WCore Engaging the World Courses
| CHEM | 306 | Quantitative Chemistry | 4 Credits |
| A study of the theory and practice of quantitative analytical chemistry. Topics include kinetics, chemical equilibrium, acid-base chemistry, complex formation, ionic strength effects, and oxidation-reduction reactions. The lab involves an in-depth study of gravimetric and volumetric methods, as well as a range of instrumental analyses with a focus on quality assurance/quality control. Students will gain experience with multiple modes of scientific communication, and will learn to apply statistics to data collected in the lab, with statistical tests covered including one-sample t-test, two sample t-test, paired t-test, linear regression, and ANOVA. The course includes a multi-week community based lab and science global learning outreach component which requires attendance at least one evening during the term outside normal class or lab time. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| COMM | 365 | Intercultural and Global Communication | 4 Credits |
| The major focus on this course is the exploration of the significance of culture in everyday life and how culture interrelates with ans influences communication processes. Students will explore the ways in which attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors affect communication among people of different backgrounds. This course will address topics that challenge intercultural interactions, ranging from issues of privilege and power in society and representation of cultures and identities in popular media to the relationship between language, power, and culture. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| ECON | 319 | International Economics | 4 Credits |
| The study of international economics examines how international transactions influence things such as social welfare, income distribution, employment, growth, price stability, and the ways public policy can affect these outcomes. The course is divided into two distinct areas of focus: international trade and international monetary economics. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| EDUC | 206 | How to Change the World? | 3 Credits |
| This course enables students to learn about service and community engagement as a means of impacting the world around them. The course strengthens the students' understanding of the connection between their field of endeavor and the diverse needs of their community. To further understand these community needs, students will spend time providing service to individuals or agencies in the local community. Students will make connections between community service and their own learning through in-class activities, assignments, interviews, presentations and personal reflection. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| EDUC | 307 | Globalization of Education | 3 Credits |
| This course analyzes the political, economic, and social forces that have led to the globalization of education. It uses various frameworks and theories to analyze critically the impact of globalization on everyday educational practices and the role education plays in shaping society. The class introduces systems thinking, analysis of power relations, and responses to globalization of education in various parts of the world. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| EDUC | 373 | Juvenile Justice | 3 Credits |
| This course will explore the U.S. juvenile justice system, including its history, philosophical underpinnings, and biases. Through visits to detention facilities, interviews with individuals involved in the justice system and an exploration of comparative systems of youth incarceration and rehabilitation in the U.S and abroad, students will critically analyze and evaluate our current system and make recommendations for reform. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| EDUC | 374 | Popular Culture as Pedagogy | 4 Credits |
| This course introduces students to critical media literacy as a means of critically examining the messages they receive from the media, through popular culture, and from the entertainment industry. Students will begin to understand the role these institutions play in maintaining systems of domination and subordination through the often detrimental and deleterious portrayal of marginalized groups in the United States. In order to fully interrogate the impact these messages have on society generally and marginalized groups specifically, students will also be exposed to critical theory. Students will then take the knowledge they have attained in this course and engage in a community media literacy project. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| EDUC | 375 | Indigenous Knowledge and Lifeways | 4 Credits |
| This course will introduce indigenous knowledge systems, worldviews, and lifeways from various regions of the world. The course will be structured so students experience indigenous ways of learning and social-environmental organization. Students will explore epistemological questions, relationships (economic, social, governance, with nonhuman life forms), and historical and contemporary practices. Students will apply their learning to addressing global crises through their specific discipline(s) and reflect on their own cultural identity, values, and practices. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| ENVI | 333 | Native West | 4 Credits |
| This course will function as one of the Westminster Expedition Courses (and must be
