Need another class this semester?

New classes have cropped up for the spring semester at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

So if your schedule has changed and you need to register for a course last-minute, fret not. There are a variety of new offerings to whet your academic appetite.

Registration ends Sunday, Jan. 16, and students have until Jan. 23 to drop a class before a withdrawal “W” is recorded.

 

HIST 2510: The History of Epidemics and Society

Instructor: Julia Cummiskey, assistant professor and interim director of Africana Studies

This course explores past epidemics and subsequent responses to understand aspects of society including race, gender and class as well as to understand our present experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. The course meets gen-ed requirements for both historical understanding and non-western culture.

Pre/Co-requisites: ENGL 1010 or ENGL 1011 or ENGL 1020 or HIST 2100 or UHON 1010 or department head approval.

 

PSPS 1905R: Connecting Across the Political Divide

Instructor: Michelle Deardorff, head of the Department of Political Science and Public Service

Interested in learning how to talk with people across the political divide? After time together with family and friends over the winter break, did you realize you need to develop new skills to navigate political discussions with people who have different beliefs or values? This one-credit course will help you develop strategies and approaches for meaningful conversations with people with whom you fundamentally disagree. Students will read, discuss and practice the techniques provided by Tania Israel’s “Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide” in five sessions. Deardorff taught this course for political science and public service majors for the first time last spring. The 16-student pilot class was so highly rated, she was able to open it to all majors this semester.

 

INTS 1110: The Science of Sustainability

The course will be taught in both short-term spring semesters by various Integrated Studies instructors. Providing an introduction to the environmental, social, economic and human dimensions of sustainability, topics covered include the built environment (green buildings), energy sustainability, mass transportation, waste management, water sustainability, food production, global climate change and green business.

 

ENGL 2070R Fans, Gamers and Influencers

Instructor: Rik Hunter, Professor and English Graduate Program director

Students study the digital cultures they are participating in daily. They’ll learn to analyze popular culture texts of their own choosing and, at the end of the semester, create popular culture texts. For example, students can produce YouTube videos on their favorite topics, something they’re an expert in such as how to fix a muffler, or a review of a new TV show adaption of a book series.

The goals of the course are for students to develop their technical, critical and rhetorical skills so they become savvier consumers of media and more skilled and ethical producers of media.

 

ENGL 4970R The Early American Novel

Instructor: Hannah Wakefield, assistant professor

Early American fiction writers saw themselves as pioneering brand-new literature for a brand-new nation, and this class explores what that literature looks like. Students will read frontier romances, captivity narratives and tales of intrigue and seduction from the 1780s to the 1820s, examining how these novels connect with the political and social changes taking place in the earliest days of the United States.

 

ENGL 2060R The Western in Fiction and Film

Instructor: Matt Guy, associate professor

Exploring the entire genre of the Western, including early pulp fiction, serious novels and stories, classic John Wayne and Gary Cooper movies, and spaghetti Westerns and postmodern Westerns with Clint Eastwood. Students will dissect the genre in terms of idealization of the American myths, political and social commentary on American history and the Western’s use of actually subverting the genre itself and the history it embodies. Topics include the genre’s influence on others, such as its impact on non-Western directors like Quentin Tarantino and Akira Kurosawa. Tons of great Westerns to be read and watched and thoughtful and critical assessments to be considered. (Lot of fun to be had too, Guy said.)

 

HIST 3940R The History of Southeast Asia

Instructor: Carey McCormack, visiting lecturer

A general survey of the region, but McCormack intends to weave in thematic discussions of gender, sexuality, piracy, trade, exploration, disease, Cold War conflicts, the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Genocide. The class also offers the experience of creating an online exhibit instead of writing a final paper, which students and the Department of History can share with the wider public.

 

PSPS 3420: American Public Policy

Instructor: Marcus Mauldin, associate professor

Often characterized by multiple causes, high degrees of uncertainty and changing constraints, policymaking in the United States  frequently spans political jurisdictions and national boundaries. Each aspect makes the search for solutions to public problems even more complicated.  To succeed in a complex environment, policymakers and public managers must define problems in ways that acknowledge multiple perspectives, interdependencies and the likelihood of unintended consequences. The class allows students to further their understanding of policymaking.

HIST 3930R The Inquisition

Instructor: Kathryn Taylor, professor

The Inquisition was among the most repressive institutions in European history. Created to eliminate beliefs unacceptable to the Catholic Church, inquisitorial courts tried hundreds of thousands and burned thousands at the stake. At the same time, the documents left behind by those courts provide rich insights into the lives of the persecuted. The class explores a challenging and fascinating question: How can we use the archives of repression to uncover the history of dissent?

 

MGT 5000 (MSDA/MBA students) MGT 4999 (Undergrad Students) Simulation Modeling

Instructor: Parthasarati Dileepan, professor

Businesses increasingly rely on quantitative models and big data to make financial decisions that have a profound impact on the performance of their organizations. Students will learn fundamentals and techniques to design simulation models for analyzing business processes and developing sound operational decisions. The most current, cutting-edge software platforms will be used for designing the simulation models and analyzing the results. Pre/Co-requisites: One semester of business stats with a C or better or at least 80% in a Statistics module, MGT 5835 or PMBA 5835 or department head approval.

 

GEOL 3999R: Earth’s Changing Climate: Past, Present and Future

Instructor: Ashley Manning-Berg, assistant professor

There are no prerequisites for this geology course that focuses on the drivers of the climate system on Earth and highlights some of the more extreme climates the planet has experienced. It will explore times when Earth’s surface was completely glaciated, and times when ice did not exist at the surface. Current changes to Earth’s climate and why anthropogenic climate change is different from what we have seen in the geologic past also will be discussed. The Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science also is offering a Desert Southwest trip (Geology Field Experience) in which students will spend 10 days visiting places such as Death Valley and the Grand Canyon. Any geology class serves as a prerequisite for the field trip.

 

HIST 3405: American Public History

Instructor: Kelli Nelson, lecturer

Students interested in museum studies, material culture, history, historic preservation, library science, local history, oral history and/or digital history are encouraged to take this course. Aspects of these topics will be discussed as the class conducts a semester-long, community-based project.