English

This course considers how American literature explores the relationship between various American peoples and the land from the earliest colonial settlements to the present day. It ranges across genres, from philosophical writing and journalism, through the novel and poetry, to the short story and theatre, to narrate the spaces that accommodate the current U.S.A and the contingency, precarity, and fragility of human and animal life upon them. From famed urban spaces, through the plantations that perpetuated slavery, to ideas of the wilderness and the seascapes of the whaling industry, the course tracks how literary texts of the U.S. canon and countercanon manifest, and often too critique, American political projects and geographical fictions that have contributed to current environmental conditions. 

This course examines theoretical developments in the psychology of learning from a behavior analytic perspective. It provides definitions of the basic behavioral terminology and an overview of the emergence of the experimental analysis of behavior. By focusing on theoretically important experiments, it traces the evolution of behavior analytic research, starting with animal-based work using simple classical and operant conditioning paradigms and finishing by examining modern behavior analytic research on language and higher cognition in humans. The strong scientific tradition of behavior analysis is emphasized, as evidenced by rigorous measurement of behavior, precise specification of methods, and careful interpretation of outcomes.

The course provides an overview over some of the most important aspects of Nazi Germany – covering political, cultural, social and military history. The course provides insights into one of the darkest, most disturbing and most formative periods of modern European history. The course aims to pay particular attention to different and conflicting interpretations of how the Third Reich came into being and why Hitler’s dictatorship proved to be one of the most murderous in history. Particular attention is paid to racial thinking, the Holocaust and the question of European collaboration with the Nazis. The course aims to improve the students’ capacity to engage with historical interpretations and different methodological approaches.
 

This course offers an overview of sociological approaches to law as social relationships and social institution. It gives an overview of theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues discussed in the Sociology of Law as a sub-discipline. The themes of the course include questions of justice, law enforcement, legal professionalism, everyday 'life' of law, social norms, and social change. These topics are scrutinised through both socio-legal and sociological methods. Drawing on theoretical approaches in legal studies, the course offers a variety of definitions of law that are then critically assessed with sociological tools. Hence, the broader question of the course is: What is law? What forms does the law take in our societies? How does law constitute the societies and do societies constitute the law? In other words, during the classes, we look at social, political, and historical aspects of the formation of justice as we know it.

The course covers literature in the Sociology of Law from classic authors (Marx, Durkheim, and Weber) to contemporary debates (feminist jurisprudence, queer criminology, etc.).

This course provides the knowledge and understanding about how cost and environmental issues affect the choice of design solutions and which measures need a longer-term perspective than others, in order to get back the investment costs or make the building sustainable. This course also provides the knowledge and understanding related to different types of actors’ interests (city-owned property owners, private property owners, property developers (build and sell), private homeowners, builders, and manufacturers). Also included are aspects of barriers and possibilities. The course presents methodology and tools for determining life cycle perspective issues like life-cycle costs and environmental certification. This can be used for evaluation, system design and to produce convincing arguments and facts for the client.

This creative writing course is intended for students with a strong interest in writing poetry and developing their artistic craft. In this course, students begin the work of critically assessing contemporary poetry as practicing poets. It explores some key concerns of contemporary poetry, including race, sexuality and the environment, and covers a range of poets working in both traditional and non-traditional forms. Using sample poems provided in class, alongside critical materials, students develop an informed critical idiom for the discussion and critique of contemporary poetry, and also work towards writing a small portfolio of their own poems. Students must be willing to produce new poems to deadline, and be prepared to have their work discussed in class. It is the responsibility of students to offer constructive and considered feedback to their peers during these weekly sessions. *Students are required to submit an application for this course. 

This introductory course focuses on the fundamentals of investment analysis and asset pricing. The course examines modern portfolio theory, the capital asset pricing model, arbitrage pricing theory, corporate and government securities, stock and bond valuations, and derivatives. Students are equipped with a foundational understanding of various investment alternatives and the methods used to assess their value. 

Topics include Investment environment and financial instruments, Capital allocation to risky assets, Efficient diversification, Capital asset pricing models, Arbitrage pricing theory, Bond prices and yields, Term structures, Equity valuation models, Option markets, Option valuation, Future markets.  

This course introduces students to the literary genres and theological contours of the Hebrew canon and its transmission, translation and interpretation in antiquity and in contemporary culture. The variety of terms used to designate the ‘Hebrew Bible’ (e.g. Old Testament, Hebrew Scriptures, Tanak) indicate the richness of traditions related to these writings, the various ways that they are viewed, and also their life within different communities at different times. This course orients students to the literary and theological contours of the Hebrew canon, introducing them to the rich variety of genres within. The exploration of the Pentateuch and Chronicler’s History provides a historiographical framework and develops students’ ability to identify literary themes while interrogation of the Prophets, Psalms and Wisdom Literature demonstrate the incredible diversity of literary and theological genres contained within the Hebrew Bible. 

Within a theoretical and learning-by-doing context, this course focuses on solving problems in the field of wildlife ecology and conservation. The problem-based learning approach is based on the idea that it is an effective and durable way to develop into a professional. Lectures provide the needed theory, and assignments are offered to obtain hands on experience with quantitative data analyses. During these assignments, students use advanced methodologies and software (for example excel, R, and conservation planning programs) to address problems spanning a wide range of wildlife conservation issues such as threats to species, genetic analysis, population viability analysis, the role of protected areas, the human context to conservation, and ecosystem/landscape management and planning. Furthermore, students work in groups on a case study that allow them to address species conservation issues using advanced methodologies learned earlier during the course. A working experience with excel is required (ability to make graphs and perform basic calculations and statistics). Assumed Knowledge in PEN10503 Ecology I; PEN20503 Ecology II; WEC20803 Applied Animal Ecology.

This advanced course guides students through key contemporary sociological debates, presenting major theoretical and analytical paradigms and exploring how these are developed and tested through empirical research. The course tackles complex questions about inequality, justice, emotion, creativity, violence and belief, highlighting the tension between micro-, meso- and macro-level explanations. Students also discover how sociology is practiced across different countries and intellectual traditions, gaining comparative insights and deeper reflexivity about their own place in society.