USC First Year Abroad Courses
USC First Year Friendly Courses – Fall 2026
USC First Year Friendly Courses – Fall 2026 (updated May 28, 2026)
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.
GE CATEGORY A: THE ARTS (1 course required for graduation from USC)
Please note that some Category A courses also count towards Category H. In this case, credit is earned for both categories.
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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY A: The Arts
Course Fee: 25
AH 2016 - 19TH & 20TH CENT. ART & ARCHITECTURE 4 credits
Introduces the principal arts and aesthetic issues of the 19th and 20th centuries from the French Revolution to World War II. Studies artists such as David, Turner, Monet, and Picasso, as well as movements such as Romanticism, Impressionism, and Surrealism, stressing continuities beneath apparent differences of approach. Regular museum sessions at the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, and the Centre Pompidou.
USC Credit Earned: CATEGORY A: The Arts
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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY A: The Arts
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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY A: The Arts & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
Course Fee: 25
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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY A: The Arts & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY A: The Arts & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
GE CATEGORY B: HUMANISTIC INQUIRY (2 courses required for graduation from USC)
Please note that some Category B courses also count towards Category H. In this case, credit is earned for both categories.
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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
Course Fee: 20
CL 3043 - PARIS ATTRACTION: MODERNIST EXPERIMENTS IN MIGRATION 4 credits
Explores the work of Anglo-American modernist writers in Paris, concentrating on the works of Ernest Hemingway, Wyndham Lewis, Gertrude Stein, Djuna Barnes, Jean Rhys, and other writers. Relates their formal experimentation to the visual arts and to the psychic dynamics of exile: the experience of liberation from the constraints of one culture and an alienated relation to the new environment.
USC Credit Earned: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
HI 3004 - THE HISTORY OF PARIS 4 credits
Seeks to understand how Paris elucidates the history of France by following its history from its origins to the present. The site of religious and political revolution, Paris testifies to the trials and glories of French history.
USC Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry
CL 3089 - THE BIBLE 4 credits
This course intends to help students better understand the Bible's influence on literature and cultural history through a primary and secondary approach: reading the Bible (preferably The King James Version); reading the history of the biblical period (introductions and annotations of the New Oxford Annotated Bible). Readings shall cover the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament. No prerequisites.
USC Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY B: Humanistic Inquiry & CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
GE CATEGORY C: SOCIAL ANALYSIS (2 courses required for graduation from USC)
Please note that some Category C courses also count towards Category G. In this case, credit is earned for both categories.
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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis
GS/CL 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis & CATEGORY G: Citizenship in a Global Era
PO 2032 - INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 4 credits
Studies the origins, politics, structures, and impact of international organizations with a focus on the United Nations group, specialized agencies, regional organizations, and international administration. Discusses the UN role in peacekeeping, decolonization, refugees, social and health problems, trade and monetary policy, development, technology transfer, and UN reform as well as new developments since the end of the Cold War.
USC Credit Earned: CATEGORY C: Social Analysis & CATEGORY G: Citizenship in a Global Era
GE CATEGORY E: PHYSICAL SCIENCES (1 course required for graduation from USC)
SC 1070 - THE OCEAN ENVIRONMENT 4 credits
IMPORTANT: You must either have a math placement into MA 1030 Calculus I -OR- enroll simultaneously in a mathematics course (MA 1005, MA 1020, MA 1025) in order to enroll in SC 1070. Enrollment in both the lecture (SC 1070) and the laboratory (SC 1070L) is mandatory for the course to earn CATEGORY E: Physical Sciences credit at USC.
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
USC Credit Earned: CATEGORY E: Physical Sciences
USC Course Equivalency: GEOL107
Course Fee: 21
GE CATEGORY F: QUANTITATIVE REASONING (1 course required for graduation from USC)
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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
USC Course Equivalency: ECON203
Course Fee: 9
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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
USC Course Equivalency: ECON205
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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
USC Course Equivalency: MATH125
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.
USC Credit Earned: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY F: Quantitative Reasoning
GE CATEGORY G: CITIZENSHIP IN A GLOBAL ERA (1 course required for graduation from USC)
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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY G: Citizenship in a Global Era
GE CATEGORY H: TRADITIONS AND HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS (1 course required for graduation from USC)
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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
HI/GS 1010 - WOMEN IN WORLD HISTORY I: FROM THE PALEOLITHIC TO 1500 4 credits
Why do women have less power, make less money, and have fewer opportunities than men do? Why have women's bodies been controlled, stigmatized, and pathologized? This is the first half of a year-long investigation of the origins and impacts of gender inequality. We start with our pre-agricultural Sapiens ancestors up to the beginning of the early modern period, looking primarily but not exclusively at socio-cultural developments that shaped understandings of gender, patriarchy and the role of women in different early cultures around the world.
