This writing and reading intensive course is foremost intended to increase students' exposure to and appreciation of literature in its many forms. Students will therefore read and discuss the primary genres of poetry, the short story, drama, and the novel. The second goal of the course is to hone students' abilities to read, write, and think critically about the ways in which human experience itself is shaped by language in literary texts. Through the development of literary analysis skills and the practice of writing about literature, students will learn to communicate meaningfully about literature as an art form with aesthetic, social, cultural, and political significance.

This course explores a wide range of literature for young adults, along with social and literary criticism that help to illuminate the impact of this literature. Through readings and discussion of both current and classic literature, students identify why literature is a powerful tool and how it can help young adults shape their lives. Learners respond to young adult literature through written analyses and critiques.

This course provides students with an in-depth study of how the portrayal of people with disabilities of many kinds - physical, emotional, social, and mental - in literature is reflective of the social and historical context in which it was written. Students apply close textual analysis of the imagery used to describe people with disabilities and evaluate the cultural attitudes this use of language reveals. Students read literature written by both disabled and non-disabled authors and analyze the ways that many stereotypical portrayals of disability undermine the disability community. Questions of how a culture decides what is "normal," how portrayals of the disability experience in literature differ between adults and children, and how the advocacy role is portrayed in literature are also examined. The goal of this course is to discover how literature can challenge our own assumptions about the experience of the disabled by contemplating what ultimately makes us human.

A writing course introducing students to the effective communication of technical information through various workplace documents including resumes, memos, business letters, reports, brochures, etc. Special emphasis on an introduction to professional conventions and genres and to the transferable skills of rhetorical and audience analysis, document design and collaborative work.