USC First Year Abroad Courses
USC First Year Friendly Courses – Fall 2025
USC First Year Friendly Courses – Fall 2025 (updated May 6, 2025)
If there are two different letter codes before the course number (i.e. AN/CM3060 - THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF FOOD, this means that the course is cross-listed in two different departments. However, it is still the same course)
Please note that this information may be subject to change.
USC GE CATEGORY A – The Arts
Students will earn both Category A and H credit for courses in this section that are marked as carrying both A and H credit.
AH 2000 - PARIS THROUGH ITS ARCHITECTURE I 4 credits
Investigates the growth patterns of Paris from Roman times through the Second Empire. Studies major monuments, pivotal points of urban design, and vernacular architecture on site. Presents the general vocabulary of architecture, the history of French architecture and urban planning, as well as a basic knowledge of French history to provide a framework for understanding the development of Paris.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY A: The Arts
Course Fee: 25 euros
CL 2083 - DIGITAL POETICS 4 credits
How do words change when we use them on and offline? What happens to writing and reading when we move between physical books and digital environments? What are the relationships between Literature and the Internet? How do ‘traditional’ or ‘canonical’ literary works dialogue with social media, computer games and Google-generated poetry? What does it ‘mean’ to ‘read’ ‘books’ in the third decade of the twenty-first century?
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY A: The Arts
CL/DR 3038 - SHAKESPEARE IN CONTEXT 4 credits
Considers a selection of Shakespeare's plays in the context of the dramatist's explorations of the possibilities of theatricality. Examines how theater is represented in his work and how his work lends itself to production in theater and film today. Students view video versions, visit Paris theaters, and travel to London and Stratford-on-Avon to see the Royal Shakespeare Company in performance.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY A: The Arts
FM 2076 - FILM HISTORY II: POSTWAR NEW WAVES 4 credits
This course surveys the richest and most alluring
period of cinema from its peak following the end of World War II, through the global movements that revitalized its decline, to its subsequent reformation by digital technologies at the turn of the century. It was by no coincidence that cinema was dubbed the art of the 20th century: taking advantage of technological advancements, newer generations of filmmakers reinvented the expressive possibilities of cinema by turning their cameras directly onto social realities and into individual psyches. Each week, the course will explore key developments in international film cultures by situating films within broader social, political, and cultural contexts. The course will also map the influential aesthetic trends,significant critical developments, and fundamental institutional factors that altogether configured cinema as a voice for political comment as well as a medium of entertainment. Through weekly readings and class discussions, students will learn about the irresistible power of international cinemas and the differing national traditions that resisted the ideological and commercial dominance of Hollywood.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY A: The Arts
FM 2092 - WOMEN AND FILM 4 credits
Attempts to understand Hollywood's ambiguous attitude toward women during and after the studio system. What do roles played by women tell us about American culture and its fear of women? Also investigates women's roles in Fellini, Antonioni, Godard, and Truffaut, and the female image presented on the screen by directors such as Jane Campion, Diane Kurys, and Agnes Varda.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY A: The Arts
AH 2011 - ANCIENT ART & ARCHITECTURE 4 credits
We will study the visual arts from the Ancient Mediterranean in all media, including architecture, sculpture, vase painting, frescoes, mosaics, cameos, and jewelry. After a brief introduction about the legacy of Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian art, the first half of the course will cover Greek art from the Aegean Bronze Age through the Hellenistic era. The second half of the course will focus on Roman art from the Etruscans through the end of the Roman Empire. Themes we will consider include the ideal of beauty and the development of the “canon,” portraiture and representations of the human body, and ideas about youth and age. To understand the relevance of studying ancient art in modern times, we will also include questions about forgeries and looting, and the contentious issue of cultural heritage. Students are expected to engage closely with original objects of ancient art on view in Paris.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY A: The Arts & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
AH 1003 - INTRO TO ART THROUGH PARIS MUSEUMS 4 credits
Uses the unsurpassed richness of the art museums of Paris as the principal teaching resource. The history of Western Art is studied through the close examination of a limited selection of major works in a variety of media. The works chosen illuminate the political, social and religious contexts of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque and Rococo periods, and the modern epoch. The course has an extra course fee of 35 euros.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY A: The Arts & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
Course Fee: 25 euros
AH 1020 - INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ART II 4 credits
Continues the study of selected monuments of painting, sculpture, and architecture, from the Renaissance to the 20th-century. Emphasizes historical context, continuity, and critical analysis. Includes direct contact with works of art in Parisian museums. The overall themes of the class may vary by semester.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY A: The Arts & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
AH 2013 - RENAISSANCE ART & ARCHITECTURE 4 credits
This course will introduce you to the major works of the Italian and Northern Renaissance from 1300 to 1600. Emphasis will be placed on understanding artworks within their original cultural contexts, paying particular attention to the production and circulation of art in an age of exploration and discovery. Key themes and issues of consideration will include the idea of a classical revival and artistic self-fashioning, questions of imitation and style, courtly values, art collecting and the ethnographic print, as well as the religious debates of the period and the changing status of the sacred image.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY A: The Arts & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
USC CATEGORY B - Humanistic Inquiry
Students will earn both Category B and H credit for courses in this section that are marked as carrying both B and H credit.
