Apocalyptic Geographies (GEOG 2N) explores various visions of the apocalypse and their relevance for addressing major contemporary social, ecological, and economic issues. These issues include global climate change, nuclear war, the growing refugee crisis, the breakdown of democratic governance, economic recession and forms of everyday violence and social fracture. Students will develop and employ critical and analytical thinking skills to engage a diversity of texts from the humanities (e.g., historical and literary accounts, graphic novels, films and other historical and contemporary media) and contemporary popular culture in order to situate these apocalyptic visions in particular historical, cultural, and political contexts. Students will utilize integrative thinking skills and an interdisciplinary geographic approach to connect these visions with contemporary social issues in order to consider how we might address these complex problems while imagining and actualizing alternative futures. Students will practice global learning, drawing on course material that engages U.S. and cross-cultural perspectives in recognition of the global reach of the interconnected social, economic, political, and cultural systems that shape humanity's shared fate.

Rhetoric and Composition (ENGL 15) an intensive, rhetorically based experience in reading and writing that will prepare you both to understand the communications that surround you and to succeed in your own communication efforts. Thus, in this course, we will focus specifically on analyzing verbal and visual texts (our reading) as well as on producing such texts (our writing), always in terms of rhetorical principles. ENGL 15 fulfills 3 credits of the writing and speaking requirement for general education.