Summer classes are a great way to continue working toward your degree year-round. Or maybe you are interested in taking a class just for fun. Either way, The University of Tulsa is offering a wide variety of courses during the 2020 summer term so you can accomplish your goals.
Featured Courses
First summer session: May 26 to June 26
Ancient World is an online course that will introduce you to the ancient civilizations of the Near East and Mediterranean. You will have the opportunity to think critically about the cultural, intellectual, social and political achievements of these early societies that shaped today’s world.
This course is structured around daily lectures and textbook readings, which are supplemented with virtual discussion boards where you engage directly with other students to discuss original sources.
Ancient World starts with the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt and concludes with the fall of the Roman Empire. With nearly four thousand years of history to explore in five weeks, this course is fast<-paced– guaranteed to provide adventure this summer. Ancient World is a multifaceted, introductory course that intersects with many interests and majors. Enroll in order to fulfill a Block II credit or to learn more about the cultures that helped create modern society. Contact Jon Arnold at jon-arnold@utulsa.edu with any questions.
Folk Healing provides a multicultural exploration of folk (generic) healing beliefs of traditional peoples. Students define universally common healing practices and make theoretical links between folk healing and health, behavioral and social sciences.
Human Sexuality is an introductory course to human sexuality, providing a basic understanding of biopsychosocial factors in human sexual functioning. The course also offers the opportunity for students to explore their own values and attitudes toward the subject.
The border between Mexico and the United States is one of the longest, most disparate and most porous in the world. This course builds an in-depth understanding of Mexico through its popular culture and other manifestations of everyday life, with a focus on relations between Mexico and the United States. Informed by Américo Paredes’ concept of Greater Mexico – a transnational region encompassing the reach of Mexican demographics and culture beyond Mexico proper – this course will engage students in readings by contemporary writers that delve into the past of both countries while endeavoring to understand the present. Texts will include works originally in English and others translated from Spanish to English by writers from both sides of the border focusing on the themes of cultural separation and integration.
Want to know more about the society you live in? Curious about how social change happens? The sociological imagination is the key to answering these questions and more. Regardless of our race, class, gender or sexual orientation, the sociological imagination is a useful tool for understanding our lives, the lives of others and the social worlds we inhabit. In this course, we will build the foundation for a well-rounded sociological imagination that you can use in your everyday life and decision-making.
Explore the theme of “monstrous” and how it is used in art, both now and in the past. Students will also be able to learn digital drawing and collage techniques to create their own “monsters” and hybrid images in the course.
The themes of “monstrous’ and hybridity are dangerously delightful to explore. Learn how “monsters” are used by artists in their work. Students will use advanced digital drawing and collage techniques to create a thematic series of digital narratives that center on these themes during the class.
The Hero’s Journey: From Beowulf to Bilbo
This comparative mythology course examines the archetypal heroic journey as a universal theme and experience in Western culture. We will use English and Germanic texts and films to look closely at the Norse, Egyptian and Mesopotamian origins of the ancient and modern hero, including the superhero, and to investigate the important role of the hero’s journey in today’s world: the call to adventure, the descent into the underworld, the road of trials, the battle with the serpent-dragon and the return with the ultimate treasure that restores the world. Texts and films include Beowulf, Star Wars, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Richard Wagner’s Parsifal and Mozart’s The Magic Flute. No German is required for this class.
This course examines important political, social and cultural issues in China and Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries. The legacy of tradition, growth of nationalism, revolution in theory and practice, development of modern culture and relations with the West will be central topics.
ST: Monsters in American History
From King Kong in early American cinema to the mutants of 1950s science fiction to the Mind Flayer of Stranger Things on Netflix, monsters shape and reflect collective social anxieties surrounding religion, science, race, gender and sexuality of the period that create and consume them. In this course, we will survey a variety of monstrous bodies during the 20th and 21st centuries in the U.S. and consider questions such as: Why is American culture so fascinated by the image of the monster? What identity groups have been deemed monstrous throughout American history, and how is this monstrosity depicted in literature and cultural productions? And most importantly, why do we create monsters?
This course is an inquiry into the nature of critical thinking and the complexities surrounding its development. Class exercises focus on sharpening students’ own capacity for critical thinking in daily life.
Second summer session: July 6 to August 7
Take a virtual tour in time and space this summer! Explore paleolithic to post classic people and culture as we travel from the Bering Straight to Mesoamerica to the Andes Mountains of ancient South America. Email Andrew Wood at andrew-wood@utulsa.edu for more information.
Folk Healing provides a multicultural exploration of folk (generic) healing beliefs of traditional peoples. Students define universally common healing practices and make theoretical links between folk healing and health, behavioral and social sciences.
Human Sexuality is an introductory course to human sexuality, providing a basic understanding of biopsychosocial factors in human sexual functioning. The course also offers the opportunity for students to explore their own values and attitudes toward the subject.
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
This course surveys the current scientific research on the evolution of human sexual behavior. Subject matter will include explicit discussion and images of variation in sexual behaviors, development of anatomy, human sexual response and orgasm, mechanisms of fertility and effects of aging and childhood on sexual behavior. It is important to note that some topics may be objectionable to some individuals. If you are interested in the class but have questions, contact Thomas Foster at thomas-foster@utulsa.edu.
Evolutionary Psychology provides a broad understanding of human behavior in terms of survival, reproduction and heritability. With topics that include human food and shelter preferences, fears and phobias, male and female mating strategies, parenting strategies, cooperation and altruism, aggression and warfare, love and jealousy and social dominance there is a niche for everyone to dive into.
Strategies of Healthy Living consists of both theory and practicum. The theory component presents an overview of current strategies and practices for healthy living, including health maintenance and disease prevention.
The goal of Intermediate Spanish II is to help you use what you have previously learned by focusing on seven major communicative functions in Spanish: describing, comparing, reacting and recommending, narrating in the past, talking about likes and dislikes, hypothesizing and talking about the future. While learning new words and adding them to an active vocabulary, you will acquire strategies that will help you understand the meaning of unfamiliar terms. While each chapter has new themes and content, the seven grammatical functions are repeated from chapter to chapter, allowing you to increase your grammatical accuracy and strengthen your ability to effectively express yourself in Spanish. You will also increase your cultural awareness by studying different aspects of a Spanish-speaking country, from geographical location and important cities to music, art, literature, historical happenings, festivals and famous people, past and present.
This course offers an overview of the fundamental elements that are making and reshaping the world. Part one offers explores the significance of world orders and how great powers create public goods that are generally in short supply in the international system. Understanding World Affairs also centers on the forces of globalization, the disruption economy and the political and economic climates that threaten to upend the social contract in the West. In part two, the course’s analytic focus turns to key components shaping the international system namely radical Islamic and White Supremacist terrorism, failing and collapsed states, the international refugee crisis, pandemics and global climate change.
12-week summer session: May 26 to August 14
Life Span Processes explores the biophysical and psychosocial processes as they occur over the life span of an individual, with emphasis on aspects of growth in the human organism of interest to the health professional. Selected processes are discussed as they occur from conception to death.
Forensic investigation is a common component of popular books, movies and television programs and has in turn created the “CSI effect” that influences public expectations. Discussing the reality and the perception of forensic anthropology is a central part of this class as it impacts everyday life. Through illustrated lectures and class discussion, this course provides an overview of the theory and practice of forensic anthropology as illustrated in actual casework. The process of discovery and recovery of human remains, determination of important biological features and the contexts of forensic anthropology are all topics presented in Forensic Anthropology.