CL 2052 - ENGLISH LITERATURE SINCE 1800 4 credits
From the Romantic period, covers major examples of: prose - the transition from the 19th century models to Modernist experimentation; poetry - the development of modern poetic form and the fortunes of European hermetic influence in an increasingly politicized century; and drama - examples of absurdist and left-wing drama which have dominated the British stage since the 1950s.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
CL 2010 - PARIS THROUGH ITS BOOKS 4 credits
Examines how experiences of Paris have been committed to the page from the first century to the present. Considers the uses and effects of overviews, street-level accounts, and underground approaches to describing the city and its inhabitants. Includes visits to the sewers and museums, revolutionary sites and archives, with multiple members of the comparative literature faculty speaking on their areas of expertise.
http://www.aup.edu/paris-through-its-books
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
Course Fee: 20 euros
CL 3075 - QUEENS, FAIRIES & HAGS: ROMANCE OF MEDIEVAL GENDER 4 credits
This course is a quest for understanding of the conventions of medieval romance, a genre of predilection for establishing codified, recognizable normative femininities and masculinities through the lens of gender, sexuality and feminist and queer theory. We will explore medieval texts and the social contexts of their production and reception, the aspirations and contradictions of the idealized, and the heteronormative world of knighthood and courtly love.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
CL 1050 - THE WORLD, THE TEXT, AND THE CRITIC II 4 credits
This team-taught course opens up a historical panorama of European literature stretching from the 18th to the 21st century. It does not pretend to provide a survey of this period but rather showcases a selection of significant moments and locations when literary genres changed or new genres appeared. The idea is to open as many doors as possible onto the rich complexity of comparative literary history. In order to help students orient themselves within various histories of generic mutations and emergences, the professors have put together a vocabulary of key literary critical terms in the fields of narrative structure, style, and rhetoric.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
PL 2041 - ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS 4 credits
Introduction to ethics by the example of environmental ethics, exploring the role of humans as moral agents with regard to other living beings, the whole planet or its biosphere, and future generations. Through cases studies and to understand implicit assumptions and theoretical problems of standpoints taken by stakeholders in the debate.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
PL 1021 - ETHICAL INQUIRY: PROBLEMS AND PARADIGMS 4 credits
How should I live? How can I determine whether an action is right or just? These are perennial questions that philosophers have long considered and attempted to answer. Explores the ethical writings of several philosophers, including Plato, Hobbes, and Mill, in order to help us clarify and articulate our own values as well as discover the nature of philosophy.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
PL 2072 - FREUD & NIETZSCHE 4 credits
An introduction to one of the key orientations of modern philosophy: critical genealogy and its central problematic, the identity and formation of the subject. The aim of critical genealogy is to unearth the hidden and unsuspected mechanisms, whether institutional or familial, which lie behind the formation of individual and social identities.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
PL/PO 2003 - POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 4 credits
Political philosophy forms that branch of philosophy that reflects on the specificity of the political. Why are humans, as Aristotle argued, political animals? How are they political? What are the means and ends of the political, and how best does one organize the political with such questions in mind? The course offers a topic-oriented approach to the fundamental problems underlying political theory and practice.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
HI 1002 - HISTORY OF WESTERN CIV. FROM 1500 4 credits
Continues History 1001, from the Renaissance and the Reformation through commercialism, Absolutism, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and the industrial and social revolutions of the 19th century to nationalism and socialism in the contemporary Western world.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
PL 1100 - HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY I: FROM ANCIENT TO MEDIEVAL 4 credits
This course offers an overview of ancient and medieval philosophy. Beginning with the earliest Greek philosophers and ending with the late medieval founding fathers of modern scientific thought, we will read and discuss various answers these thinkers gave to questions such as: 'What is a good life?' or 'How can I reconcile my faith with what reason tells me?' Readings include Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Seneca, Plotinus, Anselm, Avicenna, Abelard, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas and Nicolaus of Autrecourt.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
USC CATEGORY C – Social Analysis
Students will earn both Category C and G credit for courses in this section that are marked as carrying both C and G credit.
AN 1002 - INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY 4 credits
Sociocultural anthropology is the comparative study of human societies and cultures. This course is designed to introduce students to central areas of anthropological inquiry, a range of key theoretical perspectives and the discipline’s holistic approach. Through field-based research projects, students will also gain familiarity with the discipline’s qualitative research methods (especially participant observation). While students will encounter the works of key historical figures in the discipline, they will also discover current debates on globalization and transnationalism. Finally, this course also strives to cultivate students’ ability to reflect critically on their own identities and cultures, thereby gaining a greater understanding and appreciation for diversity and an improved set of intercultural communication skills.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis
GS 2006 - CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST THEORY 4 credits
Introduces the methodology of Gender Studies and the theory upon which it is based. Examines contemporary debates across a range of issues now felt to be of world-wide feminist interest: sexuality, reproduction, production, writing, representation, culture, race, and politics. Encourages responsible theorizing across disciplines and cultures.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis
GS/PY 2010 - INTRODUCTION TO GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND SOCIETY 4 credits
Surveys major issues concerning gender and the science of psychology in an attempt to answer the question: why is there such a gender gap when women and men share more psychological similarities than differences? Topics include: developmental processes and gender; gender roles and stereotypes, biology and gender; cross-cultural perspectives of gender; social-cultural theories of gender; language and gender, emotions and gender, health and gender.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis
HI 1003 - THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD 4 credits
Beginning with the bipolar world of the Cold War, focuses on ideological struggles of the West, East, and Third World and the reactions of nations to the politics of the superpowers. Topics range from decolonization to the rise of the new Asia, African independence, the reemergence of the Muslim world, the collapse of communism, globalization and clash of world cultures.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis
PO 1011 - FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN POLITICS 4 credits
What is politics - the quest for the common good or who gets what, when, and how? We study what defines politics in the modern age: states and nations in the international system, collective action and representation in mass societies, trajectories of democracy and dictatorship, politics and development in the context of capitalism. The course will introduce the student to the concerns, the language and the methods of Political Science.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis
LW/HI 2030 - INTRO. TO HISTORY, LAW & SOCIETY 4 credits
What role does law play in shaping society? How have courts shaped society, both domestically and internationally? What strategies have people taken to resist unjust laws? Students engage in weekly moot courts that survey gripping historical and contemporary cases, including fugitive slave laws, the death penalty and criminal justice, hate speech, transgender rights, and issues relating to immigration, including asylum and deportation. Readings come from history, literature, sociology, and legal opinions. By the end of this course, students will be able to apply critical approaches to the law to contemporary issues; perform a mock trial, from start to finish; and write persuasive and analytically rigorous papers that demonstrate interdisciplinary thinking.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis & CATEGORY G: Citizenship in a Global Era
PO 2031 - WORLD POLITICS 4 credits
This course analyses the basic setting, structure and dynamics of world politics with emphasis on current global problems, practices and processes. In doing so, it introduces the major theoretical approaches to international politics, and uses theory as a methodological tool for analyzing sources of change and causes of conflict and/or cooperation in the global arena.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis & CATEGORY G: Citizenship in a Global Era
USC CATEGORY D – Life Sciences
SC 1080 - ANIMAL BEHAVIOR 4 credits
This course explores how and why animals, including humans, behave the way they do. Topics include natural selection; the interplay between genes and the environment; learning; the influence of neurons and hormones on behavior; foraging; mating; cooperation; communication; and social behavior. In the labs, students will use the scientific method to carry out lab- and field-based research projects.
