General Education Courses

Course Description: People who are able to effectively present information to an audience are more likely to be successful in their careers. In this course, students learn to develop and present information to a variety of audiences. The course focuses on targeting specific audiences, using the beauty of language in writing speeches and other types of presentations, applying delivery techniques, using media, and overcoming the fear of public speaking.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: People who are able to effectively present information to an audience are more likely to be successful in their careers. In this course, students learn to develop and present information to a variety of audiences. The course focuses on targeting specific audiences, using the beauty of language in writing speeches and other types of presentations, applying delivery techniques, using media, and overcoming the fear of public speaking.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course offers exposure to and experience with electronic and traditional resources for information generation. Student assignments include fact-finding assignments and culminate in an extended research project of the student’s choice. Students use problem-solving strategies, assess project requirements, collect data, report periodically on their progress, and formally present their results. A variety of research methodologies are introduced, including accessing digital databases, interviewing skills, developing and using questionnaires, and review and use of literature.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course offers exposure to and experience with electronic and traditional resources for information generation. Student assignments include fact-finding assignments and culminate in an extended research project of the student’s choice. Students use problem-solving strategies, assess project requirements, collect data, report periodically on their progress, and formally present their results. A variety of research methodologies are introduced, including accessing digital databases, interviewing skills, developing and using questionnaires, and review and use of literature.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Critical Reading and Writing is a one semester, three-credit course limited to 15 students per section. This course is designed to help students develop the literacy practices they will need to be successful in their First-Year Writing course. Students will read, understand, interpret, and synthesize a variety of texts. Assignments are designed to challenge students intellectually, culturally and rhetorically. Through inquiry-based assignment sequences, students will improve their writing by developing academic research and literacy practices that will be further strengthened in First-Year Writing. Particular attention will be given to critical reading, academic writing conventions, and revision. Small class size promotes frequent student-instructor and student-student interaction. The course also emphasizes the principles of intellectual property and academic integrity in academic writing. This course fulfills a Gen Ed free elective.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Critical Reading and Writing is a one semester, three-credit course limited to 15 students per section. This course is designed to help students develop the literacy practices they will need to be successful in their First-Year Writing course. Students will read, understand, interpret, and synthesize a variety of texts. Assignments are designed to challenge students intellectually, culturally and rhetorically. Through inquiry-based assignment sequences, students will improve their writing by developing academic research and literacy practices that will be further strengthened in First-Year Writing. Particular attention will be given to critical reading, academic writing conventions, and revision. Small class size promotes frequent student-instructor and student-student interaction. The course also emphasizes the principles of intellectual property and academic integrity in academic writing. This course fulfills a Gen Ed free elective.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Writing Seminar is a three-credit course limited to 19 students per section. The course is designed to develop first-year students’ proficiency in analytical and rhetorical reading and writing, and critical thinking. Students will read, understand, and interpret a variety of non-fiction texts representing different cultural perspectives and/or academic disciplines. These texts are designed to challenge students intellectually and to stimulate their writing for a variety of contexts and purposes. Through inquiry-based assignment sequences, students will develop academic research and literacy practices that will be further strengthened throughout their academic careers. Particular attention will be given to the writing process, including an emphasis on teacher-student conferencing, critical self-assessment, class discussion, peer review, formal and informal writing, research, and revision. Small class size promotes frequent student-instructor and student-student interaction. The course also emphasizes the principles of intellectual property and academic integrity for both current academic and future professional writing.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Writing Seminar is a three-credit course limited to 19 students per section. The course is designed to develop first-year students’ proficiency in analytical and rhetorical reading and writing, and critical thinking. Students will read, understand, and interpret a variety of non-fiction texts representing different cultural perspectives and/or academic disciplines. These texts are designed to challenge students intellectually and to stimulate their writing for a variety of contexts and purposes. Through inquiry-based assignment sequences, students will develop academic research and literacy practices that will be further strengthened throughout their academic careers. Particular attention will be given to the writing process, including an emphasis on teacher-student conferencing, critical self-assessment, class discussion, peer review, formal and informal writing, research, and revision. Small class size promotes frequent student-instructor and student-student interaction. The course also emphasizes the principles of intellectual property and academic integrity for both current academic and future professional writing.