EN099 Writing and Study Skills 3 credits
The goal of this course is to raise the level of students' performance in the skills necessary to succeed in classes at the college level in the liberal arts. In classes sufficiently small to permit individual attention from the teacher, students read and write essays; practice peer critiques; study grammar, vocabulary and punctuation; and practice organizational and time-use skills. This course is on a Pass/Fair basis; a Pass is necessary before students take other liberal arts courses. The three credits earned in this course do not count towards graduation requirements.
Prerequisites:
Fulfills: This developmental writing course is an option for those students unsure of their ability to succeed with college-level writing. Credits earned do not go towards graduation requirements.

EN100 English Composition I 3 credits
This course provides a forum for students to practice the entire writing process, from generating ideas and drafting to responding to feedback and revising. Students gain editorial skills through offering peer commentary on each others work. Emphasis is also placed on understanding appropriate use of grammar and mechanics. The primary course objectives are to help participants learn to think, read, and write more critically and to express themselves more articulately, especially in written form. Verbal skills learned in this class form a vital foundation for success in later courses. Students may be required to participate in lab sessions in the Writing Center and/or the English Language Program unless waived on the basis of an in class diagnostic. Students must earn a grade of C- or better to receive credit for this course.
Prerequisites:
Fulfills: English Composition I Requirement

EN200 English Composition II 3 credits
This course reviews writing techniques developed in English Composition I and refines these skills through analyzing and responding to a range of literature. It also provides an opportunity for students to conduct research and write about a subject of their choice. The course is designed to strengthen critical reading and thinking abilities, enhance enjoyment and understanding of literature, and provide a solid introduction to academic research methods. Students may be required to participate in lab sessions in the Writing Center and/or the English Language Program unless waived on the basis of an in class diagnostic. Students must earn a grade of C- or better to receive credit for this course.
Prerequisites: English Composition I
Fulfills: English Composition II Requirement

HU100 Transitions 1 credits
This course introduces first-year students to the skills, tools and resources needed to succeed at Montserrat College of Art and beyond. Topics covered in this course include: the transition to college life; goal setting; decision-making; st udy and time-management skills; health and wellness; and campus and community resources.
Prerequisites: None.
Fulfills:

HU200 Humanities I 3 credits
In this course students study a selection of ideas and books that have shaped world cultures. The readings include the Judeo-Greco roots of the West, but also the roots of other cultures and world views. These readings give students a perspective different from contemporary society, of another time or culture, and hence deepen their understanding of their own values and assumptions. This perspective also enriches the students' sense of common human questions and emotions expressed in different ways in different times. This course covers the time period to the Renaissance.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities I Requirement

HU205 Humanities II 3 credits
This course follows the development of ideas from the Renaissance to the present, e.g., the conflicts between science and traditional faiths, the rise of democracy, the influence of Freud, Darwin, and Marx, and questions of ethnicity and identity in a global village. This course scrutinizes cultural values and looks at the interplay between these values, intellectual assumptions, and works of literature and art.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities II Requirement

HU300 Creative Writing 3 credits
Students write their own poetry, fiction, and drama, and critique each others' writing in workshops. They study the form and theory behind the genres with examples from noted writers. The course sharpens students' analytical skills, increases their appreciation of the genres, and gives them opportunities for self-expression.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

HU302 Narratives of Self: Autobiographies, Journals 3 credits
Applying aesthetic, historical, psychological, and/or cultural perspectives, this course looks at how autobiographical texts reflect different ideas of selfhood, language, authority, voice, and community, Students read and analyze autobiographical works written by others and have the opportunity to write autobiographical pieces. Readings may come from sources ranging from formal autobiographies to informal journals by authors such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, Henry Thoreau, Lorraine Hansberry, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Basho, Leonardo DaVinci, Sylvia Plath, James Joyce, Annie Dillard, Gertude Stein, and Virginia Woolf.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