*Lab required. Please note that an additional fee will be charged for this course.
Prerequisite: Must have a mathematics placement into MA 1030 Calculus I -OR- enroll simultaneously in a 4-credit mathematics course. Enrollment in the laboratory and lecture is mandatory.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY D: Life Sciences
USC CATEGORY E – Physical Sciences
SC 1070 - THE OCEAN ENVIRONMENT 4 credits
This course is an introduction of the science of oceanic environment, from submarine canyons to zooplankton, from global warming to the growing plastics problem in mid oceanic gyres, from acidification to wave dynamics. We will explain oceanography's most important concepts and debunk its widely (and wildly) held misconceptions.
*Lab required
Prerequisite: Must have a mathematics placement into MA 1030 Calculus I -OR- enroll simultaneously in a 4-credit mathematics course. Enrollment in the laboratory and lecture is mandatory.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY E: Physical Sciences
USC Course Equivalency: GEOL107
Course Fee: 20 euros
USC CATEGORY F – Quantitative Reasoning
EC 2020 - PRINCIPLES OF MACROECONOMICS 4 credits
Examines the determinants of the levels of national income, employment, rates of interest, and prices. Studies in detail the instruments of monetary and fiscal policy, highlighting the domestic and international repercussions of their implementation.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
USC Course Equivalency: ECON205
EC 2010 - PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS 4 credits
Focuses on the role played by relative market prices in our society and on the forces of market supply and demand in determining these prices. Since the actions of consumers and firms underlie supply and demand, the course studies in detail the behavior of these two groups.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
USC Course Equivalency: ECON203
MA 1020 - APPLIED STATISTICS I 4 credits
Introduces the tools of statistical analysis. Combines theory with extensive data collection and computer-assisted laboratory work. Develops an attitude of mind accepting uncertainty and variability as part of problem analysis and decision-making. Topics include: exploratory data analysis and data transformation, hypothesis-testing and the analysis of variance, simple and multiple regression with residual and influence analyses.
Prerequisite: MA0900 OR MA1005 OR MA1005CCM OR MA1005GE120 OR ELECMA-25 OR ELECMA-20 OR ELECMA-30 OR (MA1025CCM OR MA1025GE120) OR MA1030 OR MA1030CCM OR MA1030GE120 OR MA1091 OR MA1091CCM OR MA1091GE120
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
USC Course Equivalency: MATH114
MA 1030 - CALCULUS I 4 credits
Introduces differential and integral calculus. Develops the concepts of calculus as applied to polynomials, logarithmic, and exponential functions. Topics include: limits, derivatives, techniques of differentiation, applications to extrema and graphing; the definite integral; the fundamental theorem of calculus, applications; logarithmic and exponential functions, growth and decay; partial derivatives. Appropriate for students in the biological, management, computer and social sciences.
Prerequisite: MA1025CCM OR ELECMA-30 OR MA1025GE120
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
USC Course Equivalency: MATH125
MA 1025 - FUNCTIONS, MODELING, PRECALC 4 credits
Functions Modeling Change provides the algebraic and geometric skills needed to succeed in a Calculus course. The central topic is functions (in particular linear, polynomial, exponential and logarithmic), function notation and graphs, transformations, composition and inverses. Students also work with computers building mathematical models based on these functions, and implemented using graphing calculators, mathematical software and Excel.
Prerequisite: MA0900 OR MA1020 OR MA1020CCM OR MA1020GE120 OR ELECMA-25 OR ELECMA-30
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
MA 1005 - MATH FOR LIFE 4 credits
A General Education course designed for students majoring in subjects not requiring math skills, and those who dislike math. Projects are developed from a range of everyday situations: banking, the stock market, gambling, and even art. Meeting alternately in the classroom and the computer lab to develop mathematical models, students will develop quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. MA1005 CCM is not open to students who have taken MA1020 (Statistics) or above, and students cannot receive credit for MA 1005 if they have received credit for previously taking (either at AUP or transferred in) any math higher than or equivalent to MA 1005 CCM Math for Life.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
USC CATEGORY G - Citizenship in a Global Era
PO 1012 - CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL POLITICS 4 credits
This course examines key analytical and normative challenges of the present: global rebalancing and the emergence or reemergence of postcolonial states, uneven development, the role of culture in world politics, the future of the nation state, the global environmental imperative, mass forced and free migrations, the new landscape of armed conflict, the sources and implications of sharpening social divides, and the challenges to liberal-democratic theory and practice.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY G: Citizenship in a Global Era
USC CATEGORY H – Traditions and Historical Foundations
HI 2001 - FRENCH REVOLUTION & NAPOLEON 4 credits
Examines French history between 1770 and 1815: the rise of the modern monarchical state, population growth and increased commercial wealth calling for flexibility and innovation, new values of the Enlightenment urging a rethinking of traditional beliefs and practices, war and bankruptcy precipitating revolution and bringing to power men such as Robespierre and Napoleon.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
HI 1015 - HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST I 4 credits
This course surveys major themes in the ancient (pre-Islamic) and medieval history of the Middle East. It is organized around two parts. The first surveys successive civilizations and empires that rose in the region or invaded and dominated it, from the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Hittites, the Phoenicians, the Persians, to the Greeks and the Romans/Byzantines. The birth of Judaism and Christianity is presented in this part. The Second covers the rise of Islam, its expansion and the Caliphate it established from the 7th to the late 13th century, when the Mongol seized Bagdad.
