IDND 2000 - Special Topics: Interdisciplinary

May be repeatable for credit.

SUMMER 2023 TOPIC:

PSYCHOLOGY OF FAMILIES - This course will address family structure, processes, and contexts, addressing changes in family norms over time, how families are shaped by key social locations (e.g., social class, race, gender), and family relationships (e.g., couple, sibling, parent-child). It will explore diverse family forms in the U.S. today, as well as family challenges (e.g., mental illness, violence) and transitions (e.g., divorce). Finally, the course will attend to families in relationship to broader systems, including the legal system and the child welfare system.

FALL 2023 TOPICS:

FINANCIAL LITERACY - Introduces students to important topics in the financial world.  Topics include budgeting, income and taxes, banking, credit, credit building and borrowing, saving and investing, mutual funds, ETFs and the stock market.  We will apply mathematical concepts and use financial data to be able to make informed financial decisions. 

VENTURE START-UP - Successful entrepreneurship begins with a vision. Like an artist, the entrepreneur must be able to translate creative vision into something tangible and real. This course, for both management and non-management majors, is designed to introduce students to the entrepreneurial process so that they may begin to shape their own entrepreneurial vision. Course objectives will include a realistic preview of the challenges of entrepreneurship, an understanding of the legal and ethical environment within which entrepreneurs operate, the ability to develop a business plan, and the skills to think critically and the ability to evaluate opportunities in the business or nonprofit sectors. The course will also include self-assessment activities designed to help students assess their own entrepreneurial potential. 

SOCIOLOGY OF LAW - Examines the relationship between law and other aspects of social life. Relying on case studies and other empirical studies of the legal system, particular attention will be paid to the following topics:  law and justice, the criminal legal system, the prison-industrial complex, and law and social change.

TELLING LIVES: AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND RACE - In this course, we will explore autobiographies that place race at the center of the authors’ life stories. We will examine the intersection between race, gender and class and the ways that the narratives are shaped by broader socio-historical contexts. Students will have the opportunity to write their own autobiographical reflections and make connections between the assigned texts and their own lives.

SPRING 2024 TOPICS:

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS - Explores U.S. history through the writings of Frederick Douglass (c.1818-1895).  A fierce warrior for civil rights, Douglass escaped slavery and rose to prominence as one of the most important Americans of the nineteenth century.   Topics include slavery; the Civil War; Reconstruction; Women’s Rights; the Rise of Jim Crow America; and the ways that Douglass’s legacy endures to this day.

Anticipated Terms Offered: varied