SPRING 2025 Travel Course Offerings
| Course | Topic and Destination | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| AHT 226T | Gardens and Art (Naples) | Gee |
| Gardens condense world views that balance environmental and human agency reflective of a given age and society. Some were designed to reflect an imperious order, others to display a playful mindfulness, when some chose to embrace the monstruous, the sublime, and the wasteland. A certain art is required to organize and manage the actors of enclosed gardens: plants, flowers, trees, but also rocks, water, wind, in a sculptural design that might involve sight, smell, touch, sound, and sometimes taste. On the one hand, students are introduced to a history of garden design, paying particular attention to cosmological visions and social contexts through case studies in Europe, Asia and Africa. In parallel, the course presents a range of contemporary artistic interventions with garden spaces and histories, in an age of increasing environmental imbalance and planetary awareness, in which the decision to garden can offer a path to nurture an active engagement with the present. The course includes a travel component to Naples. | ||
| BUS 136T | Mktg Glob Context (Mediterranean) | Miniero |
| This course is an introduction to the tools and concepts used in the marketing process for consumer and industrial products as well as for services. The focus is on the basic marketing concepts (product, place, price, promotion) as they relate to the field of global marketing. Emphasis is placed on the increasingly important role of interdisciplinary tools to analyze economic, cultural and structural differences across international markets. Specific consideration is given to the development of integrated marketing programs for a complex, global environment. The travel component of the course will provide students with the opportunity to experience the marketing concepts (product, place, price and promotion) for the specific case of a cruise company (MSC Cruise). Students will go on a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea and will work side to side with the cruise management. | ||
| BUS 235T | Corporate SR (Mediterranean Region) | Schultz |
| The course provides students with a state-of-the-art understanding of corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The practical relevance of CSR is highlighted through various examples that show how corporations have to deal with emerging ecological and social sustainability issues and stakeholder demands. Given the challenges' underlying complexity and uncertainty as well as multi-stakeholder involvement, corporations require awareness and strategic thinking to engage with their evolving responsibilities. Drawing on examples from various sectors, students will learn about different managerial approaches to address CSR issues and meet diverging stakeholder demands when designing and implementing long-term CSR strategies. To enrich the learning experience, the course includes a travel component where students can opt for a Mediterranean cruise visiting Italy, France, and Spain. | ||
| CLCS 236T | Prague on the Page | Roy |
| The literature of Prague lies in the city's complex web of identities, a web created by social upheaval through the ages. Beginning with sixteenth-century tales of the Golem, the clay figure animated by Rabbi Loew to protect the city's Jewish community, students will investigate how Prague's writers have responded to the politics of their times by embracing the surreal and the ambiguous. In particular, this class will look at how these authors have found inspiration in the city itself. Reading includes Franz Kafka's evocation of the early twentieth-century city and a selection of works by more recent writers such as Weil, Kundera, and Hakl. Studying the way these writers repeatedly draw on each other through the idea of the city as a text, students will visit their haunts in Prague and its surroundings, and map their works onto the city's landscape and onto its history, with the surreal Kafka museum as a starting point. | ||
| CLCS 251T | Reading Moroccan Culture | Saveau |
| This course examines gender, ethnic, class, family, age, religious relationships within contemporary Morocco. It first provides students with a historical overview of Morocco since its independence in 1956, focusing on the monarchies of Hassan II and Mohammed VI the current king. It explores the power dynamics that exist in a society that is predominantly patrilinear and where gender roles are mostly divided along a binary system; it studies the place of the individual in a society where the collective ego prevails; it considers the place of Berber identity within Moroccan society and finally it explores Sufism as a counter-power to any form of Islamic rigorism. All the themes studied are substantiated with presentations by Moroccan scholars working in the fields of sociology, gender, ethnic, religious, and music studies. (Knowledge of French recommended.) This Academic Travel course carries a supplemental fee: CHF 450 (for students invoiced in CHF) or USD 550 (for students invoiced in USD). | ||
| COM 235T | Food Journalism and Culture (Italy) | Martinisi |
| The importance of food is clear: we eat food to stay alive and thrive. Food, its production, commodification, preparation and consumption is and it has long been a place of cultural formation, negotiation and mediatization. In this sense food journalism plays a crucial role in today's journalism practice around the world in attracting a larger and diversified readership. The course will introduce food through its mediated representation involving journalism but also film, television and the Internet. The topics include the politics of celebrity chefs, food TV shows, restaurant reviews, lifestyle journalism, and other food media's place in the "world of goods". It will also include the social dimensions of food in media by engaging with issues of multinational power, globalization and inequality. The travel component to Italy will include visits to Milan, Parma, and Bologna. This will offer a great opportunity for students to develop insights into the field of food journalism and to experience the excellence of the Italian food with the aim of connecting food texts, culture and writing. | ||
| ECN 115T | Economics EU (Brussels and Luxembourg) | Filic |
| The European Union is one of the most ambitious and influential supranational organizations in history, defined by a complexity of political, economic and cultural forces of member states. This course introduces students to the European Union from a variety of perspectives, with the ultimate goal of illustrating the rationale, the mechanics and the challenges of economic integration of unprecedented scope and scale. Students will study the historical process of integration, EU institutions and the main common policies from an economic perspective. Particular attention will be devoted to understanding monetary integration and the institution of a monetary union, competition policy, regional policy and trade policy. An analysis of the European sovereign debt crisis will serve to illustrate the challenges of economic integration as well as motivations for further economic and political coordination amongst the bloc's member states. The travel component of the course will take students to Brussels, the EU's de facto capital, as well as to Luxembourg, which also hosts a variety of key EU institutions. Brussels and Luxembourg are also cultural capitals with French and Germanic influences and a rich cultural heritage. | ||
| ENV 230T | Freshwater Conserv (Italy and Slovenia) | Della Croce |
