Humanities Course Descriptions

HUM 301: Ideas That Shaped America , 4 credits

This Term-in-Europe course explores ideas from America’s European heritage that shaped modern America.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Have experienced a "classroom at large" approach to ideas from a European/Eastern influence.
2. Have investigated the culture and attendant values of other people on site.
3. Have researched through readings, viewings and first hand experience the ideas of the past that affect the present.
4. Possess an enhanced sensitivity to alien environments by observing and interacting with the residents of those cultures.
5. Have had the experience of assimilating observations, discussing them, and writing essays on literature assignments.
6. Possess a heightened respect for opinions and lifestyles other than their own.
7. Have discovered the strong influence of time and space on changes from old Europe to today's America.
8. Appreciate the impact of art, literature, and music on a populace.
9. Have seen illustrations of unrecognized power concomitant with cultural achievement.
10. Have captured the essence of varieties of European culture through personal interaction.

HUM 302: Survey of Western Art , 4 credits

This Term-in-Europe course explores Western Art through first-hand visits to European cultural centers and classroom lectures.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Have gained an overview of the development of Western Art from the prehistoric to contemporary phases.
2. Have gained a familiarity with the masterpieces of the great museums, and place them in historical contexts.
3. Understand the considerations that motivate artists.
4. Be able to identify with confidence the representative period of an art work through an analysis of style, technique, and subject matter.
5. Possess a deepened understanding of the values and aspirations of different periods mirrored in high art.
6. Possess an appreciation of art movements as reflections of broad philosophical and ideological debates.
7. Be able to identify with historical periods more deeply through exposure to artistic and visual decor of those times, with emphasis on architecture, costume, and interior design.
8. Possess a life-long interest in Art.
9. Possess strength of spirit and articulation powers through enhanced exposure to great art works.

HUM 310: Creativity , 4 credits

Raising awareness of the students’ innate creative abilities, understanding the value of creativity as an important tool in their personal and professional lives. Students will acquire the resources and techniques for stimulating creative thinking and facilitating creative problem solving. Course includes ample opportunities for self actualization through individual and group exercises. Guest speakers demonstrate the value of creativity.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Have increased his/her creative consciousness. 
2. Appreciate the importance of creativity in his/her personal and professional life. 
3. Understand the research and theories concerning creativity. 
4. Have been exposed to various characteristics, techniques, processes, and testing measurements of creativity. 
5. Have acquired the tools and techniques for exercising and enhancing creativity. 
6. Understand the functioning of the brain and how its processes affect creativity. 
7. Be aware of habit and its inhibition of creativity. 
8. Understand the relationship between creativity, fear, change, and risk. 
9. Be able to apply creativity as a practical resource in problem solving. 
10. Know how to foster creativity in group settings and how to organize for creativity within the business environment.

HUM 311: Introduction to Philosophy , 4 credits

The development of thought and wisdom from ancient to modern concepts as described in the writings of the great philosophers.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand and be able to participate in philosophical discussions.
2. Be able to write cogent essays on philosophical issues based on their reading and their own ideas, supporting with pertinent data.
3. Be able to independently assess complex issues, while developing open-mindedness.
4. Understand on a more profound level such concepts as free will and determinism, time, reality and illusion, God, nature, humanism, and ethical choices.
5. Understand philosophy's role in business.
6. Understand man's relationship with a higher order.
7. Recognize various levels of awareness (consciousness) while continuing to develop personal philosophies.
8. Understand that philosophy is the development of a coherent view of the world, which will counter indicate improve performance in the marketplace.
9. Understand the self in context with growth and change.
10. Understand cultural reality, which will aid in dealing with business people from other lands.
11. Have developed logical thinking.
12. Be able to write and speak with deeper conviction and confidence on matters of philosophical consequence.

HUM 312: Introduction to Art , 4 credits

A survey of visual media, past and present, with particular emphasis on expressionism and realism and how they mirror society. Technique as well as theory is discussed.

HUM 313: Introduction to Music, 4 credits

The study of music from the past and present, and its impact on our culture. Included is a survey of music from historic periods and the relationship of this auditory art form to other areas of the humanities.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the fundamentals of music, including pitch, tone, rhythm, meter, and dynamics.
2. Know the various orchestral and non-orchestral musical instruments and the families into which they are grouped.
3. Know and be able to distinguish between types and ranges of the human voice.
4. Understand the origins and development of a variety of musical styles and forms.
5. Understand the events and philosophies of the Western world that helped shape music of a given period.
6. Understand the contributions of major composers.
7. Experience increased enjoyment of musical performance through heightened awareness of content and form.
8. Possess increased intercultural awareness through exposure to music of diverse culture.
9. Write with confidence a cogent review of a live musical event.