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Writing Genre, Theory & Practice is a three-credit course. This course is designed to foster students' development as academic writers and communicators through the study of genre, literacy, and peer-to-peer interactions. Students will read, interpret, and reflect on a variety of texts, analyze writing-related artifacts, revise their own writing in a variety of mediums, and conduct ethnographic-oriented observations of writing consultation sessions in the RIT Writing Commons. Particular attention will be given to the writing and revision process, peer-to-peer conferencing, class discussion, and ethnographic research and remediation projects. Through engagement with each other and students and staff in the Writing Commons, students will develop successful reading, writing, and communication practices that will inform their participation in other academic and workplace contexts (e.g. writing center consultations, undergraduate research). To be enrolled in UWRT 325, students need to have completed UWRT 150 First Year Writing.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Writing Genre, Theory & Practice is a three-credit course. This course is designed to foster students' development as academic writers and communicators through the study of genre, literacy, and peer-to-peer interactions. Students will read, interpret, and reflect on a variety of texts, analyze writing-related artifacts, revise their own writing in a variety of mediums, and conduct ethnographic-oriented observations of writing consultation sessions in the RIT Writing Commons. Particular attention will be given to the writing and revision process, peer-to-peer conferencing, class discussion, and ethnographic research and remediation projects. Through engagement with each other and students and staff in the Writing Commons, students will develop successful reading, writing, and communication practices that will inform their participation in other academic and workplace contexts (e.g. writing center consultations, undergraduate research). To be enrolled in UWRT 325, students need to have completed UWRT 150 First Year Writing.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Civic engagement describes the different ways individuals and collectives work to identify public concerns, defend or redefine public values, seek to correct historical injustices, and make positive change for the common good or a specific community. In this course, students will gain an understanding of key concepts and vocabulary within interdisciplinary civic engagement and social justice literature, engage a variety of contemporary issues of public concern and the groups that seek to address these issues through different forms of civic engagement, and learn about the role rhetoric plays within these diverse and situated civic contexts. Students will identify a public concern (i.e. homelessness, voting restrictions, health care disparities, environmental racism, economic inequality, the school-to-prison pipeline) they want to learn more about; identify a group or groups seeking to address that issue through practices of civic engagement; and analyze, research, and present on that issue and group through formal and informal writing and public speaking/presentation assignments. Students will learn tools and perspectives in rhetorical analysis and genre awareness, effective writing practices for a college-level humanities course, effective public speaking/presentation skills, and revision and workshopping strategies for both writing and presentation contexts.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Civic engagement describes the different ways individuals and collectives work to identify public concerns, defend or redefine public values, seek to correct historical injustices, and make positive change for the common good or a specific community. In this course, students will gain an understanding of key concepts and vocabulary within interdisciplinary civic engagement and social justice literature, engage a variety of contemporary issues of public concern and the groups that seek to address these issues through different forms of civic engagement, and learn about the role rhetoric plays within these diverse and situated civic contexts. Students will identify a public concern (i.e. homelessness, voting restrictions, health care disparities, environmental racism, economic inequality, the school-to-prison pipeline) they want to learn more about; identify a group or groups seeking to address that issue through practices of civic engagement; and analyze, research, and present on that issue and group through formal and informal writing and public speaking/presentation assignments. Students will learn tools and perspectives in rhetorical analysis and genre awareness, effective writing practices for a college-level humanities course, effective public speaking/presentation skills, and revision and workshopping strategies for both writing and presentation contexts.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course will develop students' ability in perceiving worth in objects of art through consideration of fundamental concepts in painting, sculpture and architecture, involving analysis, interpretation and principles of aesthetics.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course will develop students' ability in perceiving worth in objects of art through consideration of fundamental concepts in painting, sculpture and architecture, involving analysis, interpretation and principles of aesthetics.