2012: Prophecy, Apocalypse
This course examines American ideas about the “End of Times” including the Mayan calendar, Ghost dance religions, New Religious Movements, the Nation of Islam, the Millerites and the Left Behind books and films. Students will explore the enduring appeal and persuasiveness of these traditions at varied points in American history.

Anatomy of Fiction: Birdwatching & the Art of Writing
“Show, don’t tell” is a common adage applied to writers addressing worldly philosophical and aesthetic questions. Through bird watching, flanerie, and meditation students practice writing processes of observation and description. Course focus is on writing demonstrative of the five senses, details of experience/watching, and rich in descriptive language.

Art in Los Angeles Now
Providing insight and understanding of current issues and trends in contemporary art practice, Art in Los Angeles Now will immerse students in the thriving art scene of Los Angeles through visits to artist studios, and selected museum and gallery exhibitions—L.A.’s thriving incubators of world class art.

Brain & Behavior
This course provides a basic introduction to the biological bases of human and animal behavior. Topics include: how environmental information is detected, transduced and processed by the central nervous system; the physiological bases of learning and memory, emotions, drugs and consciousness.

Community Learning & Literature
This is a community learning course in which Pitzer and community students explore the social, aesthetic and community-building value of autobiography through reading, writing, multimedia and other interdisciplinary forms of self-narration. Classes are organized around student-centered community learning through creative writing and/or creative projects and feminist theory at an off-campus community based location.

Contemporary Curatorial Practice
Contemporary Curatorial Practice is a seminar course that will introduce students to the recent history, theory and practice surrounding contemporary curatorship through an examination of various exhibition models, case studies of specific exhibitions, and curators who employ unique curatorial strategies that have come to define the field.

Ethnoecology
We investigate the ecological understandings of various peoples, from so called “fourth world” hunters and gatherers to “first world” scientists. We study beliefs about the relationship between humans and the environment as expressed in both Western science and the traditions of Native peoples, and we explore where these cultural systems of knowing intersect and diverge.

Film, Politics and the Cold War
The purpose of this class is to study American socio-political culture during the Cold War through popular films made during this era. Although the films selected represent a small sample of those made, each was purposely selected to capture the mindset of Americans during the five decades of the Cold War. .

Further Works in Mixed Media
A studio course in mixed media/sculpture for the student with some experience in three-dimensional art studio work. Projects are designed to develop ideas, personal expression and expertise using a variety of materials and techniques. Enrollment is limited. Program fee: $60. Additional student expense: $40.

Gender, Race & Class
We will explore the contemporary experience of minority groups in the U.S. through the experiences of women. We will focus our attention on the matrix of domination and writings by women of color. The course focuses on the socioeconomic and political conditions that affect people of color in the United States.

God, Darwin and Design
This course explores relationships between scientific and religious ideas in the United States from the early nineteenth century to the present. Topics include: natural theology, religious and other responses to Darwinian evolution, the Scopes trial, and legal battles over teaching Creationism and Intelligent Design in public schools, among others.

Introduction to 20th Century World Literature
This is the second half of a two-semester course exploring the aesthetic, historical, multicultural, and philosophical contexts of late nineteenth to twentieth-century American literature and culture.

Introduction to African-American Literature
This course is a survey of the major periods, authors, and genres in the 20th century African American literary tradition. This course covers the major literatures produced from the late nineteenth century to the contemporary period.

Introduction to Media Studies
This course introduces the discipline of media studies to students and gives them the foundation of knowledge in the field to move through more advanced courses. The readings and screenings comprise a range of approaches that will allow students to address media in a variety of styles and modes of practice, including film, television, and new media.

Mixed Media/Sculpture
A studio course in the use of mixed media techniques and materials including but not limited to assemblage, sculpture, photography and 3-D structures. Emphasis on exploring the unique properties of materials and incorporating diverse mediums to express personal and innovative developments. Enrollment is limited. Program fee: $60. Additional student expense: $40.

Novel on Screen
This class explores the intersections of literature and film to investigate how the dialogue between the two media enhances our reading experience of the printed word while developing new kinds of visual literacy. The class will focus on a selection of canonical British novels from the post-1780 period that have been adapted for film.

Plant Biotechnology in a Greener World
This natural science course will delve into plant biotechnology and how these techniques can be used to effect the social physical limitations of food, drugs and energy. The positive and negative aspects of genetically-engineered crops will be discussed. Methods for analyzing current controversial issues will be taught.

Psychological Statistics
A pragmatic introduction to experimental design, collection, and analysis of data in contemporary psychological research. Descriptive and inferential statistics will be covered. Use of computer programs for data analysis will be emphasized.

Psychology in Media: Evaluating Claims
Students will employ psychological research to evaluate the accuracy and generalizability of media-based claims about the causes of human behavior. The intensive seminar requires full participation in all discussions and completion of daily writing assignments.

Psychology of Close Relationships
This course introduces leading theoretical perspectives employed by social psychologists studying close romantic relationships. We will examine relationship-relevant constructs (e.g., attraction, break-up) through the lenses offered by these theories. This intensive seminar requires full participation in all discussions and completion of daily writing assignments.

Public Speaking for Social Change
Effective public speaking is an essential skill for proponents of social change.  The goal of this course is to build student speaking skills through intensive practical training, peer feedback, observation of online speeches, and engagement with literature on technical communication and strategies of social influence.

Sociology of Religion
This course will look at religion in the contemporary world, paying attention to social dynamics and social issues. Many field trips planned to various religious communities.

Sociology through Film
Thus course will use films (both narrative and documentary) to explore and illustrate key sociological concepts and questions.

Survey of American Literature: 1880-Present
This is the second half of a two-semester course exploring the aesthetic, historical, multicultural, and philosophical contexts of late nineteenth to twentieth-century American literature and culture.

Survey of British Literature: Romantics to the 20th Century
A survey of the important texts and contexts from mid-18th century to the present, with attention to representations of class, gender, race, sexuality, age, and other aspects of identity.

Vampires in Literature & Film
Vampires have proven to be an enduring cross-cultural icon, a repository of our anxieties, fears, and hidden desires. The particular tradition we follow begins with the late 18th-Century social and political upheavals in Britain and the Continent. We trail the vampire through the 19th-Century to the present. What can the vampire teach us about ourselves and others?

Women & Human Rights
This seminar will use three windows to look into women’s experiences with the human rights globally, namely: a) war, liberation movements and struggles as a way to examine how women fare in the political arena; b) food as an example of women’s access and control over basic economic resources in places as far as Asia and Africa, and as close as US inner cities; and c) women and the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa.

World in a Nutshell: The Short Story
A close study of the short story genre, focusing on such authors as Hawthorne, James, Hemingway, Joyce, Porter, Faulkner, O’Connor, Elkin, Roth, Olsen, Malamud, and Updike. In addition to reading and writing about the stories of others, students will be writing and revising stories of their own.