Undergraduate Catalogue
The Curriculum of the College as planned for 2011-2012 is described in the links below. All courses are planned as full-year courses, except as otherwise indicated. Where possible, seminar descriptions include examples of areas of study in which a student could concentrate for the conference portion of the course. In a seminar course, each student not only pursues the main course material but also selects a related topic for concentrated study, often resulting in a major paper. In this way, each seminar becomes both a shared and an individual experience.
Africana Studies
Courses in other disciplines related to Africana Studies
Anthropology
Anthropology courses
- Culture and Mental Illness
- Ethnographic Research and Writing
- Field Methods in the Study of Language and Culture
- Introduction to Anthropology: Debates, Controversies, and Re/visions
- Language, Culture, and Performance
- Language and Race: Constructing the Self and Imagining the Other in the United States and Beyond
- Performing Culture
- Play: Psychological and Anthropological Perspectives
- Political Language and Performance
- The Anthropology of Life Itself
Art History
Art History courses
- A Paradox for Painters: Problems in Imitation, Expression, and Reflexivity in the 17th-Century European Painting
- Arts of the African Continent
- Arts of the Americas: The Continents Before Columbus and Cortés
- Beauty, Bridges, Boxes, and Brutes: “Modern” Architecture From 1750 to 1960
- “La Piu Grassa Minerva (Minerva in Her Fullness)” Theories of Art and Architecture From 1300 to 1600
- Making History of Non-Western Art History: Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Performance Art
- Problems By Design: Studies in the Theory and Practice of Contemporary Architecture
- The Fall of the Roman Empire
- The Greeks and their Neighbors: The Hellenization of the Mediterranean From the Homeric Age to Augustus
- Writing Contemporary Art
Asian Studies
Asian Studies courses
Courses in other disciplines related to Asian Studies
Biology
Chemistry
Computer Science
Dance
Dance courses
- African Dance
- Anatomy in Action
- Anatomy Seminar
- Ballet
- Belly Dance
- Composition A, B, and C
- Contact Improvisation
- Dance Fundamentals
- Dance History
- Dance Making
- Dance Meeting
- Dance Training Conference
- Feldenkrais: Awareness Through Movement®
- First-Year Studies in Dance
- Improvisation
- Improvisation: Embodied Awareness
- Labanotation/Repertory
- Lighting Design and Stagecraft for Dance
- Modern and Post-Modern Practice
- Music for Dancers
- Performance Project
- Performance Project, Yvonne Rainer’s “Trio A” and “Chair Pillow”
- Senior Seminar
- Teaching Conference
- Yoga
Design Studies
Courses in other disciplines related to Design Studies
Economics
Economics courses
- First-Year Studies: Political Economics of the Environment
- Introduction to Economic Theory & Policy
- Money and Financial Crises: Theory, History, and Policy
- Smith, Marx, and Keynes
- Social Metrics: Introduction to Statistical Measurement and Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences
- Sustainable Development
- The Political Economy of Global and Local Inequality: The Welfare State, Developmental State, and Poverty
Courses in other disciplines related to Economics
Environmental Studies
Environmental Studies courses
Courses in other disciplines related to Environmental Studies
Ethnic and Diasporic Studies
Courses in other disciplines related to Ethnic and Diasporic Studies
Film History
Film History courses
Courses in other disciplines related to Film History
French
French courses
- Advanced Beginning French: The Literary Prison
- Advanced French: The Quill and the Dress: French Women Writers in Early Modern France
- Beginning French
- Beginning French: Language and Culture
- Intermediate French II: Masters, Slaves, and 'New Men": Francophone Writing Against Empire
- Intermediate French I: The Figure of the Artist in 19th- and 20th-Century France
- Intermediate French I: French Identities from Jeanne D’Arc to Zidane
- Just Balzac
- Love Stories From France
Courses in other disciplines related to French
Geography
German
Global Studies
Greek
Greek courses
Courses in other disciplines related to Greek
Health, Science, and Society
Courses in other disciplines related to Health, Science, and Society
History
History courses
- Art and the Sacred in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
- Cinema and Society in the Middle East and North Africa
- First-Year Studies: Gender and the Culture of War in US History, 1775-1975
- First-Year Studies: “In the Tradition”: An Introduction to African American History and Black Cultural Renaissance
- First-Year Studies: The Sixties
- France and Germany in the 20th Century
- Gender, Education, and Opportunity in Africa
- Harvest: A Social History of Agriculture in Latin America
- Hunger and Excess: Histories, Politics, and Cultures of Food
- Ideas of Africa: Africa Writes Back
