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A hands-on overview of several major biochemistry and molecular biology laboratory techniques, including protein and nucleic acid purification, expression, and characterization; enzyme kinetics; gene amplification, cloning, and manipulation; and protein and gene bioinformatics. Each student will undertake a short research project. Prerequisites: an annual safety training outside of class, BIOL 240, and CHEM 315. (Spring 2026)
BIOCH 376 Foundational Biochemistry (3 SH)
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A comprehensive study of the field of microbiology, emphasizing the principles of medical microbiology and human symbioses. Included in the discussion will be additional focus on disease, treatment, emerging infectious diseases, biotechnology and global public health. Topics will be discussed using lectures, short lab periods, case studies and problem-based learning. Prerequisites: BIOL 240 and an annual safety training outside of class. (Spring 2025Fall 2026)
BIOL 337 Immunology (3 SH)
An examination of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that mediate recognition and response in the human immune system. Topics include innate immunity, antibody function, antigen presentation, gene rearrangements, T and B cell development and activation, and mechanisms of tolerance. Additional topics include immune reactions in allergies, HIV, and cancer. Prerequisite: BIOL 240. (Spring 20262025)
BIOL 358 Natural History of the Shenandoah Valley (4 SH)
This course focuses on identification and understanding of the flora, fauna, and geology of the Shenandoah Valley. Students investigate general principles of natural history while simultaneously developing a sense of "place" in the local region. Laboratories rely heavily on field trips. Prerequisites: an annual safety training outside of class and BIOL 173 or permission of instructor. (Fall 2025Spring 2026)
BIOL 364 Entomology: Vector Biology and Control (3 SH)
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The Music Technology course will allow students to discover and explore introductory concepts used in music sequencing, notation, and recording. This course will provide a detailed explanation of computer music production. Students will develop skills in loop and MIDI production, sampling, digital audio generation, audio recording, editing, and mixing through class instruction and hands-on learning with Ableton Live and Audacity softwaredigital audio workstations. No prior experience in music is necessary. Offered in alternate years
Core: CA & TI
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Capstone course for the music major. Semester will culminate with a public performance of selected works for voices and instruments in which each student will perform in an ensemble setting. This course will include continued development of conducting techniques, completion of a choral arrangement, score analysis, historical analysisanalys.is, program note writing strategies, and development of collaborative skills. Prerequisite: CMUS 411. Offered in alternate years.
CMUS 440 Seminar (1-3 SH)
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The course will provide an overview about information management and how it applies to the sporting industry. As students develop websites, write sports stories and use multimedia to cover sports, including photography, videography and broadcasting, they will learn about careers in sports information, how an organization communicates with the media and its constituents, and how communication in sport has evolved and continues to evolve. Prerequisite: WRIT 135 or WRIT 140. (Spring 2025)
Core: Communication Foundations
CORE
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103 Big Questions, Deep Connections (3 SH)
In this course, students will meet in small groups with their first-year advisers to develop skills to enable a successful transition to EMU and begin to develop Students will investigate the central ideas of various academic disciplines and the role of higher education. Students with guidance from faculty and staff will evaluate and reflect upon their goals for education, career, and life. Students will identify and develop the adaptive skills to successfully navigate their academic, co-curricular, intercultural and career plans. Assignments, activities, and gatherings will introduce the four Core portfolio themes of Students will explore the themes of an EMU education: Faith and Ethics, Intercultural Understanding, Power and Equity, and Sustainability. Students will develop resumes, set up their EMU portfolios, and earn EMU experience points towards their first EMU Engage credit as they attend orientation activities and events of their choice for classEnvironmental Sustainability.