taken with ENVI 331, ENVI 332, and HIST 202). Native peoples inhabited all of the American West; today's Native nations exercise sovereignty over fragments of their former territory. This course investigates the "Native history" of some of the West, based upon the Expeditions itinerary. For example, Blackfeet were displaced from Glacier and Sheepeaters from Yellowstone, now iconic parts of the National Park system. Students will also visit contemporary Native nations and investigate their roles in land-use issues. For example, the Klamath Reservation was "terminated" in the 1950s, but some Klamath peoples successfully regained their legal tribal status and have asserted their rights to water and fish under nineteenth century treaties. Other potential Native Nation site visits include Fort Hall, Crow, Flathead, Colville, Burns Paiute, Pyramid Lake, and Hopi. Students will hear from Native peoples, public lands managers, scholars, and activists along our route. They will research Native history in primary and secondary sources, keep reflective journals, write short reflective papers, prepare questions for oral histories of guest lecturers/speakers, and present to the class as well as post their writing, photographs, video, and sound recordings on the Expeditions blog. (WCore: EWRLD) |
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| ENVI | 351 | The Global Environment | 4 Credits |
| This course presents students with an opportunity to study to global implications of contemporary environmental issues and relationships between nature and society. Many scientists and social scientists have argued that we are in the midst of the Anthropocene, an epoch in which people have fundamentally changed the earth's environment. Students will approach these issues with attention to cross-cultural interactions and ideas that shape environmental and humanitarian concerns in light of global processes of social and ecological transformation, students will study the global nature of many environmental issues, their impacts on local communities and ways those communities have responded. Global environmental issues such as energy, agriculture or water use will be considered through specific local changes with an emphasis on communities in Asia, Africa and South America. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| GEOL | 205 | Climate Science & Consequences | 4 Credits |
| A study of the earth as a dynamic system focusing on the human dimensions of global change. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| GEOL | 325 | Oil and Water | 4 Credits |
| This course focuses on natural resources within the state of Utah, and how these resources affect people and places locally, regionally, and globally. Four principle resources will be examined: oil, water, coal, and mineable resources (primarily uranium, copper, and silver). Students will learn the geology behind each resource, extraction and refining methods, laws and policies pertaining to resource development, and impacts (both positive and negative) of the resources on people, places, and the world. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| GNDR | 320 | Gender, Stories, and Migration | 4 Credits |
| Increased migration is a nearly present feature in the news and politics. Although women comprise about half of all migrants, discussions of gender and sexuality are generally absent in the analyses, even as they are highlighted in the press and in the way we talk about migration. This course will use stories-understood broadly-to explore migration, specifically through the lens of gender studies and the uneven impact of migration on women. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| GNDR | 325 | Human Trafficking | 4 Credits |
| This course will provide cross-disciplinary understanding of different forms of slavery and their current prevalence in the United States and throughout the world (as sex-trafficking, forced labor, child soldiers, and similar). We will identify connections between historical slavery and modern-day practices of human trafficking, focusing on issues of economics, power, human rights, abolition, and legislation on both local and global levels. Our readings will include first-person narratives, abolition materials, scholarly articles, case studies, and government reports and legislation. We will also watch several documentaries and follow prominent anti-slavery campaigns. A substantial component of the course will be devoted to civic engagement, allowing us to conduct research in the community and get involved in local organizations that emphasize prevention and protection. The ultimate goal will be to apply academic research and service learning to problem-solving in a critically informed and socially responsible fashion. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| HIST | 230 | Global Coffee Cultures | 4 Credits |
| This course educates students on the international histories of and ethical considerations attached to labor, political economics, environment, and gender related to global coffee cultures, both the consumption and production sides. Students will critically engage with these historical and contemporary issues pervasive in global coffee communities through primary and secondary texts, film, and an occasional field trip to local roasters and/or cafes. Coffee will be served during each class period. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| HIST | 325 | The Native West | 4 Credits |
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This course will function as one of the Westminster Expedition Courses (and must be taken with ENVI 330A, ENVI 330B, and one of: ENVI 330D or HIST 202).Native peoples inhabited all of the American West; today's Native nations exercise sovereignty over fragments of their former territory. This course investigates the "Native history" of some of the West, based upon the Expeditions itinerary. For example, Blackfeet were displaced from Glacier and Sheepeaters from Yellowstone, now iconic parts of the National Park system. Students will also visit contemporary Native nations and investigate their roles in land-use issues. For example, the Klamath Reservation was "terminated" in the 1950s, but some Klamath peoples successfully regained their legal tribal status and have asserted their rights to water and fish under nineteenth-century treaties. Other potential Native Nation site visits include Fort Hall, Crow, Flathead, Colville, Burns Paiute, Pyramid Lake, and Hopi. Students will hear from Native peoples, public lands managers, scholars, and activists along our route. They will research Native history in primary and secondary sources, keep reflective journals, write short reflective papers, prepare questions for oral histories of guest lecturers and speakers and present to the class as well as post their writing, photographs, video, and sound recordings on the Expeditions blog. (WCore: EWRLD) |