- Imperial Russia: Power and Society
- In/Migration: How Immigrants and Migrants Changed New York City From a Small Trading Post to an Emerging World Metropolis
- Leisure and Danger
- “Mystic Chords of Memory”: Myth, Tradition, and the Making of American Nationalism
- Public Stories, Private Lives: Methods of Oral History
- Reform and Revolution in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa
- Revolution and Counterrevolution in Central America
- Romantic Europe
- Sickness and Health in Africa
- The American Revolution and Its Legacy: From British to American Nationalism
- The Black Arts Renaissance & American Culture: Rethinking Urban and Ethnic History in America
- The Cold War In History and Film
- The Contemporary Practice of International Law
- The Idea of a Balance of Power
- The U.S. Constitution: Interpretation and History
- Tudor England: Politics, Gender, and Religion. An Introductory Workshop in Doing History
International Studies
Courses in other disciplines related to International Studies
Italian
Japanese
Japanese courses
Latin
Courses in other disciplines related to Latin
Courses in other disciplines related to
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies courses
Courses in other disciplines related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
Literature
Literature courses
- African American Literature Survey (1789-2011)
- Allegories of Love
- American Literature 1830-1929
- Machines: A Critique of New Media
- Borges
- Conscience of the Nations: Classics of African Literature
- Creating New Blackness: The Expressions of the Harlem Renaissance
- Empire of Letters: Mapping the Arts and the World in the Age of Johnson
- English: History of a Language
- Epic: From Gilgamesh to Paradise Lost
- Experiment and Scandal: The 18th-Century British Novel
- First-Year Studies: Declarations of Independence: American Literary Masterworks, American Art
- First-Year Studies: Romanticism and Love
- First-Year Studies: Self/Life/Writing: Studies in Autobiography
- First-Year Studies: Utopia
- Global Intertextualities
- Green Romanticism
- Imagining Modernity: Literature and Society Since Romanticism
- Imagining War
- Literature in Translation: “Because We Know That Language Exists”: Roland Barthes and French Literature and Theory (1945-2011)
- Literature in Translation: Fantastic Gallery: 20th-Century Latin American Short Fiction
- Modernism and Fiction
- First-Year Studies: New Literature From Europe
- Nine American Poets
- Performing Gender and Power in the British 18th Century and Its Cinematic Legacy
- Romanticism to Modernism in Poetry
- Shakespeare and the Semiotics of Performance
- Slavery: A Literary History
- Spoken Wor(l)ds: African American Poetry From Black Arts to Hip Hop (1960-2012)
- Studies in the 19th-Century Novel
- The Age of Caesar
- The Greco-Roman World: Its Origins, Crises, Turning Points, and Final Transformations
- The Nonfiction Essay: Writing the Literature of Fact, Journalism, and Beyond
- The Poetry of Earth: Imagination and Environment in English Renaissance Poetry
- “Untied” Kingdom: British Literature Since 1945
- Who’s Afraid of James Joyce?
Mathematics
Modern Languages and Literatures
Music
Music courses
- Advanced Theory: Advanced Tonal Theory and Composition
- Advanced Theory: Beethoven
- Advanced Theory: Jazz Theory and Harmony I
- Advanced Theory: Jazz Theory and Harmony II
- Advanced Theory: 20th-Century Theoretical Approaches II: Post-Tonal and Rock Music
- Advanced Theory: 20th-Century Theoretical Approaches: Post-Tonal and Rock Music
- African Classics of the Post-Colonial Era
- Analog and Digital Synthesis
- Awareness Through Movement™ for Musicians
- Baroque Ensemble
- Basic Aural Skills
- Beethoven
- Bluegrass Performance Ensemble
- Chamber Choir
- Chamber Music
- Chamber Music Improvisation
- Character Development for Singers
- Concert Attendance/Music Tuesdays Requirement
- Conducting
- Debussy and the French School
- Diction for Singers
- Digital Audio Workstations and MIDI
- Ethnomusicology of the Americas: Music, Language, and Identity
- Ethnomusicology of the Americas: Music, Language, and Identity
- Evolution of a Performance
- Gamelan Angklung Chandra Buana
- Guitar Class
- Guitar Ensemble
- Hearing and Singing
- Intermediate Aural Skills
- Introduction to Electronic Music and Music Technology
- Jazz Colloquium
- Jazz History
- Jazz Performance and Improvisation Workshop
- Jazz Vocal Ensemble
- Jazz Vocal Seminar
- Keyboard Lab
- Master Class
- Mozart and Beethoven: Music from 1720-1810
- Music, Circulation, and Appropriation
- Music Workshop
- “Non-Western” Western Musics in Europe and Asia
- Recording, Sequencing, and Mastering Electronic Music
- Sarah Lawrence Orchestra
- Sarah Lawrence String Orchestra
- Self-Discovery Through Singing
- Seminar in Vocal Performance
- Music, Circulation, and Appropriation
- Senior Recital
- Sight Reading for Instrumentalists
- So This Is Opera?
