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AMP Intro Courses
As part of the Advanced Mentoring Program (AMP), these courses are designed explicitly for first-year students in order to aid your transition to college-level academics and to establish strong connections to your classmates and a faculty-advisor, who serves as the instructor for this course and related AMP advising seminars.
All new first-year students are registered for one of the following courses for the fall semester. Check your email for your advisor assignment and check out the course description for your first Beloit College course here! Keep in mind that this course will be just one of the four you will take in your first semester.
Explore your AMP Intro Course opportunities
This course incorporates a variety of activities geared toward first-year students interested in Earth and Environmental Sciences. You will learn the scientific tools and techniques used to reconstruct and interpret the history of Earth, environments, and life. This includes how to identify minerals, rocks, and fossils and what their distribution through time and space can tell us about Earth’s past. We will use Earth’s history to put the rate and magnitude of human-induced environmental change within the context of natural Earth processes. You will also get the opportunity to explore the rocks, fossils, and natural and human history of southern Wisconsin through frequent field trips during the semester. One-on-one and group advising activities are integrated throughout the course to highlight campus resources that will ensure academic success.
Course Name: GEOL 105
Instructor: Jay Zambito
This course will introduce students to basic biological principles while exploring questions of what it means to be human in today’s world. We’ll design experiments, learn what it means to conduct scientific research, and critically look at the ways in which popular culture has informed what we think we know about our bodies. Each biological sub-topic that we explore will be rooted in our day-to-day lives, which will give students the ability to learn both the biological principles necessary for advanced study and to also learn more about themselves. We’ll discuss the biology behind self-care and how students can take care of themselves emotionally, physically, sexually, and mentally during their time at Beloit.
Course Name: BIOL 110
Instructor: Helen Werner
Artists often talk about drawing not as a manual skill, but as a way of seeing. This studio course introduces the basic concepts, techniques, and processes of design and drawing, with an emphasis on close observation and reflection on how we visually experience the natural world. Pencil, ink, collage, charcoal, and other media are used to foster a comprehensive understanding of the descriptive, formal, and expressive possibilities of drawing and design. Through presentations and group discussions, students will begin to develop a language for talking about visual experiences. Hands-on assignments will build observation and drawing skills, and allow students to find their voice as visual artists
Course Fee: $150
Course Name: ART 115
Instructor: Scott Espeseth
How does literature help us to imagine the minds and feelings of others? How can it create a sense of community both on the page and off? This course explores how various texts serve — or refuse to serve — as mental and emotional “simulation chambers.” We will devote special attention to works that challenge established ways of knowing, seeing, and perceiving, among both human and nonhuman beings. Along the way, we’ll consider exciting developments surrounding the relation between literature and cognitive theory. Texts will include fiction, poetry, and drama by Jane Austen, Elizabeth Bishop, Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, and William Shakespeare. In addition, we’ll focus on Ursula Le Guin’s legendary utopian novel The Dispossessed , to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its publication and Le Guin’s own residence at Beloit as a Mackey Chair of Creative Writing. Throughout the term, we will practice a variety of interpretative approaches and will develop skills essential for college-level writing and literary essays. You’ll also have the opportunity to explore creative writing and dramatic staging techniques, and to gain insight about building community and understanding “other minds” here at Beloit.
Course Name: ENGL 190
Instructor: Tamara Ketabgian
Have you ever wondered about all the factors that led you to Beloit? If so, you’re ready to embark on a thrilling journey into the depths of human interaction! In this Introduction to Sociology course, you’ll delve into the very fabric of our social world, exploring the intricate web of relationships between individuals and society. We will dissect the major sociological processes that shape our everyday lives, from the clothes that we choose to wear to the careers we choose to focus on. We’ll shine a spotlight on crucial topics such as gender, social class, and race. Through thought-provoking discussions, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how these factors influence our identities and behaviors. In the end, you will cultivate your very own sociological imagination – a powerful tool that empowers you to transform the very communities and institutions that you are a part of.
Course Name: SOC 100
Instructor: Allan Farrell
We all travel to get to Beloit College — whether you live across town or across the world, you’ve experienced modern travel in all its technological sophistication and annoyances. Travel in the Middle Ages was difficult and dangerous, but many people undertook challenging journeys and, in the process, encountered new landscapes and cultures. This course explores the experiences of long-distance travelers, the routes they took, and the ways that increased travel changed the culture of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean world between 1050 and 1500. Students will also learn to make simple digital maps to illustrate their research and experiment with games that make history come alive in this period, and have opportunities to reflect on their own journeys — mental and physical — as they embark on their college lives.
