Summer Term Undergraduate Courses

This introductory Spanish language course is a continuation of the content covered in Spanish Elements I. On completion of this course, the students will have further developed the communication and grammatical skills necessary for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in Spanish. Students will demonstrate these skills through their performance in class by completing several online assignments and by taking part in three group presentations in addition to two comprehensive exams which focus on the following thematic topics: Food, Sports, Shopping, Travel, and Health. Students will also be introduced to the culture, history, and geography of various Spanish and Latin American countries. The content covered in Spanish Elements II prepares the students for Intermediate Spanish. May not be taken Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory. No new enrollments permitted after the fourth class session.

Prerequisite: AS.210.111 (Spanish Elements I) or appropriate Spanish placement exam score.

This online course is primarily delivered asynchronously; however, your instructor may schedule live interactions as well. Please refer to your syllabus for these opportunities and for important course deadlines.

This introductory Spanish language course is a continuation of the content covered in Spanish Elements I. On completion of this course, the students will have further developed the communication and grammatical skills necessary for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in Spanish. Students will demonstrate these skills through their performance in class by completing several online assignments and by taking part in three group presentations in addition to two comprehensive exams which focus on the following thematic topics: Food, Sports, Shopping, Travel, and Health. Students will also be introduced to the culture, history, and geography of various Spanish and Latin American countries. The content covered in Spanish Elements II prepares the students for Intermediate Spanish. May not be taken Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory. No new enrollments permitted after the fourth class session.

Prerequisite: AS.210.111 (Spanish Elements I) or appropriate Spanish placement exam score.

This online course is primarily delivered asynchronously; however, your instructor may schedule live interactions as well. Please refer to your syllabus for these opportunities and for important course deadlines.

This course introduces students from all disciplines to the principles and practices of calculus-based statistics as a tool for understanding civic life. The course integrates foundational concepts from probability theory with statistical inference, emphasizing how probabilistic models underpin the construction of confidence intervals and hypothesis tests. Students develop fluency in describing, interpreting, and critically evaluating quantitative information found in public discourse, including polls, media reports, policy analyses, and scientific studies. Through a combination of theoretical development and hands-on data analysis, students learn to compute and interpret confidence intervals, conduct hypothesis tests, and assess uncertainty using probabilistic reasoning. Real-world case studies are used to connect formal statistical methods to questions arising in democratic society. Students will use R and other relevant software (e.g., Python) to analyze datasets, simulate probabilistic models, and communicate evidence-based conclusions.

A flexible weekly schedule accommodates all student schedules and time zones, and courses include pre-recorded lectures, notes, and interactives to help students learn the material. Assessments include computer-scored items for immediate feedback as well as instructor-graded assignments for personalized learning. Students have access to instructors through email or individual reviews, and weekly instructor-led synchronous problem-solving sessions are recorded for viewing at any time. Students should expect to work a minimum of 5-10 hours per week.

Mathematical Cryptography introduces students to the exciting practice of making and breaking secret codes as well as the mathematical theory behind them. Cryptography has applications to communication security, electronic funds transfer, and military and law enforcement. Students will study mathematical topics in both classical and modern cryptography, such as RSA, digital signatures, and elliptic curve cryptography through topics from probability, statistics, abstract algebra, computational complexity, and number theory.

A flexible weekly schedule accommodates all student schedules and time zones, and courses include pre-recorded lectures, notes, and interactives to help students learn the material. Assessments include computer-scored items for immediate feedback as well as instructor-graded assignments for personalized learning. Students have access to instructors through email or individual reviews, and weekly instructor-led synchronous problem-solving sessions are recorded for viewing at any time. Students should expect to work a minimum of 5-10 hours per week.

