For additional information on Community Based Research and Service Learning Courses, please visit the Service Learning site.
SPRING 2017
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES 280: Environmental and Social Justice
HISTORY 204: Introduction to Historical Methodology
HISTORY 211: American Landscapes
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT 300: Human Resources Management
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT 400: Seminar in International Business Policy and Strategy
PSYCHOLOGY 475: Seminar in Community Psychology
RUSSIAN 334: Workshop in Translation
SOCIAL INNOVATION/ENTREPRENEURSHIP 400: Senior Seminar in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
SOCIOLOGY 240: Qualitative Methods
THEATRE & DANCE 214: Community Engagement and Artistic Activism
FALL 2016
FRENCH 300: Toulouse Colloquium (being taught in Toulouse, France)
HEALTH STUDIES 400 -01 & 02: Health Studies Senior Seminar
POLICY MANAGEMENT 401: Policy Management Seminar
PSYCHOLOGY 375: Research Methods in Community Psychology
SPANISH 239: Spanish for the Health Professions
SUSTAINABILITY 301: Practicum in Sustainability: Building Sustainable Communities
Spring 2017 Service-Learning and Community-Based Research Courses
Environmental Studies 280-01: Environmental and Social Justice
Instructor: Heather Bedi
Society defines how collections of humans are organized around shared bonds including cultures, contexts, or identities. Margaret Mead famously warned, “we won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.” Drawing from social science methods, this class highlights how societies are intimately dependent on natural resources, and how human actions alter the environment. Students will examine how collections of humans experience, use, and change the environment. The class will discuss the social construction and production of the environment, understand structures of power, and learn about social change at the local and national scales.
History 204-01: Introduction to Historical Methodology
Instructor: David D Commins
Local archives and libraries serve as laboratories for this project-oriented seminar that introduces beginning majors to the nature of history as a discipline, historical research techniques, varied forms of historical evidence and the ways in which historians interpret them, and the conventions of historical writing.
Prerequisite: one previous course in history.
History 211-02: American Landscapes
Instructor: Gregory J Kaliss
Selected areas and problems in American history. Suitable for beginning history students, majors, and non-majors.
International Business and Management 300-01: Human Resources Management
Instructor: Steven J Riccio
A topics course examining important issues in international management. Examples of course possibilities include issues in cross-cultural communication and ethics, issues in international marketing, issues in international dimensions of financial reporting, issues in government regulation of business, and issues in financial decision-making.
Prerequisite dependent upon topic/topic area.
International Business and Management 400-03: Seminar in International Business Policy and Strategy
Instructor: C Helen Takacs
This capstone course focuses on the challenges associated with formulating strategy in multinational organizations. The course will examine multinational business decisions from the perspective of top managers who must develop strategies, deploy resources, and guide organizations that compete in a global environment. Major topics include foreign market entry strategies, motivation and challenges of internationalization, the analysis of international industries, building competitive advantage in global industries, and the role of the country manager. Case studies will be used to increase the student's understanding of the complexities of managing international business operations. Prerequisite: Completion of at least four of the five 200-level courses (200, 220, 230, 240, 250). This course will not fulfill distribution requirement.
Psychology 475-01: Seminar in Community Psychology
Instructor: Sharon Kingston
The practice of community psychology is typically directed toward the design and evaluation of strategies aimed at facilitating empowerment, preventing psychological disorders, and promoting social justice and change. The goal is to optimize the well-being of individuals and communities with innovative and alternative interventions designed in collaboration with affected community members and with other related disciplines inside and outside of psychology. This course is an advanced seminar that focuses in depth on special topics in the field of community psychology. Topics may include substance abuse and addiction, delinquency, stress and coping, prevention vs. intervention, social support, and program consultation and evaluation. Students will develop their understanding of topical issues by reading primary and secondary sources and participating in class discussions and applied exercises.
Russian 334-01: Workshop in Translation
Instructor: Alyssa J DeBlasio (P) Eugenia Dudina
This course focuses on specific techniques for translating various kinds of texts (business, journalistic, scholarly, epistolary, and literary) from Russian into English, and from English into Russian. Concentrating on the practical matter of reading and writing, the course will also include special grammatical topics which present particular difficulties in translation, discussion of theories of translation, and introduction to technological tools of translation. The goal of the course is to further students' language ability and provide them with useful linguistic skills.
Prerequisite: 231, 232 or equivalent. Offered every two years.
Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship 400-01: Senior Seminar in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Instructor: C Helen Takacs
This capstone course builds on and integrates the key concepts of the introductory course in this certificate program by requiring students to reflect on, synthesize, and apply knowledge gained through their academic programs and experiential learning experiences. The focus will be on creating shared value, which simultaneously enriches social, ecological, and economic systems. Through exercises in strategy formulation and implementation, students will gain an appreciation for the challenges and rewards associated with conceiving and transforming innovative solutions into new products, services, and/or initiatives that change our world in meaningful ways. In imagining these pathways for success, we will also address the importance of compassionate leadership, tools that nurture vital social connections, and the power of our own agency.
Sociology 240-02: Qualitative Methods
Instructor: Susan D Rose
This course introduces students to the theory and methods of social science research, beginning with an examination of the philosophies underlying various research methodologies. The course then focuses on ethnographic field methods, introducing students to the techniques of participant observation, structured and informal interviewing, oral histories, sociometrics, and content analysis. Students will design their own field projects.
Prerequisite: 110 or ANTH 101.
Theatre and Dance 214-01: Community Engagement and Artistic Activism
Instructor: Erin Rose Crawley Woods
This course examines and applies theoretical and/or scientific study to the dancing body through experiential investigation, reading and lecture.
Prerequisite: Proficiency in ballet or modern dance at the intermediate level or permission of instructor.
