Summer 2013 Courses at The American University of Paris - France

Uses the unsurpassed richness of the art museums of Paris as the principal teaching resource. The history of Western Art is studied through the close examination of a limited selection of major works in a variety of media. The works chosen illuminate the political, social and religious contexts of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque and Rococo periods, and the modern epoch. The course has an extra course fee of 25 euros.

Discusses the stylistic and thematic concerns of Manet, Monet, Degas, Pissarro, and Renoir, in the context of artistic theory and practice in mid-19th-century France. Analyzes the art of Gauguin, Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Seurat as responses to impressionism. Classes at the Musee d'Orsay are scheduled regularly. AH 1020 is strongly recommended as a prerequisite.

Focuses on the fundamentals of drawing. This course is intended for both beginners and advanced students. Concentrates on specific graphic elements such as line, composition, and form, that provide the beginner with the basic tools needed for personal expression. Still life, on-site drawing in Paris, visits to museums, portrait and figure drawing with models are included. More advanced students are encouraged to develop their own styles and to review drawing concepts.

Paris and its surroundings will be used as the model for this introductory painting class. This exceptional setting has inspired artists for centuries, and students will work outside as well as study the wealth of images of Paris to develop their artistic possibilities and choose a direction for themselves. Initially, basic drawing and painting techniques will be taught with an emphasis on how to convey space, light, and volume to capture the beauty of the city. Progressively, students will be encouraged to paint in a more personal and expressive manner. Oil paint is recommended, but other media are welcome.

Introduces the basics of financial accounting and reporting for corporations. Studies how to measure and record accounting data and prepare financial statements. Emphasizes the effects of transactions on the financial condition of a company and explores the technical aspects of the principles underlying published financial statements.

Introduces marketing concepts and their use in contemporary management. Considers how individuals and firms process information to make decisions, and how firms determine and meet customer demands and needs. Through lectures, discussions, case studies, and written analyses, the course examines the marketing function from a strategic and functional point of view. Considers marketing in the US and in an international context.

Provides conceptual tools for the personal and professional development of future business graduates. Explores the responsibilities of managers and those engaged in business from a deontological and consequentialist perspective. Discusses the roles and responsibilities of organizations as corporate citizens. Learning methods include the use of case studies, individual reflective thinking and group discussions.

Focuses on identifying and solving managerial problems that occur in the production and the delivery of goods and services. Studies project management, job design, capacity and layout planning, forecasting, inventory and quality control. Includes a mixture of mathematical models and case studies that help illustrate practical applications of the concepts.

Paris has always been a fertile meeting ground for artists and stimulates the imaginations of newcomers, immigrants and natives alike. Writers, artists and—in the 20th century—filmmakers have come together in this magical space and shared their fascination with a city of lights, communally recognizing its potential to become home to their fantasies and at times, their despair. Students consider how the Parisian urban landscape is imagined differently by French native vs. expatriate or immigrant writers and filmmakers. They study the comparative methods for visualizing the city unique to writers and filmmakers respectively and gain historical perspective on the central place played by Paris in the evolution of literature and cinema. Titles for viewing and critical reading include: Alain Resnais’ Same Old Song and I Want to Go Home, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and its contexts; André Breton’s Nadja; Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast; Raymond Queneau’s Zazie in the Metro and André Techiné’s The Girl on the RER. The post-war transatlantic jazz scene will also be studied through Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight.

Introduces Web publishing in 12 sessions. Students will learn the basics of HTML and the use of at least one HTML editor. Site publishing including file structures, image and sound files will be covered.

The skills learned in this course will prepare students for upper-division communication courses, and provide students with basic research methods in the field of communication. Students will become familiar with a range of research methods (survey, interview, ethnography, discourse, and political economy).

Studies rhetoric as a historical phenomenon and as a practical reality. Considers how words and images are used to convince and persuade individuals of positions, arguments or actions to undertake, with particular attention to advertising, politics and culture. Studies the use of reason, emotion, and commonplaces, and compares visual and verbal techniques of persuasion.

Topics vary. Using analytic skills learned in core courses, students work with an AUP faculty member, visiting scholar or professional in an area of current interest in the field to be determined by the instructor and the faculty of the Global Communications department.

