What's New

FIRST (Faculty-in-Residence Summer Term)

FIRST brings faculty from around the world to teach in Boulder.  View all the FIRST offerings.

Advanced Topics in Communication: The Political and Cultural Rhetoric of the 1960s
(COMM 4000/4300)
With Professor Kirt Wilson, Pennsylvania State University
Examines the major controversies, political discourse, and cultural phenomena of the 1960s. Its purpose is to understand not just the historical events of that period but also how the rhetoric of the decade shaped a generation and America’s culture and politics. By focusing on the public discourse that surrounded events such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations, the Vietnam War and anti-war protests, the New Left and Feminism, this class seeks to uncover the complex dynamics of a decade that forever altered U.S. public life.

Topics in Film Studies-Critical Studies: Serial Television
(FILM 4043/ARTF 5043)
With Professor Linda Williams, University of California, Berkeley
What it is about the long form of televisual serial drama that has so hooked viewers, causing some of them, like the great avant-garde filmmaker, Chris Marker, to claim that television is the place to feed our “hunger for fiction.” Why has this serialized form, once located in lowly soaps, become the most complex and interesting aspect of television? Our primary case study will be the five complete seasons of David Simon’s The Wire.

Introduction to Theatre
(THTR 1009)
With Professor Jane Page, University of California, Irvine
A unique opportunity to take a class taught by a master director. Students will have the added advantage of a “window” into the workings of a professional theatre company and will attend Colorado Shakespeare Festival rehearsals and hear from guest speakers who are artists working for the CSF. 

Curriculum for Multicultural Education
(EDUC 5445)
With Professor Patricia Gándara, University of California, Los Angeles
Focuses on the Latino education crisis and the role of the teacher in responding to this crisis. The 2009 monograph, The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies, serves as a launching point for discussion. The course will touch on a series of topics including the state of Latino education K-postsecondary; the role of out-of-school factors in producing these outcomes (e.g., poverty, immigration status, segregation and isolation, parental education, and experience with the U.S. education system); the role of language–how big of a factor is it; the role of education systems-curriculum, teacher preparation, assessment, accountability; and college preparation and access.

Construction Planning and Scheduling
(AREN 4466)
With Professor Eugenio Pellicer, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Valencia Polytechnic University), Spain
Comprehensively studies project management activities for scheduling and delivering construction projects, including the contractor's role in preconstruction and construction activities and the application of CPM/PERT techniques to the planning, scheduling, and control of a construction project.

FEATURED COURSES

New summer offerings by outstanding CU Faculty.  View the complete listing.

Foundations of Disability Studies (HUMN 3290)
With Oliver Gerland
Disability is a key, though frequently marginalized, aspect of human experiences. Many people think that autonomous self-sufficiency is their normal state, overlooking the incapacities and dependencies of childhood, dotage, illness, and injury. So, too, societies tend to overlook people with disabilities. This course will help students think critically about the norms that have shaped how people with disabilities are conceived, represented, and treated (both medically and politically).

Philosophy and Society: Ethics of Sex and Procreation (PHIL 1200)
With David Boonin
Offers a critical survey of recent philosophical writings on a wide variety of ethical issues involving sex and procreation. The course introduces philosophical thought through critical analysis of our own society, its institutions, and principles

Special Topics: Environmental Toxins (MCEN 4228)
With Shelly Miller
Environmental toxins are in everything we eat, breathe, and even the water we drink. These toxins cause disease in our bodies and even death. Some of these compounds are naturally occurring and some are produced by humans. In this class we will learn about toxicology, exposure science, and the health effects in our environment. We will learn how these toxins cause disease, how this was discovered, and what was subsequently done to reduce exposure through reading, discussion, lecture, fieldtrips, and media.

Words and Music (MUEL 3822)
With Alexandra Eddy
Introduces fundamental tools and nomenclature for the analysis of poetry and also music. Robert Pinsky’s The Sounds of Poetry; A Brief Guide (1998) is a masterfully written primer that helps students to refine their own awareness of subtle gradations in the sound and rhythm of words, an aspect that is just as essential to musicians as their meaning. Alongside Pinsky’s survey of metrical and other poetic devices, students are introduced to the wide variety of musical techniques, some of which reinforce the inherent sonorous and semantic aspects of the words, and others of which contradict them.

Molecular Neurobiology (MCDB 4777)
With Alison Vigers
Introduces the functional anatomy of the nervous system, and explores current knowledge regarding the molecular and genetic basis of the development and function of the nervous system.

Physics of Everyday Thinking (EDUC 4580/5580)
With Mike Ross
Engages non-physics majors in hands-on, minds-on activities and labs to investigate the physical world, the nature of science, and how science knowledge is constructed. This introductory course is especially relevant for future elementary and middle school teachers.

Transactional Drafting (LAWS 7051)
With Amy Bauer
Intensive writing course with extensive one-on-one faculty-student interaction and feedback, this course focuses on drafting contracts and contract provisions regularly used in a wide range of transactional contexts, including real estate, mergers and acquisitions, sales, and employment.

ONLINE COURSES

Explore the opportunity to take courses online with CU-Boulder faculty. View all online offerings.

American Frontiers: American Landscape in Literature (ENGL 2115) with Penelope Kelsey
History of Christianity 1: To the Reformation (HIST 2170) with Scott Bruce
Issues in Communication: Communication and Gender (COMM 3000) with Lisa Flores
Teaching K-12 Mathematics: Geometry and Measurement (EDUC 5830) with David Webb
Hazardous and Industrial Waste Management (CVEN 4474/5474) with Angela Bielefeldt
History of the Documentary (JOUR 4871/5871) with Kathleen Ryan
Understanding the Global Financial Crisis (LAWS 6338) with Erik Gerding
Music Appreciation (MUEL 1832) with Jeremy Smith