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| HIST | 327 | History of the Holocaust | 4 Credits |
| The horrors of the events that became known as the Holocaust, or Shoah—the murder of more than six million Jews and five million or more non-Jewish people: Roma, homosexuals, disabled people, political prisoners, Jehovah’s Witnesses—continues to haunt human memory. The legacy of the Holocaust continually appears in media and film, in novels, and in political and historical debates. In this course, we will confront some of the most challenging questions and topics that come out of this history: why were most people bystanders? What was the role of Christian anti-Semitism in the destruction of Jews? What motivated ordinary people to murder their neighbors? We will also place the Shoah in a global context by exploring its connections to colonialism, racism, ableism, and other genocides. We will listen to oral histories and testimonies to better understand the lived experiences of those who survived. This course will culminate in a final project that contributes to contemporary understandings of the Holocaust’s significance. (World history emphasis and WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| HIST | 329 | Culture and Society in East Asia | 4 Credits |
| The twenty-first century has often been referred to as the “Pacific Century.” East Asia has become a focal point of economics, technology, politics, and popular culture. How did East Asian societies go from devastation, occupation, revolution, and dictatorship to global prominence? Culture and Society in East Asia takes this question as a starting point and investigates the distinctive historical transformations of postwar Japan, China, and South Korea using the lens of popular culture, including film, literature, manga, anime, sports, social media, gaming, music, and new technologies. We will explore how popular cultural phenomena, whether Cold War Olympic sports or K-pop celebrities, intertwined with politics, economics, religion, and historical memory. This interdisciplinary approach to East Asian history and society will provide a richer understanding of the complex and dynamic cultures of China, Japan, and Korea. Our examination will take us beyond generalizations and stereotypes to think in critical and informed ways about East Asia and its place in the world. | |||
| INTR | 305 | Citizen Diplomacy | 4 Credits |
| This course will utilize Citizen Diplomacy to discover and identify perspectives that inform global challenges. Students will explore their identities as world citizens and compare and contrast them with those of people from their own and other countries, ages, and social locations. They will attend Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy (UCCD) lectures and have direct discussions with International Visitor Leadership Program participants, “the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program” sponsored locally by UCCD. Students will design and implement a survey focused on the world’s major challenges, reflect upon the data and recommend topics for future UCCD speakers. They will conduct research focused on a global challenge and present their findings. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| INTR | 310 | Engaging Worldwide Neighbors | 4 Credits |
| Drawing on multi-faceted concepts ranging from process drama (or other art forms), learning theory, and global learning, this course is an interdisciplinary exploration of what it means to be a civically informed and engaged citizen while making valuable local connections. This team-taught course will emphasize hands-on experiential opportunities to bring process drama (or other art-forms: visual arts/music/movement) classes and activities to local immigrant school-age children. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| JUST | 221 | Community Justice | 4 Credits |
| This course is designed to provide understanding to students regarding the meaning of social justice and community building to advocate for social equity. In regard to Justice Studies social equity is vital to the liberation of marginalized communities. This course is aimed at teaching students the history, theory and practice realities of community building locally and globally through discussion and exploration. This course will have a service learning component with a nonprofit organization focused on providing junior high school students with the information, skills and understanding for university preparation through the mentoring of university students. Students will learn to critically analyze current social and economic conditions that are embedded in US societal structures. They will gain knowledge and insight of issues underlying oppression while learning approaches to social equity and advocacy. Students will study policy and politics that influence social injustices based on race, ethnicity, socio-cultural and gender characteristics. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| JUST | 318 | Humanitarian Justice | 4 Credits |