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course provides the student with an introduction to film as an art form. The course presents a vocabulary for film analysis as well as the critical and analytical skills for interpreting films. The course examines the major aesthetic, structural, historical, and technical components of film. It considers how a film works, by looking internally at the multiple aspects that comprise the construction of a film, and externally at how a film affects the viewers. Students will watch a variety of feature films, primarily American, ranging in date from the 1940's through the 2000's. Clips from alternative films and foreign films will also be screened and discussed. Any artistic background in film, music, theatre, painting, sculpture, etc., is helpful, but no specific technical knowledge of film, video, or photography is required or expected.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course provides the student with an introduction to film as an art form. The course presents a vocabulary for film analysis as well as the critical and analytical skills for interpreting films. The course examines the major aesthetic, structural, historical, and technical components of film. It considers how a film works, by looking internally at the multiple aspects that comprise the construction of a film, and externally at how a film affects the viewers. Students will watch a variety of feature films, primarily American, ranging in date from the 1940's through the 2000's. Clips from alternative films and foreign films will also be screened and discussed. Any artistic background in film, music, theatre, painting, sculpture, etc., is helpful, but no specific technical knowledge of film, video, or photography is required or expected.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course provides an introduction to Visual Culture studies, an interdisciplinary field of study that explores the ways in which our lives are shaped through contact with, and consumption of, images, designed objects and visual forms of media, communication, and information. Students will develop a critical understanding of different aspects of contemporary visual culture as well as an awareness of its recent historical development.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course provides an introduction to Visual Culture studies, an interdisciplinary field of study that explores the ways in which our lives are shaped through contact with, and consumption of, images, designed objects and visual forms of media, communication, and information. Students will develop a critical understanding of different aspects of contemporary visual culture as well as an awareness of its recent historical development.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: In this course we examine representations of queer sexuality in art, film and popular culture beginning in the repressive 1950s, followed by the Stonewall Riots of 1969. We situate the birth of gay liberation in the U.S. in the context of the civil rights struggles, feminism and the anti-war movement. We turn to the work of Andy Warhol that looms over the post-war period, challenged subsequently by the onset of AIDS and the work of General Idea and Act-Up, on the one hand, and the more graphically provocative work of Robert Mapplethorpe, on the other. We examine the diversification of the queer community as transgendered identity asserts itself and the opening of popular culture to issues of diverse sexual identities. We explore expressions of queer sensibility outside of North America and Europe. We turn finally to the issue of gay marriage, both in the U.S. and abroad.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: In this course we examine representations of queer sexuality in art, film and popular culture beginning in the repressive 1950s, followed by the Stonewall Riots of 1969. We situate the birth of gay liberation in the U.S. in the context of the civil rights struggles, feminism and the anti-war movement. We turn to the work of Andy Warhol that looms over the post-war period, challenged subsequently by the onset of AIDS and the work of General Idea and Act-Up, on the one hand, and the more graphically provocative work of Robert Mapplethorpe, on the other. We examine the diversification of the queer community as transgendered identity asserts itself and the opening of popular culture to issues of diverse sexual identities. We explore expressions of queer sensibility outside of North America and Europe. We turn finally to the issue of gay marriage, both in the U.S. and abroad.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: We will study cinema in the United States and abroad from the mid-20th century to contemporary screen cultures. We will consider shorts, war documentaries, biographical and autobiographical films, animation, mockumentaries, video diaries, and immersive installations. Questions we will ask include: How does cinema represent or transform social and historical events in local and global contexts? Which ethical and aesthetic responsibilities does a filmmaker have to their audience and filmed subjects? What ethical questions do the films raise for us as spectators? How do we understand the role of media technologies in the making of these films? We will investigate the structures, techniques, and ideologies that identify cinematic practices as fiction or non-fiction and consider films that challenge these representational systems, helping us examine the line between fact and fiction. Students will complete a film critique as a class assignment.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: We will study cinema in the United States and abroad from the mid-20th century to contemporary screen cultures. We will consider shorts, war documentaries, biographical and autobiographical films, animation, mockumentaries, video diaries, and immersive installations. Questions we will ask include: How does cinema represent or transform social and historical events in local and global contexts? Which ethical and aesthetic responsibilities does a filmmaker have to their audience and filmed subjects? What ethical questions do the films raise for us as spectators? How do we understand the role of media technologies in the making of these films? We will investigate the structures, techniques, and ideologies that identify cinematic practices as fiction or non-fiction and consider films that challenge these representational systems, helping us examine the line between fact and fiction. Students will complete a film critique as a class assignment.