USC Credit Earned: CATEGORY H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
LOWER DIVISION 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 FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEVEL EQUIVALENCIES AT USC
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
GK 1005 - ELEMENTARY ANCIENT GREEK I 4 credits
This is a course for beginners. By reading simple ancient Greek texts and trying to write (or, if you like, speak) some Greek yourself, you learn the first grammar essentials and acquire a basic vocabulary of c. 1000 words. Choice of a particular textbook and specialization on particular aspects, e.g. Greek for students of philosophy, is possible.
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
COURSES EARNING DIRECT COURSE EQUIVALENCIES AT USC
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.
USC Course Equivalency: COMM203
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
COURSES RECEIVING OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 75
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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 75
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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 75
AR 1032 - INTRO TO SCULPTURE 4 credits
This course is designed for students who have little or no previous experience in working with sculpture. Students will learn to create work in three dimensions from observation and imagination. A variety of sculptural materials and techniques will be introduced, furthering students' explorations of structure and form in space. There is an additional course fee for materials.
USC Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 100
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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 100
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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 100
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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
BA 2050 - CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT 4 credits
The course introduces the foundations of managing creativity and innovation. The readings and discussion will focus on the concepts and frameworks for analysing how firms create, commercialize and capture value from innovative products and services.
The aim of this course is to provide a solid grounding to students interested in managing creativity and the various aspects of the innovation process within organizations. The course is divided into two parts. The first part focuses mainly on the creativity process around three themes: What is creativity? How can creativity be stimulated? How can creative ideas be translated to innovative products and business strategies? Based on major theories in the field, we discuss whether monetary rewards enhance or undermine creativity, how multitasking or working under time pressure affects creativity, what tools we can provide to stimulate creativity, and the challenges that arise when implementing creative ideas in organizations. The second part of the course examines the organizational issues involved in innovating and in implementing innovations. These issues include management of teams and partnerships, learning within and across projects, the manager's role in funding, directing, and killing innovation projects, technological entrepreneurship, and resistance to innovation.
USC Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CL 2081 - POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES AND THEORY 4 credits
Any text that speaks truth to power and gives voice to the voiceless has affinities with postcolonial studies, if not a claim to being postcolonial. This course will address key concepts in postcolonial studies to interrogate representations of race, gender, colonial capitalism and the environment. Straddling languages, genres, cultures and continents, our texts create a space for hybrid identities. No prerequisites.
CL 3035 - CONTEMPORARY WORLD LITERATURE 4 credits
This course offers close engagement with recently translated fiction and poetry from around the globe. In addition to reading great contemporary writing, students are introduced to today’s new media landscape, which has taken on an increasingly important role in the promotion and evaluation of global literature. Units on the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
USC Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM 2001 - PUBLIC SPEAKING IN THE DIGITAL AGE 4 credits
Concentrates on the principles of communication in public speaking. Students learn and practice strategies and techniques for effective speech preparation and delivery of informative, ceremonial, persuasive, and impromptu speeches, and panel presentations. Helps students sharpen their oral presentation skills, express their meaning clearly, and become accustomed to public speaking.
Prerequisite: EN1000 OR EN1010 OR EN2020CCE
USC Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CM/EC 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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
CS 1040 - COMPUTER PROGRAMMING I 4 credits
This course is a gentle introduction to the field of Computer Science and the fundamental concepts of programming. It starts with a brief history of computing and the basic elements of the computers' architecture.
It focuses on the correct and fluent use of appropriate terminology in CS to describe fundamental concepts and programs.
It has has strong hands-on approach and leads to understanding fundamental concepts such as flow-charts representation of algorithms, conditional statements, iteration, primitive data types, collections and functions.
Students learn to use the documentation of a programming language and understand error messages for debugging.
USC Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
DR/EN 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
EN/CL 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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
Course Fee: 25
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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FM/CL 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: 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 OR FR2103CCI
USC Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
FR/CL 2075 - THEATER IN PARIS 4 credits
This course essentially happens in the theatres of Paris, exploring the city’s fabulous resources, exchanging with practitioners and scholars from other institutions. We see ways of integrating music, dance and “physical theatre,” innovative explorations of classics from European and non-European traditions, avant-garde masters and the brightest young experimental troupes. We have theatre that directly questions political dilemmas, collective theatre and director-driven theatre, machine theatre and theatre based around great individual actors. Taught in French. Papers done in French or English.
Course fee attached.
Prerequisite: FR1200CCF OR FR1300CCI OR FR2100CCI OR FR2200CCI OR FR2101 OR FR2102 OR FR2103CCI
USC Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
ME/HI 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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
PO 2050 - POLITICAL ANALYSIS 4 credits
This course examines the nature of knowledge claims in political science: how we know what we know and how certain we are. Research schools, the nature of description and explanation in political science, and basis issues of quantitative analysis will form the core elements of this course, while substantive themes may vary each year.
USC Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
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
USC Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
PY/GS 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 Credit Earned: 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 Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT
VC/CM 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 correspondence with other senses.
USC Credit Earned: OPEN ELECTIVE CREDIT