CORE 202 Living Well (2 SH)
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Exploring a mix of older and recent novels and short stories, this course will equip students with the skills they need to enjoy, be surprised by, and learn from fiction. (Fall 2023)
Core: LI
ENGL 250 Reading Poetry (2 SH)
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Featuring literature published between 1600 and 1850, this second in a series of global literature courses also functions as a stand-alone offering and considers readings associated with political revolution, freedom, grief and loss, exploration, enlightenment, and colonialism. Selections will reflect the instructor’s expertise, but representative texts include The Aztec-Spanish Dialogues, The Tempest, The Ausbund, Paradise Lost, and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; selected poetry by Matsuo Basho, Phillis Wheatley, William Wordsworth, and John Keats; and novels such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Students may attend the 200-level version class twice weekly for two credits or intensify to a 300-level three-credit course by attending a third weekly class meeting and completing additional assignments. Students may not enroll in both courses. (Spring 2024)
Core: LI
ENGL 263 Global Literatures 3: Intimacy and Independence (2 SH)
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How do utopic and dystopic visions of the future of our planet affect the way we live in the world? How do these narratives shape our approach to environmental problems today? (Fall 2023)
Core: LI
ENGL 315 Global Conflicts, Global Novels (3 SH)
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This course examines the tensions conflicting allegiances to faith and country may pose by focusing on literature from World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam conflict. A survey of Catholic, Protestant, and Anabaptist theological approaches to peacemaking will provide a framework for the course. In addition to keeping reading response journals and delivering oral presentations, each student will prepare transcribed oral histories with a military veteran or conscientious objector. (Fall 2023)
Core: CE & LI
ENGL 346 Rooms of Their Own (3 SH)
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This course explores conceptions of manhood in US literature since the nation's establishment, featuring texts by writers of diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Thomas Jefferson, Samson Occom, Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, Khaled Hosseini, Gene Luen Yang, and Martin Espada. It also focuses on the relationship of selected literary works to the representation and construction of gender roles in the cultures from which they emerge. We will consider writers' articulations of their experiences within their social and ideological contexts, as well as the material conditions under which they write. A community-learning (CL) designate course, "American Manhood" challenges students to be involved in community settings that relate to course subject matter. Expectations include engagement in critical analysis of community issues and synthesis of classroom-based knowledge and personal experience. (Spring 2024)
Core: LI
ENGL 350 Children's Literature (3 SH)
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Featuring literature published between 1600 and 1850, this second in a series of global literature courses also functions as a stand-alone offering and considers readings associated with political revolution, freedom, grief and loss, exploration, enlightenment, and colonialism. Selections will reflect the instructor’s expertise, but representative texts include The Aztec-Spanish Dialogues, The Tempest, The Ausbund, Paradise Lost, and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; selected poetry by Matsuo Basho, Phillis Wheatley, William Wordsworth, and John Keats; and novels such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Students may attend the 200-level version class twice weekly for two credits or intensify to a 300-level three-credit course by attending a third weekly class meeting and completing additional assignments. Students may not enroll in both courses. (Spring 2024)
Core: LI
ENGL 363 Global Lit Intensive 3: Intimacy and Independence (3 SH)
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A narrative history of the African American experience, driven by the study of African American literature and culture. Beginning with the development of race-based slavery and ending with current issues of blackness and whiteness, this course will trace the changing history of what it has meant to be "black" in the context of "white" America. (Spring 20242026)
Core: HI
HIST 231 Medieval Europe (3 SH)
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A general survey of African history from the pre-colonial to contemporary era, addressing religious and cultural shifts across various regions, the impact of Islamic and European colonization, the quest for independence, post-colonialism, and the complications of nationalism and globalization. (Fall 20232025)
Core: HI
