CHA offers a wide range of courses focusing on topics from AI to the nature of celebrity. Read the descriptions and watch the videos to learn more about what's in store.
Instructor: Jessi Randall
As of August 2024, the Doomsday Clock is set at 90 seconds to midnight. In this course, students will explore representations of the apocalypse and the dystopian societies that come with it as they are represented in recent pop culture and literature. Students will then create their own collaborative worlds that result from the concerns they have about the fate of their world and will end with writing their own dystopian short fiction.
Instructor: Miguel Gomez
This class explores the cutting-edge world of artificial intelligence and its impact on society. Students will dive into the exciting possibilities of AI, while also reflecting on the ethical challenges and the importance of character in shaping technology that benefits everyone. Through hands-on activities, discussions, and real-world examples, this course encourages critical thinking about the role of AI in our future and empowers students to envision a world where innovation meets integrity.
Instructor: Ray Horton
Don DeLillo's 1985 campus novel White Noise begins by describing move-in day at the idyllic College on the Hill. "They feel a sense of renewal, of communal recognition...they are a collection of the like-minded and the spiritually akin." This course will explore how American universities have been depicted in fiction, film, and television. Through our reading and discussions, we will consider cultural portrayals of the campus as a source of "communal recognition" for "the like-minded" alongside scholarly debates in the field of critical university studies, reckoning with the diversity of meanings universities can hold for those whose lives they touch.
Instructor: Najib Sahyoun
This course is an introduction to forensic accounting, with an emphasis on fraud examination. The course covers the principles of forensic accounting, fraud prevention, and fraud detection. Students will explore how and why fraud occurs in organizations, learn how to deter and detect it, and learn how to investigate fraud allegations. Major fraud techniques are covered through lectures, videos, cases, interview techniques, and the use of data mining software. This course is beneficial for a diverse range of students, as the acquired skills can be applied in various professions such as accounting, finance, management, criminal justice, paralegal studies, and psychology.
Instructor: Todd Terry
Students will explore world cultures through playing music, participating in folk dancing, and critical listening. They will compare and contrast aspects of their own cultures and the content cultures in order to broaden their own perspectives. Students will explore music and dance in North America (including Caribbean and Latin America), South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Instructor: David Pizzo
This course will allow students to explore the collapse of democratic systems in a variety of contexts, including Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, the Jim Crow South, and post-colonial regimes in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. We will focus on the circumstances that led to the failure of these democracies and the consequences that followed. We will also learn about how democratic systems were rebuilt in many of these cases after the end of their respective dictatorships.
Instructor: Andy Black
The title of William Shakespeare’s most famous play is not, of course, Juliet and Romeo. We met Romeo earlier than Juliet, even if Juliet dies last. But what happens when we rethink legendary stories based on the women who are either romantic objects or secondary to a male character’s development? In this class, we will do a very, very close reading of Romeo and Juliet, we’ll think about Shakespeare’s legacy and his peculiar ideas about gender, and we’ll think beyond the play to what’s at stake when men represent women, and how things change when women represent themselves.
Instructor: Marcie Hinton
In this rapidly evolving digital world, literacy means more than knowing how to use digital tools. Evaluating information and audiences require new thinking skills. Our goal is to consider the power of the tools, the story, the habit and the culture that the media creates. Join me in finding out the power you have right there in your smartphone.
Instructor: Kait Steward
Roll up your sleeves, and get your hands dirty in this 2D Art Course! Treat drawing like a science - learn observation techniques, create studies and experiments, and conduct your own artistic research! Learn about drawing of all styles, from dynamic expressionist scribbles, to perfected portraits, we’ll cover a little bit of everything. Throughout the course, you’ll make art pieces, discuss art history, and start dreaming up concepts for our very own exhibition! You don’t need any experience to start this artistic journey - just come ready to try! Let’s make weird art together.
Instructor: Ryan Goke
This course will teach students the fundamentals of debate, advocacy, & persuasion. By the end of the course students will be equipped to confidently tackle formal debates over history, pop culture, politics, and current events. They will also have cultivated the necessary skills to discuss any topic in an informed and respectful way.
If you have questions about courses, please contact Dr. Laura Sullivan-Beckers at lbeckers@murraystate.edu