USC GE Category Equivalency: CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
USC Lower-Division GE Writing Requirement
EN 2020 - WRITING & CRITICISM 4 credits
A series of topic-centered courses refining the skills of academic essay writing, studying a wide range of ideas as expressed in diverse literary genres and periods. Introduces the analysis of literary texts and gives training in the writing of critical essays and research papers. Recent topics include: Utopia and Anti-Utopia, City as Metaphor, Portraits of Women, Culture Conflict, and Labyrinths.
Prerequisite: EN1010
USC Course Equivalency: WRIT 130: LOWER DIVISION WRITING REQUIREMENT
Courses Earning Specific USC Equivalencies (Language Levels & Course Equivalencies)
AB 1010 - ELEMENTARY ARABIC I 4 credits
This course is designed to familiarize beginners with the Arabic alphabet system and Arabic writing as well as provide the basis for limited conversation.
USC Course Equivalency: FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEVEL 1
AB 1030 - INTERMEDIATE ARABIC I 4 credits
After studying the principles of morphological derivation which makes the students able to structure their understanding of the vocabulary production system, the course focuses on producing small texts expressing the students’ opinion and description of the material seen during the sessions. AB 530 gives the opportunity to go beyond simple contact and to interact in Arabic within the fields covered by the different documents. The field covered by the didactic documents broadens out to short authentic texts, short articles and literary production, as well as authentic documents such as letters, cards, advertisings, announcements…
Prerequisite: AB1020
USC Course Equivalency: FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEVEL 3
CM 1023 - INTRO TO MEDIA & COMMUNICATION STUDIES 4 credits
This course provides a survey of the media and its function in today’s society. It introduces students to the basic concepts and tools necessary to think critically about media institutions and practices. In addition to the analysis of diverse media texts, the course considers wider strategies and trends in marketing, distribution, audience formation and the consequences of globalization. By semester’s end, students will understand the basic structures of today’s media and be able to provide advanced analysis that weighs the social and political implications of its products.
Prerequisite: EN1000 OR EN1010 OR EN2020CCE OR EN2020
USC Course Equivalency: COMM203
LT 1001 - ELEMENTARY LATIN I 4 credits
This is a Latin course for beginners. By reading simple Latin texts and trying to write (or, if you like, speak) some Latin yourself, you learn the first grammar essentials and acquire a basic passive vocabulary of c. 1000 words. Choice of a particular textbook and specialization on particular aspects, e.g. Medieval Latin, is possible.
USC Course Equivalency: FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEVEL 1
MA 2030 - CALCULUS II 4 credits
The continuation of MA1030, Calculus I. This course is appropriate for economics, mathematics, business and computer science majors and minors. Topics include: infinite series and applications; differential equations of first and second order and applications, functions of several variables, partial derivatives with applications, especially Lagrange multipliers. Includes the use of Mathematica.
Prerequisite: MA1030CCM
USC Course Equivalency: Must be taken with with MA 3030: MATH126 and MATH226
PO 2015 - COMPARATIVE POLITICS 4 credits
This course introduces students to the comparative study of politics, focusing on political behavior and the structures and practices that political systems have in common and those that distinguish them. We study different forms of democratic and authoritarian rule, state-society relationships, and key issues of political economy like development and welfare states. While the emphasis is on domestic features, we also analyze the impacts of globalization on national politics.
USC Course Equivalency: POSC120
PY 1000 - INTRO TO PSYCHOLOGY 4 credits
This course discusses the intellectual foundations of contemporary psychology. Students learn about the concepts, theories and experiments basic to an understanding of the discipline, including classic thought and recent advances in psychology such as psychoanalysis, learning theory,biological mechanisms, developmental, social, cognitive, personality and abnormal psychology.
USC Course Equivalency: TR-PSYC
Courses Earning Open Elective Equivalency at USC:
AR 1061 - DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY 4 credits
This introductory course is an exploration of both technical and aesthetic concerns in photography. Using a digital camera, students will produce original work in response to a series of lectures, assignments, and bi-weekly critique classes. The course will cover the fundamentals of photographing with digital SLR’s, and students will learn a range of digital tools including color correction, making selections, working with layers and inkjet printing. After mastering the basics, students will work towards the completion of a final project and the focus of the remaining classes will be on critiques. Students will be asked to make pictures that are challenging in both content and form and express the complex and poetic nature of the human experience. REQUIRED EQUIPMENT:
• A digital SLR or mirrorless camera that can shoot “RAW” files in FULLY MANUAL mode (the brand does not matter)
• An SD card of at least 8GB (SanDisk or Lexar brand)
• A camera lens (preferably a 50mm fixed-length lens, but zooms are ok)
• An SD card reader
• Two external hard drives of at least 500GB
• A portfolio box
Your course fee covers standard paper and ink usage, additional usage will be charged to your student account. AUP provides access to a photo inkjet printer, but DOES NOT PROVIDE CAMERAS, LENSES, SD cards, etc. Please note that it is the student's responsibility to purchase all required individual equipment.
