Courses

This course focuses on central current themes in the study of women in positions of power and leadership in Western society. Students focus on gendered communication patterns and tendencies, specifically concerning women in positions of influence in politics and media.

A survey course of the central themes in the study of gender-differentiated language use, such as differences in conversational practice, conversational differences in mixed talk and single-sex talk, as well as the complexity in intimate talk between men and women.

This seminar style class explores various and complex dimensions of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in society. Students examine the barriers to professional advancement that are faced by non-mainstream groups. The course proposes an Inclusive Workplace Model and effective communication for managing complexity, engaging diversity, navigating difference, and removing obstacles to inclusion and to organizational effectiveness and growth.

Students bring diverse learning and skills from across their program in order to research and write and/or carry out a senior thesis or organizational project in leadership or strategic communication. Students gain skills in project management, research methodology, and integrative thinking in order to collect social scientific data, advance complex arguments, and/or help an organization achieve its communication goals. Students will gain deeper scholarly and professional understanding of communication, forge professional and academic contacts, and demonstrate mastery of relevant theory, principles and writing strategies. Students conclude the course with a public presentation to peers, faculty, and professional leaders regarding the main project.

Students are required to produce an outline of the topics to be studied in consultation with the instructor. A course of reading and writing is pursued according to the approved outline.

The course provides opportunity for the articulation of transformational leadership (both cultural and personal). It requires leaders to communicate their vision of growth and opportunity. Students gain insight into effective leadership communication as they examine the worldviews, history, and economic challenges in developing nations (in East Africa and Central America). This course explores underlying cultural and faith-based worldviews by means of an interdisciplinary travel study. Specifically, the course explores social and humanitarian responses to critical social issues in the Global South. Through readings, lectures (including field practitioners and experts), and field experiences, students are exposed to the complex nature of human problems and social responses. Students seek to understand critical social issues in light of cultural, environmental, economic, political, and historical frameworks. Of particular interest is the manner in which religious worldview shapes one's response to the disadvantaged, and how the transformational model informs leadership behaviour and the development process.

A foundational interdisciplinary introduction to key historical developments in Western artistic practice and concepts from ancient times to present. Students critically engage artistic materials (paintings, music, theatrical scripts, etc) and writings of the various style periods, developing their ability to meaningfully experience, interpret, and articulate different approaches to the arts in relation to the changing ideas of Western culture. Students are encouraged to think critically, charitably, and divergently, exploring and evaluating how the arts were understood and written about in different periods, and investigating the relationship of past artistic ideas to contemporary ideas and practices. The format of the course includes lectures, readings, discussion, and individual investigative assignments and research projects. The course is delivered by an interdisciplinary teaching team. Students attend weekly lectures, and participate in one of four discussion groups.