Fall 2016 Service-Learning and Community-Based Research Courses
French 300: Toulouse Colloquium
Instructor: Sylvie Toux
An interdisciplinary colloquium focusing on the history and contemporary culture of the city of Toulouse. This course is composed of intensive written and oral language study, and introduction to French university methods of argumentation, visits of local museums and regional cities, and exploration of the various neighborhoods of Toulouse. This course is designed to acquaint students with the city and the region in which they will be spending the academic year.
One-half course credit. Offered every semester at the Dickinson Study Center in Toulouse.
Attributes: INST France Course
Health Studies 400-01: Senior Seminar in Health Studies
Instructor: Marie Helweg-Larsen
The course will take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding smoking and smoking cessation. We will examine the interaction of multiples causes of smoking such as economic, sociological, psychological, public health, economic, and biological perspectives on why people smoke and why they struggle to quit. We will also focus on the experiences of smokers of lower socio-economic status and the role of smoking in disparity in health.
In this community-based research course students will work with our partner agency, Sadler Health, on surveying two groups of people in their clinic: people currently in a smoking cessation program and patients who smoke but are not currently interested in quitting. The students will work with Sadler Health to develop the specific questions and survey instruments, will assist in data collection, and enter and analyze the data. Students will use the results of these surveys to write a report which will include academic background information, the survey methodology used, the findings, and specific recommendations. The reports will inform decision making at Sadler Health.
Learning goals:
- effective team building and collaboration
- professional conduct in communication and collaboration with a community partner
- high quality oral and written final reports suitable for a community partner
- interdisciplinary examination of smoking cessation attitudes (e.g., economic, sociological, psychological, public health, economic, and biological perspectives)
- skills associated with research including the development of hypotheses, selection of survey questions, data entry and analysis, and reporting of descriptive and inferential results
Health Studies 400-02: Senior Seminar in Health Studies
Instructor: Sharon Kingston
The course will take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding childhood obesity and nutritional status among children in the U.S. We will examine the interaction of multiple causes of child obesity including sociological, psychological, economic, business, public health and medical perspectives in order to understand how to prevent childhood obesity and improve children’s nutritional status. We will also examine structural inequality as a social determinant of poor health.
In this community-based research course, students will work with our partner agency, Partnership for Better Health, on an evaluation of the availability of healthy options in children’s menu’s in non-chain restaurants in the Carlisle area. The class will use a variety of social science research methods to assess the quality of the current offerings, the barriers and facilitators faced by restaurant owners and chefs in offering healthy options and parents’ willingness and ability to get their children to eat healthy meals. Students will use the results of this evaluation to develop a set of recommendations to area restaurants. The Partnership for Better Health will then disseminate these recommendations and support local restaurants in adopting them.
Learning goals:
- effective team building and collaboration
- professional conduct in communication and collaboration with a community partner
- high quality oral and written final reports suitable for a community partner
- interdisciplinary examination of childhood obesity (sociological, psychological, economic, business, public health, and medical perspectives)
- skills associated with research including content analysis, interview and survey research
Policy Management 401-01: Policy Management Seminar
Instructor: James M. Hoefler
This course will serve as a capstone experience for Policy Management majors. It will echo the key principles covered in the Foundations class, including an appreciation for (1) fluid interdisciplinarity, (2) the contingent nature of knowledge, (3) connections to the wider world beyond the college, (4) principle-based models of leadership, (5) the meaningful application of ethics, and (6) the role of stakeholder values in problem analysis and decision making processes. Emphasis will be placed on acclimating students to the processes of complex problem solving that exist in a variety of contexts, including the public, non-profit, and private sectors, as well as in various comparative cross-cultural settings. "Policy Management" majors conclude their academic study of the various frameworks, orientations, stakeholders, and value sets that exist in different policy contexts by completing a comprehensive, hands-on policy management exercise.
Psychology 375-01: Research Methods in Community Psychology
Instructor: Sharon Kingston
This course will emphasize gaining advanced knowledge and skills in the research methodologies of community psychology, answering the question: How does community psychology seek to scientifically understand relationships between environmental conditions and the development of health and well-being of all members of a community? Students will gain and practice skills in consultation and evaluation of programs to facilitate psychological competence and empowerment, and prevent disorder. Specifically, students will: (a) consider ways to assess and be responsive to the needs of people from marginalized populations with diverse socio-cultural, educational, and ethnic backgrounds; (b) become familiar with innovative programs and practices geared towards prevention and empowerment of disenfranchised groups; (c) apply learning (of theory and research strategies) to a problem in the community; and (d) develop skills in collaborating with Carlisle-area community members in identifying, designing, implementing, and interpreting community-based research.
Spanish 239-01: Spanish for the Health Professions
Instructor: Asuncion Arnedo-Aldrich
This is a specialized course emphasizing Spanish language and culture as they relate to health and medicine. The course goal is written and oral communication and cultural fluency as they relate to Global Health Care, Food Security, Immigration, and the delivery of health-care services to Limited-English-Proficient, Hispanic patients. Off-campus volunteer work with native Spanish speakers is required.
Sustainability 301-01: Practicum in Sustainability: Building Sustainable Communities
Instructor: Cornelius A. Leary
Many communities are embracing sustainability as a goal of community development, giving weight to social equity, economic security and ecological integrity as they work to build the capacity of their residents to improve the quality of their lives. In this practicum course we will explore different visions for sustainable communities, learn the goals, history and tools of community development in the United States, and gain competencies in using community development tools for building sustainable communities. These competencies will be developed, and conceptual knowledge reinforced, through a community-based research project that brings students, instructor and community partners together in research that is both useful to the community of greater Carlisle and of educational value to students and instructor.