Focuses on the role played by relative market prices in our society and on the forces of market supply and demand in determining these prices. Since the actions of consumers and firms underlie supply and demand, the course studies in detail the behavior of these two groups.

Examines the determinants of the levels of national income, employment, rates of interest, and prices. Studies in detail the instruments of monetary and fiscal policy, highlighting the domestic and international repercussions of their implementation.

Deals with the mechanisms of international trade and finance. Topics covered include the theory of trade, commercial policy, the international monetary system, the balance of payments adjustments process, regional economic integration, and the role of international organizations in international economic relations.

Studies the economic functions and structures of financial asset markets, financial intermediaries, and money. It also presents the role of the central bank in macroeconomic performance of open economies.

Emphasizes the stages required to produce a polished, articulate essay by practicing the necessary components of excellent academic writing: sharpening critical thinking skills, organizing ideas, choosing appropriate and dynamic words, varying prose style, editing, refining, and proofreading. Although this course carries 4 credits, it does not fulfill the University's English requirement.

Taught through thematically-linked works of literature from the Ancient world to the present day. Stresses expository writing, accurate expression, and logical organization of ideas in academic writing. Recent themes include: Childhood, Friendship from Aristotle to Derrida, Social Organization and Alienation, Monstrosity, and Music and Literature. This course satisfies only 4 credits of the University's English requirement.

A series of topic-centered courses refining the skills of academic essay writing, studying a wide range of ideas as expressed in diverse literary genres and periods. Introduces the analysis of literary texts and gives training in the writing of critical essays and research papers. Recent topics include: Utopia and Anti-Utopia, City as Metaphor, Portraits of Women, Culture Conflict, and Labyrinths.

Studies America's cinematic myth: Film Noir, a pessimistic style appearing in Hollywood in the 1940s. Films include: The Maltese Falcon, Shadow of a Doubt, The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Touch of Evil, Out of the Past, The Woman in the Window, Murder My Sweet, Force of Evil, Pickup on South Street, and Kiss Me Deadly. the course will culminate in an overview of how Film Noir stylistics have affected contemporary filmmaking practices in Paris and internationally, with specific attention to the use of noir principles in Parisian banlieues filmmaking.

A travers ce cours, les étudiant(e)s découvriront la gastronomie et l’art de la cuisine française tout en continuant à se perfectionner en langue française. Le cours permettra aux étudiant(e)s de découvrir l’histoire de la cuisine en France ainsi que l’évolution des mets et des arts de la table du 18ème siècle à aujourd’hui. Après une présentation historique de la culture culinaire française à travers les époques et les régions, le cours se proposera de faire découvrir aux étudiant(e)s les richesses culinaires françaises lors de visites d’ateliers d’artisans (boulangerie, chocolaterie, pâtisserie, fromagerie…). Au cours de ces visites les étudiant(e)s auront la possibilité d’assister et souvent de participer à la fabrication des différents produits et d’interroger les artisans sur les secrets de leur recette. Nous pourrons également participer à des ateliers culinaires et clore le cours par un repas gastronomique dans une brasserie ou un restaurant gastronomique parisien. Pour illustrer le contenu du cours des films ou des extraits de films seront visionnés : Le festin de Babette, Garçon, Les saveurs du Palais, Le chocolat, Entre les bras, Quatre saisons pour un festin….. Des frais supplémentaires (entre 150 et 200 euros) sont à prévoir pour les frais des visites et le repas final. 

Surveys major issues concerning gender and the science of psychology in an attempt to answer the question: why is there such a gender gap when women and men share more psychological similarities than differences? Topics include: developmental processes and gender; gender roles and stereotypes, biology and gender; cross-cultural perspectives of gender; social-cultural theories of gender; language and gender, emotions and gender, health and gender.

This course begins with a discussion of the ways in which capitalism has been understood as a cultural, political, social, and economic force in recent literature on globalization and political economy. It then follows the trajectory of global capitalist development, both in terms of its spatial expansion and its structural permutations over the last four centuries. The course will conclude with an examination of some visions of a post-capitalist future.

Introduces the Italian language with emphasis upon speaking, basic grammatical structure, with a particular focus on culture. Videos, CDs, plus a field trip, make this class an enjoyable challenge.