HIST 312 19th Century America, A Novel History (3 SH)
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This course is a study of the United States during the "Modern" period, a time when the country moved from a booming but tattered nation reeling from a civil war to an international giant with immense military and industrial power. Major themes include industrialization, economic vitality, immigration, urbanization, the Social Gospel and Progressive movements, normalization, World War I, the rise of the "New Negro," and the New Deal. Taking HIST 102 before this course is highly recommended. (Fall 2024Spring 2025)
Core: HI
HIST 340-345 Topics in History (3 SH)
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A comparative study of how women around the world (organized around themes such as family, economics, politics, and sexuality) have experienced history. Emphasis will be on understanding changing gender roles in light of different historical events and cultures. The course will also provide an opportunity to examine current gender issues and become familiar with gender theory. (Spring 20242026)
Core: HI
HIST 362 Renaissance and Reformation Europe (3 SH)
A study of the Italian and Northern Renaissance movements and a careful examination of the 16th-century reformations, both Protestant and Catholic. Besides cultural, intellectual, religious and political aspects of the period, social history and gender themes will be considered. Students will get to know diverse personalities such as Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Bloody Mary, and Martin Luther and be able to understand them in their historical contexts. (Spring 20242026)
Core: HI
HIST 365 Mennonite History and Thought (3 SH)
A survey of the Anabaptist movement and Mennonites throughout the world from the sixteenth to twenty-first centuries. Issues include pacifism, wealth, political participation, community and tensions between faith and the dominant culture. Particular attention is given to the Anabaptist vision and its relevance for 21st-century American life. (REL 365) (Spring Fall 2025)
Core: HI
HIST 391 Birth of Modernity in Europe (3 SH)
The origins of many modern realities are found in 17th- and 18th-century Europe: imperialism, liberalism, conservatism, representative government, skepticism, religious tolerance, standing armies, laissez-faire capitalism, and a faith in science, reason and technology to bring about progress. This course uncovers these origins through a survey of political, social, economic, gender and cultural history from 1550 to 1815. Major themes include religious warfare, the witchcraft craze, overseas expansion, Rembrandt's Amsterdam, the Scientific Revolution, absolutism and constitutionalism, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution, culminating in Napoleon's empire. Students will try to grasp the mentality of the era through philosophy and literature from the times and through historical film. (Fall 2024)
Core: HI
HIST 411 The History of Recent America (4 SH)
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A history of Europe from the French Revolution to the present. Themes include revolution, industrialization, women's suffrage, militarism, imperialism and genocide, the rise and fall of communism, the world wars, fascism, the reunification of Eastern and Western Europe, the emergences of the European Union, and current issues such as immigration, terrorism and neo-nationalism, and the splintering of the E.U. (Fall 2023)
Core: HI
HIST 499 Independent Study (1-3 SH)
HONRS
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This course runs every fall semester and is led by the director of the Honors program and/or other members of the Honors faculty. It is available to all students entering EMU with an Honors Scholarship and is highly recommended to all students entering the Honors Program as sophomores or as transfer students. The course is designed to investigate the central ideas of various academic disciplines and higher education generally. Together, students and faculty begin to explore and examine the goals of the program spelled out above.
HONRS 310 Honors Colloquium+ (3 SH)
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This course provides the foundation for intercultural learning and is offered in conjunction with the experiential programs, usually off-campus programs , including semester programs (Option 1), summer 3 or 6-week programs (Option 2) or WCSC semester or summer programs (Option 3). For additional information on all intercultural offerings, students are encouraged to contact Intercultural Programs.
Core: Fulfills intercultural experience
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This course is offered on campus during the spring semester and includes a significant experience (at least 40 hours) with a local family groups or individuals from a different language and culture or cultural background than that of the student. Requirements also include at least 20 hours in partnership with an Intensive English Program student. For students who transfer at least 58 credits earned prior to matriculation at EMU. Contact the Director of Intercultural Programs.
