The nineteenth century was an era marked by unprecedented change, from the expansion of Britain’s empire, to the move from a rural to industrial economy, to developments in science, transportation and technology, to anxieties of class, gender, race, religion and marriage. It was also the era that saw the blossoming of the novel as an art form. In this course, we are going to ask the question: what motivated the rise of the nineteenth-century English novel, and its various genres? Why did Victorians love reading novels?

We are also going to consider the desires of the fictional bodies that populate the Victorian novel. What do the characters of these novels want – be it love, marriage, money, status, revenge, beauty, or power – and why? Which bodies are allowed to desire and how do these desires conform to, question or challenge Victorian beliefs and ideals? What are the consequences of these loves and desires, realized or unrealized? We will pay particular attention to raced, gendered and classed bodies – and bodies deemed mad, bad or dangerous – whose desires violate Victorian expectations and perhaps our own.

I also invite you to draw on the lived experience of your own bodies as you read. We are not living in the world of the Victorians, but we do live with its long history and our own complex desires and relationships as human beings. What do these texts push us to grapple with in our present moment? What do they leave us wanting?

We go to college not just to study something but to learn how to do something – something that those who don’t earn a degree normally do. What is our earned expertise? What is that extra something that college gives us the opportunity and support to pursue?

One answer is that college allows us to learn how to do research. Research involves the creation of questions worth asking, it involves gathering the materials that we need to address these questions, and it involves synthesizing our findings with our questions to come up with credible answers.

In our ENGL 1012 seminar, we will learn how to use the research methods practiced in literary studies. Within this discipline, researchers explore questions of identity, politics, history and aesthetics, among many others, by studying representations of people, places and events in literature. To guide our understanding of research through literature, we will be focusing on the kinds of questions that emerge from the study of early African American culture. We will read narratives of enslavement and resistance from the late 1700s through to the mid 1800s, and we will also read scholarly texts that help understand the historical and political context within which these early African American narratives were first written and read. The readings will serve as an inspiration and evidentiary base to pose questions such as – what is the use of personal narratives and fictional stories in society? How does reading literature change the way in which people think? When we talk about history, are we discussing the past or is our focus on understanding the present? How do race, class, and gender affect the lives and experiences of oppressed people? What strategies have the oppressed used to fight back and change the circumstances of their marginalization?

The written assignments for our seminar will teach us how to address such questions by doing research, and they will encourage us to come up with questions of our own. We will learn how the process of writing allows us to construct answers to our questions and express the value of our opinions. By moving through a series of written exercises that feed into each other, all the students in this course will produce a final research paper that draws on the general theme of the course and makes judicious use of the resources at the library to ask and answer a question of their own design. Possible topics for research can include food, fashion, celebration, medicine, religion, science, among many others. The research paper is a curiosity-driven project where students have the freedom to pursue their interests, within the specific context of early African American culture.

With an emphasis on close reading, English 220 is intended to develop in students the analytical and interpretive skills necessary for both written and verbal critical response to literature that is firmly grounded in the text. It also establishes a common knowledge base, however minimal, in literature in English, and it equips students with the vocabulary and techniques for describing and analyzing literary works, with an emphasis on developing critical writing skills specific to literary analysis. In addition, the course develops in students an appreciation and understanding of the aesthetic qualities of literature, as well as an awareness that literature is part of a larger ongoing cultural, social, and historical dialogue that informs, influences, and inspires our experience.

As important, English 220 introduces students to discipline specific academic writing, with an emphasis on thesis driven analytical and interpretive essays, including a substantial research paper. While each academic discipline has its own writing and research requirements, style, and conventions, 220 students will gain an understanding of the basic components of academic writing: thesis creation and development, argumentation, analytical reasoning, evidence, and the engagement of both primary and secondary sources. Students will be able to use the academic writing skills learned in this class across the disciplines, adapting them to the specific field of study they pursue.

The main goal of this Environmental Science 99 Laboratory course is for you to think about how we interact with the environment, our impacts and the results of these, not just in our immediate vicinity but globally. We will focus on three main topics; sustainability, pollution and climate change.

An additional goal is to gain knowledge of the fundamental scientific basis of major environmental issues facing society, including climate change, air, soil and water quality, food production for a growing population, sustainable energy resources and biodiversity. We also consider these problems in the context of the current social, economic, & political environment. In addition to discussing these environmental challenges, we will address potential solutions and management practices that have been or could be implemented to mitigate the negative impacts of the current environmental issues facing our neighborhoods, cities, countries and planet.