| This course addresses the historical transformation of, and contemporary controversies concerning humanitarian law and politics, human rights, humanitarian intervention, and human security in a global context. In order to explore these fields, we will focus on several themes, topics, and issues of concern such as debates concerning the historical and political emergence of humanitarian law, the different theoretical, cultural, and ideological perspectives on human rights, the controversies over humanitarian intervention, and the contestations regarding the emerging framework of human security. In order to illustrate these fields and issues, we will explore historical accounts, Western and non-Western perspectives, environmental perspectives, gendered perspectives, and various contesting theoretical and ideological stances in the contemporary legal, political, diplomatic, and policy spheres regarding humanitarian law, human rights, humanitarian intervention, and human security. There are no prerequisites for this course. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| LMW | 231 | Global Shakespeares | 4 Credits |
| William Shakespeare is exceptional in the worldwide reach of his plays and poems, and his influence continues to grow with performances, translations, and adaptations to a variety of mediums, notably film. Global Shakespeares will examine how his plays are adapted for different cultures and formats in far-flung places across the globe. We will view his plays from a sociological perspective, to see how they mediate the society of Shakespeare's England first, and then how they mediate various global cultures. Our study of global Shakespeares will help us to better understand and meaningfully engage with the many cultures and countries that continue to enjoy, consume, use, and engage with his texts. We will pay especial attention to the representation of gender relations and the treatment of marginalized groups and individuals in performances of Shakespeare. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| LMW | 335 | Englishes of the World | 4 Credits |
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This course examines how the English language has spread across the world, accumulating accents and varieties to become a global language in the 20th and 21st centuries. By applying theories of globalization and post-colonialism, we will explore how English has been exported into South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean through social or political coercion, mass media, or "choice." We will analyze print, visual, and digital texts written in English by non-native writers and gain awareness of issues like cultural translation, hybridity, broken English and the inherent ideological consequences when writers choose to represent cultures in a language other than their own. This course will also be linked to a service-learning project: Westminster's partnership with the Promise South Salt Lake initiative provides opportunities for student volunteers to interact with members of the Bhutanese and Somali refugee communities who take ESL classes to pass their citizenship tests. Our students will spend two class sessions with ESL students from Bhutan and/or Somalia, and through mutual interactions, gain a deeper understanding of how language (English) is inherently tied to ideas of power, identity, and cultural assimilation. Students will turn in a written assignment based on this experience. (WCore: EWRLD) |
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| MGMT | 412C | Citizen Diplomacy | 4 Credits |
| This course will utilize Citizen Diplomacy to discover and identify perspectives that inform global challenges. Students will explore their identities as world citizens and compare and contrast them with those of people from their own and other countries, ages, and social locations. They will attend Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy (UCCD) lectures and have direct discussions with International Visitor Leadership Program participants, "the U.S. Department of State's premier professional exchange program" sponsored locally by UCCD. Students will design and implement a survey focused on the world's major challenges, reflect upon the data and recommend topics for future UCCD speakers. They will conduct research focused on a global challenge and present their findings. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| MUSC | 207 | World Music, World Perspectives | 3 Credits |
| This course is a selective survey of the music of the indigenous and migrant populations of Africa, India, China, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Middle East, Central and South America, and North America. In this course we will examine the ways that music functions within these cultures. We will examine the music itself, the people who make it, the instruments they use, and the complex ideas, behaviors, and processes that are involved in the production of this music. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| NURS | 314 | Community and Mental Health Nursing | 4 Credits |
| This course focuses on community and mental health nursing concepts. There are two areas of focus for this course. The first is the development of and understanding of mental health alterations in clients with mental illness. Emphasis is placed on common psychiatric disorders and treatments with related nursing diagnoses, nursing interventions, and the overall conceptual models of psychiatric nursing care. The second area of focus is on community health nursing concepts with an emphasis on community and family assessment, health promotion, and planning for the health of communities,families, and individuals across the lifespan. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| NURS | 470 | Culture, Health, and Illness | 5 Credits |
