This course provides an examination of child maltreatment from a variety of perspectives, including theoretical, cultural, historical, and legal. It offers definitions of the types of child abuse and neglect, and allows students to reflect on how culture and history play roles in the defining process. Students learn to identify signs and symptoms resulting from maltreatment, and take an in-depth look at how trauma affects all areas of child development. The roles of child protection workers, the complex child protection system, and the legal systems are explained. Students have the opportunity to critically review current research and debate emotionally charged ethical issues. This course challenges students to consider the dynamics that may lead people to harm children and connect the development of prevention strategies to these variables.

This course examines evolving family structures in contemporary American society. The functions that a family serves are reviewed. The stages of family life and development, a variety of communication patterns, and the causes of breakups are addressed. The focus of the course is on helping students develop an ability to assess the strengths of a family system, evaluate the decision-making processes used by a family, and discuss the resiliency of the family. The course reviews a range of intervention methods that can be used to improve family relationships.

This course explores the diversity of life experiences in contemporary America and assesses structured inequality in terms of socioeconomic, racial, gender, and sexuality differences. Using the theoretical framework of the social construction of race, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, and disability in historical contexts, the course examines how and why stratification systems emerge and are reproduced. Students then consider alternatives to the categories of difference and the processes, philosophical developments, institutions, and conditions that lead to and rely on power and privilege in modern society.

Conducted in Spanish. For students with no previous knowledge of Spanish. Development of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing skills, as well as cultural awareness of the Hispanic world. No credit for students who have had two or more years of Spanish in secondary school; however, any such students whose studies of Spanish have been interrupted for 5 years or more should consult the coordinator of elementary Spanish. SPAN 401-402 taken together satisfy the foreign language requirement.