Czech Republic

The International Internship course develops vital business skills employers are actively seeking in job candidates. This course is comprised of two parts: an internship, and a hybrid academic seminar. Students are placed in an internship within a sector related to their professional ambitions. The hybrid academic seminar, conducted both online and in-person, analyzes and evaluates the workplace culture and the daily working environment students experience. The course is divided into eight career readiness competency modules as set out by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which guide the course’s learning objectives. During the academic seminar, students reflect weekly on their internship experience within the context of their host culture by comparing and contrasting their experiences with their global internship placement with that of their home culture. Students reflect on their experiences in their internship, the role they have played in the evolution of their experience in their internship placement, and the experiences of their peers in their internship placements. Students develop a greater awareness of their strengths relative to the career readiness competencies, the subtleties and complexities of integrating into a cross-cultural work environment, and how to build and maintain a career search portfolio.

This course is designed to enhance students' knowledge of Central European developments during and after the democratic revolutions of 1989. The course examines the democratic revolutions in 1989, the institutional and international framework of the transition process, and specific problems of democratization in Central Europe. It discusses the main turning points of modern political history of the respective countries of the Central European geopolitical space and presents similarities and differences of such developments. In addition, the course explores the constitutional systems of the Central European countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, and Hungary), the effects of the enlargement of the European Union towards Central European countries after May 2004 and the results of the elections into the European Parliament in Central Europe in May 2014. Special attention is paid to the current dramatic events on the European continent including the migration crisis, the British referendum (Brexit) in June 2016, and others.

This course explores how visual images are constructed, focusing mainly on photographs and film images. The course analyses the use of various aesthetic and design elements used by image-makers and the effects of these elements on the viewer. The course consists of lectures and seminars in which students are given simple practical assignments as well as theoretical assignments to experience the effects of these dynamics for themselves. Slide and video presentations are utilized to support the content of the lectures. Through this course students are able to present and build a basic working vocabulary with which to discuss and write about the way visual images, particularly photographs, are constructed. Students are able to identify and understand the visual functions of each of these elements in terms of their desired effect or impact on viewers. Students explore the relationships between the image-maker, viewer, subject, and commissioning agent, and the various functions of images.

This course examines the role of corporate responsibility and encourages students to reflect on their own personal ethical views as they may apply them in complex business situations in culturally specific contexts. The course introduces fundamentals of ethics and responsible decision-making in business and other social contexts in their future professional careers. Students discuss complex analytical skills in evaluating the multifaceted contexts to assist them as future leaders and professionals when coming up with innovative solutions and making individual-level and company-level decisions about the proper courses of action considering ethical behavior, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability. Students apply theoretical knowledge of concepts such as culture of organizations, leadership styles, and corporate governance, when solving real-world cases in culture-specific contexts. Students participate in class discussions and debates, work in groups, and analyze case studies.

This course traces the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, from the beginnings of their tense wartime alliance until the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989. The early part of the course concentrates predominantly on the Soviet-US confrontation in Europe following the establishment and consolidation of Communist regimes in Eastern and Central Europe from 1944-48. Particular attention is paid to the events of February 1948 in Czechoslovakia and to the Berlin Airlift crisis of 1949. The period of the relaxation of East-West tensions which followed Stalin's death in 1953 is examined through a focus on negotiations over the fate of Austria and Germany, and the upheavals in Poland and Hungary in 1956. From its European beginnings, the course branches out to consider the Cold War in its global context, especially in its relationship to Third World nationalism, non-alignment, and anti-imperialism. The final weeks examine the crushing of the Prague Spring, the period of Détente, and the sudden and largely unanticipated end to the conflict in the 1980s, with a particular emphasis on the revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989.