M.A. in Liberal & Interdisciplinary Studies

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving and innovation. Move from identifying users’ needs to entertaining diverse solutions, choosing and developing the best, and finally launching one. You’ll be immersed in design thinking, all the time being in dialogue with others and your professor. Your goal is to bring your project to the implementation stage.

This course examines issues in the contemporary world, focusing mainly on the post-World War II period, from the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945, to the complex, high-tech world of today. View this history from the point of view of those living it, including students in the class themselves. Everyone has a “historical consciousness,” an understanding of the way the world became what it is today, and the main purpose of this class is to introduce you to alternative ways of interpreting history by weighing the merits of differing points of view. 

Today, living as a responsible, informed citizen requires that we think globally. We sense that our own stresses and pleasures in everyday America are connected to what happens in China, India, or the Middle East. We live on a planet united by technology and trade, but too often our news of other lands comes in sound bites. It often sounds tragic and strange. Yet we know on a deeper level that today’s complex world is a web in which we all are caught, a web in which all people find reason enough to be proud, courageous, loyal, and happy. This course takes the student across boundaries. We read novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, poetry, and view films that show the how and why of cultures far different from our own. 

This course provides a window into the artistic hearts of three cultures– Africa, Ireland, and Mexico–along with explorations of several contemporary “art-world” issues that are not specific to an area of the globe. Taken as a whole, this course invites you to expand your ways of thinking/sensing/feeling “the arts.” You do not need to be an artist, or to have previous experience with the arts to gain a great deal of value from the course.  

This course focuses on contemporary global historical events and issues in the post-World War II period through film. The course uses a wide variety of (mostly) foreign and U.S. films as its source base. This is not a film course per se, as the course does not emphasize issues of art, cinematography, or the directing and acting involved in making the films, although all of those things are relevant and can certainly become part of the discussion. The Reel World uses film as a window onto the world, examining the historical context of the films themselves as well as reviews and articles about the selected films to emphasize and critique the varying interpretations of history as presented on the big screen. 

Write poetry in an informal, constructive atmosphere and read poetry mindfully. No prior experience in writing poetry is required. The course only requires that the student has an interest in poetry’s language and form, and that he or she enjoys how words are put together to create a sense of the human experience. Any poetry that the student writes for this course will be considered a work-in-progress when he or she shares it with fellow students. No “finished” poems are expected. Readings from the required texts will be the basis of many of the discussion forums and will advance one’s understanding of how to read and write a poem. 

Material introduced in this course will proceed along two paths. First, we will follow a straight chronological route through modern Chinese history to make sense of certain places, people, and events. Secondly, we will take a more circuitous thematic path through Chinese society to understand the sources of the present-day social and cultural patterns. The goal of both sections of the course is to have gained a deeper understanding by the end of the semester of modern China “from the inside out,” that is, to see the grand sweep of political and social transformations as they were experienced by their participants. 

Become familiar with the theories behind systems thinking and the practical methods of synthesis and analysis that have developed alongside systems thinking’s theoretical constructions. The primary goal of the course is for you to learn the tools of system analysis and apply your skills to real world systemic problems to promote genuine, lasting change. 

This course begins where the theory of the global economy and its reality meet. In general, the course highlights the theory of free trade, since it is on the back of this theory that the promise of globalization—or we might say, economic liberalization—rests. As you will see, the most recent episode of economic liberalization is but a small part of the whole story, although recent experiences can tell us a good deal about how free trade might or might not work, and for whose benefit. 

The setting of this course is a virtual, grassroots, intensely focused, and highly respected human rights organization. Students “join” the organization as trainees to become human rights monitors (investigators). The highly interactive training program requires new monitors to learn by exploring human rights issues around the world. The research requires virtual travel to current conflicts to investigate allegations of genocide in Darfur, sex slavery in Thailand, detainee abuse in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, and growing threats to civil liberties. 

How do patterns of domination and injustice shape what’s going on, on the global stage and in communities closer to home? How does inequality (real or perceived) drive people to form identity groups or populist movements? How does today’s media coverage shape the conversation? You will explore ways of understanding these problems that seek to restore civil discourse. You will engage recent scholarship across disciplines, calling for a closer examination of the roles of humiliation, dignity, and “the politics of resentment” in history and in our time. 