HUM 314: Introduction to Modern Art, 4 credits

A chronological survey of major art movements beginning with Romanticism and culminating in the most recent developments in painting and sculpture.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand development of artistic expression from Romanticism to the present.
2. Understand that all art logically grows out of its predecessors, while recognizing the differences between influence and plagiarism.
3. Be able to analyze an art piece from a variety of criteria.
4. Realize that spiritually manifests itself in a variety of ways.
5. Appreciate changes in artistic styles.
6. Understand the effect of political oppression on artists of the period.
7. Be able to correlate cultural impulses felt by artists and echoed in their works with responsive chords in audiences.
8. Be able to recognize artistic styles and appreciate them on their own terms.
9. Be able to equate other areas of the humanities to painting and sculpture.

HUM 315: Introduction to Film Art, 4 credits

A survey of film past, and present, with particular emphasis on the elements of film form and style. A history of film and survey of genres and styles is included.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to correlate techniques with content, seeing the interdependence of content and form.
2. Understand the subtext of a film through the use of editing, sound, cinematography, and mi se-en-scene.
3. Be able to articulate a brief history of cinema with emphasis on hallmarks in the industry.
4. Understand that cinema is a distillation of reality as an actor- or image-centered director see it.
5. Understand the contributions of major film theorists and directors.
6. Be able to distinguish between film as art vs. commercialism.
7. Be able to write a cogent film critique.
8. Appreciate the cultural diversity and symbolic challenge of "foreign" films.
9. Be able to diagnose sequence by sequence the importance of a film like Citizen Kane and discuss why it stands as a landmark film. '
10. Understand the challenges of translating a written form to the screen.

HUM 320: Critical Appreciation of the Arts, 4 credits

An introduction to the humanities that focuses on the special role of the arts (painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, drama, music, dance, film, and photography) as forms of human expression. Attention is given to definitions of art and various critical approaches to the arts in order to establish a foundation for critical response.

HUM 321: General Humanities, 4 credits

Beginning with the advent of the Renaissance, this course traces the humanistic aspects of our intellectual development, as that development is manifested in architecture, economic theory, literature, music, painting, philosophy, political theory, and sculpture.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to identify the characteristics of style in works from their respective periods and cultures.
2. Understand the interdisciplinary influence of the issues, beliefs, and concerns of structure and meaning.
3. Be able to enjoy ay artistic performance more fully by developing consciousness of structure and meaning.
4. Be able to succeed as business people through their exposure to the arts.
5. Be able to help others think better of themselves by learning adaptability and humility, and by enhancing viability.

HUM 322: Design Principles, 4 credits

Exploration of human reaction to visual stimuli and their use to solve problems and make decisions in business and personal life. The goal is that students will make better functional, practical and economic visual judgments.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the importance of creative thinking as a tool for business success, and how design is the structure used to turn ideas into action.
2. Be able to justify business decisions on the basis of their design of best economy, efficiency, personal satisfaction, and pride.
3. Be able to define and execute projects which reflect creative thinking, organizational and visual power, clarity of vision, and communicative strength.
4. Understand that symbolism provides the quickest and most powerful communication in the corporate and private worlds.
5. Understand historical and contemporary design philosophies.
6. Be familiar with the process of creating design.
7. Have a developed criteria for judging good design.
8. Understand the aesthetic considerations of design (ergonomics) within business.
9. Have gained exposure from business leaders speaking on the importance of design in business.

HUM 350: Honors Seminar, 1 credit

Humanities honors seminar for Juniors.
Prerequisite: Approval of Academic Dean

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Have pursued a specialized study of an art form, style, manner of expression, governing idea, or theme of historical or contemporary interest.
2. Have refined their analytical abilities through additional research and application of concepts.
3. Appreciate the arts more fully through their understanding of the expressive, emotive, and communicative powers of art.
4. Have gained an expanded view of what it is to be an individual human in a technocratic world.
5. Have sharpened their ability to form insightful questions and argue persuasively, logically, and assertively while seeking divergent points of view.