Korean

Korean sign language is completely different in structure and grammar from the Korean language per se. Korean society is noticeable for linguistic and racial homogeneity, which has led to a low tolerance for the users of foreign languages. Also widespread in Korean society is the pathological approach that recognizes hearing impairment as an abnormal condition requiring medical rehabilitation and normalization. These add to the numerous handicaps and exclusions that the hearing-impaired have to live through in all stages of their life. Learning and sharing sign language is a step towards eliminating the causes of the discrimination and alienation to which the hearing-impaired are exposed. In other words, it helps us better understand the language, lifestyle, and cultures of the specific minority group whose presence in society is otherwise not easily visible. By learning a manual-visual language, students familiar with oral-aural languages obtain a new understanding of human communication systems. They also have an opportunity to appreciate the values and possibilities of Korean sign language by exploring its historical development and methods of word formation, along with diverse subcultures of hearing-impaired communities.

This course examines central concepts and theoretical perspectives of sociology and provides and introduction to sociological perspectives. Topics include culture, socialization, and self-formation; deviant behavior and crime; social performance, gender roles, and family; social inequality and class; power, politics, government, and state; labor and social division of labor; and religion and society.

Through an integrated curriculum of vocabulary, grammar, speaking, listening, writing, and reading, this course enables students to: 

1) Communicate in Korean at an advanced level in formal discourse;  

2) Understand newspaper and newspaper articles on politics, economics, society, and culture and provide one’s opinion on given topics; and,  

3) Understand Korean culture through idioms, proverbs, etc.  

This course provides an overview of Latin American society and culture. Specifically, it focuses on Hispanic culture and its underlying characteristics, and examines the social and historical contexts in which manifestations of popular culture have developed in various regions of Latin America during the 20th century.

This class introduces the basic geological processes on earth and related rock records used by scientists. Topics include plate tectonics; minerals, sediments, and sedimentary rocks; metamorphism and metamorphic rocks; steam and drainage system; wind activity and the desert; development of terrain, cataclasis, and minerals; and energy resources.

The overall objectives of this class are 1) to provide training for improving muscle control, strength and flexibility; 2) to help correct formation of body posture.

This course exposes students to representative opera works by era and genre. It instructs on the elements of opera and the correct sentiment map to answer the questions: What is Opera? How do you fully enjoy Opera? 

This course provides a general introduction to intellectual property law. It focuses on copyright law, one of the intellectual property laws, which is most pertinent to the diverse laws and regulations derived from the most current information and communication technology. Relevant intellectual property legal system, which has changed dramatically with the advent of Internet technology, will be introduced as well. 

This course is designed for students with no or very limited knowledge of Korean. It helps students acquire a basic level of communicative competence in Korean. By the end of this course, students will be able to write and read the Korean alphabet; understand basic grammatical elements, such as particles, endings, and present/past/future tense; greet each other and introduce themselves; carry out conversations about topics relating to everyday life; and understand simple texts and write about familiar things and experiences.