Course Name: HIST 150
Instructor: Ellen Joyce
This course introduces students to a detailed study of both microeconomics (2/3 of class) and macroeconomics (1/3 of class). The microeconomic portion will cover how markets work (and when they don’t work) and provide the key foundation for understanding economic ideas. The second portion of the course focuses on macroeconomics. In macroeconomics, we will study the overall performance of an economy in the long run (why some countries are rich and others are poor) and the short run (the nature and causes of economic crashes). Throughout the course, economic theories will be applied to real-world situations and provide answers to questions that are tricky to answer (e.g., how do you prepare for the future labor market, is a college education a good investment, should you trust your real estate agent, and when should a firm raise its price, etc.).
Course Name: ECON 199 04
Instructor: Kevin Smith
Interested in literature, history, and the importance of human creativity in responding to complex international events? If so, start your exploration of the Beloit College curriculum here! Our course will focus on the Boxer Uprising (1898-1901), a tumultuous period in China’s history, when anti-foreign forces attempted, but failed, to expel missionaries and imperialist powers (European, US, and Japanese) from their country. We will look at changing depictions of the Boxers from a variety of sources. These will include The Sea of Regret (1905) by Wu Jianren; Sandalwood Death (2001) by Nobel Laureate Mo Yan; and the graphic novel Boxers and Saints (2013) by MacArthur Fellow Gene Luen Yang. We will also analyze reports on the war in popular US and British periodicals of the period. Our class will culminate in a multimedia exhibition, through which we will present what we have learned over the semester to the wider Beloit community.
Course Name: CHIN 280
Instructor: Daniel Youd
Our investigation of sex, race, and power introduces concepts to navigate structures of power, experience, and knowledge at the intersection of different identity categories, including gender, race, sexuality, class, dis/ability, and nation. We’ll use evidence from our home communities, campus, and social media in combination with texts, theories, and ideas that draw from feminism led by women of color, anthropology, sociology, religious studies, history, environmental studies, and Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean studies. Our work helps us to “lead fulfilling lives marked by high achievement, personal responsibility, and public contribution in a diverse society,” beginning at Beloit College! Students in this class focus on building real-time skills to create brave social spaces together on campus and beyond. Topics we discuss in this class connect well with the different types of learning experiences that you will have across campus and within your chosen career path after Beloit.
Course Name: CRIS 101
Instructor: Sonya Maria Johnson
Have you ever wondered why washing machines in Britain are located in the kitchen? Are you curious about the reasons behind Donald Trump’s appeal to American voters? Or what it’s like to be a young person living in Iran or Indonesia? This course will explore these and other terrains through the perspectives put into motion by cultural anthropology. Students will be introduced to elementary concepts of sociocultural analysis along with the method (participant observation) and genre (ethnography) key to making cultural anthropology an exciting way of looking at and engaging with the worlds around us. Throughout the semester, everyone will learn to share and listen as we explore the workings of culture, race, gender, sexuality, class, age and the politics of the everyday—from colonial and imperial legacies in the United States to environmental devastations in Japan to tourist economies in Jamaica and beyond. Through collaborative assignments, everyone will also have the opportunity to examine how spaces and places here in Beloit and elsewhere teach us about the ordinary operations of power in our lives.
Course Name: ANTH 100
Instructor: Jason Alley
Do you like listening to or making music? Would you enjoy exploring new ways to imagine sound and in different spaces? Open to all students, regardless of background or experience with music, this course provides a place for students to develop skills in music theory alongside a conceptual investigation of sound and music. Developed through interactive discussions and collaborative lab sections, skills include basic experience with notations, rhythm, chords, performance, silence, forms, and timbres. Class activities take us beyond either the notes on the page or tracks from a playlist as we study how musical experiences are shaped by intersecting social, political, economic, and historical influences. Topics include the exploration of listening, performance, movement/dance, improvisation, sound design, notation, psychoacoustics, temporality, and music’s intersection with the body, race, gender, and class
Course Name: PART 170
Instructor: Daniel Barolsky
How does popular film address questions such as: What is human’s role in nature? Or, How do they impact the natural environment? In this course, we will explore these questions through the films of Japanese director Miyazaki Hayao. Using films such as My Neighbor Totoro or Castle in the Sky , we will look at how the intersections of culture, folklore, and physical landscapes influence concepts of nature and environmental sustainability. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we will investigate the relationship between Miyazaki’s work and the challenges of cultural and environmental sustainability in Japan and discuss the ways popular culture has been used to promote environmental sustainability and preserve biodiversity. Students interested in Japan, media studies, and/or sustainability should find this course particularly interesting.
Course Name: ENVS 296
Instructor: Susan Furukwa
All new first-year students will register for one of the following courses for the spring semester. As you browse through the menu of courses, we suggest that you identify at least three courses that interest you. Keep in mind that this course will be just one of the four you will take in your first semester.