Ethnographies of Work I introduces students to sociological and anthropological perspectives on work as they investigate a range of careers. The course approaches work as a cultural system invested with meanings, norms, values, customs, behavioral expectations, and social hierarchies. Students pose key questions through the lens of ethnography in order to investigate workplaces, occupations, and career pathways in an urban context. Guided by the ethnographer's assumption that there's "always more than meets the eye," students are encouraged to uncover myths and stereotypes about the work world and gain appreciation of how and why work matters to individuals in a range of occupations. Students explore dimensions of work life in the context of contemporary dynamics of disruption, uncertainty, innovation, and diversity, and draw connections between the self and work through readings, films, interviews, and fieldwork.

Ethnography Made Easy is a textbook hosted on Manifold and the Academic Commons. The textbook has been written by current and former instructors at Stella and Charles Guttman Community College. The textbook covers the steps in planning, conducting, and writing up ethnographic research. The text is open and regularly updated.

Part of LaGuardia’s First Year Experience, this course is designed to assist incoming students majoring in Psychology to make a successful transition to their major and college life. This course is based on open educational resources that are zero-cost to all. The First Year Seminar for Psychology introduces psychology and ways to think about different theoretical approaches and research that are relevant to student success, such as learning, identity, and motivation, and research methods. This course addresses issues related to navigating personal development and academic achievement in psychology.

Everyone eats. In this sense, the experience of food is common to us all. Yet the meanings we attach to food—as individuals with complex personal histories and needs, as members of particular cultures, communities, and belief systems—are remarkably diverse and powerful. In this course, we engage works by scholars, poets, and other writers to explore the significance of food as the source of inspiration and debate. This exploration will serve as a basis for our own writing. Our written responses will explore food as it relates to identity, social justice, and the environment—showing how far inquiry into one topic can stretch.

Course: ENG 110: Food as Philosophy, System, Controversy
Instructor: Nicole Cote
This project was first developed during the Open Pedagogy Fellowship (Winter 2021), through the Mina Rees Library at The Graduate Center.

Read more about this project: Cultivating Resources for the Future by Nicole Cote
https://gclibrary.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2021/04/22/cultivating-resources-for-the-future/

This course will provide an introduction to the most important theoretical systems of psychotherapy and their technical applications for the treatment of individuals with a variety of psychological problems (calling for modification of behaviors, cognitions, and/or emotions).

By the end of this class, students will be to:

Name 3 schools of thought in psychotherapy
Identify internal obstacles to psychotherapy from the therapist’s and patient’s sides
Cite the 3 important changes or movements in the history of psychotherapy
Cite the main elements of the methods in individual, couple, and family therapy
Utilize the appropriate vocabulary linked with the field of psychotherapy.

The techniques and science of data acquisition and creation for spatial analysis in a geographic information system (GIS); includes field data collection. Students will be instructed in the use GPS devices, mobile GIS, workstation GIS, as well as data from other sources including remotely sensed data.
The full course site is available at https://gep3750.commons.gc.cuny.edu/.

This course is recommended for students who will transfer into STEM or health-care-related programs.
The course will introduce students to the major concepts of cell biology, including cell physiology and
structure, molecular biology, genetics and evolution. The course will also cover the major themes of
biology, with particular focus on the characteristics of living things.

Chemistry is a challenging and often abstract science, but as you progress through this course we
hope you will discover that chemistry is also exciting and that many of the key concepts in chemistry
are both important and relevant to life on earth. Throughout this semester we will provide you with
the basic skills and knowledge to think and feel like a chemist. You will learn that chemistry is
exciting!

An in-depth introduction to chemical equilibrium, aqueous solution chemistry, thermodynamics, electrochemistry, and kinetics. This course focuses on developing the fundamental principles of thermodynamics and chemical equilibria and the applications of these principles to aqueous solution chemistry.

Chemistry is a challenging and often abstract science, but as you progress through this course we hope you will discover that chemistry is also exciting and that many of the key concepts in chemistry are both important and relevant to life on earth. Throughout this semester we will provide you with the basic skills and knowledge to think and feel like a chemist. You will learn that chemistry is exciting!

This course was created as part of the Open Pedagogy Fellowship, through the Mina Rees Library at The Graduate Center, CUNY.

