Previously Offered Winter Session Courses

Winter Session courses may not be audited, they must be taken for credit.

Courses Offered in Winter 2022

Courses Offered in Winter 2021

Courses Offered in Winter 2020

Courses Offered in Winter 2019

Courses Offered in Winter 2018

Courses Offered in Winter 2017 (info below)

January 9, 2017 - January 24, 2017

ARST 490: Introduction to Digital Arts | SYLLABUS
GenEd: HA
Christopher Chenier

This experience will introduce students to the digital arts, an area of creative practice encompassing computer-based art from GIFS and graphics to cutting edge digital fabrication tools. While developing the critical and methodological tools to engage problems in our digital culture, students will acquire the practical skills necessary to create and communicate digitally. Sessions will emphasize the ways software is used for project development, prototyping, and experimentation. Most of our time will be spent in Adobe Creative Cloud. The core elements of CC will be covered through workshops in image editing, graphics, layout, and type. Translating digital files into physical objects, students will work with a laser cutter, large format inkjet printers, and a CNC mill.

Location: Digital Design Studio (DDS)
Class meets 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm on each weekday:
January 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, (weekend off), 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, (weekend off)

ASTR 111: The Dark Side of the Universe | SYLLABUS
GenEd: NSM
Edward Moran

The physical world we experience is one of normal matter, energy, and – if one looks up at night – stars. But on larger scales, the universe has an exotic and much less-well-understood side dominated by things we call dark matter, dark energy, and black holes.  What are these mysterious components, and what is the relationship between them and the world that is familiar to us? The answers lie at the frontier of modern astrophysics. In this course, we explore the evidence for the existence of these dark components and the current debates regarding their nature and origin. In different ways, each of them has a vital role in the evolution of the universe and its ultimate fate.

Location: Observatory (VVO) 110
Class meets 6pm - 9:20pm Monday through Saturday:
January 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, (Sunday off), 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 (Sunday Off)

CCIV 220/ENGL219: Homer and the Epic | SYLLABUS
GenEd: HA
Andrew Szegedy-Maszak

In this course we will read both the Iliad and the Odyssey (in English translation). These two great epics are recognized as the first major texts of the Western literary tradition, and they have had an incalculable influence on everything from literature, to history, to the visual arts. Through a close reading of both epics, we will consider issues such as Homeric composition and poetic practice, heroes and the heroic code, the relations between humans and gods, the role of fate, and the structure of Homeric society (e.g., the status of women; clan and community). We will also read a number of contemporary critical essays to help us frame our discussions. 

Location: Boger Hall (BOGH) 110
Class meets 10am - 12pm and 1pm - 3pm on each weekday:
January 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, (weekend off), 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, (weekend off)

COMP 112: Introduction to Programming (With Python) | SYLLABUS
GenEd: NSM
James Lipton

This course will provide an introduction to a modern, high-level programming language including a discussion of basic control structures, input/output, functions, and classes. The lectures will also discuss a variety of algorithms as well as program design issues. Python, an imperative object-oriented language, is appropriate as a first programming language primarily aimed at non-majors. Class time will be divided into 50% lecture time, 30-35% programming time, and the rest for question and answer sessions. For the programming time, the class will be given a number of problems to work on, sometimes in teams and sometimes alone, with students receiving one-on-one assistance. Students will be given a limited amount of work and reading to complete before the first meeting, and will receive feedback on the first assignment also prior to the first class.

Location: AWKS 112
Class meets 10am - 12pm and 1pm - 3pm on each weekday:
January 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, (weekend off), 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, (weekend off)

GOVT 311: US Foreign Policy | SYLLABUS
GenEd: SBS
Douglas Foyle 

This course provides a survey of the content and formulation of American foreign policy with an emphasis on the period after World War II. It evaluates the sources of American foreign policy including the international system, societal factors, government processes, and individual decision makers. The course begins with a consideration of major trends in U.S. foreign policy after World War II. With a historical base established, the focus turns to the major institutions and actors in American foreign policy. The course concludes with an examination of the challenges and opportunities that face current U.S. decision makers. A significant component of the course is the intensive discussion of specific foreign policy decisions. Students are strongly encouraged to stay current with foreign policy developments through reading one of the major newspapers (e.g., New York Times or Washington Post) in either the paper or on-line version.