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course examines the history and aesthetics of the motion picture in the United States since the late 1960s, when the classical studio era ended. Emphasis will be placed on the analysis of both the work of major American filmmakers and the evolution of major American film genres between 1967 and 2001. Among the filmmakers to be studied are Kazan, Cassavetes, Penn, Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, Allen, Seidelman, Lee, Burton, Altman, Tarantino, Coen, and Lynch. The course will consider the evolution of such traditional Hollywood genres as the gangster film, the romantic comedy, and the Hollywood movie, study the development of new, blended genres, investigate the rise of the blockbuster, explore the rise of the Independents, and follow the aesthetic changes that occurred since the 1967. The films will be studied within the context of contemporary cultural and political events, and will be discussed from several viewpoints, including aesthetic, technical, social, and economic. The ways in which gender, race, and class are constructed through the movies will also be a major focus of study.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course examines the history and aesthetics of the motion picture in the United States since the late 1960s, when the classical studio era ended. Emphasis will be placed on the analysis of both the work of major American filmmakers and the evolution of major American film genres between 1967 and 2001. Among the filmmakers to be studied are Kazan, Cassavetes, Penn, Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, Allen, Seidelman, Lee, Burton, Altman, Tarantino, Coen, and Lynch. The course will consider the evolution of such traditional Hollywood genres as the gangster film, the romantic comedy, and the Hollywood movie, study the development of new, blended genres, investigate the rise of the blockbuster, explore the rise of the Independents, and follow the aesthetic changes that occurred since the 1967. The films will be studied within the context of contemporary cultural and political events, and will be discussed from several viewpoints, including aesthetic, technical, social, and economic. The ways in which gender, race, and class are constructed through the movies will also be a major focus of study.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: In this course we examine art in the age of the New Deal; that is, the art of the 1920's and the 1930's, with a particular emphasis on the artwork produced through the programs of the Roosevelt Administration's New Deal. These programs sponsored the visual arts, as well as film, theater, literature, music, and dance. We study the art produced through this sponsorship in the context of the evolution of twentieth century modernism, mostly European, that had begun to influence American art. We will look at the stylistic and ideological affinities of the figurative style, known as the American scene, with the Mexican muralists of the 1920's and examine other government-sponsored social realist art of the 1930's, notably German and Russian.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: In this course we examine art in the age of the New Deal; that is, the art of the 1920's and the 1930's, with a particular emphasis on the artwork produced through the programs of the Roosevelt Administration's New Deal. These programs sponsored the visual arts, as well as film, theater, literature, music, and dance. We study the art produced through this sponsorship in the context of the evolution of twentieth century modernism, mostly European, that had begun to influence American art. We will look at the stylistic and ideological affinities of the figurative style, known as the American scene, with the Mexican muralists of the 1920's and examine other government-sponsored social realist art of the 1930's, notably German and Russian.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Visual Culture studies recognize the predominance of visual forms of media, communication, and information in the contemporary world, investigating both “high" cultural forms such as fine art, design, and architecture and popular "low" cultural forms associated with mass media and communications. Visual Culture studies represents a turn in the discourse of the visual, which had focused on content-based, critical readings of images, and has since broadened its approach to additionally question the ways in which our consumption and production of images and image based technologies are structured. Analyzing images from a social-historical perspective, visual culture asks: what are the effects of images? Can the visual be properly investigated with traditional methodologies, which have been based on language, not imagery? How do images visualize social difference? How are images viewed by varied audiences? How are images embedded in a wider culture and how do they circulate?

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Visual Culture studies recognize the predominance of visual forms of media, communication, and information in the contemporary world, investigating both “high" cultural forms such as fine art, design, and architecture and popular "low" cultural forms associated with mass media and communications. Visual Culture studies represents a turn in the discourse of the visual, which had focused on content-based, critical readings of images, and has since broadened its approach to additionally question the ways in which our consumption and production of images and image based technologies are structured. Analyzing images from a social-historical perspective, visual culture asks: what are the effects of images? Can the visual be properly investigated with traditional methodologies, which have been based on language, not imagery? How do images visualize social difference? How are images viewed by varied audiences? How are images embedded in a wider culture and how do they circulate?