This course is designed for students of all backgrounds to provide a mathematical introduction to social choice theory, weighted voting systems, apportionment methods, and gerrymandering. In the search for ideal ways to make certain kinds of political decisions, a lot of wasted effort could be averted if mathematics could determine that finding such an ideal were actually possible in the first place. The course will analyze data from recent US elections as well as provide historical context to modern discussions in politics, culminating in a mathematical analysis of the US Electoral College. Case studies, future implications, and comparisons to other governing bodies outside the US will be used to apply the theory of the course. Students will use Microsoft Excel to analyze data sets. There are no mathematical prerequisites for this course.

A flexible weekly schedule accommodates all student schedules and time zones, and courses include pre-recorded lectures, notes, and interactives to help students learn the material. Assessments include computer-scored items for immediate feedback as well as instructor-graded assignments for personalized learning. Students have access to instructors through email or individual reviews, and weekly instructor-led synchronous problem-solving sessions are recorded for viewing at any time. Students should expect to work a minimum of 5-10 hours per week.

A writing-intensive course (W) engages students in multiple writing projects, ranging from traditional papers to a wide variety of other forms, distributed throughout the term. Assignments include a mix of high and low stakes writing, meaning that students have the chance to write in informal, low-pressure--even ungraded--contexts, as well as producing larger, more formal writing assignments. Students engage in writing in the classroom through variety of means, including class discussions, workshop, faculty/TA lectures, and class materials (for instance, strong and weak examples of the assigned genre). Expectations are clearly conveyed through assignment descriptions, including the genre and audience of the assigned writing, and evaluative criteria. Students receive feedback on their writing, in written and/or verbal form, from faculty, TAs, and/or peers. Students have at least one opportunity to revise.

Why do we "not see" things right in front of us? What makes some memories crystal clear and others "hazy"? Why does hurting a fake hand cause you physical pain? How can we recognize thousands of human faces? In this course we will learn about the cognitive processes—such as attention, memory and perception—that help us answer these kinds of questions. Through a combination of psychology and biology research, students will explore how the mind and brain give rise to how we interact with and experience the world. This course is designed for students who are interested in an introduction to psychology, biology, and neuroscience.

Why is there evil in the world? Are some born evil, or do social, environmental, and cultural forces create evil? What makes otherwise good people do evil things? The scientific study of evil epitomizes the fundamental challenge that psychology faces in dissecting the role of biology (nature) and the social context (nurture). Credit earned through this course counts toward the 120-credit degree requirement but does not count towards the Psychology major/minor. Students must be aged 18 or older to enroll, due to the sensitive nature of the material in this course (e.g., research on violence).

"We left what we felt at what we saw," the poet Wallace Stevens once wrote, suggesting writing involves a direct response to our experiences of reality. In this class, we’ll look exclusively at writing which takes on what hasn’t been seen and hasn’t been felt. Through reading works of science fiction, magical realism, gothic literature, and speculative fiction, students will investigate how the unreal can still speak to our experiences and perceptions of the real. Additionally, students will get the chance to craft their own fantastical worlds through regular writing assignments. Tales of time travelers, haunted houses, unreal languages, and reimagined cities will be covered. Readings will include selections from Paul Beatty, Octavia Butler, Italo Calvino, Ursula K. Le Guin, Yoko Ogawa, and Mary Shelley.

This online course is primarily delivered asynchronously; however, your instructor may schedule live interactions as well. Please refer to your syllabus for these opportunities and for important course deadlines.

A writing-intensive course (W) engages students in multiple writing projects, ranging from traditional papers to a wide variety of other forms, distributed throughout the term. Assignments include a mix of high and low stakes writing, meaning that students have the chance to write in informal, low-pressure--even ungraded--contexts, as well as producing larger, more formal writing assignments. Students engage in writing in the classroom through variety of means, including class discussions, workshop, faculty/TA lectures, and class materials (for instance, strong and weak examples of the assigned genre). Expectations are clearly conveyed through assignment descriptions, including the genre and audience of the assigned writing, and evaluative criteria. Students receive feedback on their writing, in written and/or verbal form, from faculty, TAs, and/or peers. Students have at least one opportunity to revise.