creative Writing: Verse

ENGL 213 - The English Language

ENGL 214 - Process, Prose, Pedagogy

ENGL 215 - Pre-modern Drama: Text and Performance before 1800

ENGL 216 - Modern Drama: Text and Performance after 1800