Prep Time

With the start of school one week away, I sat down today and pulled together various syllabi. Believe it or not, I think I'm about ready to go. I need to make a phone call tomorrow and make sure e-reserve readings are in place sometime in the next week or two. As I'm using the same readings as last semester, that shouldn't be much trouble for the library staff. Here's a list of the classes I'm teaching along with a basic description of the course.

SPCC 100: Communication and Popular Culture
Course Objectives: This course traces the evolution of popular culture studies in the twentieth century. Through a decade by decade analysis of pop culture artifacts, as well as the approaches taken by popular culture researchers and critics, we will examine how dominant societal discourses, cultural myths, individual identities, and institutional ideologies are reified and subverted.

The goals of this class are to: 1. introduce students to a theoretical vocabulary for analyzing how people use popular culture; 2. examine the tension between popular culture’s powerful impact on our culture versus people’s ability to use the media actively in their everyday lives; 3. explore how popular culture in the post-World War II United States, particularly in regard to representations of gender, race, sexual orientation, and class, has both reinforced and shaped our history and culture; 4. encourage students to view themselves as critical consumers and users of popular culture.

SP 310: Interpersonal Communication Skills
This class is designed to help you become more aware of the processes, nuances, and skills of interpersonal communication. The basic philosophy of the course is that you should be able to make reasoned and responsible choices in your interpersonal relationships. In order to make these choices, you must know what is functional and dysfunctional in relationships and possess a repertoire of skills to select from to perform the alternatives you choose. In addition, knowing who you are, including your strengths and weaknesses, and having a positive, realistic self concept is essential to successful interpersonal relationships. As such, course objectives include the following: 1) to increase your understanding of interpersonal communication processes in relationships, 2) to increase your understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses in interpersonal communication, and 3) to develop your skills in interpersonal communication.

SP 317: Women and Communication
The issue on which this class focuses is the relationship between women and communication. The course is designed to explore three general areas: conceptual foundations in the study of gender, gendered communication in practice, and communication in women's culture. Each area is designed to give students an understanding of the ways in which language functions to create or prohibit identities, the ways in which communication is used differently and similarly between genders, and the ways in which some communication styles and practices may be unique to women. The course also is designed to assist students in appreciating and understanding communication not only as it relates to white, heterosexual women, but also as it relates to lesbian women and women of color.

How's that for a variety of classes?