Core: Fulfills intercultural experience
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Using the tools of applied and corpus linguistics, students examine in detail the structural features of English. The course considers issues raised in traditional prescriptive grammars and by modern proponents; and it highlights the application of grammar to students' written prose style. Separate tracks emphasizing grammatical analysis of literary style or grammar pedagogy are provided depending upon student interest. (Spring 2024)
LING 360 Language Learning, Literacy, and Culture (3 SH)
This course considers how humans acquire their first language and other languages. How do power, personal identity, social inequalities and other socio-cultural factors influence acquisition of language and literacy skills? Of special interest are the challenges facing learners outside the mainstream culture who acquire skills in English as an academic language. Practical implications for teaching are considered. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. (Spring 2024)
LING 470 Internship (1-3 SH)
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This course exposes students to elementary physical education history, theory, and practice and encourages them to develop appropriate teaching and management skills. This course must be taken as part of the elementary physical education professional block and includes a 60-hour practicum (also includes PEM 231 and PE 403). Course prerequisites: ED 101, ED 245, PE 301, and PE 302. Admission prerequisites: First semester of block courses: Admission to Teacher Education recommended , and a 2.7 cumulative GPA and the entry assessment math score required. Second semester of block courses: Admission to Teacher Education required. (Fall 2024)
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This course provides students the opportunity to develop the appropriate teaching and management skills for the middle and secondary physical education setting. This course must be taken as part of the secondary physical education professional block and includes a 60-hour practicum (also includes ED 351 and ED 385). Course prerequisites: ED 101, 245, 275, HE 202, and 260. Admission prerequisites: First semester of block courses: Admission to Teacher Education recommended , and a 2.7 cumulative GPA and the entry assessment math score required. Second semester of block courses: Admission to Teacher Education required. (Fall 2023)
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Teacher candidates will focus on skill themes and movement concepts as well as qualitative assessment skills needed to successfully teach pre-school through fifth grade physical education. The process will enable physical educators to successfully structure the development of physically literate students. This course must be taken as part of the elementary physical education professional block and includes a 60-hour practicum (also includes PE 401). Course prerequisites: ED 101, ED 251, PE 301, and PE 302. Admission prerequisites: First semester of block courses: Admission to Teacher Education recommended , and a 2.7 cumulative GPA and the entry assessment math score required. Second semester of block courses: Admission to Teacher Education required. (Fall 2024)
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This course examines issues that arise from a tradition of philosophical reflection on the language and truth claims of religion. Specific readings vary from year to year but will most often include theological and postcolonial responses to the phenomenon of the secular. (Spring 2024)
Core: TR
PHYS 151 College Physics I Lecture (3 SH)
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This course examines the history and contemporary issues of American foreign policy. As the most powerful country in the international system, the United States has been uniquely positioned to shape and influence international politics since the end of World War II. Has it been a peacemaker or a warmonger? The course asks what constraints, dilemmas, risks, and opportunities affected major foreign policy decisions in U.S. history and evaluates the efficacy of America's foreign policy instruments such as international institutions, alliances, and military power in crises and conflicts. This course also aims to expose students to contemporary foreign policy issues. (Spring Fall 2024)
POL 230 International Norms and Institutions (3 SH)
This course provides an overview of the history, objectives, impacts, and effectiveness of norms and institutions in international politics. It examines (1) how international norms and institutions evolve; (2) why and how governments and civil society actors promote international norms and institutions; (3) why states join institutions and comply with international rules and regulations; (4) how international norms affect state behavior; and (5) what determines the effectiveness of international norms and laws. Along with theoretical and historical reviews, students will also study empirical topics such as the United Nations, international humanitarian law, transnational advocacy groups and human rights regimes, international trade and finance organizations, and environmental institutions. (Spring 2025)
POL 250 Law, Justice, and the Local Context (3 SH)
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This course is offered as instructors with special expertise in an area are available to offer unique or trial content. Possible topics include POL 340 Political Philosophy, and POL 342 Peace/Security in East Asia341 Latin American Development and Environment (Fall 2024).