Please note that an additional fee will be charged for this course.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 100 euros
AR 1010 - INTRO TO DRAWING 4 credits
This studio course provides an introduction to the basic ideas and techniques needed for the comprehension and construction of the built environment. Starting with elemental design concerns, students will be asked to use what they learn in order to create ever larger and more complex entities. Site-specific assignments making use of Paris and its history will oblige the students to engage in the “conversation” of the urban world.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 75 euros
AR 1032 - INTRO TO SCULPTURE 4 credits
For students who have little or no previous experience. Students learn how to see in three dimensions and work from observation. Mastery of structure and the architecture of form in space are acquired by the building up technique in clay. Work from plaster copies, nude models (male and female), and imagination are followed by an introduction to the carving technique. There is an additional fee in this course for materials.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 115 euros
AR 1020 - MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES OF THE MASTERS 4 credits
Techniques of the Masters Lectures, demonstrations, and workshops focus on materials and techniques used by artists over the centuries. Studies the historical background of techniques of drawing, painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts combined with a hands-on approach so that each student can experience the basic elements of the plastic arts.Please note that an additional fee will be charged for this course. May be taken twice for credit.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 75 euros
AR 1015 - PAINTING I 4 credits
For students with little or no previous experience in drawing or painting. First analyzes still life objects in basic plastic terms starting with value. Concentrates during each class session on a new painterly quality until a sufficient visual vocabulary is achieved so that more complicated subjects such as the nude can be approached. Work will be done in oil.May be taken twice for credit.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 75 euros
AR 1040 - PRINTMAKING I 4 credits
This course focuses on traditional relief printing techniques for the creation of multiple identical images without the use of a printing press. Once the fundamentals are understood, experimentation is encouraged so that each student can learn how to best exploit the different methods to successfully translate sketches into a powerful printed document. In addition to the making of prints, students will study the history of woodblock and metal printing and will be asked to visit and write about several print collections.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 100 euros
BA 2009 - INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT 4 credits
Stimulating the intercultural sensitivity, understanding and managing cultural differences are vital business concerns. This course examines different cultures and mindsets, the fundamental elements of intercultural management, and working in an international context: organization, leadership, multicultural teams, intercultural communication, meetings and presentations, manners and taboos. The impact of cultural differences is examined in key activities (managing, communicating, coaching, decision-making, organizing, controlling); and key situations (meetings, negotiations, presentations, sales calls).
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
BA 2020 - MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR 4 credits
The course introduces students to basic Management/Organizational Behavior concepts and enables them to understand the attitude and behaviors on the individual level and the group level within organizations. Students will be enabled to use Organizational Behavior tools and theories to recognize organizational patterns within a complex social situation. Students will be provided with readings, lectures, and cases that provide a diverse and robust understanding of human interaction in organization.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
BA 2040 - MARKETING IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT 4 credits
This introductory marketing course develops students’ understanding of the principles of marketing and their use in international business. Students learn how to collect and analyze data sets to make marketing decisions with the goal of understanding customers wants, demands, and needs; they learn marketing from a strategic and functional point of view. With a focus on problem solving, students work in multicultural teams cultivating a greater sensitivity to cultural issues while improving communication skills. Students will consider marketing in the French, US, and international marketplace.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CL 3060 - LITERATURE & THE POLITICAL IMAGINATION 4 credits
Approaches Western political discourses through major texts of 19th-century literature. Provides an introduction to socialism, anarchism, liberalism, and communism, and relates them to questions of literary production, arguing that the literary and the political imaginations are intimately related. Literary texts studied include fiction by Zola, Gaskell, Dickens, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Chernyshevsky, and Conrad, and poetry by French and British writers.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CL/PL 3116 - KEY TEXTS: SOCRATES, SOPHISTS, AND THE STAGE 4 credits
A grand tour of 5th cent. BCE Athens, a fascinating time of intellectual unrest and innovation. Readings include the founding fathers of drama (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), Old Comedy (Aristophanes), fragments of the Greek sophists, the historiographers Herodotus and Thucydides, Xenophon’s Recollections of Socrates and early Platonic dialogues, such as the Apology and the Phaedo.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 2004 - COMPARATIVE COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY 4 credits
This course provides historical background to understand how contemporary communication practices and technologies have developed and are in the process of developing and reflects on what communication has been in different human societies across time and place. It considers oral and literate cultures, the development of writing systems, of printing, and different cultural values assigned to the image. The parallel rise of mass media and modern western cultural and political forms and the manipulation and interplay of the properties and qualities conveyed by speech, sight, and sound are studied with reference to the printed book, newspapers, photography, radio, cinema, television, new media.
Prerequisite: EN1000 OR EN1010 OR EN2020CCE
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 2014 - COMPARATIVE JOURNALISM : GUTENBERG TO GOOGLE 4 credits
Studies will study the production of journalism in different historical, political and cultural contexts. Theoretical approaches to media and journalism (for example, authoritarian vs liberal models) will be studied to understand the relationship between politics and journalism – and, more generally, the media that operate as industries regulated by states. The course also examines the transformation of the journalism profession by new technologies, notably the impact of the web and social media on newsgathering and other journalistic practices. Issues such as censorship and surveillance will be examined through case studies such as Google and Facebook and new “gatekeepers” of news.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 1500 - DIGITAL TOOLKIT: COMMUNICATION DESIGN PRACTICUM 4 credits
In this digital tools training course, students will learn skills, gain hands-on experience, and think critically and ethically about a range of contemporary digital tools for research, creative, and practical purposes in the fields of Communications, Media, and Cultural Studies. Students will acquire facility with and conceptual understanding of online publishing, search engines, privacy protecting tools, digital storytelling, and tools for data management, cleaning, and visualization, among others. As researchers, we will learn about finding quality information online, the ethics of gathering and protecting research data, and the fair and legal use of online content. Readings and lectures will interrogate the different ways in which digitization and datafication affect us as networked users, creators, citizens, and consumers, focusing on unequal access to information retrieval and creation, biases in Machine Learning, surveillance and tracking through datafication, algorithmic culture, and AI. The course prepares students to work with digital tools while critically and responsibly engaging with them. This change updates a woefully outdated description which no longer matches course content and has led to students feeling deceived.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 1110 - INTRODUCTION TO FASHION STUDIES 4 credits
This course aims to introduce students to the study of fashion, considered as a multidisciplinary field of analyses. At the intersection of theory and practice, and relying on the key texts of historians, art historians, philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists and geographers, this course will examine the relationship between fashion and body, identity, art, industry, media, class, culture, subculture, gender, sex, time, space, religion and politics. With an emphasis on experiential learning and drawing on visual and film sources, on historical and contemporary examples for discussion, this class will provide students with the possibility to question the future of the fashion industry by studying the social and environmental impact of fashion and the role of social change that fashion can play.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 1011 - JOURNALISM: WRITING & REPORTING 4 credits
The introductory course provides students with basic training in writing and reporting in all forms of journalism, print and online. The course gives students with a grounding in the basic principles and practices of the journalism profession: accuracy, fairness, objectivity. Students will learn journalistic writing techniques as well as style and tone. They will analyze possible sources, define angles, and learn to write a hard news story. The course will provide workshop training for students involved in ASM courses focused on the Peacock Plume website.