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course examines the ways in which culture, ethnicity, languages, traditions, governance, policies and histories interact in the production of the visual experience. We will approach the campus of RIT and the city of Rochester and their various urban spatial forms as image experiences, subject to interpretative strategies and the influence of other discourses. We will wander the well-traveled and the unbeaten paths, participating in and interrogating a wide range of our campus' and city's treasures and embarrassments, secrets and norms. In addition to these field trips, we will be reading from literature and cultural studies, as well as viewing films, advertisements and websites, and possibly attending theatrical and music performances or sporting events.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course examines the ways in which culture, ethnicity, languages, traditions, governance, policies and histories interact in the production of the visual experience. We will approach the campus of RIT and the city of Rochester and their various urban spatial forms as image experiences, subject to interpretative strategies and the influence of other discourses. We will wander the well-traveled and the unbeaten paths, participating in and interrogating a wide range of our campus' and city's treasures and embarrassments, secrets and norms. In addition to these field trips, we will be reading from literature and cultural studies, as well as viewing films, advertisements and websites, and possibly attending theatrical and music performances or sporting events.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course investigates visual culture and its imagistic response to life's crises. Problems of identity and identification will be explored and confronted through works of photography, painting, mixed media, new media and film of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Beginning with the late 19th Century vogue for images of hysterical women, crippled black-sheep family members and dead loved ones (as corpses and as ghosts), we then move on to consider the last century's fascination with pain and suffering, disease and violence, struggle and survival and then the 21st century's emphasis on terrorism. Specifically, we will focus on the gendering of images and imaging as disturbing pictures work to defy the formal and theoretical distinction between private and public, personal, and collective experience and manage the often conflicting responsibilities to self, family, religion, race, nation, and society.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course investigates visual culture and its imagistic response to life's crises. Problems of identity and identification will be explored and confronted through works of photography, painting, mixed media, new media and film of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Beginning with the late 19th Century vogue for images of hysterical women, crippled black-sheep family members and dead loved ones (as corpses and as ghosts), we then move on to consider the last century's fascination with pain and suffering, disease and violence, struggle and survival and then the 21st century's emphasis on terrorism. Specifically, we will focus on the gendering of images and imaging as disturbing pictures work to defy the formal and theoretical distinction between private and public, personal, and collective experience and manage the often conflicting responsibilities to self, family, religion, race, nation, and society.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course explores the experience of dying a profoundly human and universal experience as it is represented by artists who are themselves facing immanent death. The unique and deeply personal process of each dying artist is crucially informed by social, cultural and historical as well as artistic contexts. The course will focus primarily on visual artists and writers living with and dying of disease - such as AIDS, cancer and cystic fibrosis as well as mortality and age. Topics such as aesthetics, artistic media, representation, grief, bereavement, illness, care-giving, aging, and the dying process will be considered within the context of issues of race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, gender and community values. Some of the artists covered will be Jo Spence, Hannah Wilke, Elias Canetti, Bob Flanagan, Herve Guibert, Tom Joslin, Laurie Lynd, Audre Lorde, Charlotte Salomon, Keith Haring, Frida Kahlo, Bas Jan Ader, Ted Rosenthal, Felix Gonzalez Torres, Keith Haring, Eric Steel, Derek Jarman, Eric Michaels, and David Wojnarowicz. We will also explore some of the critical theory of Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Elaine Scarry, Susan Sontag, and Ross Chambers.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course explores the experience of dying a profoundly human and universal experience as it is represented by artists who are themselves facing immanent death. The unique and deeply personal process of each dying artist is crucially informed by social, cultural and historical as well as artistic contexts. The course will focus primarily on visual artists and writers living with and dying of disease - such as AIDS, cancer and cystic fibrosis as well as mortality and age. Topics such as aesthetics, artistic media, representation, grief, bereavement, illness, care-giving, aging, and the dying process will be considered within the context of issues of race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, gender and community values. Some of the artists covered will be Jo Spence, Hannah Wilke, Elias Canetti, Bob Flanagan, Herve Guibert, Tom Joslin, Laurie Lynd, Audre Lorde, Charlotte Salomon, Keith Haring, Frida Kahlo, Bas Jan Ader, Ted Rosenthal, Felix Gonzalez Torres, Keith Haring, Eric Steel, Derek Jarman, Eric Michaels, and David Wojnarowicz. We will also explore some of the critical theory of Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Elaine Scarry, Susan Sontag, and Ross Chambers.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course traces the historical development of women’s activism in the art world from the 1970s to the present. We will interpret how this art activism, which artists and scholars alike have referred to as the feminist art movement, has examined how gender informs the ways art is made, viewed, conceptualized in history and theory, and exhibited in museums and visual culture, in a range of cultural contexts. We will also analyze how current artists, critics, and curators continue to build on this history, in particular how they use the concept of gender intersectionality to develop a variety of new creative practices, theories, modes of exhibition and social engagement.