ART/ARH 334: Great Masters of the Prado                         3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Art History

The aim of this course is to offer an introduction to Spanish Art from The Golden Age the early Nineteenth Century, with special emphasis on El Greco, Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Goya. Given its position as a primary depository for Spanish art, the collection of El Museo del Prado will be a major focus of the course, with regular class visits to the museum and related institutions.

BUS 301: International Business Today and Tomorrow                                 3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Business

Introduction to basic principles of international business and management with emphasis on foreign exchange, risk analysis, comparative management techniques, interaction between host societies and multinational corporations, and changing government policies affecting business. This course is designed to introduce students to fundamentals of international business. The course is designed for those students who have a definite interest in pursuing a career in international business as well as those who seek a broadening of their knowledge in this growing and vital area. The course will combine a specific regime of academic pursuit and practical ‘know how’.

BUS 303: Intercultural Management                      3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Management

This course is designed to introduce students to concepts and fundamentals of international management. The course will consider aspects of management within an international and culturally complex environment, while considering the business influences within the global workplace. Students with or without prior international management knowledge will benefit from the course. Organizational effectiveness demands that personnel do the right things efficiently. Therefore, the role of management is to strive for and maintain the goals of the organization. Being an effective manager is not just telling others what to do. Itis also about effective leadership, training, and communication. Having effective managers can be a cost saving tool for all organizations of all sizes. Corporation executives, supervisors, and managers are aware of the importance of and difficulty in finding and retaining highly skilled employees (a time-consuming role of management).

BUS 304: Business Ethics in the Global Market                                 3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Business

The ethical landscape of business is constantly changing, and this course will examine those changes most effecting business: accelerating globalization, constant technological updates, proliferating of business scandals. You will be introduced to the ethical concepts that are relevant to resolving moral issues in business; imparting the reasoning and analytical skills needed to apply ethical concepts to business decisions; identifying moral issues specific to a business; providing an understanding of the social, technological, and natural environments within which moral issues in business arise; and using case studies of actual moral conflicts faced by businesses. This course is an analysis of how business and society interact through the study of consumerism, technology, and ethical and moral conviction. It is also an introduction to the concept of business ethics, an overview of major ethical issues that businesses face today, and a discussion of moral philosophy through an understanding of classical and contemporary ethical theories.

BUS 305: Global Marketing                        3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Marketing

Exploration of basic knowledge of global marketing focusing on the impact of environment on the strategies used by firms, and the understanding of consumer behavior management as it relates to the development and implementation of global marketing strategies. Worldwide business represents real opportunities for a firm but also creates difficulties, challenges and new ways of implementing marketing. Global marketing is a specific kind of marketing applied to international firms in order to implement the same strategy within the entire market taking into account cultural, economic, social, and political, etc., specificities for each area.

COM 317: Communication and Gender                                3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Communication

This course examines gender as a cultural communication practice that simultaneously reflects and enacts the culture in which it occurs. That is, gender is positioned as something that we do—via communication—rather than what we are. In order to understand and consider critically gender as communication, this course examines the difference between sex and gender, the intersection of gender and culture, and theories of how we become gendered. We will examine the ways in which social and political meanings attached to gender are communicated in various cultural institutions, practices, and contexts; and we will also consider how issues such as identity, representation, race, sexuality, class, and power bear on gender.

COM 318: Intercultural Communication                              3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Communication

This course allows students experiencing the challenges of cross-cultural communication in an international setting to explore intercultural communication theory and research within both broad and interpersonal contexts. Topics include similarities and differences in values, norms, interethnic/intergroup communication, and adaptation. Students will bring these theories to bear on their experiences in the field. The study of intercultural communication is often approached from asocial psychological perspective. Although that perspective has yielded many important ideas about intercultural communication, other perspectives may also contribute to our understanding of the subject, particularly in acknowledging the influence of context and power in intercultural interactions. Through participation in this course, students will come to appreciate the complexity and dialectical tensions involved in intercultural interactions. Additionally, the aim of this course is to enhance students’ self-reflection, flexibility, and sensitivity in intercultural communication.