POL 441 Political Science Internship (1-3 SH)
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This course aims to introduce and analyze the history and international relations of East Asia, which is one of the most dynamic and consequential regions in world politics today. The first part of the course will explore historical backgrounds of the region with a focus on political, economic, and security development from the late 19th century to the post-Cold War era. The second part will examine various regional security challenges and foreign/ security policies of the key countries (China, Japan, the two Koreas, and ASEAN countries), encouraging students to think whether the region is heading towards peace or conflict. The ultimate goal of this course is to enable students to produce an academic research paper on a topic of their interests, by immersing themselves in important peace and security issues in East Asia. (Spring 20242026)
Core: HI & WI
PPX 401 Human Rights and Dignity (4 SH)
This course introduces students to the study of human rights from a political perspective. By taking this course, students should be able to (1) think critically and analytically about human rights and dignity; (2) demonstrate knowledge of key conceptual debates, the history and evolution of the international human rights regime, and relevant cases of human rights violations; (3) develop informed positions on key issues of human rights and identify ways to prevent human rights violations at home and abroad; and (4) attain critical writing and oral skills through active class participation, weekly response essays, and a final paper. (Spring 20242026)
Core: WI
PPX 405-409 Topics in Politics and Peace Studies (3-4 SH)
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This course examines genocides and mass atrocities in the modern world from an interdisciplinary perspective. We will look at historical and contemporary genocides— Armenia, the Holocaust, Nanjing, Cambodia, Rwanda, former Yugoslavia, Darfur, and Myanmar—and analyze their causes and patterns of development. Engaging various disciplines such as political science, history, peace studies, psychology, and sociology, students will explore theoretical and policy issues such as theories of genocide, various forms of destruction, gender and genocide, humanitarian intervention debate, prevention of mass atrocity, genocide denial, and collective memory. (Fall 20232025)
Core: WI
PPX 431 Political Reconciliation (4 SH)
How should a society address the legacies of mass atrocities and human rights violations of the past? This course examines the issue of political reconciliation after armed conflicts and violent political transitions. Students will explore key issues and debates related to transitional justice such as criminal prosecutions and trials, truth commissions, reparations, official apologies, amnesty, guilt and denial, and forgiveness. Such frameworks of political reconciliation will be critically examined, asking how well these policies fulfill an ethic of peacebuilding as well as justice and help societies address their pasts marred by conflict, violence, and oppression. (Fall 20242026)
Core: WI
PSYC 101 General Psychology (3 SH)
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This course is designed as an introduction to key sociological theories, with a focus on how these impact the dynamics of social change. The theories covered range from micro social- psychology perspectives to macro-structural approaches. The course specifically interrogates how ideas about the nature of social relations influence our perceptions of how social systems are constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed. The course opens up the space for students to reflect on their own personal life journeys as well as provides the opportunity for vigorous debate around real-time contemporary issues and engagement with how theoretical frameworks actively shape the macro sphere and our collective lives. Most importantly, students experience how social theories are driving agents of change on the personal, local and global levels. Registration priority is given to students whose programs require this course. Prerequisite: GS 101, PXD 151, SOC 101 or SOC 201. (SOC 225)
Core: WI
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This course provides an overview of explanations of violence at the personal, group, societal and national levels. Causes of violence are context-specific, multi-causal, multi-dimensional and may result from a variety of political and social, socioeconomic, and resource and environmental factors. The relationship between violence and social change will be explored. There will be special focus on explanations of war, terrorism, gun violence, and identity-based violence (gender-based, hate crimes, etc.). (Fall 20232025)
PXD 341 Mediation and Facilitation (3 SH)