Location: PAC 422
*Note: Class starts Wednesday, January 11
Class meets 9am - 11:30am and 1pm - 3:30pm on the following days:
January 11, 12, 13, (weekend off), 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, (weekend off)

PSYC 338/FGSS 338/SISP 338: Masculinity | SYLLABUS
GenEd: SBS
Jill Morawski

Note: PSYC 338 / FGSS 338 / SISP 338: Masulinity require either prerequisites or permission of instructor. In order to register for this course, the student must have taken PSYC 105 or FGSS 209, or must obtain permission from Professor Morawski in the designated area on the registration form.

This course examines masculinity and the psychology of men using theories and research findings. We will survey a range of perspectives on men and masculinity, drawing from evolutionary theory, cognitive psychology, psychoanalysis, social psychology, and queer theory. We will ask how the psychological attributes associated with men relate to private life and public spaces, and whether our enactments and conceptions of masculinity have changed over time. Exploration of these questions will be informed by both psychological research and close analysis of media representations of men. The course thus emphasizes methods for examining representations of masculinity in science and the media.

Location: Allbritton (ALLB) 004 - may change to ALLB 103
NOTE: Course Times Vary
Monday, January 9: 10am-12pm and 1-4pm
All other class meetings: 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm
(January 10, 11, 12, 13, (weekend off), 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 (weekend off)

QAC 201/SOC257/GOVT 201/PSYC 280/NSB280: Applied Data Analysis | SYLLABUS
GenEd: NSM
Lisa Dierker

In this project-based course, you will have the opportunity to answer questions that you feel passionately about through independent research based on existing data. Students will have the opportunity to develop skills in generating testable hypotheses, conducting a literature review, preparing data for analysis, conducting descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, and presenting research findings. The course offers unlimited one-on-one support, ample opportunities to work with other students, and training in the skills required to complete a project of your own design. These skills will prepare you to work in many different research labs across the University that collect empirical data. It is also an opportunity to fulfill an important requirement in several different majors. Please note: You will need to bring a laptop to class. If you do not have one, please contact Professor Dierker at ldierker@wesleyan.edu.

Location: Science Tower (SCIE) 189
Class meets 12pm - 5pm on the following days:
January 9, 10, 11, (Thursday off), 13, 14, (Sunday off), 16, 17, (Wednesday off), 19

CANCELED - AMST 273 / ENGL 276: Diasporic South Asian Writing and American Studies 
GenEd: HA
Indira Karamcheti

The South Asian diaspora spans the world; communities are located in Africa, the Middle East, England, North and South America, the Caribbean, as well as Southeast Asia. Using novels, poems, short stories, and film, as well as scholarship on history, this course will focus upon the literary and cultural production of the South Asian diaspora in the United States. We will examine the conditions of historical arrival and identity-making under shifting regimes of politics, economics, and culture. What does being in the U.S. mean for the claiming of "Indian" and "American" identities, and how is this inflected by relationships with other ethnic or racial communities? The relationship with an often romanticized "India" is a central question, expressed through the concepts of diaspora, exile, and transnationalism. Consequently, what are the conditions of "authenticity," and of cultural authority? What aesthetic forms, questions, and issues express or preoccupy the artists of the South Asian American community?

Class meets 10am - 12pm and 1pm - 3pm on each weekday:
January 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, (weekend off), 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, (weekend off)

Courses Offered in Winter 2016

January 6, 2016 - January 19, 2016

AMST245 / ENGL246 Personalizing History | SYLLABUS | BOOKLIST
Indira Karamcheti
Location: CAMS3 (Center for the Americas Building)
10am-12pm, 2pm-5pm; Weekdays Jan 6 - 19
How much are we shaped by our historical times and places? How much power do we have to make our historical conditions respond to our needs and desires? These questions and others are at the foundation of our class, which includes both memoir writing and memoir reading. We will construct narratives about our times and selves in a series of writing workshops. There will be some exercises where you will be asked to research specific aspects of your times and places. For example, you might be asked to research and write about such questions as: when and where were you born, what were the major cultural or political currents of that time, and how was your early childhood influenced by them? Or you may be asked to bring in a photograph of someone important in your personal history and write about that person.