Read more about the process of course design here: https://gclibrary.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2021/04/29/oer-in-science-catching-up-in-stem/

In this course you get the opportunity to research a gentrifying neighborhood in NYC and develop a mini case study that examines housing and urban restructuring through a critical lens. Drawing on various methods (including field observations), weekly assignments, and discussions with your peers; you’ll build toward completing your case study over the 6-week period. During this time you will also learn:

how gentrification impacts affordable housing
why gentrification is a form of racial capitalism
what forms of local resistance exist
theories that attempt to explain how gentrification operates, and
methods for studying urban space

This course will examine urban issues and the processes of urbanization in an international context. Topics and themes explored will include: the influence of globalization on cities worldwide, and the influential position of cities in the process of globalization (from colonialism to transnational neoliberalization); the significance of cities for addressing the issue of global climate change; comparative perspectives on how cities internationally address pressing challenges such as transportation, housing, and economic development in a post-Fordist economy; the roles of different cities in a global economy: from command and control centers to the rapidly growing megacities of the global south; historical perspectives on global urban development, including the role of certain cities in anchoring and shaping culturally, politically, and economically significant geographic regions; uneven development within and among world cities, and the relationship between urbanization and economic and social inequality; comparative perspectives on the cultural dimensions of urbanism and urbanization; and the role that culture has in shaping the governance, design, and function of cities worldwide.

This course will provide students with an in-depth understanding of the fundamental concepts and computational methods of statistics. These concepts will be developed through the question of how to estimate an unknown quantity using sample data. Students will learn to incorporate the foundational concepts of mathematics with statistical analysis to describe and solve real-life problems and questions. The topics addressed include: displaying categorical data using tables, bar graphs, and circle graphs; drawing conclusions about categorical data; displaying quantitative data using dot plots, stem-and-leaf plots, histograms and box-and-whisker plots; describing data distributions using measures of center (mode, mean, and median) and measures of spread (standard deviation, range and IQR); Displaying bivariate data using scatterplots; analyzing bivariate data using linear regression; elementary probability; normal probability distributions, sampling distributions; confidence intervals and hypothesis testing of the proportion and the mean.

What do we mean by “modernity” or the “modern world”? In this course, we will define modernity by examining global changes in politics, economy, culture, and society since 1500. We will approach these changes with a particular focus on the themes of capitalist development, imperialism, race, gender, and class. In doing so, we will engage with and challenge Eurocentric notions of modernity, and consider alternative ways of understanding global history.

Course offers a one-semester overview of American history through a combination of lectures, reading, written assignments, and discussion. This site provides access to open print and multimedia resources; selected course readings are available via password-protected pages accessible to enrolled students.

This course surveys the history of Europe from the French Revolution to the present. This covers the traditional periodization of the “modern” era and will focus on the key events, episodes, and transitions that mark this timeframe. Readings, lectures, and discussions will engage with all aspects of European politics and society during this period but will be guided by the central problem of the pursuit of power as the key theme. “Power” in this sense refers not only to the way individuals sought political power in the domestic sphere or territorial control in the international realm, but also, more diffuse notions of power as they appear in daily life, culture, gender relations, race, and social conflict. This focus on power is largely a result of a particular understanding of “modernity” as ultimately an idea that pushed Europeans to develop new ideas about how to best control and order society and the globe. To be modern, in short, meant harnessing the technologies, populations, and institutions of the nation-state to create a more ordered, productive society.

Beginning with the French Revolution, Europeans in the modern era have sought to combine the pursuit of power with the mobilization and participation of mass society, in varying forms. The unleashing of popular sovereignty and the response of the various “isms” of the 19th century (e.g. liberalism, socialism, nationalism) reveal to us the extent to which politics became a question of who should have the power, and how that power ought to be used for the benefit of European societies. Europeans did not only struggle for power in this domestic sense, but also sought to use power abroad and expand the grip of European empire. The modern period, particularly during the “Age of Catastrophe” of the early 20th century, was one marked by warfare that reshaped how violence was conceived. Ultimately, the quest for power led to totalitarian states, the most infamous being Nazi Germany, which sought to control their societies in ways previous unheard of and use extreme forms of violence in doing so. The great cataclysm that was the two world wars destroyed the belief that the use of brute force was the most preferred means of exerting power at home and abroad, and the changes this brought about are evident in the way Europeans conceive and utilize power in today’s world.

Harmonizing with current approaches, this course also seeks to provide a “multi-perspective” overview of Modern Europe, working at different levels of society and engaging with perspectives from larger and smaller European nations. Ultimately, it strives to develop students’ understanding of Europe at large and the changes experienced there over the course of roughly two centuries.