All new first-year students are registered for one of the following courses for the fall semester. As you browse through the menu of courses, we suggest that you identify at least three courses that interest you. Keep in mind that this course will be just one of the four you will take in your first semester.
Note about class schedules
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MWF: class meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the scheduled time.
- TR: class will meet every Tuesday and Thursday at the scheduled time.
Explore your AMP Intro Course opportunities (Spring)
An introduction to physical anthropology, which surveys the major components of the field: primatology, fossil evidence and evolution, osteology, and contemporary human diversity and genetics.
Course Name: ANTH 120 01
Schedule: TR 1-3:50 p.m.
This studio course introduces the basic concepts, techniques, and processes of design and drawing. Pencil, ink, collage, charcoal, and other media are used to foster a comprehensive understanding of the descriptive, formal, and expressive possibilities of drawing and design. Group and individual critiques.
Course Name: ART 115 01
Schedule: TR 8:45-11:45 a.m.
Why is chemistry important to other sciences, technology, and society? What processes do chemists use when dealing with real problems? What conceptual models do chemists use to understand and explain their observations? The focus of this course is on the reasons for doing science, the intellectual and instrumental tools used, the models developed to solve new problems, and the assertion that chemistry has a tremendous effect on your personal life and on the decisions made by society. Along the way, we cover atoms, molecules, ions, and periodic properties; chemical equations, stoichiometry and moles; Lewis structures and VSEPR model of bonding; reactivity and functional groups; states of matter and intermolecular forces; relationships between structure and properties. This course discusses chemistry in the context of climate change, food and fuel, and energy use for lighting.
Course Name: CHEM 117 03
Schedule: MWF 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and Tu 8:45-11:45 a.m. (for lab)
Premised on in-depth discussion and analysis of key readings, this survey course covers a broad spectrum of domestic and global issues in public health, including the non-medical [social] determinants of health, health literacy, and disparities in health outcomes. Designed to encourage interaction among students interested in the health professions, this course lays the groundwork for future collaboration and introduces students to possible career tracks as practitioners, analysts, consultants, and social entrepreneurs in the realm of public health.
Course Name: HEAL 140 01
Schedule: MWF 10:00-11:00 a.m.
An exploration of some of the central questions and problems addressed by philosophers, such as: What is it to be a person? How can we live well and act responsibly? What is the nature of justice? Is it possible to act freely? What can we know about the world around us? What is the relationship between the mind and body? These questions, and others like them, are at the heart of philosophy. In this course, we will engage them through the writings of philosophers who have taken on these questions themselves. Expect to think carefully and write critically, skills meant to serve you in and beyond college.
Course Name: PHIL 110 03
Schedule: MWF 8:45-9:45 a.m
Explore your AMP Intro Course opportunities (Fall)
Are you ready for a journey of discovery to vibrant Medieval and Golden Age Spain? In this course (taught in English) we’ll explore history and shared culture through real and imaginary worlds surrounded by (anti)heroes, knights, queens, saints, devils, rogues, witches, and people of diverse backgrounds. Through these explorations we will challenge the existing stereotypes and examine the construction of identity through the multicultural, multireligious, and multilingual context of the period. You’ll engage with literary and visual texts by analyzing themes like love, betrayal, power, vengeance, gender, all encouraging you to discover, reflect, and connect with the complex present-day conceptions of identity.
Course Name: SPAN 190
In this course, we’ll study the teachings of Confucius (551-479 BCE), as organized into a text called the Analects by his students after his death. Confucian teachings have been a foundation for life throughout East Asia for twenty-five centuries. Moreover, the work has broad, international appeal, and its influence has spread in profound ways over the past few centuries. Our course will focus on how Confucian teachings can help us to imagine how we, too, can live our lives in profoundly different times and circumstances. We’ll learn and practice a variety of historical methodologies to build your communication and collaboration skills, which will help you succeed in college and beyond.
Course Name: HIST 150
This course explores how reading (and writing about) 19th-century Russian literature can help us engage some of life’s most important questions: What constitutes happiness? What makes life meaningful? How do we navigate relationships? How do we make good decisions and effect meaningful change? We’ll consider how the works we read relate to a variety of contemporary ideas as well as to our own personal experiences, observations, and aspirations. In the process, we’ll develop college-level skills and strategies for effective critical reading and expository writing, learn about the writing process and the elements of good writing, and practice “joining the conversation” of critical exchange with others.
Course Name: WRIT 100
In this course, we’ll learn about the basics of artificial intelligence (AI), the ethical use of AI, and how AI can apply to and be used in any major or career. Through an investigation of the basics of computer science, math, data science, cognitive science, and engineering, we’ll learn how man-made intelligent systems are at work in our world. We’ll explore theories of AI, cellular automata, computer simulations of intelligent life forms, AI for strategy games, hands-on robotics, and introductory concepts in machine learning, all while practicing skills of creative problem solving, productive collaboration, and effective communication to jump-start your college and career goals in your first semester!