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course traces the historical development of women’s activism in the art world from the 1970s to the present. We will interpret how this art activism, which artists and scholars alike have referred to as the feminist art movement, has examined how gender informs the ways art is made, viewed, conceptualized in history and theory, and exhibited in museums and visual culture, in a range of cultural contexts. We will also analyze how current artists, critics, and curators continue to build on this history, in particular how they use the concept of gender intersectionality to develop a variety of new creative practices, theories, modes of exhibition and social engagement.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course is a history of visual activism from the 20th century to now. The course asks: how is activism represented and disseminated to engage audiences? How is the public sphere in the United States and abroad shaped by visual activist practices? What visual languages are used as forms of documentation, communication, persuasion, and creative expression in the service of social change? We examine a range of examples in their local and global contexts, including counter-culture photography and film, poster graphics, graffiti art, comics and political cartoons, social media, performance, urban interventions, installations, and new media.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course is a history of visual activism from the 20th century to now. The course asks: how is activism represented and disseminated to engage audiences? How is the public sphere in the United States and abroad shaped by visual activist practices? What visual languages are used as forms of documentation, communication, persuasion, and creative expression in the service of social change? We examine a range of examples in their local and global contexts, including counter-culture photography and film, poster graphics, graffiti art, comics and political cartoons, social media, performance, urban interventions, installations, and new media.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Students will examine the context in which specific cultural groups have chosen to create works about their experiences. They will go on to explore a wide range of artistic works representing the Deaf experience in visual arts and cinema. Students will be expected to analyze works in terms of cultural symbols and themes. Attention will be given to historical context (personal and collective) that has helped to shape many of these works, motifs, and messages. Students will write and present in-depth papers examining specific works and artists/filmmakers. In addition, students will be expected to create an original artwork and a collaborative short film.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Students will examine the context in which specific cultural groups have chosen to create works about their experiences. They will go on to explore a wide range of artistic works representing the Deaf experience in visual arts and cinema. Students will be expected to analyze works in terms of cultural symbols and themes. Attention will be given to historical context (personal and collective) that has helped to shape many of these works, motifs, and messages. Students will write and present in-depth papers examining specific works and artists/filmmakers. In addition, students will be expected to create an original artwork and a collaborative short film.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Visual Culture is an interdisciplinary field of study that explores the role of visual media in everyday life and its critical function in the dissemination of ideas in the public sphere. Emphasizing comparative critical approaches to the convergence of art and popular media, courses engage globalized visual media ranging from photography, television and film, to new media, architecture, design, and art (painting, sculpture and multimedia forms) in the context of such social arenas as art, news, science, advertising, and popular culture.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Visual Culture is an interdisciplinary field of study that explores the role of visual media in everyday life and its critical function in the dissemination of ideas in the public sphere. Emphasizing comparative critical approaches to the convergence of art and popular media, courses engage globalized visual media ranging from photography, television and film, to new media, architecture, design, and art (painting, sculpture and multimedia forms) in the context of such social arenas as art, news, science, advertising, and popular culture.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Women’s and Gender Studies is the academic manifestation of feminism. This interdisciplinary course interrogates the social constructions, political systems, and historical rhetorics that have produced and maintain hegemonic power structures. In this course you will examine key feminist, queer, and critical race writings and discourses, study the rise of feminist thought, and consider the history of women’s activism and the women’s rights movements from Suffrage to the present day. The course will also consider the application of feminist theory made visible through the rise of new and intersectional social identity movements.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: Women’s and Gender Studies is the academic manifestation of feminism. This interdisciplinary course interrogates the social constructions, political systems, and historical rhetorics that have produced and maintain hegemonic power structures. In this course you will examine key feminist, queer, and critical race writings and discourses, study the rise of feminist thought, and consider the history of women’s activism and the women’s rights movements from Suffrage to the present day. The course will also consider the application of feminist theory made visible through the rise of new and intersectional social identity movements.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course aims at introducing students to the diverse ways in which feminist and gender studies practitioners (scholars, writers, artists, and activists) have critically analyzed, challenged, and creatively reinvented predominant methods, models, and practices of knowledge production in various areas of the natural and social sciences, the medical arts, the humanities, and the visual and performing arts. Questions to be considered include: What constitutes feminist practices of inquiry? How do feminist research practices approach issues of objectivity and subjectivity? How does one formulate a feminist question? What key questions guide feminist researchers and how can we apply those questions to a variety of research topics? How do feminist practices of inquiry intersect with race, class, gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexualities, identity-formation processes, (dis)abilities, age? How do feminist research practices produce transformations, emancipation, and increased fairness of representation?