HU303 Journal Writing (Viterbo) 3 credits
This course is administered by the director of the Italy Program. This course examines various ways that journal writing can be used by writers and artists to explore and develop ideas, with attention paid to the relationship between the verbal and the visual. Students keep a journal throughout the semester. During in-class writing exercises students practice techniques for improving their writing and rework sections of their journals. At the end of the semester they select material from their journals to develop into more formal pieces of writing for a broader audience. The class also looks at examples of artists', authors', and travelers' journals, such as those of Frida Kahlo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Dan Eldon, Jack Kerouac, Thomas Wolfe, and Paul Gauguin.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II and Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective, or Liberal Arts Elective

HU341 The Vietnam War and Its Legacy 3 credits
The Vietnam War was a watershed episode in American history that remains controversial even in the post-9/11 world. Emerging as a complex phenomenon of the Cold War era, the Vietnam War eventually caused intense debate and conflict in the U.S. at a time when society was facing numerous challenges. To investigate some of the many questions that the war raised, this course examines the background and trajectory of the war, as well as the influence that it had in the years that followed. Among the topics covered are the "domino theory," antiwar protests, the role of the media, the Missing-in-Action and Prisoner-of-War issues, and intercultural conflict.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective, or Liberal Arts Elective, or Social Science; Art Education Diversity Course

HU350 Introduction to Film 3 credits
This course introduces the medium of the film (cinema) as a mode of communication and as an art form. Recognizing the complexity of the medium, the course will use an interdisciplinary approach. Among the topics considered in relation to the study of film are communications theory, aesthetics, psychology, business, politics, and national experience. The course is international in scope and covers such historical movements as Expressionism, the Film Noire, New Wave, and other important genres.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

HU361 Gender and Literature 3 credits
This course will explore gender issues in literature throughout history and across cultural lines. Different writers' portrayal of the spectrum of sexual roles will be studied. Some questions touched on will be the effects of society and physiology on gender, the effects of stereotyping, how gender issues affect individual men and women and society as a whole, how gender roles vary in different cultures, and current controversies concerning literary portrayal of sexual roles.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

HU362 Literary Drama 3 credits
In this course students read plays and write analytical papers. They also study the plays from the inside, by learning the parts and acting them. Plays studied may range from Sophocles, Aristophanes, and Shakespeare, to Ionesco and Beckett. This class touches briefly on the intersection between drama and theater, for example the sets of Picasso for the plays of Cocteau. Some brief public performances may be arranged.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

HU364 Dramatic Literature in Performance 3 credits
This course explores fundamental concepts, issues and processes in the performing arts, providing students with first-hand experience in this medium of expression. Over the course of the semester, students study, rehearse and produce a one-act play for performance before the Montserrat community, under the direction of the instructor.  In-class work includes lectures and demonstrations designed to deepen students’ understanding of the performing arts and of dramatic literature.  In addition, students are required to complete formal and informal writing assignments related to the play and to their work in the class.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

HU365 Aspects of Modern Fiction 3 credits
In this course students read modern novels and short stories (i.e., fiction from the 20th and 21st century). They analyze these works with reference to the forms and techniques of fiction and the meaning of structural decisions and values of society.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

HU380 Aesthetics and Criticism 3 credits
An introduction to the study of aesthetics that includes a study of the major historic approaches to philosophic questions of value and quality in art and the consideration of problems in establishing standards of criticism in art.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

HU390 Eastern Philosophies 3 credits
This course serves as a basic introduction to the philosophies of Asian countries such as India, China, and Japan. Through comparisons between Eastern and Western conceptions of certain fundamental questions of the human conditions, such as the nature of the universe and the nature of man, students will examine their own ways of thought as well as those of other cultures.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective; Art Education Diversity Course

HU399 Topics in Humanities 3 credits
This course provides an in-depth study of a time period or topic in Humanities. The topic may be selected to take advantage of special events, to allow further exploration of a subject covered in a preliminary way in other courses, or to explore areas not sufficiently covered by the regular class rotation.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Humanities Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

SI205 Concepts in Science 3 credits
This course introduces students to selected concepts, issues, and methods in science. The non--specialist student explores areas of scientific inquiry that have a significant effect on cultural, intellectual, and environmental issues. Some work with mathematics is included.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II; Art History I and II.
Fulfills: Science Requirement or Liberal Arts Elective

