Adaptations in Media and Games | COMM 4960 & COMM 6960
Professor Christopher C. Jeansonne

Description: This course explores theories and practices of adaptation across media formats and genres. We’ll consider what happens when we adapt a novel into a film, produce a TV show inspired by a video game, create a board game from a comic, and so on, focusing on what happens in the transmedial processes adaptation between ludic and narrative experiences. We’ll trace some of the historical trends in adaptation studies, and use various conceptual frameworks to closely examine adapted media and games in connection with their source materials. Throughout the class and in their final projects, students will have opportunities to undertake critical analyses of adaptations and/or to produce their own adaptations in a medium of their choosing.
 

COMM 4960 Course Details | Undergrad Level

• CRN: 32845 
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

COMM 6960 Course Details | Graduate Level

• CRN: 32849 
• Credits: 3.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Major Electives:
  Communication, Media, and Design (COMD)
   
• Integrative Pathways:
  Media and Culture
   
• Minors:
  Media and Culture
   
• Grad Program: 
  Communication and Rhetoric MS and PhD Elective

Behavioral Data Science | PSYC 4961 & COGS 6960
Professor Stefan Radev

Description: Do you want to move beyond traditional statistics? This course introduces the emerging field of Behavioral Data Science, blending theory-driven insights from the social sciences with computational tools from data science, machine learning, and statistics. Students will learn to analyze behavioral data to solve complex problems, such as modeling user behavior, identifying patterns in social networks, uncovering personality structures, and applying deep learning for behavioral prediction and uncertainty quantification. Graduates will be well-equipped to address data challenges across industries, helping shape a diverse and interdisciplinary data science workforce.

PSYC 4961 Course Details | Undergraduate Level

• CRN: 33458
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: CSCI 1100, or PSYC 2310
• Restrictions: None

COGS 6960 Course Details | Graduate Level

• CRN: 33776    
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture 
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: May not be Freshman, Sophomores, or Juniors

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Major Electives:
  Psychology BS Elective
   
• Integrative Pathways:
  Psychological Science
  Mind, Brain and Intelligence (previous catalog years)
  Artificial Intelligence (previous catalog years)
  Living in a World of Data (previous catalog years)
   
• Minors:
  General Psychology
  Psychological Science
   
• Graduate Programs:
  “Must be made in consultation with COGS faculty advisor."

Freedom of Speech | COMM 4961
Professor Alexander Scott Hiland

Description: This course will study the history, controversies, and ongoing debates about the nature of Freedom of Speech in the United States. Taking the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as a starting point, this course will follow the evolution of the public practices and understandings surrounding Freedom of Speech. Students will study legal, political, and cultural influences that have influenced the history and contemporary form of free speech, including studying Supreme Court cases, primary sources from free speech movements, and will pursue an independent research project on a free speech controversy of their choice.

COMM 4961 Course Details 

• CRN: 33483
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Major Electives:
  COMD Major Elective
   
• Integrative Pathways:
  Ethics, Integrity, and Social Responsibility
  History
  Media & Culture
  Strategic Writing
   
• Minors:
  Media & Culture
  Strategic Communication

The Graphic Novel | LITR 2961
Professor Mitch Murray

Description: Think of a comic book: immature, commoditized, vulgar, pornographic, lowest-common-denominator entertainment. Or maybe, like famed novelist and essayist Zadie Smith, you’re imagining “the best book—in any medium—about our contemporary moment.” How did comics see their cultural fortunes rise so dramatically? This course offers a survey of the comics medium, focusing on the emergence of underground comix in the 1960s and 70s and, since then, the global rise in popularity of “the graphic novel.” Though “graphic novel” is a useful catchall for long works composed in the comics medium, our readings will also include comic strips, serialized superhero comics, underground comix, graphic journalism, graphic memoir, manga, and related film and television. This course will introduce you to the history and formal properties of the comics medium; you can also expect to write some of your assignments in comics form.
 

Course Details

• CRN: 32881 
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: Freshman and Sophomores 

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Major Electives:
  Communication, Media, and Design (COMD)
   
• Integrative Pathways:
  Narrative and Storytelling (formerly Literature)
  Media and Culture
   
• Minors:
  Narrative and Storytelling (formerly Literature)
  Media and Culture

The History of Artificial Intelligence | STSO 4962 & IHSS 6960
Professor James Hendler

Description: With the seemingly sudden advent of ChatGPT, Image Generation, Face recognition, and many other so-called Artifically Intelligent systems arising in the past few years, many people have come to believe that AI is a relatively new area. In this course, we will learn about the history of AI from someone who lived it – using a draft of a book that was written by Eugene Charniak, an early AI researcher who passed away suddenly this past year (AI & I: An Intellectual History of Artificial Intelligence; unpublished at this time). Of particular interest, we will explore how the past two decades have seen a split in the approaches to AI, one based on computing power and data, the other on a combination of human cognition and symbolic reasoning systems. Students will learn about the strengths and limitations of modern AI systems, at the same time coming to understand the roots of the field.