Course Name: TBD
In this course, you will be introduced to the basic concepts, techniques, and processes of design and drawing. Using pencil, ink, collage, charcoal, and other media, we’ll explore and build a comprehensive understanding of the descriptive, formal, and expressive possibilities of drawing and design. As a class, we’ll employ group and individual critiques, practicing skills of communication, critical thinking, and collaboration to support one another as we develop in our understanding of drawing and design.
Course Name: ART 115
We’ll explore the work of filmmakers from around the world to examine and understand the formal elements of filmmaking. At the same time, we’ll investigate the various forces — political, technological, cultural, and economic — that influence and shape different kinds of cinematic art and filmmaking. Through lectures, discussions, student presentations, and film screenings, you’ll learn skills that will support your success in college, including effective written and spoken communication and critical thinking.
Course Name: MDST 100
In this course, we’ll explore important questions of philosophy like: What is it to be a person? How can we live well and act responsibly? What is the nature of justice? Is it possible to act freely? What can we know about the world around us? What is the relationship between mind and body? These questions, and others like them, are at the heart of philosophy. Our exploration of these questions will be through the writings of philosophers who have taken on these questions themselves. Expect to think carefully and write critically, skills meant to serve you in and beyond college.
Course Name: PHIL 110
Our course will explore psychology, or the study of mind and behavior. We’ll examine psychology at all levels, from the smallest cellular unit (individual nerve cells) to the largest questions (how psychology can help us address some of our most pressing social problems). In between these extremes, we’ll investigate topics such as child development, sensation and perception, personality, psychological disorders, and psychotherapy. Throughout all of these topics, we’ll learn and practice the methods psychologists use to ask and answer questions while building your skills in written and spoken communication and critical thinking.
Course Name: PSYC 100
In this course, we’ll examine how the relationship between societies and individuals is formed and shaped. Critical elements of this relationship include social structure, institutions and roles, culture, sex and gender, social class and stratification, social change, methodology, race and ethnicity, and socialization. We’ll develop a sociological imagination, which is a perspective that examines the interplay between structure and agency, or how structures like institutions, policies, and demographic characteristics shape the capacity of an individual to make their own free choices. This course will help you develop skills of effective communication and creative problem solving, skills for success in college and beyond.
Course Name: SOCI 100
Do you have a body? Does that body sometimes feel stiff, sore, or outta whack? This course is for anyone that has a body and wants that body to feel and function better. We’ll study anatomy and apply anatomical theory to create and implement plans to take care of our bodies using the Roll Model Method. We’ll engage with theoretical and applied approaches to self-myofascial release through massage, alignment, anatomy instruction and mental awareness. Utilizing the full set of required Tune Up Balls, articles and current research, and activities, each student will develop and put into practice their own conditioning and wellness plan specially designed for their sport(s), movement, and/or personal training goals. Through this course, you will learn to listen to, assess, and implement the needs of your body and respond as those needs shift both during the semester and beyond employing communication and creative problem solving skills.
Course Name: TBD
In this course (taught in English), we’ll explore how popular Japanese fiction and film portray the horror of modern life — both in the conventional sense of gore and jump scares as well as in the innocuous ways in which everyday life is its own form of horror. We will focus our discussions on how issues that have coincided with Japan’s emergence as a world leader are depicted in popular culture and consider how these fictional representations simultaneously envision, verbalize, and confront various societal ills. Some areas we will explore include the breakdown of traditional family structures, dislocation from traditional homes, and increased racial inequality and poverty.
Course Name: JAPN 280
We’ll explore how economics, a social science that studies how individuals make use of scarce resources, can help us to see the economy and society as a complex system of social coordination. Our investigation will include microeconomics (the study of how individuals and businesses make decisions) and macroeconomics (the study of the economy as a whole). We’ll apply theories from both micro and macroeconomics to understand relevant issues like employment, growth, international trade and finance, monetary and fiscal policy, and environmental issues. You’ll learn in this course how quantitative thinking and creative problem solving will support your success at the college and in life.
Course Name: ECON 199
Our investigation of sex, race, and power introduce concepts to navigate structures of power, experience, and knowledge at the intersection of different identity categories, including gender, race, sexuality, class, dis/ability, and nation. We’ll use evidence from our home communities, campus, and social media in combination with texts, theories, and ideas that circulate in the field of critical identity studies, drawing from feminism led by women of color, and the fields of anthropology, religious studies, history, environmental studies, and Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean studies. Our work helps us to “lead fulfilling lives marked by high achievement, personal responsibility, and public contribution in a diverse society” beginning at Beloit College!
Course Name: CRIS 101