- Studio Class
- Studio Composition and Music Technology
- Survey of Western Music
- The Blues Ensemble
- The Cygnus Ensemble: Artists-in-Residence
- Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition
- Theory I: Materials of Music
- 20th-Century Compositional Techniques
- Violin Master Class
- West African Percussion Ensemble Faso Foli
- Women’s Vocal Ensemble
Philosophy
Philosophy courses
- Ancient Philosophy (Plato)
- First-Year Studies: Philosophy, Friend and Rival to Religion
- First-Year Studies: Varieties of Intellectual Dissent
- Moral Philosophy from Plato to Nietzsche
- Philosophical Roots of the Philosophy of Science
- Philosophy and Friendship: Schelling and Hegel
- The Music of Philosophy: Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy
- Wittgenstein on Mind and Language
Physics
Physics courses
Politics
Politics courses
- Collective Violence and Post-Conflict Reconciliation
- Democracy and Diversity
- First-Year Studies: The American Polity
- Latin American Politics: Dynamics of State Formation, Reform, and Revolution
- Looking at Leadership and Decision Making in the Political World
- State, Social Movement, and Latin America’s “Left Turn”: A Critical Inquiry
- The Legitimacy of Modernity? Basic Texts in Social Theory
Pre-Health Program
Psychology
Psychology courses
- Art & Visual Perception
- Beyond the Matrix of Race: Psychologies of Race and Ethnicity
- Bullies and Their Victims: Social and Physical Aggression in Childhood and Adolescence
- Child and Adolescent Development
- Children’s Health in a Multicultural Context
- First-Year Studies: Approaches to Child Development
- First-Year Studies: The Realities of Groups
- Home and Other Figments: Qualitative Approaches to Exile and Immigration
- Language Development
- Language Research Seminar
- Life and Work: Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir in Psychology
- Pathways of Development: Psychopathology and Other Challenges to the Developmental Process
- Personality Development
- Play: Psychological and Anthropological Perspectives
- Poverty in America: Integrating Theory, Research, Policy & Practice
- Rainbow Nation: Growing Up South African in the Apartheid and Post-Apartheid Eras
- Social Development
- Structure and Change in Life Historical Accounts
- Studying Men and Masculinities
- The Final Solution: Psychological Perspectives on Inhumanity
- The Historical Evolution of Psychological Thought
- Theories of Development
- The Talking Cure: The Restoration of Freedom
Public Policy
Religion
Religion courses
- Ancient Israelite Epic
- Buddhist Art and Architecture
- First-Year Studies: The Buddhist Philosophy of Emptiness
- Islam and the Muslim World
- Jewish Life in Eastern Europe
- Jewish Mysticism From Antiquity to the Present
- Muslim Literature, Film, and Art
- Readings in Early Christianity: The Synoptic Gospels
- The Holocaust
Russian
Science, Technology, and Society
Science, Technology, and Society courses
Sociology
Sociology courses
- Both Public and Private: The Social Construction of Family Life
- Changing Places: Social and Spatial Dimensions of Urbanization
- Embodiment and Biological Knowledge: Public Engagement in Medicine and Science
- From Republicanism to Authoritarianism: Re-Viewing the Spanish Civil War
- Latino Crossings
- The Sociological Imagination
- Travel and Tourism: Economies of Pleasure, Profit, and Power
Spanish
Spanish courses
- Advanced Beginning Spanish: From Déjà Vu to Hablo Como Tú
- Advanced Spanish: Memory and Fiction: (Re)creating (Our)selves
- Beginning Spanish
- Intermediate Spanish II: Grammar and Composition
- Intermediate Spanish III: “Calles y Plaza Antigua”: From the Country to the City in Hispanic Literature and Film
- Intermediate Spanish I: The Fiction of Language
- Spanish Language Authors of the 21st Century
Courses in other disciplines related to Spanish
Theatre
Theatre courses
- Acting Poetic Realism
- Acting Shakespeare
- Actor and Director Lab: PROOF
- Advanced Costume Conference
- Advanced Puppet Theatre/Performance
- Advanced Stage Combat
- Alexander Technique
- Breaking the Code
- Breathing Coordination for the Performer
- Brief Chronicle: A Short History of the Theatre
- Building a Vocal Technique
- Close Up and Personal
- Collaborative Contemporary Theater: Grad Projects I
- Comedy Workshop
- Contemporary I for Dance and Theatre
- Costume Design I
- Costume Design II
- Creating a Role
- Creation Theatre Imperatives
- Creativity Workshop
- Design Elements I
- Design Elements II
- Design Techniques in Media and Puppetry
- Developing the Dramatic Idea
- Directing, Devising, and Performance
- Directing the 20th Century: From Chekhov to Churchill
- DownStage
- Experiments in Language and Form
- Face the Blank Page
- Far-Off, Off-Off, Off-, and On-Broadway: Experiencing the 2011-2012 Theatre Season
- First-Year Studies in Theatre: Directing in the Contemporary Theatre
- First-Year Studies in Theatre: The Playwright’s Perspective
- Grad Lab
- Improvisation Laboratory
- Improvisation Techniques
- Internship Conference
- Introduction to Stage Combat
- La MaMa E.T.C.