The memoir is a distinct genre, with topics/themes particular to it. Some of the most important are memory itself, childhood, place and displacement, language, loss/trauma/melancholia/nostalgia, self-invention or transformation, family and generational differences. The class will engage with these topics in the analysis of the readings and also in the writing of memoirs. Specific techniques will be highlighted for writing practice: the catalog, diction, dialogue, metaphor, description, point of view, and narrative structure, including temporal organization, the doubled narrative, and the narrative frame.

FULLY ENROLLED - ARST490 Introduction to Digital Arts | SYLLABUS
Christopher Chenier
Location: Digital Design Studio
10am-12:30pm, 1:30pm-4:00pm; Weekdays Jan 6 - 19
This experience will introduce students to the digital arts, an area of creative practice encompassing computer-based art from GIFS and graphics to cutting edge digital fabrication tools. While developing the critical and methodological tools to engage problems in our digital culture, students will acquire the practical skills necessary to create and communicate digitally. Sessions will emphasize the ways software is used for project development, prototyping, and experimentation. Most of our time will be spent in Adobe Creative Cloud. The core elements of CC will be covered through workshops in image editing, graphics, layout, and type. Translating digital files into physical objects, students will work with a laser cutter, large format inkjet printers, and a CNC mill.

ASTR111 The Dark Side of the Universe
Ed Moran
Location: VVO110
5pm-10pm; Schedule will be 2 days on, 1 day off: W 1/6, Th 1/7, Sa 1/9, Su 1/10, Tu 1/12, W 1/13, F 1/15, Sa 1/16; Final Exam: Tu 1/19, 5pm
The physical world we experience is one of normal matter, energy, and – if one looks up at night – stars. But on larger scales, the universe has an exotic and much less-well-understood side dominated by things we call dark matter, dark energy, and black holes.  What are these mysterious components, and what is the relationship between them and the world that is familiar to us? The answers lie at the frontier of modern astrophysics. In this course, we explore the evidence for the existence of these dark components and the current debates regarding their nature and origin. In different ways, each of them has a vital role in the evolution of the universe and its ultimate fate.

COMP112 Introduction to Programming
James Lipton
Location: AWKS 112
1pm-6pm; Weekdays Jan 6 - 19
This course will provide an introduction to a modern, high-level programming language including a discussion of input/output, basic control structures, types, functions, and classes. The lectures will also discuss a variety of algorithms as well as program design issues. Java, an imperative object-oriented language, is appropriate as a first programming language primarily aimed at non-majors. Five-hour daily classes will involve roughly three hours lecture time, and two hours programming time. For the programming time, the class will be given a number of problems to work on, sometimes in teams and sometimes alone, with students receiving one-on-one assistance. Additionally, the professor will set up a one-hour lab session four times a week for homework help sessions. Students will be given a limited amount of work and reading to complete before the first meeting, and will receive feedback on the first assignment also prior to the first class. 

ENGL234 Jane Austen and the Romantic Age | SYLLABUS
Stephanie Weiner
Location: 41 Wyllys room 110
10am-12pm, 2:30pm-4:30pm; 1/6, 1/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/11, 1/12, 1/14, 1/15, and 1/16 (1/10 and 1/13 will be rest/snow days) Reading period: 1/17 and 1/18; Paper due 1/19
In this course we will read and re-read three novels by Jane Austen. Our first reading will track the development of Austen's unique approach to the realist novel. Our re-reading will investigate how that unique approach participated in Romantic debates about art, personhood, and politics. Austen was an active participant in these debates - a sharp, subtle, and principled writer who tended to explore competing arguments and assumptions rather than render explicit judgments. She weighed in on aesthetic controversies involving beauty and the picturesque, the appropriate language for literature, the ethics of readers' identification with characters, and the truth claims inherent in realism. She considered philosophical questions involving how individuals come to know the world and themselves, and the value and danger of a complex inner life of emotion and imagination. She examined the competing claims her contemporaries made for the primacy of the individual, the family, and the community, and for local rootedness and cosmopolitan independence. This course fulfills the English Department's Literary History II requirement.