A General Education course designed for students majoring in subjects not requiring math skills, and those who dislike math. Projects are developed from a range of everyday situations: banking, the stock market, gambling, and even art. Meeting alternately in the classroom and the computer lab to develop mathematical models, students will develop quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. MA1005 is not open to students who have taken MA1010 or above.

Introduces the mathematical foundation of quantitative problem solving in economics, business, and other social sciences. Combines discussions on theory with computer-assisted explanation of the concepts introduced. Gives students an appreciation of the strengths and limitations of mathematical model building. Topics include: functions (linear, quadratic, exponential, logarithm), their graphs and applications, financial mathematics, linear programming, set theory, and probability.

Introduces the tools of statistical analysis. Combines theory with extensive data collection and computer-assisted laboratory work. Develops an attitude of mind accepting uncertainty and variability as part of problem analysis and decision-making. Topics include: exploratory data analysis and data transformation, hypothesis-testing and the analysis of variance, simple and multiple regression with residual and influence analyses.

Introduces differential and integral calculus. Develops the concepts of calculus as applied to polynomials, logarithmic, and exponential functions. Topics include: limits, derivatives, techniques of differentiation, applications to extrema and graphing; the definite integral; the fundamental theorem of calculus, applications; logarithmic and exponential functions, growth and decay; partial derivatives. Appropriate for students in the biological, management, computer and social sciences.

Political philosophy forms that branch of philosophy that reflects on the specificity of the political. Why are humans, as Aristotle argued, political animals? How are they political? What are the means and ends of the political, and how best does one organize the political with such questions in mind? The course offers a topic-oriented approach to the fundamental problems underlying political theory and practice.

Political philosophy forms that branch of philosophy that reflects on the specificity of the political. Why are humans, as Aristotle argued, political animals? How are they political? What are the means and ends of the political, and how best does one organize the political with such questions in mind? The course offers a topic-oriented approach to the fundamental problems underlying political theory and practice.

This course analyses the basic setting, structure and dynamics of world politics with emphasis on current global problems, practices and processes. In doing so, it introduces the major theoretical approaches to international politics, and uses theory as a methodological tool for analyzing sources of change and causes of conflict and/or cooperation in the global arena.

This course examines the nature of knowledge claims in political science: how we know what we know and how certain we are. Research schools, the nature of description and explanation in political science, and basis issues of quantitative analysis will form the core elements of this course, while substantive themes may vary each year.

This course provides an in-depth analysis of European Union (EU) law. The student will study the historical development of the EU, the institutions which create its laws and conduct its legislative process, and the general principles of EU law. It will then focus upon substantive policy areas and conclude by analyzing EU progress toward a common foreign and security policy.

Examines the role of force, including coercive diplomacy, in contemporary international relations. Considers definitions of national security, alliance systems, force structures, force deployments, and coercive diplomacy. Examines the entire spectrum of force from terrorism and counter-terrorism, insurgency and counter-insurgency, low-intensity conflict, to conventional and nuclear weapon systems.

Surveys major issues concerning gender and the science of psychology in an attempt to answer the question: why is there such a gender gap when women and men share more psychological similarities than differences? Topics include: developmental processes and gender; gender roles and stereotypes, biology and gender; cross-cultural perspectives of gender; social-cultural theories of gender; language and gender, emotions and gender, health and gender.

This course is intended to introduce non-scientists to key concepts and approaches in the study of the environment. With a focus on the scientific method, we learn about natural systems using case studies of disruptions caused by human activity. Topics include global warming, deforestation, waste production and recycling, water pollution, environmental toxins and sustainable development. The relationships between science and policy, the media, and citizen action are also addressed. Must take lab.

Must take lab A or B.

Lab times:

Lab A    MR: 9:00 - 11:30

Lab B    TF:  9:00 - 11:30

Covers topics of basic observational astronomy and introduces topics of modern astrophysics. Topics include earth-based astronomy, the telescope, the solar system, and planetary motion. Studies the properties of the atom and of light and discusses the new space observatories before considering astrophysics: the birth, evolution, and death of stars, galaxy formation, and evidence for the expansion of the universe.

Must take lab A or B.

Lab times:

Lab A    MR: 11:45 - 14:15

Lab B    MR: 14:30 - 17:00