Prerequisite: EN1000 OR EN1010 OR EN2020CCE
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 2006 - MEDIA GLOBALIZATION 4 credits
What is globalization? Why study the media? What is the relationship between the media and globalization? What are the consequences of media globalization on our lives and identities? This course critically explores these questions and challenging issues that confront us today. Globalization can be understood as a multi-dimensional, complex process of profound transformations in all spheres – technological, economic, political, social, cultural, intimate and personal. Yet much of the current debates of globalization tend to be concerned with “out there” macro-processes, rather than what is happening “in here,” in the micro-processes of our lives. This course explores both the macro and the micro. It encourages students to develop an enlarged way of thinking – challenging existing paradigms and providing comparative perspectives.
Prerequisite: EN1000 OR EN1010 OR EN2020CCE
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 2003 - MEDIA INDUSTRIES: STRATEGIES, MARKETS & CONSUMERS 4 credits
This course examines how the media industries – from movies and television to music and magazines – have been transformed by the disruptive impact of the Internet and new forms of consumer behavior. Economic terms such as “creative destruction” will help students understand how the Internet disrupted old media business models and shifted market power to consumers. Case studies include Apple’s impact on the music industry, the emergence of “streaming” services such as Netflix and Spotify, the decline of traditional print-based journalism with the emergence of online platforms, and Amazon’s transformation of the book industry.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 2091 A - TOPICS: BODIES IN DIGITAL MEDIA 4 credits
This course will examine the significance of digital media and technologies in how (human) bodies are performed, perceived and policed online and offline. It will focus on politics of representation, examining Hollywood’s narrative of human bodily enhancements and comparing it with qualitative scholarship on the everyday experience of a range of bodies interacting through and with digital technologies and media such as, voice recognition, augmented reality, virtual reality, and assistive AI. Students will learn to interrogate gendered and able-bodied narratives, challenge existing paradigms and re-examine the blurring between facts and fiction.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 2091 B - TOPICS: DECOLONIZING FASHION, DESIGN & CULTURE 4 credits
This course critically examines the effects and entanglements of colonialism in the creative industries, including design and fashion. Colonialism does not refer to a circumscribed period that happened in history. Colonial institutional structures and systems of representation that fashion and design, and more broadly cultures and societies, were built upon are still active to this day. Design continues to reproduce inequality, normative and supremacist stereotypes, extractive productive systems, and culturally appropriate Global South cultures to perpetuate dominant Eurocentric narratives. Students will gain insights into how colonial legacies, neo-colonial and Eurocentric discourses are embedded in global design systems promoting over-consumption and waste, the implications of these structures on marginalized communities, and how decolonization processes can radically transform creative practices. The course will emphasize alternative intersectional approaches to fashion and design, opening the field to a plurality (Indigenous, queer, feminist, diasporic, Global South…) of voices, identities, and knowledge. Through a combination of theoretical readings, site visits, case studies, and hands-on workshops, students will engage with decolonization as an in-process, in-progress agenda toward a more social-, racial-, and climate justice-oriented world.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CS 1040 - INTRO TO COMPUTER PROGRAMMING I 4 credits
This course introduces the fundamental concepts of programming. Starts with practical problem solving and leads to the study and analysis of simple algorithms, data types, control structures, and use of simple data structures. The course focuses on developing fundamental programming skills. The pedagogical methodology emphasizes experiential learning by asking students to solve small problems. There will be a considerable amount of practical work; students should allow at least eight hours of homework per week for this. All classes will take place in the Computer Laboratory so students will experiment and build-on all the theories and algorithms presented in class.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
DR 2000 - THEATER ARTS 4 credits
Offers a practical workshop in the art of acting and dramatic expression. Students learn to bring texts to life on stage through a variety of approaches to performance. This course develops valuable analytical skills through play analysis, as well as building confidence in presentation and group communications skills through acting techniques and the rehearsal and performance of play scenes. May be taken twice for credit.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
EN 1010 - COLLEGE WRITING 4 credits
Taught through thematically-linked works of literature from the Ancient world to the present day. Stresses expository writing, accurate expression, and logical organization of ideas in academic writing. Recent themes include: Childhood, Friendship from Aristotle to Derrida, Social Organization and Alienation, Monstrosity, and Music and Literature. This course satisfies only 4 credits of the University's English requirement.
Prerequisite: EN1000 OR EN1010
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
EN 3200 - FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP 4 credits
Whether a story is an imaginative transformation of life experience or an invention, the writing must be well crafted and convincing, driven not only by plot and theme but also through characterization, conflict, point of view, and sensitivity to language. Students produce and critique short stories and novel chapters while studying fiction techniques and style through examples.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 25 euros
EN 2100 - INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING: A CROSS-GENRE WORKSHOP 4 credits
In this course, students practice writing fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry while exploring the boundaries between genres. The workshop format includes guided peer critique of sketches, poems, and full-length works presented in class and discussion and analysis of literary models. In Fall, students concentrate on writing techniques. In Spring, the workshop is theme-driven. May be taken twice for credit.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
EN 1000 - PRINCIPLES OF ACADEMIC WRITING 4 credits
Emphasizes the stages required to produce a polished, articulate essay by practicing the necessary components of excellent academic writing: sharpening critical thinking skills, organizing ideas, choosing appropriate and dynamic words, varying prose style, editing, refining, and proofreading. Although this course carries 4 credits, it does not fulfill the University's English requirement.