SI216 Environmental Issues: Global and Local 3 credits
This course examines planetary environmental changes and trends and their effect on humanity. An emphasis is placed on the historical background of current conditions, such as long-term cycles like glaciation, as well as the more recent emergence of humanity as a species capable of modifying the planet's environment. Specific local issues of pollution and environmental control are also explored.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II; Art History I and II
Fulfills: Science Requirement or Liberal Arts Elective

SI399 Topics in Science 3 credits
This course provides an in-depth study of a time period or topic in Science. The topic may be selected to take advantage of special events, to allow further exploration of a subject covered in a preliminary way in other courses, or to explore areas not sufficiently covered by the regular class rotation.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Science Requirement or Liberal Arts Elective

SO200 Self and Society 3 credits
This course introduces issues and concepts in the study of human behavior. Using approaches from sociology, psychology, political science, and history, it explores both individual and group behavior and covers such areas as self-identity, cultural, social, and political institutions, and social organization. The course also includes discussion of ethnic and gender issues within the context of an evolving world.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Social Science Core Requirement Elective, Social Science Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

SO305 Contemporary Social Problems 3 credits
An analysis of the origin and development of selected social problems and their impact on society. Topics may include poverty, crime, racism, violence, substance abuse, and sexually-transmitted diseases.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Social Science Core Requirement Elective, Social Science Elective or Liberal Arts Elective; Art Education Diversity Requirement

SO310 Diversity in the US 3 credits
The peoples of the United States are characterized by rich diversity. In this course, students explore this diversity by focusing on such topics as race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual preference. The social and political dimensions of diversity in the US are examined in order to broaden the student's knowledge and appreciation of the variety of human experience in the US.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II; Art History I and II
Fulfills: Social Science Elective or Liberal Arts Elective; Art Education Diversity Requirement

SO311 Politics and the Media 3 credits
Modern political life is largely played out in the media. This course examines how electronic and print media influence public opinion and shape the ways in which political issues are perceived. Also considered are the ways that political actors seek to influence how issues are portrayed in the media. The course considers such topics as: objectivity and the news media; political advertising; "talk radio", and how films and television can influence ideas about political issues.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II; Art History I and II; and either a Pre-Requisite or Co-Requisite of Self and Society, Contemporary Social Problems or Cultural Anthropology; or Permission of Instructor.
Fulfills: Social Science Elective or Liberal Arts Elective

SO350 Cultural Anthropology 3 credits
By examining other cultures, we are challenged to think critically about the culture in which we live and the often unexamined beliefs and practices that are part of our everyday experience. In this course, we investigate a variety of cultures (including non-Western), and explore anthro-pological approaches to understand human society, with emphasis on social and cultural systems of meaning. In the course of our studies, we may consider such topics as symbolic communication; the concept of culture; systems of kinship; gender roles; belief systems; power and authority; and social change.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Social Science Core Requirement Elective, Social Science Elective or Liberal Arts Elective; Art Education Diversity Course

SO365 Psychology of Art and Creativity 3 credits
A study of the theory of creativity, the creative process, and factors that aid or hinder creativity, as well as the psychology of motivation, perception, expression, and color. Principles studied are applied to the visual arts.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Social Science Elective or Liberal Arts Elective; Art Education Psychology Course

SO370 Developmental Psychology 3 credits
An examination of the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral growth of human beings. Topics covered include the nature-nurture question, the issue of stages or continuous growth, anthropological perspectives, and educational implications of childhood development. While the major emphasis will be on general development, the course will also focus on the development of drawing, picture perception, and the aesthetic sense.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Social Science Elective or Liberal Arts Elective; Art Education Psychology Course

SO399 Topics in Social Science 3 credits
This course provides an in-depth study of a time period or topic in social science. The topic may be selected to take advantage of special events, to allow further exploration of a subject covered in a preliminary way in other courses, or to explore areas not sufficiently covered by the regular class rotation.
Prerequisites: English Composition I and II, Art History I and II
Fulfills: Social Science Elective or Liberal Arts Elective