Democracy

This course will introduce students to ideas about institutional structures, political actors, and constitutional debates in U.S. government and politics. We will explore the historical development and founding of the United States, discuss major debates about the structure of our republican form of government, connect the three branches of government to contemporary politics and elections, examine the role of race and gender in American politics, and critique the American constitutional system.

A study of the development of types of media including books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and film. The interaction of these media and their impact on society and the individual are included. (Normally offered each spring semester.)

A survey course providing an overall view of the criminal justice system, the law, law enforcement, the courts, and corrections.
(Normally offered each fall semester.)

This course, which meets the Nebraska Human Relations Training requirement for teacher certification, focuses on the history, culture, and contributions of African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics. In addition, it seeks to sensitize students to dehumanizing biases experienced by groups due to race, ethnicity, gender, social class, religion, exceptionality, sexual orientation, and language background.
Co-Requisite(s): EDUC 1010 Introduction to Education in the United States
 

A survey course providing a historical perspective on the culture of the United States through the study of its literature from its historical beginnings to the present.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing

Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.

This course will proceed from the premise that Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby Dick, encapsulates the story of America and that the book's whaling ship, the Pequod, serves as a floating embodiment of American democracy. The course will situate Melville's novel within the context of mid-nineteenth century American political history and explore what the book suggests are the achievements and limitations of American democracy.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing course.

ASince its publication in 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America has remained a classic text in sociology, political science, and American cultural studies, both as a document of what the United States was like in the half-century before the Civil War and as a dissection of our national character. The course will be devoted to reading, discussing, analyzing, and writing about Tocqueville's influential study.
Prerequisite(s): POLSC 1000 United States Government and Politics and junior standing or permission of the instructor.

A survey of United States history beginning with precontact cultures, examining the varied colonial and native cultures, and tracing the political,economic, social, and cultural development of the United States, and concluding with Reconstruction.
(Normally offered each fall semester.)
This course is a designated First Year Writing Course.

A survey of United States history beginning with post-Civil War Reconstruction period, tracing economic, social and cultural development to the present, emphasizing the emergence of a dominantly urban-industrial society, multiple civil rights movements, the expanded role of government in the lives of individuals, and the increasing involvement of the United States in the world.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)
This course is a designated First Year Writing course.

See Department for Course Description.

An introductory course in journalism concentrating upon basic techniques of news gathering and writing, including a basic history of news media.

In this course we will study various aspects of mathematics pertinent to a democracy including voting methods, logic of argumentation, statistics in the media, and financial mathematics.

This course will examine the origin of western philosophy in ancient Greece and trace the development of philosophical thought from the received wisdom prior to Plato, through the works of Plato, Artistotle, representative Stoics, Skeptics, and the new Platonism that culminates classical thinking. Topics include but are not limited to: questions about the origin of democracy and community, the character of the divine, ancient concepts of nature, the concepts of the soul, the scope of human knowledge, the conditions for rationality, and the good life.

This course will begin with a close examination of some classic works of social and political philosphy, which may include but are not limited to Aristotle's Politics, Hobbes' Leviathan, Locke's Second Treatise on Government, Rousseau's Social Contract, Marx's Grundrisse, and Mill's On Liberty. Once this historical foundation is put in place, students will move on to examine current trends in social and political philosphy that may include but are not limited to: what is the best form of government, the social contract, socialism, the nature of justice, democracy, nationalism, and environmentalism.

An examination of the political role of minorities in U.S. society. The course will focus on the historical evolution of minority rights with emphasis on current debates and controversies. It will also apply political science theories to the relationship between majority and minority communities in the U.S.

Religion in the U.S. is vital and diverse and its study illuminates not only early American society, but also the current pluralism within our contemporary culture. This course will introduce religious traditions in the U.S. through thematic, historical, denominational, and cultural considerations. Though the Puritan roots of U.S. religious history will be considered, this course emphasizes the variety and diversity of religious experiences in the U.S., including Native American, Protestant, Catholic, African-American, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions.

U.S. Cinema/U.S. Culture is a survey course providing a historical perspective on the culture of the U.S. through the study of its cinema from Edison's early experiments in the 1890s to the present.

Dating from 1947, the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards have ben presented annually to honor excellence in commercial theatre on Broadway. It is a high honor for a writer or composer to win the award for Best Play or Best Musical, and usually results in financial and career gains. This speaking instructive dramatic literature course examines this U.S. awards tradition, considering how the procedural structures incorporate elements of democratic ideals and principles. Students will read examples of Tony Award winning plays and musicals in order to consider how democratic ideals are represented in those plays and will consider whether such representation is contributing factor in what works with the awards. The plays also serve as the basis for a series of oral presentations.

Is nurturing the subversive comic impluse in expression vital to a democracy? This speaking-instructive dramatic literature coures examines the comic tradition in U.S. dramatic writing, focusing primarily on how democratic principles and ideals have been represented. One primary topic to be considered involves the ways that comic plays, whether overtly or subversively, can serve as a contributing factor to stimulate political change in a democracy. A range of plays from early national to contempory will be read and discuseed to draw conclusions about features of a democracy and what it means to be a citizen of a democracy. The plays will also serve as the basis for oral presentations.

Why does censorship occur in democracies that champion freedom of expression as an ideal? What are the tipping points that trigger the impluse to ban and/or censor? Does censorship or the threat of censorship present an obstacle to full participation of writers and readers in a democracy? Students seek the answers to these and other questions in this speaking-instructive dramatic literature course by looking at example of dramatic works that have been banned or censored in democratic nations. The selected texts will also serve as the basis for a series of oral presentations and will be utilized to discuss how the deinfining features of a democracy and the meaning of what it means to be a citizen in a democracy are represented in dramatic texts, as well as the broader question of how the arts shape how a nation defines itself as a democracy.

A survey of theatre arts from ancient Greece through the 19th century. It includes sections on classic, medieval, Renaissance, Restoration, 18th century, and 19th century drama and theatre practice.
Prerequisite(s): THTRE 1010 Theatre Appreciation or THTRE 1020 Script Analysis.
(Normally offered on even fall semesters.)

A survey of theatre arts from the advent of realism to contemporary theatre. Special emphasis will be given to nonrealistic theatre movements and their influence on playwriting, directing, acting, and design.
Prerequisite(s): THTRE 1010 Theatre Appreciation or THTRE 1020 Script Analysis.
(Normally offered on odd fall semesters.)