Prerequisite: EN0950
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FM 1010 - MODERN FILMS & THEIR MEANINGS 4 credits
How does the unique language of cinema make meaning and convey emotions? This course provides multiple answers to that question by introducing the formal characteristics of film and enables the students to acquire the key vocabulary necessary to critically describe, analyse and interpret contemporary cinema. Each week, classes will focus on a foundational concept, ranging from principles of narration to different components of film style, and from why cinema matters to issues of spectatorship. Throughout the course, students will encounter a wide array of feature films from different genres around the globe. Students will also have the opportunity to practise close textual analysis through assignments, and during class discussions delve deep into interpreting the dramatic functions of elements of style in the context of a single film.
Students are expected to participate in these activities in order to build their confidence and command over technical terminology, and work towards attaining their own carefully reasoned interpretations of film texts. In addition, students will learn about Parisian film culture and different approaches to film criticism through lectures and assignments.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FM 1019 - PRINCIPLES OF VIDEO PRODUCTION 4 credits
This course is designed to give you strong technical and conceptual skills in video production. This course will prepare you for future video work in film, journalism, media and communications, studio art, and can be useful across many other disciplines. You will learn to create several complete film and audio projects, each challenging you to explore new skills. Class time will be divided into lectures, screenings, and mostly in-class labs and critique. Homework will consist of readings, writing responses, shooting, editing and screenings.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 90 euros
FM 2028 - THE ART OF SCREENWRITING 4 credits
In Art of Screenwriting students consider the elements necessary for successful screenwriting practices, with close attention to the theory of screenwriting as influenced by other arts. In particular, a close emphasis of the course is on the art of narrative and the central role played by adaptation of novels in screenwriting practice. Character development, structure, dialogue and conflict are analyzed through exemplary scripting such as in the works of Jane Campion, Roman Polanski and others. The course culminates in a hands-on guided approach to scriptwriting by students.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FR 1100 - FRENCH AND CULTURE I 4 credits
This course is an introduction to French and is intended to help students acquire the basic elements of spoken and written French. Students will learn how to express themselves in everyday life situations. The students’ basic needs for linguistic and cultural information will be the main focus of this course. In class, work will be supplemented by multimedia activities and real-life situations in the city of Paris.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FR 1200 - FRENCH AND CULTURE II 4 credits
This course is a second semester Elementary French course, a continuation of level FR 1010 with emphasis on acquiring basic level of proficiency in the language and understanding the culture of France and the Francophone world. This course will enable students to improve their comprehension skills through the use of authentic audio and video material and to acquire vocabulary to face situations in their real life in Paris. The four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are reinforced and special emphasis is placed on pronunciation.In-class work will be supplemented by multimedia activities and real-life situations in the City of Paris.
Prerequisite: FR1100 OR FR1200 OR FR1200CCF
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FR 1300 - FRENCH AND CULTURE III 4 credits
The aim of the course is to improve and widen the listening, speaking and writing skills of those taking it, consolidating their knowledge of the full range of basic grammatical structures and broadening their general range of vocabulary. By the end of the course, students should have reached approximately the level A2 standard on the Common European Framework References for Languages
Prerequisite: FR1200CCF OR FR1300CCI OR FR1200 OR FR1300
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FR 2100 - FRENCH AND CULTURE IV 4 credits
This course reviews basic and complex sentence patterns in greater depth through discussions on students experience in Paris. Cultural and historical aspects of the French life are introduced. Students will learn additional vocabulary to express opinions, beliefs, doubts and emotions, and are shown various language registers (formal/informal vocabulary and structures) and intonations. Examples are taken from real life situations, film, television, newspaper articles, etc.The four language skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing) will be reinforced.
Prerequisite: FR1300CCI OR FR1300
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FR 2200 - FRENCH AND CULTURE V 4 credits
This high intermediate course will allow students to reach the B1+ CEFR (DELF) competencies by reinforcing and expanding their ability to express themselves, defend an opinion, and debate with others. Special attention is paid to increasing students' ability to form complex sentences to express attitudes, wishes, necessity, doubt, emotions, to link ideas and to speculate. A B1.1 level in French or a passing grade in a French and Culture IV class (FR 2100) is required.
Spontaneously and through active workshops and discussion, they will react and express their point of view on contemporary subjects and questions, such as access to knowledge (university or other) for all, the gaze on information at a time of “fake news” and the over-multiplication of distribution channels (Internet, social networks, etc.), the representation of so-called “visible” minorities in the media sphere, or the consequences of global warming on countries and their inhabitants...
Through learning that is both individual and collective, debates on ideas based on their past and current experiences in and out of class, but also a constant questioning of their representations, students will thus be encouraged to develop, in addition to their linguistic and cultural skills, their critical thinking and to better understand contemporary issues.
Prerequisite: FR2100 OR FR2100CCI OR FR2101 OR FR2102
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FR 2094 - FRENCH FICTION NOW: TRADUIRE LE ROMAN FRANCAIS CONTEMP. 4 credits
Ce cours introduira les étudiants aux techniques et aux problématiques de la traduction littéraire par le cas particulier des traductions en anglais de romans contemporains écrits en français. La traduction sera discutée comme un transfert culturel : en observant comment des écrivains représentatifs (Houellebecq, Djebar, Gavalda…) ont été reçus aux USA, et en GB, et en faisant le commentaire de trois traductions récentes. L’essentiel du cours sera consacré à l’expérience collective et individuelle de la traduction d’un livre non encore traduit.
