Courses
SUNY Empire State College, Saratoga Springs, NY Jan 2004-Present:
Course author and instructor:
- Privacy, Security and Freedom: Social Concerns for the 21st Century. (upper level, 4 credits). -Nicola Martinez
Course Description:
The sociological and philosophical exploration of the questions of privacy, security and freedom in the 21st Century in the context of both the theory and practical, policy-oriented aspects of these social concerns. This study will include an examination of some of the concepts of political and social philosophy, such as private vs. public domains, the individual and the state, freedom, political obligation and their relevance to contemporary society and government, with a particular focus on the Patriot Act, the Homeland Security Act and Total Information Awareness/Terrorism Information Awareness.
This course fully meets the general education requirement in Social Sciences.
- The Development of Gender Identity. - Nicola Martinez and Julia Penn Shaw (upper level, 4 credits).
Course Description:
This course is designed to provide upper-level students with the opportunity to reflect on the personal meaning of gender, bridging from the biological structures that determine our sexuality, to gender as a social institution that affects our behaviors and beliefs. The course addresses (and distinguishes) sexuality and gender as experienced on the personal level, particularly gender as applied to the physical self; relationships of a self with intimates, friends and family; and relationships with environments such as school and work (using the Bronfenbrenner ecological model of psychological development). The wide variation of gender perspectives through history will be reviewed, as well as variations in gender concepts across current cultures. Keeping those broader perspectives in mind, psychosexual variations will be identified and discussed. Gender biases in the study of gender will be presented, and each student will have a chance to set up a simple gender study.
- Dance Across World Cultures (upper level, 4 credits). - Nicola Martinez
Course Description:
This course is a cross-cultural examination of dance traditions from around the world in their historical, critical, artistic and socio-cultural contexts. Students will learn to contextualize a variety of dance traditions and differentiate folk, popular and classical traditions. Students will also learn to observe and write about dance from critical, analytical and ethnographic (writing about culture) perspectives.
Materials will include documentary films and selected writings about dance using critical, cultural, historical, sociological, political and philosophical frameworks. Students will have the opportunity to design a research project of their choice using either participant observation in a series of dance classes, observation of live performance, analysis of dance on film or the study of a dance school as the basis for their research.
This course fully meets the general education requirement in Humanities.
Course co-author:
- Adults as Learners: Theories and Strategies (upper level, 4 credits) - Nicola Martinez and Julia Penn Shaw
Course Description:
This 4-credit advanced-level course provides a thorough treatment of adults as learners, making use of key learning theories, research on adult learning and relevant strategies for understanding adults as learners. This course is appropriate for students who approach Human Development from a learning perspective; who are (or will be) involved with adult learners in academia, communities, or business; and who, as adult learners, wish to reflect on their personal process. The focus of the course is on approaches to adult learning and associated learning strategies. The primary perspectives covered in the course are: Critical Pedagogy; Communities of Learning and Practice; Adult Development; and Systems of Learning. Major theorists from each perspective will be reviewed in some detail. Students will have the opportunity to relate a particular learning environment to one or more theory/perspective of personal interest to them.
Prerequisites: A foundational course in the social sciences and upper level critical thinking skills.
This course fully meets the General Education requirement in Social Sciences.
- What is Art (Upper level, 4 credits) - Nicola Martinez and Renee O'Brien
Course Description:
What is art? Who gets to decide? Why do people respond to it the ways they do? What does art mean? How has it been interpreted? What does art have to do with beauty? What is a philosophy of art? When we experience art, how is that experience similar to or different from other experiences in our lives? Why are we drawn to certain works more than others? Are there underlying reasons, or is it a matter of whim or chance? What do our assumptions, conscious or unconscious, about what art "does" for people, have to do with our responses to it? What changes when we begin to articulate and question those assumptions?
This course will not only be useful for arts students desiring a workshop in art theory and criticism, but more generally for anyone who has ever been interested in asking questions such as these. It is designed to help students explore these questions through readings by prominent thinkers who have grappled with them over the years. It is also meant to provide students opportunities to strengthen their critical thinking and inquiry skills as well as better articulate their own philosophies and interpretations of art, of any genre, era or culture. This course, thus, is appropriate both for students whose concentrations are art-related, as well as for those interested in art as part of their upper-level general learning.
While practicing their descriptive, interpretive and evaluative skills, all students will complete assignments that require their personal responses to works of art throughout the term. The assignments will also provide foundations for the writing of an "aesthetic autobiography." Students will continue to individualize their study in each module and read key works by major aesthetic philosophers of their choice. Each student will lead a discussion based on the readings from topics that include: modernism and postmodernism; art and technology; the (ir)relevance of art museums; how do people respond to art?; the body in art; the role of the critic; interdisciplinary issues in art criticism; hunger, abundance, power and stuff; a genealogy of "art." Finally, all students will prepare a final project or extended paper that provides reflective analysis on their own personal aesthetic views in relation to contemporary views about art.
While there are no formal prerequisites, students must be prepared for advanced-level work as some of works are challenging readings and require critical writing and research skills. It is also recommended that students have achieved the equivalent of lower-level learning in the arts or cultural studies.
This course fully meets the general education requirement in The Arts.
Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas. 1997-2002:
- Fine Arts Appreciation (lower level, 3 credits)
- Regional Dances of Mexico (upper level, 3 credits)
- Dance Across World Cultures (lower level, 3 credits)
- Ballet Folklórico Ensemble (lower or upper level, variable credit)
- Movement for the Performing Arts (lower level, 3 credits)
- Ballroom, Latin, Swing and Social Dances (upper level, 3 credits)
- Instructional Technology and Faculty Development Workshops, 1999-2002
- CS 2306: Web Page Design and Management
University of California, Santa Barbara:
- Teaching Assistant, Department of Music, University of California, Santa Barbara: Music and Popular Culture in Twentieth-Century America 1994-1996
- Dance Instructor, Senior Summer School Program, Santa Barbara, California. 1995
- Director, Choreographer and Dance Instructor, University of California, Santa Barbara. Credit Workshops in Preparation for: Two Tahitian Creation Myths: A Contemporary Tahitian Dance Enactment. 1993-1995