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This course is designed to help students explore the theory and practice of program evaluation, especially if interested in working in social service, business development, mission-related programs or projects, and local or international NGOs. The course will review the current range of thinking on the philosophies, purpose, and structure of program evaluation, with an emphasis on how to use qualitative methods in evaluations. Students will gain hands-on experience in how to design an evaluation, how to determine the appropriate methods and collect data, and an analysis of ongoing program evaluation and evaluation reports. Sociological and anthropological approaches will provide the theoretical and philosophical background for our work, but the focus will be on practical applications of qualitative methodology in evaluation. Prerequisite: SOC 336. (PAX 516) (Fall 20232025)
PXD 485 Global Development (3 SH)
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A survey of the Anabaptist movement and Mennonites throughout the world from the sixteenth to twenty-first centuries. Issues include pacifism, wealth, political participation, community and tensions between faith and the dominant culture. Particular attention is given to the Anabaptist vision and its relevance for 21st-century American life. (HIST 365) (Spring Fall 2025)
Core: HI
REL 410: Hebrew Bible: Text in Context (3 SH)
This course is an introduction to the Hebrew Bible, that considers its history, formation, and reception, and surveys its varied texts within their historical, socio-economic, political, literary, and theological contexts. This includes a particular an emphasis on Near eastern culture, religion, and politics as well as the various ways that these texts have been received and appropriated, so that students might become knowledgeable and critical interpreters of the text.Core: TR
REL 411: New Testament: Text in Context (3 SH)
This course is an introduction to the New Testament, that considers its formation and canonization, and surveys its varied texts within their historical, socio-economic, political, literary, and theological contexts. This includes a particular emphasis on the life of Jesus, Roman imperialism, their Jewish context, and the distinctly socio-economic and political message of the kin-dom of God.Core: TR
REL 412 Liberation Theologies (3 SH)
Liberation theology names the effort to understand and interpret the gospel through conscious and reflective deliberation within experiences of injustice, inequality, violence, and oppression. This course will explore some of the various expressions that have arisen under the banner of liberation, such as Black theology, feminist theology, queer theology, and theology in the face of empire. (Fall 20232024)
Core: TR
REL 423 Elementary Greek (3 SH)
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This course is an introduction to crime and society centered on criminological theories and methods and the ways such theories are integrated within public policy and the criminal justice system. Content also includes an examination of alternative forms of justice and restorative approaches. Prerequisite: SOC 101 or SOC 201. (Spring 20242026)
SOC 363 Criminal Justice (2 SH)
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This course provides an examination of structural patterns of injustice around environmental harms and benefits. We examine the history and construction of environmental problems and paradigms and the development of an environmental justice discourse brought about through social movements. Through selected case studies we explore an array of issues, including climate justice, electronic waste trade, water rights, urban greenspace, “natural” disaster, internal colonialism, and war. The course is designed to complement and enrich students’ studies in a host of fields, including public health, urban planning, public administration, community organizing, humanitarian aid, engineering, and law. Prioritized enrollment is given to students completing the environmental justice minor. Prerequisite: junior/senior standing. (Spring 20242026)
SOC 442 Teaching of Sociology (1-3 SH)
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Three-Dimensional Design develops a fundamental understanding of a variety of techniques, processes, and styles in three-dimensional media. Students will be challenged to become thoughtful of formal and conceptual concerns in art, while investigating the technical aspects of three-dimensional design. Students will gain practical experience by using various materials as well as by employing compositional and conceptual theories to create sculptures. (Fall 20232025)
Core: CA
VACA 142 Graphic Design I (2 SH)
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This follow up to VACA 143 Foundations of Design I: 2D introduces students to digital tools such as Photoshop as they further their understanding of principles of design. Prerequisite: VACA 143.