| This course explores cultural diversity and its influence on healthcare and disparate health outcomes. Students will be exposed to topics such as: the nursing population’s impact on health care disparities, health disparities and inequities in minorities, HIV and AIDS, ethnicities, religion, and the gay, lesbian, and transgender community. While students explore those topics they will seek out best practices along with integrative modalities in treating underprivileged and minority populations. Other topics that will be addressed will be global health, and principles of genetics and genetic influence on health. Finally, students will be exposed a culture of their choice in an in depth level and use evidence-based practice to shared best practices related to caring for and treating their culture of choice. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| PLSC | 306 | Comparative Politics | 4 Credits |
| This course focuses on the comparative interdisciplinary study of different forms of power, politics, government, and governance across space, culture, time, and levels of analysis. Because the field of Comparative Politics is extremely broad and diverse, each edition of the course focuses on only certain regions and specific themes (e.g., Global South, Former Eastern Bloc, Global North). Course participants will learn how to employ the different perspectives of the interdisciplinary comparative approach to conducting comparative political analyses across different historical cases, cultural spheres, geographical areas, thematic fields, and levels of political aggregation (from local, to national, regional, and global). With its focus on the challenges of globalization, democratization, diversity, social justice, and ecological sustainability across time, space, and cultures, this course will enable participants to critically assess the merits and demerits of the different forms which power and politics can take in its structural, institutional, ideological, social-transformational and practical or policy dimensions. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| PLSC | 315 | Theories of Global Politics | 4 Credits |
| This course explores the different theories and approaches to the study and practice of International Relations and Global Politics. It employs a critical, intercultural, and global framework that enables participants to learn and understand the growing diversity of Western, Non-Western, feminist, and ecological perspectives on planetary affairs. The overall purpose of this course is to equip participants with the various theoretical compasses needed to creatively navigate and proactively participate in the emergent global polity. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| PLSC | 316 | Issues in Global Politics | 4 Credits |
| This course engages with key conversations in global politics, such as those surrounding political economy, education, healthcare, diversity, ecology and security. We will explore each of these areas alongside conceptions of social justice, inclusion and equity. Through a combination of textual analysis, class speakers and civic engagement events, this course enables students to explore political issues in theory and practice. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| PSYC | 315 | Human Services Practicum | 4 Credits |
| Students will engage in a structured practicum experience at a local human services agency (any structured organization with a staff that provides direct service delivery to community members) in order to apply psychological principles, experience working with help-seekers and providers, understand the functioning of human service agencies in a sociocultural context, and explore cultural identities. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| PUBH | 250 | Global Health | 4 Credits |
| The course will introduce students to public health concepts related to global health, the role of globalization in the spread of illness, the link between socioeconomic factors and health, the role of politics and governments in health, key diseases and conditions in global health, the role of culture and social factors in health, and key organizations and their role in global health (WCore: EWRLD). | |||
| SOC | 395 | Applied Sociology | 4 Credits |
| This course uses sociological theory and research methods to explore real-world social applications. Students will work with a community organization on a particular social issue with some practical outcome in mind. This course will allow students to gain a greater understanding of how sociological concepts, theory, methods, and findings are used in practice. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| SPAN | 301 | The Spanish Speaking World | 4 Credits |
| Development of speaking proficiency with professional application, such as medical, legal, and business Spanish. The study of cultural values is an integral component. May emphasize oral proficiency, idiomatic mastery, expository writing, and/or advanced grammar review. Course materials are derived from Spanish literature and contemporary cultural issues. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| THTR | 358 | Global Stages and Stories: Theatre of Ancient Civilizations through the 19th Century | 3 Credits |
| Study of the history of theatre and dramatic literature from its origins in ancient civilization through the nineteenth century. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||
| WRIT | 405 | Agents of Change | 3 Credits |
| Agents, advocates, champions, and leaders - These express the roles students will experience in this course. As change agents, students will collaborate and communicate with an intention to create change for the common good. The course content will focus on global challenges from multiple perspectives. Topics may include the following: sustainability, economic security, public health, global migration, global citizenship, and global climate patterns. Students will engage in identity self-awareness to reflect on their beliefs. A strong emphasis will be on research, writing, and communication, as well as exploring leadership and collaboration skills. The writing, communication, and team-work skills gained in this course will transfer to private, professional, and post-graduate writing contexts. (WCore: EWRLD) | |||