Prerequisite: FR1300CCI OR FR2100CCI OR FR2200CCI OR FR2101 OR FR2102
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FR 3091 A - TOPICS: RETHINKING FRENCH BANLIEUES 4 credits
This interdisciplinary course in French explores the historical, social, and cultural dynamics of French suburban areas. Through sociology, ethnography & urban studies, literature, art, photography & visual culture, linguistics, music, and film, students will critically analyze representations of the banlieues, their evolution, and the policies shaping them. The course fosters a nuanced understanding of these spaces beyond stereotypes, engaging with themes of migration, inequality, gender, diversity, and identity in contemporary France.
Prerequisite: FR1300 OR FR1300CCI OR FR2100 OR FR2100CCI OR FR2200 OR FR2200CCI OR FR2101 OR FR2102
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
HI 1091 A - TOPICS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY I: EARLY TIMES TO 1800 4 credits
This course explores the history of Latin America from pre-colonial times to the dawn of the 19th century, critically examining the forces that shaped the region’s colonial past. We will interrogate the very concept of "Latin America" and analyze the diverse civilizations that flourished before European colonization, including the Aztecs, Incas, Guaranis, Tupis, and Amazonian societies. The course will then examine the impact of European rule, focusing on the Columbian Exchange, African slavery, indigenous coerced labor, and the environmental consequences of colonial economies such as sugar production and mining. Key themes include race, resistance, and the dynamics of power in colonial societies. Students will explore pivotal events such as the Valladolid Debate, the Taki Onqoy movement, the Bourbon Reforms, and the rebellion of Túpac Amaru II. We will also study Palmares and other quilombos, the presence of Asian slaves in colonial Latin America, the struggles of Muslim slaves in the Americas, and women’s histories across the continent. The course will conclude with an analysis of the Haitian Revolution and the early independence movements.
Students will work extensively with primary sources, engaging in critical discussions on how to write history that foregrounds the agency of historically marginalized populations. Through these materials, we will challenge traditional narratives and explore alternative perspectives on colonial Latin America.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
MA 0900 - INTERMEDIATE ALGEBRA 2 credits
Intermediate Algebra is for students who need a review before proceeding further in mathematics. The class meets once per week. Topics include linear and quadratic equations, inequalities, graphs, polynomials, factoring, radical expressions, 2x2 systems of linear equations, integer exponents and scientific notation.
This course is worth 2 credits.
MA 0900 does not earn credit at USC. However, it is the prerequisite course for MA 1020 Applied Statistics I and MA 1025 Precalculus. Depending on your mathematics placement, you may be required to take MA 0900 if you wish to take MA 1020 Applied Statistics I or MA 1025 Precalculus in Spring 2026 at AUP.
ME 2035 - STATE, SOCIETY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE ME 4 credits
This course covers the religious, cultural and linguistic diversities in the Middle East and North Africa. It exposes students to and familiarizes them with the origin of these diversities and traces its impact and influence on the modern Middle East. The Islamic identity of the region, its signifier, from the eyes of those outside the region is closely examined. The second part of the course turns to the rich linguistic and cultural diversities of the region, their origin, particularities, and their contributions to the identities of different groups. The role of linguistic diversity as both a unifying and a divisive force will be examined, and the region’s homogeneity and heterogeneity and the socio-political implications of cultural institutions are further explored through its literature, painting, calligraphy, food cultures and customs of dress.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
PL 2037 - EMPIRICISM, SKEPTICISM & MATERIALISM 4 credits
In this course we shall examine the birth of empiricism in polemics over the origins of knowledge and political authority, the limits of human reason, and the possibility of philosophy itself finding a way out of the seventeenth century's religious wars and tyranny towards the creation of free and tolerant societies of rational individuals. Readings from Descartes, Locke, Berkeley and Hume.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
PO 2091 A - TOPICS: REFUGEES AND MIGRATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST 4 credits
The course examines the contemporary human geography, history, and politics of the Middle East with regard to patterns of human settlement, migration, refugees and forced displacement. The course covers the region of the Middle East with a broad understanding: from Lebanon to Iraq, from Syria to Egypt and Sudan, from the Arabic Peninsula to Palestine and Turkey.
In the course, we will explore mobility in the Middle East. We will understand how mobility shapes the patterns of human settlement – from the cosmopolitan but segregated cities of the Gulf countries to the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon and Jordan -- across a region characterized by demographic growth, economic and social stagnation, important inequalities within each country and differences in development from one country to another, and political turmoil.
Against the backdrop of contemporary history (20th century until today), we will analyze the relationship between State building and displacement. We will also focus on some of the main conflicts that have propelled millions of people from the Middle East on the roads of exile. The course invites students to understand some of the most tragic humanitarian crises of our time, with a special focus on Palestine and Syria. Involuntary displacement provoked by environmental change will be addressed too.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
PY 2045 - SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 4 credits
Studies the nature and causes of individual behavior and thought in social situations. Presents the basic fields of study that compose the science of social psychology, and how its theories impact on most aspects of people's lives. Topics of study include: conformity, persuasion, mass communication, propaganda, aggression, attraction, prejudice, and altruism.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
SC 1020 - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 4 credits
This course is intended to introduce non-scientists to key concepts and approaches in the study of the environment. With a focus on the scientific method, we learn about natural systems using case studies of disruptions caused by human activity. Topics include global warming, deforestation, waste production and recycling, water pollution, environmental toxins and sustainable development. The relationships between science and policy, the media, and citizen action are also addressed.
*Lab required. Please note that an additional fee will be charged for this course.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
VC 2100 - INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL CULTURE 4 credits
This course considers the construction of the visual world and our participation in it. Through a transcultural survey of materials, contexts and theories, students will learn how visual practices relate to other cultural activities, how they shape identity and environmental basic ways, and how vision functions in correspondance with other senses.
USC Equivalency: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT