Integrative & Global Studies Department (DIGS)

By using material from the sciences and the humanities, this course examines the ways in which ideas of knowledge and of human nature have been fashioned. The specific topics include physical theories about light, biological and psychological theories of visual perception, and artistic theories and practices concerned with representation. The mixing of material from different academic disciplines is deliberate, and meant to counter the notion that human pursuits are “naturally” arranged in the neat packages found in the modern university. The course draws upon the physical and social sciences, and the humanities, to examine how those fields relate to one another, and how they produce knowledge and self-knowledge. Cultural as well as disciplinary factors are assessed in this process. Light, Vision and Understanding is conducted as a seminar. The diverse collection of reading materials includes a number of primary texts in different fields. In addition, the students keep a journal in which they record the results of numerous individual observations and experiments concerning light and visual perception. The course can fit into several Humanities and Arts topic areas as well as serve as a starting point for an IQP. There are no specific requirements for this course, although some knowledge of college-level physics, as well an acquaintance with the visual arts, is helpful. This course will be offered in 2022-23, and in alternating years thereafter.

The Great Problems Seminars (GPS) are a two course sequence designed to engage Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s first-year students with current events, societal problems, and human needs. Each seminar starts with an important problem and introduces some of the key disciplinary tools that could be used to attack the problem. The focus for most of the second course will be a research project related to the GPS theme. Students will present their project work in a poster session at the end of the second term. Each seminar is developed and presented by an interdisciplinary pair of faculty. To participate, students must enroll in the two course sequence. Academic credit for the GPS will depend on the theme and the faculty who develop the seminar.

This course is open to all students who are undecided about or are thinking about changing their academic major. Students will conduct a self-assessment utilizing career assessment tools, research majors of interest and career paths, attend major panels, speak to students/faculty in majors of interest, and participate in informational interviews with alumni. Students will meet individually with Peer Advisors and/or a CDC staff member at least three times throughout the course.

Every student that graduates from WPI has a major, but what about a mission? This course helps participants explore their personal values, strengths, and talents and the ways they can use these personal characteristics to improve the world around them. Through the course, participants will identify a personal mission and a plan to work toward achieving their mission. Participants will explore the ways their major and their mission can intersect. Students may not receive credit for ID 200X and ID 2000.

In this course, we will learn about the principles of epidemiology and the role epidemiologist play in responding to disease outbreaks and promoting public health through exploration of a series of real life cases studies. We will analyze the burden of communicable diseases today and emerging disease. We will discuss the role of current health practices and priorities as well as global organization and institutional players. Students will be introduced to the basic principles and methods used in epidemiology to study the distribution and determinants of disease in human populations and in the development of prevention and intervention strategies. The course will take an interdisciplinary approach as epidemiologist relay on many different disciplines such as biology for understanding disease processes, statistics for making efficient and appropriate use of data, social science for understanding behavior, and engineering for analysis and assessment tools. Class sessions will consist of lecture, intensive small group discussion, and case analyses. This course will be offered in 2022-23, and in alternating years thereafter.

Through Latin American and Caribbean films, and other media sources, this course studies images, topics, and cultural and historical issues related to modern Latin American and the Caribbean. Within the context and influence of the New Latin American Cinema and/or within the context of the World Wide Web, radio, newspapers, and television the course teaches students to recognize cinematographic or media strategies of persuasion, and to understand the images and symbols utilized in the development of a national/regional identity. Among the topics to be studied are: immigration, gender issues, national identity, political issues, and cultural hegemonies. Taught in advanced level Spanish. May be used toward Modern Language Minor, or Major. This course will be offered in 2021-22, and in alternating years thereafter. This course satisfies the Inquiry Practicum requirement.

The basis of this course is a comparative study and analysis of specific Latin American and Caribbean business practices and environments, and the customs informing those practices. ID 3526/SP 3526 focuses on countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico, and Costa Rica. The course’s main objective is to study communication strategies, business protocol, and negotiation practices in the countries mentioned above. Through oral presentations and written essays, students will have the opportunity to explore other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Taught in advanced level Spanish. May be used toward Modern Language Minor, or Major. This course will be offered in 2022-23, and in alternating years thereafter. This course satisfies the Inquiry Practicum requirement.

The course focuses on the linguistic concepts, terminology, and grammar involved in business and technical Spanish. Students will be required to produce and edit business documents such as letters, job applications, formal oral and written reports, etc. The objective of this course is to help students develop the basic written and oral communication skills to function in a business environment in Latin America and the Caribbean. This course will be offered in 2021-22, and in alternating years thereafter.

A survey of Caribbean literature and arts that takes a multimedia approach to examining the different voices that resonate from the Spanish Caribbean and what appears to be a constant search for identity. By studying the works of major authors, films, music and the plastic arts, we will examine the socio-cultural context and traditions of this region in constant search for self-definition. Special attention will be given to the influential role ethnicity, colonialism, gender and socio-economic development play in the interpretation of works from Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Venezuela as well as those of the Caribbean diaspora. This course is taught in Spanish. This course will be offered in 2021-22, and in alternating years thereafter.

Through Spanish films, and other media sources, this course studies images, topics, and cultural and historical issues that have had an impact in the creation of a modern Spanish nation. This course focuses on current political and ideo-logical issues (after 1936), the importance of Spanish Civil War, gender identity, and class, cultural and power relationships. This course is taught in Spanish. This course will be offered in 2022-23, and in alternating years thereafter. This course satisfies the Inquiry Practicum requirement.

This course introduces students to the field of Latino studies, paying particular attention to the cultural productions of U.S. Latinos in film, theater, music, fiction writing and cultural criticism. At the same time that this course reflects upon a transnational framework for understanding the continuum between U.S. Latinos and Latin American/Caribbean communities, we closely examine more U.S. based arguments supporting and contesting the use of Latino as an ethnic-racial term uniting all U.S. Latino communities. We examine the ways in which U.S. Latinos have manufactured identities within dominant as well as counter cultural registers. In this course, special attention is given to the aesthetics of autobiography and to how Latino writers experiment with this genre in order to address changing constructions of immigration, language, exile, and identity. This course is taught in English. This course will be offered in 2022-23, and in alternating years thereafter. This course satisfies the Inquiry Practicum requirement.