| This course explores various aspects of rivers, freshwater lakes, and groundwater aquifers. It provides an introduction to the distinct ecology of these three freshwater systems, their human uses, different approaches to their conservation, possibilities for restoration of degraded systems, and a look at the role that lakes and rivers play in international relationships. During Academic Travel, the class will visit various freshwater systems and will also practice field data collection techniques. Tentatively, the travel will take place in North-East Italy and Slovenia. This course may also include shorter day-trips to local points of interests. | ||
| HIS 275T | History of Modern Ireland | Hoey |
| Ireland has undergone profound social, economic and political changes over the last two centuries. Its history has been largely defined, for better or worse, by its relationship with its larger neighbor, Britain. This course critically examines the contours and effects of this often troubled relationship which can largely be defined as the struggle between union and dis-union, that is, either strengthening or severing the link with Britain. Going beyond these constitutional issues it also examines wider social and cultural changes; the famine and its legacy, the land revolution of the late nineteenth century, emigration, the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy and Ireland’s delayed sexual revolution. | ||
| POL 228T | Nations and Nationalism (Basque Country) | Strijbis |
| Basque nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the political unity of the Basques, today scattered between Spain and France. Since Basque nationalism has developed at the end of the 19th century it clashed with Spanish nationalism and gave rise to a strong independence movement, which culminated in the actions of the terrorist organization ETA. What are nations and why do people identify with these imagined communities? What makes individuals become nationalist? What are the drivers of secessionism and when does it become violent? And how does secessionism impact political systems and individual behavior? In this course, students will learn political science theories that give answers to these questions and apply it to the case of the Basque Country. The academic travel will bring us to various places in the (Spanish) Basque Country that have been central to the development of Basque nationalism including the cities of Bilbao and San Sebastian. On our trip to the Basque Country, we will study Basque nationalism through ethnographic observation, will visit events through which the Basque nation is constructed and celebrated (e.g. folkloric festivals, typical “Basque” sports, Basque folk and/or punk music), visit expositions on Basque nationalism, and speak to experts of Basque politics. | ||
| POL 231T | Organized Crime (Sicily) | Volpi |
| While popular media often depicts Italian criminal organizations through clichéd portrayals in movies and literature, scrutinizing actual data—such as court records, investigative findings, and crime statistics—debunks many long-held beliefs about Italian mafias. This course aims to provide students with a nuanced understanding of these complex criminal networks by dispelling commonly held myths. It delves into the inner workings of Italy's mafia organizations, exploring their unique codes, symbols, and operations in both legitimate and illicit sectors. Additionally, the course investigates the mafias' ties to political and societal institutions. To offer a broader perspective, the course also compares Italian organized crime with its counterparts in other nations. Such comparative analyses will help students differentiate between various forms of organized crime and identify commonalities and variances in their origins and sustainability across different countries. Furthermore, the course encompasses an overview of anti-crime policies and community-led efforts aimed at mitigating the impact and spread of mafia influence in local economies and societies. | ||
| POL 281T | Pol of Sustain & Develop (Costa Rica) | Zanecchia |
| This interdisciplinary course explores the politics and practice of sustainable development in the industrial North and developing South. Through a series of problem-based case studies, students will explore the political, social, economic, environmental, and cultural relationships that encompass the important field of sustainable development. Students will come to better understand how developed, as well as lesser developed countries, approach sustainability and natural resource management. Student research projects will include team-based analyses of the politics of sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable design within the broader context of global environmental issues such as deforestation, desertification, habitat degradation, and conventional models of development. This Academic Travel course carries a supplemental fee: CHF 1,390 (for students invoiced in CHF) or USD 1,695 (for students invoiced in USD). | ||
| PSY 232T | Psychology and Technology (Netherlands) | Toivonen |
| This course introduces students to research and practice connecting technology to psychology and aims to spark an interest in exploring what technology can give to the discipline of psychology, and vice versa. The classes open your eyes to the everyday impact of technology on our psychological functioning and wellbeing. We will explore questions such as how can technology be used in psychological research and what is the potential of technology in psychological interventions and therapies. Can Virtual Reality innovations help us alleviate psychological suffering? Are mobile apps and social media only a source of digital addiction and suffering, or can they be used in ways that support human well-being and flourishing? We will also incorporate elements from narrative research into the course and ask how storytelling can assist in design thinking and in developing technological innovations. During the Academic Travel portion of the course, students will be able to appreciate first-hand the interconnectedness of psychology and technology by visiting Virtual Reality labs and by meeting and interacting with students and researchers active in various technology-related fields from Data Science to product development. Students will be exposed to recent developments in e.g. mobile app development and design thinking, and explore the business perspective to psychology and technology. Tentatively, the Academic Travel portion of this course will take place in the cities of Amsterdam, Enschede, and Tilburg. | ||
| STA 275T | Studies in Ceramics (Italy) | Zdanski |
| This introductory ceramics course combines art history and studio work with an intensive travel period in northern and central Italy. Students will be given the opportunity to understand the complete process of producing objects in clay and terracotta, from the first planning/designing phases, through the basic modeling techniques, to the more complicated processes of firing and glazing. Studio sessions both on and off campus will incorporate lectures on artists and art movements, as well as visits to local venues, major museums and other sites of importance with regard to the use of clay and terracotta in the fine arts. The on-campus lectures aim to provide students with an understanding of the importance of northern and central Italy for the history of ceramics from the age of the Etruscans to the present day. All students will have the opportunity to do in-depth, intensive work in clay modeling, hand-built ceramics and glazing techniques. The first part of the course will focus on the functional aspects of the terracotta object, while the second will introduce terracotta as sculpture. | ||
No one-credit courses are scheduled for SPRING 2025.