UNST 207. Ethics and Biotechnology
This course examines ethical issues arising from scientific and technological advancements. The central normative question students will consider is: Simply because we can do something does this mean we should? After exploring various standards of morality, students analyze issues such as reproductive technologies, cloning, genetic engineering, stem-cell research, life-span extension, genetically-modified foods, and ethical concerns within nanotechnology.

UNST 221. Thematic Writing and Speaking: Technology and Society
This course is designed to improve students’ abilities to write, speak, and think critically about important issues in the contemporary world by focusing on the rhetoric of science, technology, and progress. Students examine rhetoric as represented in fiction and nonfiction: essays, short stories, drama, poetry, novels, film, popular culture (including popular science writing and journalism), and speeches.

UNST 230. Religion and Society
This course examines interactions between religion and societies as factors influencing the formation of community, the breakdown of community, and reconciliation within and among communities. Contemporary, historical, and nonwestern examples will be explored. Interrelations between religion and societies will be explored from different disciplinary perspectives, including those of psychology, history, sociology, philosophy, evolutionary, biology, neurobiology, and neuropsychology.

UNST 231. Introduction to Christianity
This course introduces students to basic concepts and approaches to the academic study of religion including the origin and history of Christianity as evolving institutions, beliefs, practices, and the ongoing quest by Christians to define themselves in a changing, increasingly global world. The course will introduce students to the global diversity of Christian experience from its Middle Eastern and Greco-Roman origins, African, Eastern and Western forms of Orthodoxy, and contemporary international Pentecostal forms of Christianity in the global southern hemisphere.

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ENGL 200. Survey of Humanities I
This course is a study of interrelationships of literature, music, and the fine arts; it is a study of master works, philosophical ideas, and artistic movements of Western Civilization, with attention given also to non-Western culture. It will survey cultures from ancient times to the end of the Renaissance.

ENGL 201. Survey of Humanities II
This course is a continuation of ENGL 200. It will begin with the Baroque period and will include Neo-Classicism. Romanticism, and modern modes of artistic expression.

HIST 305. Socialism Since Karl Marx
This course analyzes the transformation of socialist thought and practice since the time of Marx. Special attention will be devoted to Marxist doctrines, nineteenth century Revisionism, Social Democracy, and twentieth century Communism.

HIST 307. The Historical Origins of Environmental Crisis
This course will deal with man’s changing philosophical and technological relationship with his natural environment since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

HIST 312. History of Religions
This is a course that surveys the origin and development of the traditional religions of India and China and the three “Religions of the Book”: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

LIBS 307. Food and the Global Community
This course uses multidisciplinary perspectives to examine the connections between food and human lifeways. Focusing on varied ethnic food traditions and people around the world, this course will explore 1) the interplay of class and gender in the preparation of food, 2) the role of political and economic power in the accessibility and distribution of food, and 3) the religious and cultural symbolism of eating.

PHIL 260. Introduction to Philosophy
An introductory course covering such topics as theories of reality, the nature in mind and knowledge, and the higher values of life.

PHIL 264. Contemporary African American Philosophy
This course has two objectives.  First, it exposes students to the contributions made by African Americans to philosophy.  Second, it explores issues of philosophy unique to the African American experience.  Readings are drawn from both contemporary and classic sources.  Comparisons between African American and African philosophy will be made.

PHIL 265. World Religions
This course examines the teachings and practices of the world’s major religions. This exploration is conducted as a factual approach in which the history, beliefs, philosophy, practices, and important figures of each religion are presented. Religions covered include African and Native American oral traditions, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and new religious movements.

PHIL 266. Contemporary Moral Problems
This course begins with an examination of various ethical theories and then applies these theories to address moral challenges faced by today’s society. Topics include the environment, abortion, treatment of animals, drug use, pornography, hate speech, euthanasia, famine relief, affirmative action and the death penalty.

PHIL 267. Philosophy of Love and Friendship
In this course students will undertake a conceptual analysis of the terms “love” and “friendship.” Questions addressed include: What are the various types of love? Does a person need friends in order to achieve happiness? And what are the minimal requirements of friendship? Students will survey a variety of philosophical and contemporary literature along with examples from film and popular culture to investigate the nature of love and friendship.

PHIL 310. Feminist Philosophy
This course will introduce students to some of feminist theory's contributions to philosophy. Students will explore various feminist perspectives and analyze the intellectual commitments, world views, and values of each school of thought. Students will then investigate how feminist theory relates to contemporary philosophical issues such as development programs in third world countries, pornography, and reproduction.

PHIL 311. Philosophy of Punishment
This course introduces students to philosophical theories of punishment and investigates what types of punishments are morally justified. Issues examined include the normative scope for criminalization, the moral permissibility of capital punishment, the insanity defense, the prosecution of minors as adults, and other related issues.

PHIL 314. Social and Political Philosophy
This course considers the essential features of various types of government (democracy, monarchy, fascism, etc.) and justifications for the existence of any form of government.  Through a historical, thematic and analytic exposition, students will survey the political theories of philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Mill, Marx, Rawls, Nozick, Foucault, Althusser, Fanon and Nkrumah.

PHIL 315. Business Ethics
This course will introduce students to ethical challenges faced in an international business world. Using a case studies approach, students will survey major theories of ethics, examine current ethical practices in business, and learn to formulate, articulate, and defend their own answers to business ethics’ questions.

PHIL 405. Philosophy of Religion
This course examines the origins of the religious impulse, and religious myth and ritual as they have developed in the history of human societies. It considers classical arguments for and against the existence of god(s) and the immortality of the human soul, various views of the nature of god, and the challenge to the religious worldview posed by suffering and “evil.”

SPCH 314. Intercultural Communication
This course examines interpersonal and public communication among people from different cultures. Explores the personal narratives of individuals from various co-cultures.

SPCH 410. Ethical Issues in Communication
This course studies ethical problems in public, group, and interpersonal communication; criteria for their resolution. 

*Use of these courses as theme-cluster electives in subsequent semesters is not guaranteed.

Community, Conflict and Society

Energy, Environment and Society

Health, Lifestyles and Society

Philosophy, Religion and Society

Science, Technology and Society

• Students are required to complete twelve (12) credit hours within a single thematic cluster.

• Theme-based courses are communication intensive (oral and written) and emphasize interdisciplinary learning motivated by societal issues and problems.

• Course descriptions of approved thematic courses can be found within the theme cluster website links above as well as in the requisite sections of the University Bulletin.

• If a student decides to change to a different thematic cluster, he/she will have to satisfy all the course requirements for the new cluster. The Dean of University Studies will consider exceptions to this rule based on individual petitions.