French

This course focuses on art and architecture during modern period in Italy, France, Greece, Spain and other European countries It compares flamboyant Gothic with Modern Gothic, and identifies Classicalism and Mannerism. The course studies the invention of Rococo style and Renaissance in Italy, France, and the Flanders. It also examines the stylistic differences and similarities between regions such as France and Italy. The course covers the historical context of the Renaissance and the influences from artists of the previous art period. It also focuses on the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, and Tintoretto. Students acquire vocabularies and languages of architecture in this class.

Freedom of speech is at the heart of some very lively issues. In recent years, notions such as “politically correct” or “two weights, two measures” are frequently used in public debate, without analyzing the notions of freedom of speech, its limits, or end game. At the intersection of philosophy, law, political sciences and linguistics, this course examines the significance of freedom of speech in modern and contemporary political thought, and in the constitutional traditions in order to give students more precise tools to analyze recent topics: blasphemy, hate speech, the use of stereotypes, and the limits of humor.

This course explores the history of secularization in France and its influence on the French Constitution and politics. The following events in French History are discussed in the course: the impact of the religious wars in the sixteenth century; the role of the Catholic church in the Ancien Regime; the development of the idea of secularism in the Enlightenment; the installation of a model of modern secularism under the Republic (nineteenth and twentieth centuries); the existence of a culture of anti-clericalism; the scholarly debate; the new situation imposed by the progression of Islam since the 1970s and the idea of a crisis of secularism today.

This course is specifically designed for international students. This course gives students a chance to discover different types of communication in organizations, different interactions, as well as intercultural communication. Students also learn different types of French specifics, specific French vocabulary, and different theoretical models of communication. Students work with documents, audio, video, exercises, and reports.

This course focuses on the history of leftists in Europe during the contemporary period, students study the history of revolutions, insurrections, internationals, socialism and communism, commonplace anarchism, worker unions, etc. in their diversities and mutations. This course emphasizes on leftist people, places, ideas, and cultures, as well as on leftist organizations, parties, and practices in European societies from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first century.

This course discusses sociology through two lenses. The first one helps distinguish the specifics of sociology with regard to other social sciences. The second one deals with the approach to several sociological domains (sociology of education, urbanization, family, etc.) and the treatments of the corresponding social problems.

The extensive independent study field research paper produced by the student is both the centerpiece of the intern's professional engagement and the culmination of the academic achievements of the semester. During the preparatory session, IFE teaches the methodological guidelines and principles to which students are expected to adhere in the development of their written research. Students work individually with a research advisor from their field. The first task is to identify a topic, following guidelines established by IFE for research topic choice. The subject must be tied in a useful and complementary way to the student-intern's responsibilities, as well as to the core concerns of the host organization. The research question should be designed to draw as much as possible on resources available to the intern via the internship (data, documents, interviews, observations, seminars and the like). Students begin to focus on this project after the first 2-3 weeks on the internship. Each internship agreement signed with an organization makes explicit mention of this program requirement, and this is the culminating element of their semester. Once the topic is identified, students meet individually, as regularly as they wish, with their IFE research advisor to generate a research question from the topic, develop an outline, identify sources and research methods, and discuss drafts submitted by the student. The research advisor also helps students prepare for the oral defense of their work which takes place a month before the end of the program and the due date of the paper. The purpose of this exercise is to help students evaluate their progress and diagnose the weak points in their outline and arguments. Rather than an extraneous burden added to the intern's other duties, the field research project grows out of the internship through a useful and rewarding synergy of internship and research. The Field Study and Internship model results in well-trained student-interns fully engaged in mission-driven internships in their field, while exploring a critical problem guided by an experienced research advisor.

The Middle Ages produced a formidable reservoir of myths that have many contemporary recreations, particularly in cinema. In this course, a medieval legend (Tristan and Iseult) is chosen and compared with its contemporary cinematic recreations. The purpose is to analyze the modern films' usage of the medieval legend and its application to the contemporary universe.