- Lighting Design I
- Lighting Design II
- London Theatre Tour
- Making New Work
- Methods of Theatre Outreach
- Movement for Performance
- New Musical Theatre Lab
- Playwriting Techniques
- Production Workshop
- Projects
- Puppet Theatre
- REWRITE
- Scenic Design I
- Scenic Design II
- Singing Workshop
- SLC Lampoon
- Sound Design I & II
- Spencer Workshop
- Stage Management
- The Acting Process
- Theatre 360: The Big Picture
- Theatre Techniques: Actor’s Workshop
- Theatre Techniques: History and Histrionics
- Theatre Techniques: Technology
- The London Theatre Program (BADA)
- The Performing Arts for Social Change
- Tools of the Trade
- The Webisodics Project/Web Series Asylum
- Global Theatre: The Syncretic Journey
- Writers Gym
- Writing for Solo Performance
Courses in other disciplines related to Theatre
Visual Arts
Visual Arts courses
- Animation for Short Films
- Advanced Painting
- Advanced Photography
- Advanced Printmaking
- Animation Sketchbooks
- Architecture Studio: Designing Built Form
- Artist Books
- Basic Analog Black-and-White Photography
- Basic Painting: Color and Form
- Beginning Painting: Value, Color, and Composition
- Concepts in Game Design
- Contemporary Painting Practices/Traditional Techniques
- Creative Code
- Digital Documentary Storytelling: Development and Process
- Digital Photography
- Drawing: A Big Evolution
- Drawing: Translating an Invisible World
- Filmmaking Structural Analysis: Film Writing
- First-Year Studies in Visual Art
- First-Year Studies: Outside Cinema: Contemporary Approaches to Video Art Production
- First-Year Studies: The Photograph Now
- Frame By Frame I
- Frame By Frame II
- Interdisciplinary Studio/Seminar
- Intermediate Photography
- Let’s Get Physical: Building an Interactive World
- Making the Genre Film: Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy
- Printmaking I, II
- Producing Independent Film, TV, and Video—A Real-World Guide
- Script to Screen I
- Concepts in Sculpture
- The Art of Storytelling
- The Webisodics Project/Web Series Asylum
- Things and Beyond
- Writing for the Screen
- Writing Movies I
- Writing Movies II
- Writing the Film
Women’s Studies
Courses in other disciplines related to Women’s Studies
Writing
Writing courses
- A Question of Character: The Art of the Profile
- Connected Collections
- Dialogue in Fiction: Sounds and Silence
- Edgy Memoirs
- First-Year Studies: Exploring Voice, Image, and Form in Poetry
- Fictions of Embodiment
- Fiction Techniques
- Fiction Techniques
- Fiction Workshop
- First-Year Studies in Fiction
- Fiction Workshop
- Fiction Workshop: You write. I read. We talk.
- First-Year Studies: Exploring Subject Matter in Fiction
- First-Year Studies in Fiction
- First-Year Studies in Poetry
- First-Year Studies: World Literature and Writing
- Less Race Less Race Less Ness
- Living Poets
- Memory and Fiction
- Multimedia Uses of Oral History
- Nonfiction Laboratory
- Place in Fiction
- Poet as World Citizen
- Poetry Workshop
- Poetry Workshop: Poetic Process
- Poetry Workshop: Poetic Tone
- Poetry Workshop: The Making of the Complete Lover
- Sparks in the Void: A Fiction-Writing Workshop
- The Image Factory: A Poetry Workshop
- The Indian Point Project
- Visible and Invisible Ink: How Fiction Writing Happens
- Voice and Form
- Where Words Are Born
- Words & Pictures
- Writing, Radio, and Aurality
- Writing and Reading Fiction
- Writing Our Moment
- Wrongfully Accused
- Young America
Discover magazine interviews Dr. W. Ian Lipkin '74, "the world's most celebrated virus hunter" 
Adam Savage of Mythbusters to deliver commencement keynote address on Friday, May 18 
President Karen Lawrence and Meghan Roguschka '12 discuss the value of an SLC education on CBS' Sunday Morning 