VACA 151 Photography I (2 SH)
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Using the creative process approach, students will work with typography and imagery in order to create effective layout solutions for print and digital media. Focus will be on Adobe InDesign and how it works in conjunction with Illustrator and Photoshop. Prerequisite: VACA 142. (Spring 2026)
VACA 243 Graphic Design III-Illustration and Drawing (2 SH)
The focus will be on Adobe Illustrator and the use of the its tools to create digital illustrations and logo design. The emphasis will be on technical and creative process in order to provide a final visual solution. Prerequisite: VACA 142. (Spring 2026)
VACA 252 Photography II (4 SH)
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In this course students will explore how installation and experimental art immerses the viewer in a multi-sensory experience. Through both traditional and nontraditional media such as photography, video, painting, ceramics, sculpture, etc., students will explore the impact of materials and techniques on form, content and the expressive possibilities of various materials on a space. Through experimentation, boundaries of traditional art practices will be challenged to transform the perception of space. (Spring 20242026)
VACA 344 Web Design and Social Media (4 SH)
This class explores Web design and social media applications as they relate to expression and organizational communication. Students will construct web sites using both HTML coding and contemporary Web design software. Social media applications will be integrated in a holistic way as part of an overall communications strategy. Prerequisite: VACA 141 144 or equivalent. (Fall 2024)
VACA 345 Advanced Photoshop (4 SH)
Students will study advanced Photoshop techniques with special emphasis on masking and compositing photographs. Students will practice layering, digital effects, and photo repair as well as investigating imaging in a theoretical and philosophical context. Prerequisites: VACA 151 and VACA 252. (Fall 2025)
VACA 353 Alternative Photo Processes (4 SH)
Students will experiment with alternative acquisition and printing processes. Acquisition methods will cover pinhole, panoramic, HDR, legacy lens, and infrared processes. The history of photographic methods will be studied. The genre of landscape will be explored with several of the techniques. Students will print on alternative forms such as art and Japanese papers, metal surfaces, canvas, and other media forms. Prerequisites: VACA 151 and VACA 252. (Fall 20232025)
VACA 354 Conservation Photography (4 SH)
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A study of the aims and philosophy of art education in the elementary school with emphasis on child development through art. Students will experience art techniques and materials suitable for children from Pre-K through grade 6 with emphasis on appropriate motivational and teaching methods. Topics to be covered may include: the role of art in society and in the schools; fundamentals of art; sequential and discipline-based art curricula; teaching strategies; art motivation; art integration with the sciences, social studies, and cultural understandings; evaluation; teaching art history, criticism and aesthetics; writing instructional objectives and lesson plans; and teaching art production. For art education majors a 20-hour practicum in the elementary setting is a component of the course. Admission to teacher education may be a prerequisite. A two-credit option without a practicum is available for students who are not pursuing Art Education. (Spring 20242026)
Core: CA & CE
VACA 398 Secondary School Art Methods (3 SH)
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This course explores professional practices related to preparation and installation of the major senior exhibit as well as development of a thesis paper. Students take this class in conjunction with a capstone course in their major. Prerequisite: VACA 450.
VACA 491 Internship (1-4 SH)
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A workshop on the craft of fiction-writing in the short story form. The course focuses in writing process and revision; explores varieties of characterization, setting, plot and structure, point of view, voice, theme, and figurative language. Reading assignments, writing exercises, and extensive short story workshops culminate in polished prose that may be appropriate for publication or graduate school application. Prerequisite: WRIT 135 or WRIT 140. Open to sophomores and above. (Spring 2024)
Core: CA & WI
WRIT 352 Creative Nonfiction Workshop (3 SH)
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This five-week course will focus on expository elements in the academic discourse produced by writers in the students' major fields. Students will develop an independent, critical, problem-solving attitude with respect to reading the work of others to assist in the revision of their own writing. Prerequisite: WRIT 135 or WRIT 140. (Spring 2024)
Core: WI
WRIT 381 Argumentative Writing (1 SH)
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This five-week course has a practical focus on writing in professional settings. Students will create a portfolio with a cover letter defining their expertise, a resume, and a writing sample specific to the niche in which they want membership. Students will analyze an audience in order to write, edit, and proofread documents that show they understand the audience of a particular profession and can write to a standard required in that profession. Students will become familiar with the ethical issues in professional writing, how to present themselves in writing by creating a positive impression to particular clients, and how to make connections by creating a network via various media. Prerequisite: WRIT 135 or WRIT 140. (Spring 2024)
Core: WI
WRIT 390 Literary Arts Journal-Phoenix (1 SH)
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Students will write new material to be workshopped, fully participating in peer critique, and working with the professor to read and respond to new material focused on a specialized area of their choice in fiction writing. Workshop pieces should be written within the scope of, or as a response to, this specialized area. In addition, students will write a critical essay about this specialized area, 1200 words, MLA documentation style, placing their own work in the context of their chosen readings and noting how their work responds to the published work in both craft and content. Prerequisite WRIT 351. Meets with WRIT 351. By permission of instructor only. (Spring 2024)
WRIT 422 Advanced Creative Nonfiction Workshop (3 SH)
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