COM 374: Culture, Globalization and Media                      3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Communication

The main objectives of this course are to study the structure and characteristics of the international news media system, understand mass media’s role and influence in creating the world’s public opinion, and to review the evolution of mass media from the invention of the printing press to the arrival of internet. Students will also study the principal international news media systems as well as the future of mass media in our globalized society.

ECO/ES 301: International Economics and the European Union                                3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Economics

Introduction to European Economics: study of the European integration, of the main economic and social European policies, through facts and theory. More specifically, the lecture deals with: i) the determinants of trade, growth and convergence in Europe; ii) the EURO currency; iii) the economic relationships between the EU and the US, between UE and Developing countries, iv)  the social European policies (at the EU level and at national levels). Individual research will be encouraged.

FIN 300: Financial Management                                             3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Finance

This course is an introduction to the important areas of corporate managerial finance. Emphasis is placed upon developing an understanding of the tools and methodologies available to the financial manager for decision-making in such areas as capital budgeting, working capital management, capital structure and profit planning and control.

IR/COM 316: Media and Conflict                             3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Communication

The course will provide a structured approach to address different media systems. It will explore the dynamics of news, politics, conflicts and freedom of the press. Focusing on ongoing, international crises of global importance, we will examine how various international media report on topics including armed conflicts, human rights abuses. We will study the dynamics governing news media environment and structures. We will try to understand why different audiences from different cultural spheres perceive the same news in sometimes a diametrically opposed way. We will examine the rich arsenal of repression tools used by authoritarian and even democratic regimes to suppress press freedom or spin news to their advantage. We will look at the ways and means by which courageous journalists try to circumvent these obstacles.

ITS 350: Database Systems                         3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Business Analytics

Basic concepts in database systems, including data manipulation language and data definition language. The relational model and its implementation will be covered in depth together with an overview of SQL. Course topics: the relational model entity relationship modeling, normalization of database tables, SQL, NoSQL (time permitting).

MGT 318: Organizational Behavior                         3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Management

This course focuses on the theory and application in the management of organizational behavior. It introduces students to key concepts and models of human behavior in organization and provides information about the essential and practical skills needed to be an effective manager and leader. Topics addressed include self-awareness, learning, motivation, stress, group dynamics, intergroup behavior, ethics, conflict, power, change, leadership, and cultural implications. Behavioral science concepts are applied through self-assessment, case studies, videos, and experiential exercises.

PHI/POL 312: Ethics in Society                                 3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Philosophy

From the perspective of selected topical issues of politics and society, students will be encouraged to develop an enhanced critical awareness of how major political and social thinkers in the past have treated the relationship between individual and society. The course will thus include the study of prominent texts in moral and political philosophy (from Plato and Aristotle to authors of the twentieth century), but it will also aim directly to improve students’ analytical skills for understanding conflicts that commonly arise in the practice of citizenship, while also helping them to develop a finer appreciation the significance of social change and of cultural diversity, in an emergent global society.

POL/HIS 336: Political History of Contemporary Spain                                  3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Politics

The object of this course is to analyze the principal institutions, actors and issues in contemporary Spanish government and politics. The course has four broad themes: first, the collapse of the Francoist dictatorship and its replacement by a constitutional parliamentary democracy; second, the key actors and institutions in Spanish government under democracy, third, the evolution of politics and policies in Spain over the last three decades, and finally, the nature of the country's current economic and political crisis. By the end of the course students are expected to have acquired a thorough understanding of the Spanish political system. You should also have gained insights into some major themes in political science, including: the nature of and contrasts between totalitarian, authoritarian and democratic regimes; competing explanations for democratic transitions, the operation of parliamentary government; nationalist movements; the dynamics of European party politics and government over the last three decades; and political responses to the current economic crisis in Spain and Europe.

