Hong Kong

This course draws upon an understanding of organizational behavior to examine the techniques and practice of human resource management (HRM). It identifies the difference between personnel and HRM, describes the major functional areas within HRM, articulates the importance of a strategic HR perspective, identifies some of the key skills required for current HRM practice, explains how HR initiatives can add value to the bottom line, and teaches critical thinking when presented with current HR issues. Topics include the strategic role of HRM, job analysis and the legal environment in Hong Kong, HR planning and recruitment, employee testing and selection, interviewing, training and development, performance management and appraisal, career development, compensation and benefits, labor relations and disciplining, and employee safety and health. Assessment: class participation (20%), group project and presentation (50%), individual assignments and end-of-term test (30%).

This course examines a range of issues rooted in language and culture: language and thought; identities, self and ‘othering’; cultural diversity in verbal and nonverbal communication; language, gender and sexuality; popular culture and global cultural flow; language and power; globalization and language planning and policy in different cultural contexts.

This course examines language in relation to migration in the contemporary multilingual world. It looks at how language is used by people on the move, and by those with whom they interact, in areas including health, education, the law and the workplace. It also explores how language practices are shaped by face-to-face and mediated encounters and by the constraints of political and institutional contexts. Key questions are: What languages and forms of communication get used, when, why and where? What linguistic factors enable and limit access for migrants to services and resources? What are the consequences?

This course examines the basic elements of artificial intelligence (AI) through understanding examples from various applications and hands-on experimentation using AI software tools. In addition to covering the technical aspect of AI through such topics as search and problem solving, knowledge representation, probabilistic reasoning, machine learning, computer vision and image processing, speech and language processing, and robotics, this course will also study the historical perspective, social and ethical implications, as well as potential and limitations of AI. 

This course examines the world of the bustling and controversial theaters of the Anglo-Atlantic Eighteenth Century. Taking a dramaturgical approach to a number of dramatic texts produced in this important period in the history of popular entertainment, this course will examine key developments in literary innovation such as character development and the rise of interiority from within the context of new theatrical technology, the rise of new forms of media, the growing power of government censorship, an emerging imperial identity, nationalism, and increased social mobility. We will also focus on the rise of celebrity culture in the period and examine the development of popular obsession with “stars” within the broader social contexts of shifting gender norms, new regimes of sexual expression, and the rise of consumer culture. We will also examine plays alongside other forms of texts such as published gossip, celebrity memoirs, newspaper advertisements, playbills, and acting manuals, making use of existing databases hosted at the Folger, Huntington, and the British Libraries. This course also aims to serve as a general introduction on how to read literary texts historically, and how the study of literature can benefit from an interdisciplinary approach.

This course examines how GIS is used to address and analyze pressing health problems from the geographical perspective. It covers such topics as theoretical and practical issues, simple disease mapping, disease pattern analysis, and environmental association through spatia modeling techniques. 

This course provides an interdisciplinary and critical analysis of the impact of globalization on Hong Kong culture. It demonstrates how postcolonial Hong Kong culture can offer new ways to understand the relation between the colonial past and the present world order of global modernity. The course introduces key concepts and theories of globalization by focusing on cultural analyses and critical responses to globalization. Particular emphasis is placed on the creative media, transnational culture industries, and global cultural phenomena relevant to everyday Hong Kong experience. This includes the analysis and critique of Hong Kong's image and role as depicted in the popular press, the Internet, film, literature, theater, the built environment, the visual arts and cultural production and consumption. The global-local cultural dynamics that drive Hong Kong into the future are also explored. Assessment: midterm exam, essay, workshop, tour report, participation, discussion, presentations.