The course will ask hard questions about not merely the perpetrators of political and religious extremism around the world, but also about the social, economic, and political structures that give rise to violent acts against perceived enemies. While we may easily identify a particular strand of radical Islamic orthodoxy as a legitimate enemy committed to our destruction, we must also ask what, if any, real differences separate a Christian fundamentalist who terrorizes abortion clinics in Florida and a Muslim suicide bomber intent on killing innocent civilians. More than an analysis of individual personality types, the course examines the premise that all social, political, and economic systems have their darker sides. It seeks to engage those contradictions through films, readings, and dialogue to imagine creative solutions that enhance our lives as well transform the structures that encourage terrorism. 

In this course, you will develop your own ethical leadership perspective and connect it to your own work experiences and goals. We start by reflecting on different types of leadership and relating these to your own core values. Next, we’ll identify common ethical frameworks and behaviors people bring to the workplace, and we’ll practice developing empathy and resolving conflicts that happen when these worldviews clash. We’ll explore successful examples of companies that have consciously balanced the tradeoffs of sustainability and profit. We’ll also analyze cases where there have been failures in ethical leadership and generate ideas for creating an organizational culture that makes these failures less likely. Finally, we’ll expand our scope to include leading ethically over the long-term, with virtual teams, and in global organizational settings. 

To live simply is to live deliberately, choosing carefully, often running against the grain, so that one experiences more fully the richness, diversity and depth of each day. There are many ways to do this and there are varying degrees of intensity. Some forms of simplicity are well-ordered and some chaotic. One person may seek community and another solitude. This course gives you a chance to experiment with diverse notions and behaviors about simplicity. You’ll study it, absorb its long history and many expressions, then probe it, taste it and try it on. You’ll compose your own simple living adventure by writing, journaling, and publishing a “simple living” website of your own making. 

This course affords you the opportunity to investigate current global conflicts from multiple perspectives. Begin by examining the definition of warfare, the key terms associated with warfare, and how both have changed over time. Become familiar with the history of warfare, its weapons, and how wars begin and end. The latter half of the course provides an overview of ongoing contemporary military conflicts between the United States and various adversaries including China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, and Afghanistan. An emphasis is placed on how technology is changing the way the United States (and our adversaries) achieve military objectives in the air, on land, in and under the sea, and in cyberspace. 

Develop and enhance critical intercultural competency skills, focusing on recognizing the needs of oppressed and marginalized groups, with a particular lens on issues of race and gender equity. You’ll examine your existing cultural perspectives and interconnections with groups that have a history of oppression, with sensitivity and respect for differences in perspectives, experiences, and values of others. Together, we’ll explore ways to develop effective change strategies that will help you to promote social justice and intercultural understanding within your communities and beyond. You will emerge from this course with a holistic, empathetic approach to fostering connections between individuals and across cultures. 

The intent of this course is to assist you in developing self-awareness related to formal project management and to build on your foundation, while expanding your understanding of both project management concepts and the practical techniques to facilitate your professional and personal growth. Upon completion of the course, you’ll have designed your own repeatable process for effective project management that will serve you throughout your professional career. 

We are bombarded daily with data being produced from a variety of sources, from social networking and search engines to research institutions, governments, and companies. How trustworthy is the data we are exposed to? How can we see through common fallacies and deceptive tactics? How can we think critically about the information being presented, understand the context, and be able to see the story in the data? In today’s data-driven world, having this ability to interpret data and test hypothesis is critical. In this course, we will learn the basics of data science. We will use videos, case studies, interactive activities, and statistical software to identify, analyze, interpret, and utilize data to make informed decisions and solve complex problems, and make convincing presentations. 

This course asks you to remove your personal opinion and political stance and, instead, seek and apply scientific facts, concepts, and principles to critique popular media topics relative to Ecosystems, Laws of Thermodynamics, Air Pollution/Climate Change, and Water Pollution. You will contextualize media claims about environmental issues to facilitate decision-making as a non-scientist; and employ a systemic view of historic and current global environmental issues to deepen your understanding and critical evaluation of media. 

*These other-than-MAS courses are approved for the MA-LIS degree. They are managed and scheduled by the Geography, Environment, and Sustainability department and may run a full semester instead of a half semester. 

*These other-than-MAS courses are approved for the MA-LIS degree. They are managed and scheduled by the Geography, Environment, and Sustainability department and may run a full semester instead of a half semester. 

Take the learning and experience from the nine courses you have completed in this degree program and apply this knowledge to a final website project. The project will address an interest that you and your instructor collectively determine as representing your personal and/or professional goals and your liberal and interdisciplinary studies.