PSY 328: Positive Psychology and Happiness                      3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Psychology

This course reviews the history and key concepts of positive psychology and the contributions this new field has made to several traditional research areas in psychology. Areas of controversy (e.g., what is happiness, how should we measure it, what determines it, can and should we deliberately increase it) will be critically examined, with consideration given to conflicting viewpoints and their respective empirical support. Throughout the course we will also engage in experiential learning and practical exercises to increase well-being, which will inform our theoretical and empirical understanding of important questions in positive psychology.

PSY 330: Cognitive Psychology                                3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Psychology

This course is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of topics related to the information-processing mechanisms of the mind, including consciousness, perception, attention, memory, conceptual knowledge, and emotions. Special emphasis will be placed on biases in judgment and economic decision-making. An evolutionary, functional perspective will be applied throughout.

PSY 332: Cross-Cultural Psychology                        3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Psychology

This course offers an understanding of how culture influences our behavior from a cultural psychology perspective. Through the lenses of cultural psychology, we consider how embedded culture is in our lives, how vital a cultural perspective is in understanding the lives of others and the importance of a cultural lens in academic psychology. It is a unique opportunity for you to combine academic learning with personal development: understand the influence of your culture on your behavior, your intercultural interactions and your cultural adjustment during your study abroad period and eventually your personal and professional life on returning home. Being in a new cultural context while learning about cultural psychology promotes self-awareness and learning and brings many concepts to life. Development of cultural awareness, sensitivity and competence is facilitated.

REL 311: Early Christianity in Europe                      3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Religious Studies

The class will explore the theology and religious practices of the first centuries of Europe’s Christianity. This course will examine the conflicts, individuals, social movements, and theologies that shaped Christianity during its formative period, the second through sixth centuries. How did this religion become the official religion of the Roman Empire? What implications did this "success" have for Roman society and the evolution of Christianity? Issues we will study include: the spread of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean world; martyrdoms and persecutions; Christian and Jewish relations; hierarchy and power; heresy and orthodoxy; asceticism and the body; gender and class.

REL 312: The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity and Islam                        3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Religious Studies

This course is a comparative study of the three Abrahamic religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It examines the shared aspects as well as the distinct elements of these religions, and shows that sometimes these traditions work together and sometimes they are at odds with each other. The course first introduces the three Abrahamic religions emphasizing their common source. Then it compares them along thematic lines, and finally it examines the way these three major traditions impact the modern West and the Middle East specifically. Among the themes to be discussed are: Abraham, scripture and tradition, law, the creation, God, worship, mysticism, the house of God, the tradition of head covering, homosexuality, Jerusalem, and the end of times.

SPA/HIS 327: Spanish Civilization and Culture                   3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Spanish

This course offers a panoramic and interdisciplinary view of the historical and cultural development of what is now known as Spain. The course is divided into three chronological / thematic units, each one focused on a different dimension in the historical configuration of Spain and Spanish culture from the Middle Ages to the present. They are, respectively, "The three cultures (711-1492)", "Empire (1492-1898)" and "The Civil War and its legacy (1898-present)".

SPA/SOC 337: Spain and the Americas: A Cultural Perspective                   3 Credits

School of Record Articulation: Intermediate Spanish

This transatlantic and interdisciplinary course is designed to give students a deeper understanding of the cultural history of the relationship between Spain, the United States and Latin America. We will focus specifically on the contemporary period: from the mid-19th century (with the many doubts that the Spanish model aroused in Spanish-American intellectuals) to the beginning of the 21st century. Contemporary Spain cannot be understood without an approach to the loss of its last colonies in America and Asia to the local bourgeoisies and the United States. The course will study different cultural representations of that war. The disaster of '98 not only marked the end of the Spanish empire, but also the beginning of a tumultuous century that will mark the current course of Spain. On the cultural level, the triadic relationship between these regions will profoundly influence the different artistic movements and manifestations of the early 20th century, from modernism to the avant-garde. Likewise, the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in Spain will activate a network of constant exchange between Spanish, American and Latin American intellectuals (Hemingway, Dos Passos, Parker, Neruda, Vallejo).