Interdisciplinary Studies

This course will introduce students to the organization of information, concepts underlying the research process and the changing nature of information resources. It will enable students to formulate and clearly define a research topic and plan a search strategy. Students will leave the course with the skills required to locate information utilizing online research databases, the internet, online catalogs, print sources and reference tools. Students will be encouraged to become better critical thinkers as they analyze and evaluate the information and materials they gather. Skills acquired in this class will form the foundation for doing research in classes at Sage and will support inquiry for life-long learning.

This team-taught, first-year course is all about making connections - with other students, between the student and the broader Sage College of Albany community, between curricular and co-curricular areas of the College, and among academic disciplines/areas. By creating connections within these environments, student learning will be enhanced and deepened, ultimately fostering integrative learning, an essential skill in education and the workplace. This course will address and measure the following "Literacies of Connections:" financial literacy, values literacy, health and wellness literacy, and technology literacy. Freshmen and transfer students with less than 21 credits are required to complete this course in their first year.

Alternative dispute resolution involves the study of the theoretical and practical aspects of resolving conflict outside of the courtroom. ADR generally includes mediation, arbitration, conciliation, family and community conferencing, and other methods of nonviolent conflict resolution and includes both binding and non- binding methods. The course will address the resolution of conflict in a variety of settings and in a number of different contexts. The course will include an introduction to ADR in general and the application of mediation techniques specifically. As part of the course, students will complete 25 hours of mediating training to help prepare them to become a mediator in New York.

This course focuses on understanding issues that students will encounter as corporate, organizational, national, and global citizens from both legal and ethical perspectives. The course will explore the historical and cultural significance of citizenship issues in a diverse society and in relation to the modern world Individuals' duties and responsibilities as workers, consumers voters, and human beings in an effort to understand the diverse perspectives and conflicting demands on people in their various citizenship roles.

The course will survey the history of American film from the birth of film in the 1890s to the present and will look at film genres, like the war film, history film, comedies, crime films, etc. The course covers both the history of film and how film portrays historical issues and events. We will focus on American film, but we will use a few examples of foreign films that clarify how film portrays history or are essential to understand the development of American film. This course will explore how films portray historical, political, social, and cultural issues and view film from the disciplines of history, political science, and film studies.

This lecture and discussion course will explore significant topics in western and non-western art. Each semester the course is offered, students will focus on a particular culture and learn to analyze the visual systems that express characteristic ideas and values. Each student will undertake an independent research project. The final class project will result in a comprehensive web based publication and will include both text and images. May be repeated for credit.

This interdisciplinary seminar course focuses on special topics. Topics change from term to term.

The course looks at the interaction between film, history, and politics with an emphasis on what films tells about American history, politics, race relations, society, and culture. According to historian Steven Mintz films are "much more than mass entertainment" they are historical, political, and social documents of their time, like All the President's Men. The course looks at motion pictures and documentary films since non-fiction films provide another avenue to understand war, politics, social problems, race relations and anti-Semitism. Watching films requires the same critical thinking skills as reading texts and the course seeks to turn students from passive consumers to critical viewers who can evaluate the perspectives, messages, and themes contained in films.

This course is a study of the Italian Renaissance covering the 14th Century (Trecento), the 15th Century (Quattrocento), and the High Renaissance period of the early 16th Century. 16th Century Venetian art will be explored, as well as Mannerism and the late works of Michelangelo. The course focuses on the visual arts, painting, sculpture, and architecture, along with important literary sources which provide insights for the cultural, religious and philosophical ideas which define the period.