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This course aims at introducing students to the diverse ways in which feminist and gender studies practitioners (scholars, writers, artists, and activists) have critically analyzed, challenged, and creatively reinvented predominant methods, models, and practices of knowledge production in various areas of the natural and social sciences, the medical arts, the humanities, and the visual and performing arts. Questions to be considered include: What constitutes feminist practices of inquiry? How do feminist research practices approach issues of objectivity and subjectivity? How does one formulate a feminist question? What key questions guide feminist researchers and how can we apply those questions to a variety of research topics? How do feminist practices of inquiry intersect with race, class, gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexualities, identity-formation processes, (dis)abilities, age? How do feminist research practices produce transformations, emancipation, and increased fairness of representation?

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: In this course we examine representations of queer sexuality in art, film and popular culture beginning in the repressive 1950s, followed by the Stonewall Riots of 1969. We situate the birth of gay liberation in the U.S. in the context of the civil rights struggles, feminism and the anti-war movement. We turn to the work of Andy Warhol that looms over the post-war period, challenged subsequently by the onset of AIDS and the work of General Idea and Act-Up, on the one hand, and the more graphically provocative work of Robert Mapplethorpe, on the other. We examine the diversification of the queer community as transgendered identity asserts itself and the opening of popular culture to issues of diverse sexual identities. We explore expressions of queer sensibility outside of North America and Europe. We turn finally to the issue of gay marriage, both in the U.S. and abroad.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: In this course we examine representations of queer sexuality in art, film and popular culture beginning in the repressive 1950s, followed by the Stonewall Riots of 1969. We situate the birth of gay liberation in the U.S. in the context of the civil rights struggles, feminism and the anti-war movement. We turn to the work of Andy Warhol that looms over the post-war period, challenged subsequently by the onset of AIDS and the work of General Idea and Act-Up, on the one hand, and the more graphically provocative work of Robert Mapplethorpe, on the other. We examine the diversification of the queer community as transgendered identity asserts itself and the opening of popular culture to issues of diverse sexual identities. We explore expressions of queer sensibility outside of North America and Europe. We turn finally to the issue of gay marriage, both in the U.S. and abroad.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This introductory course examines a broad range of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer issues within the historical, psychological, racial, theological, cultural, and legal contexts in which we live. Students will learn the historical and theoretical foundations of LGBTQ+ studies as well as the contemporary implications for family, work, religion, and law for LGBTQ+ people and the mainstream society. Students will have the opportunity to compare the regulation of sexual orientation across different gender, racial, and socioeconomic communities.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.

Course Description: This introductory course examines a broad range of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer issues within the historical, psychological, racial, theological, cultural, and legal contexts in which we live. Students will learn the historical and theoretical foundations of LGBTQ+ studies as well as the contemporary implications for family, work, religion, and law for LGBTQ+ people and the mainstream society. Students will have the opportunity to compare the regulation of sexual orientation across different gender, racial, and socioeconomic communities.

For prerequisites, availability, other details and to register, go to http://sis.rit.edu/.