Session 2 Courses

This 2 week intensive course explores key business and entrepreneurship ideas through the lens of food and drink companies in the canton of Ticino. The class will combine readings, case studies, videos and company visits which together will examine the challenges and opportunities of founding and growing food related businesses. A central component of the course will be visits to a series of firms in Ticino that produce food stuffs or beverages including a brewery, a winery, a cheesemaker, and an organic farm: through these visits, we will discuss with the owners/founders a range of topics including a) how and why they founded the company, b) what challenges they have had to overcome and c) their vision for their firm over the next five to ten years. We will be combining these company visits with readings and class discussions regarding key topics on small business management. Some of the topics we will be exploring include: marketing and promotion strategies; funding strategies; legal issues & regulatory compliance, and market competition. (This course carries an additional fee: CHF 165 / USD 200).

(This course must be taken in conjunction with ENV 280T) It seems almost a cliché to say that the literature of New Zealand feeds off its often wild and varied landscape. And yet - from the Maori creation narrative to Eleanor Catton’s 2013 Man Booker Prize-winning novel "The Luminaries" the ideas that define New Zealand's literary history are built around and shaped by the land. Against the backdrop of the narrated landscapes themselves, this course will draw on short and longer texts by authors such as Katherine Mansfield, Keri Hulme, Janet Frame, Owen Marshall, Hone Tuwhare, Catton and Kapka Kassabova, as well as on related visual culture (e.g. work by filmmaker Jane Campion), to explore the relationship between humans and the environment in New Zealand literature, focusing particularly on the central South Island and its East and West Coasts. How does this relationship negotiate notions of belonging and a "place to stand" in a postcolonial country where land is symbolic not only of internal, but also of external conflict? How do more recent migrants make critical use of these ideas (Kassabova)? How do the sharp edges and isolated spaces of the landscape convey the "small violences" of rural New Zealand (Mansfield, Frame, Marshall)? And how does literature raise the bigger questions about the destructive power of humankind (Tuwhare)?

In its most basic definition, sustainable development is described as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” As countries around the world struggle to tackle the issues of climate disruption, water scarcity, resource exhaustion, population growth and socioeconomic conflicts, attention to methods of sustainable development is paramount, and financing those methods is increasingly important. In this context we posit the question: Is it possible for the current system of financial markets to facilitate the shift from an unsustainable world fueled by fossil hydrocarbons to a more desirable one powered by renewable energy? This course will examine how financial and capital markets operate on a transnational scale; and investigate the type of international governance over markets that would be needed to potentially produce fair and sustainable outcomes. The course will also examine the role individuals must perform as World Citizens motivated by a sense of responsibility towards the well-being of others beyond national boundaries.

(This course must be taken in conjunction with CLCS 275) This course examines the management of environmental resources in New Zealand and the discourse of sustainability from the island's perspective. It will focus on the challenge of conserving New Zealand's flora and fauna, as well as New Zealand's aggressive management of the non-native species that have arrived since human settlement. It will examine attempts to restore natural habitats through visits to the several restoration projects, and to Christchurch to study how environmental concerns are being incorporated into the city's recovery from the devastating 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. The course will also scrutinize the effects of tourism on the New Zealand environment and the opportunities that tourism also present. Lastly, the course will explore how the Maori culture influences environmental management in the country. (Previous coursework in environmental studies recommended.) This Academic Travel course carries a supplemental fee: CHF 850 / USD 1,025.

This is a 2 week intensive course. ITA 101 employs immersive experiential learning pedagogy, providing an introduction to the essentials of Italian grammar, vocabulary, and culture. This course is designed for students who have completed one semester of Italian language study. The course provides an introduction to the essentials of Italian grammar, vocabulary, and culture. The acquisition of aural/oral communication skills will be stressed and, as such, the predominant language of instruction will be Italian. By the end of the course students will achieve proficiency at the A2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Students will be expected to be proficient in the written and spoken usage of basic linguistic structures. Students will be expected to read and comprehend short passages in Italian and to draft simple compositions / dialogues. Project-based assignments will be designed to foster practical communication skills and encourage efforts towards increased student integration in the local Italian-speaking community. Whenever possible, students will be encouraged to participate actively in local initiatives, festivals, events and to apply the skills they are mastering in class to their co-curricular learning on and off campus.

This is a full immersion course that covers the material of ITA 200 and ITA 201 in four weeks, and prepares students for advanced language and literature study. Students will be expected to sign a pledge to use only Italian in and outside of the classroom. Students will develop the intermediate language competences in the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, while discussing and exploring cultural and social issues of Italy and Ticino. Upon successful completion of the course, students will reach the B1/B2 level of the European Common Framework of Reference for Languages. This course carries a supplemental fee: CHF 300 (for students invoiced in CHF) or USD 360 (for students invoiced in USD).

This is 2 week intensive course. Switzerland boasts one of the oldest and most stable democracies in the world. Political and other social scientists have studied the Swiss system extensively and tried to address what is sometimes referred to as "the mystery of Swiss identity". This course will take a systematic approach to the study of Swiss political and social institutions, with particular attention to the federal structures and electoral system. Readings and lectures will also review some of the economic, historical, social and cultural dimensions that underpin Swiss politics. Assignments will allow students to explore specific issues in the context of their own majors. This course carries a supplemental fee: CHF 300 (for students invoiced in CHF) or USD 360 (for students invoiced in USD). ).

This course will look at various topics related to white-collar crimes, and its impact on enterprises and society. The course aims to prepare students to become more aware and resilient to criminal challenges in a modern, globalized work environment and as future leaders. The lecture will introduce the phenomenon "Economic Crime" as a considerable and not only financial risk in business activity. Future managers need to be sensitized in order to prevent themselves and their companies from damage.

This is a 2 week intensive course. The focused act of drawing is known to create a deeper understanding and connection to the world around you. In this class you’ll learn how to draw, paint and collage your experiences En Plein Air on campus and around Lugano. Each student will create a personal travel log/sketchbook as they learn skill-building rendering techniques, narrative questioning and prompts. Through this process, you’ll build your ability to create a deeper and more meaningful experience for your academic travel and life.

This advanced writing course consolidates students’ academic communication skills through the theme of business and work ethics. Students will engage with philosophical texts and case studies dealing with various aspects of business and/or work ethics -- distributive justice, social responsibility and environmentally conscious business practices among others -- in order to improve critical reading, argumentative writing, and oral presentation/debating skills. The course helps students understand that academic communication primarily involves entering a conversation with others and particular emphasis will be placed on responding to other people’s arguments as well as developing their own arguments based on those responses. Using the broad theme of business and work ethics as a medium for discussion, students will not only explore what it means to join an academic community and their role in that community as purveyors of knowledge but also work towards entering the job/internship market with polished application materials. (This writing-intensive course counts towards the Academic Writing requirements.)