STSO 4962 Course Details | Undergrad Level

• CRN: 33527  
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

IHSS 6960 Course Details | Graduate Level

• CRN: 33526
• Credits: 3.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Major Electives:
  Cognitive Science Elective Option
  STS Advanced Elective
   
• Integrative Pathways:
  Cognitive Science
  Cognitive Science of Artificial Intelligence
  History
  Science, Technology, and Society
   
• Minors:
  Cognitive Science
  Cognitive Science of Artificial Intelligence
  History
  Science, Technology, and Society
   
• Grad Program: 
  “Must be made in consultation with COGS faculty advisor."

Language Learning | COGS 4961
Professor Marjorie McShane

Description: In this course students will: (1) advance their knowledge of a foreign language of their choice through independent study; (2) learn strategies for lifelong language learning informed by linguistics, psychology, and the offerings of modern technology; (3) gain experience in independently setting goals and planning a strategy to achieve them; (4) learn about scientific topics related to foreign languages and language learning, such as language typology, age-related effects on language learning, cognitive consequences of multilingualism, generative grammar, construction grammar, cultural pragmatics, neo-Whorfianism, literary translation, machine translation, and endangered languages. 

For more information, see the Language Learning tab on Professor McShane's homepage.

Course Details

• CRN: 32929 
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Restrictions: "Permission of Instructor" 
• Prerequisites: "Permission of Instructor" |  Students must be beyond the beginner stage of learning their foreign language of choice and they must have strong organizational skills and self-motivation. For additional prerequisites, see the syllabus in the Language Learning tab on Professor McShane's homepage.

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Major Electives:
  Cognitive Science Elective Option
   
• Integrative Pathways:
  Cognitive Science Pathway
  Global Languages 
  Cultures Pathway
  Linguistics (Catalog Years: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-2022, 2022-23)
  Mind, Brain and Intelligence (Catalog Years: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-2022, 2022-23)
  Language (Catalog Years: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-2022, 2022-23)
   
• Minors:
  Cognitive Science
  Linguistics

Media & Dis/Misinformation | COMM 4962 & 6962
Professor Andrew Fitzgerald

Description: This course explores major approaches to studying––and debates about stopping––the spread of dis/misinformation, “fake news,” and conspiracy theories in media. Topics we will consider include: news gathering and publishing practices in both legacy and digital journalism, including fact checking; public relations and marketing; pre-digital “fake news” and conspiracy theories; propaganda and authoritarianism; and “media manipulation” and dis/misinformation on social media platforms.

COMM 4962 Course Details | Undergraduate Level 

• CRN: 33484 
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

COMM 6962 Course Details | Graduate Level 

• CRN: 33485 
• Credits: 3.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Courses can be applied to the following areas:

• Majors:
  Communication, Media, and Design (COMD)
   
• Pathways:
  Extent and Limits of Rationality
  Media and Culture
  Strategic Writing 
   
• Minors:
  Media and Culture
  Strategic Communication
   
• Grad:
  Communication and Rhetoric MS and PhD Elective

Orchestration | ARTS 2960
Professor Matthew William Goodheart

Description: The art of orchestration is the art of combining discrete sounds, whether from musical instruments or electronic sources, to express musical ideas. Effective orchestration requires an understanding of the mechanics of how instruments produce sound, the qualities of the sounds produced, and how these qualities combine and blend. Whether using acoustic instruments (such as in a chamber ensemble, jazz band, or symphony orchestra), electronic instruments (such as MIDI instruments in a DAW or digitally synthesized sounds), or a combination of the two, similar principles apply. This course will cover the basics of orchestration, including the ranges and properties of traditional acoustic instruments, the use of electronic sound, orchestration strategies in a variety of musical styles and contexts, and an introduction to contemporary computer-assisted techniques.

ARTS 4960 Course Details

• CRN: 33496
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course can be applied to the following areas:
Coming soon!

Philosophy of Mathematics | PHIL 4960 & 6960
Professor Thomas Ferguson

Description: This course will review fundamental epistemological, metaphysical, and logical challenges in the foundations of mathematics. Historical discussions of the paradoxes arising during the foundational crisis in mathematics (the Grundlagenkrise), e.g., the inconsistency of class theory, the discovery of Godel's incompleteness theorems, and the collapse of the Hilbert program will set the stage for investigation into what mathematical entities are, how we can come to have reliable knowledge of them, and what choices we ought to make in the face of paradoxes or contradictions in our representations of mathematical truth.

PHIL 4960 Course Details | Undergraduate Level

• CRN: 32885 
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

PHIL 6960 Course Details | Graduate Level

• CRN: 32990 
• Credits: 3.00
• Course Type: Lecture 
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Major Electives:
  Philosophy Elective
   
• Integrative Pathways:
  Philosophy and Logic 
   
• Minors:
  Philosophy 
  Philosophy of Logic Computation, and Mind
   
• Graduate Programs:
  “Must be made in consultation with COGS faculty advisor."

Visual Culture | COMM 6963
Professor Andrew Arthur Fitzgerald

Description: This co-listed undergraduate and graduate course will help students understand the barrage of images we encounter daily, including how these images affect us emotionally as individuals, how they influence the way we think and understand our reality, and how we conduct our lives together in the world. We’ll examine a broad range of visual media from photographs, art, television, and film to social media platforms and new media technologies (e.g., YouTube, TikTok, VR, and AI).

COMM 6963 Course Details | Graduate Level

• CRN:     33486
• Credits: 3.00
• Course Type: Lecture 
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: Graduate Students

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Graduate Programs:
  CMRT Ph.D. and Masters elective