GOVT 311 U.S. Foreign Policy | SYLLABUS
Douglas Foyle
Location: PAC 422
9am-11:30am, 1pm-3:30pm; Weekdays Jan 6 - 15 only
This course provides a survey of the content and formulation of American foreign policy with an emphasis on the period after World War II. It evaluates the sources of American foreign policy including the international system, societal factors, government processes, and individual decision makers. The course begins with a consideration of major trends in U.S. foreign policy after World War II. With a historical base established, the focus turns to the major institutions and actors in American foreign policy. The course concludes with an examination of the challenges and opportunities that face current U.S. decision makers. A significant component of the course is the intensive discussion of specific foreign policy decisions. Students are strongly encouraged to stay current with foreign policy developments through reading one of the major newspapers (e.g., New York Times or Washington Post) in either the paper or on-line version.

FULLY ENROLLED - QAC 201/SOC 257/GOVT 201/PSYC 280/NSB280 Applied Data Analysis
Lisa Dierker
Location: SCIE 189 (24/7 room in Exley)
noon-5pm; Jan 6-8, 10-12, 14, 15, 18, 19
In this project-based course, you will have the opportunity to answer questions that you feel passionately about through independent research based on existing data. Students will have the opportunity to develop skills in generating testable hypotheses, conducting a literature review, preparing data for analysis, conducting descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, and presenting research findings. The course offers unlimited one-on-one support, ample opportunities to work with other students, and training in the skills required to complete a project of your own design. These skills will prepare you to work in many different research labs across the University that collect empirical data. It is also an opportunity to fulfill an important requirement in several different majors. Please note: You will need to bring a laptop to class. If you do not have one, please contact Professor Dierker at ldierker@wesleyan.edu.

Courses Offered in Winter 2015

COMP112: Introduction to Programming James Lipton
Location: Arts Workshop 112
1:30-6:30 pm Weekdays Jan 7-16, 2015
Reading Period: Jan 19, Final Exam: Jan 20
Gen Ed Area Dept.: NSM MATH

This course will provide an introduction to a modern, high-level programming language including a discussion of input/output, basic control structures, types, functions, and classes. The lectures will also discuss a variety of algorithms as well as program design issues. Java, an imperative object-oriented language, is appropriate as a first programming language primarily aimed at non-majors. Five-hour daily classes will involve roughly three hours lecture time, and two hours programming time. For the programming time, the class will be given a number of problems to work on, sometimes in teams and sometimes alone, with students receiving one-on-one assistance. Additionally, the professor will set up a one-hour lab session four times a week for homework help sessions. Students will be given a limited amount of work and reading to complete before the first meeting, and will receive feedback on the first assignment also prior to the first class. SyllabusENGL234: Jane Austen and the Romantic Age Stephanie Weiner 
Location: 41 Wyllys Ave, Room 110
10:00am-12:00pm and 2:00-4:00pm Jan 7-18, 2015 *No class on Sat, Jan 10 or Thurs, Jan 15
Reading Period: Jan 19, Final Exam: Jan 20
Gen Ed Area Dept.: HA ENGL

In this course we will read and re-read three novels by Jane Austen. Our first reading will track the development of Austen's unique approach to the realist novel. Our re-reading will investigate how that unique approach participated in Romantic debates about art, personhood, and politics. Austen was an active participant in these debates - a sharp, subtle, and principled writer who tended to explore competing arguments and assumptions rather than render explicit judgments. She weighed in on aesthetic controversies involving beauty and the picturesque, the appropriate language for literature, the ethics of readers' identification with characters, and the truth claims inherent in realism. She considered philosophical questions involving how individuals come to know the world and themselves, and the value and danger of a complex inner life of emotion and imagination. She examined the competing claims her contemporaries made for the primacy of the individual, the family, and the community, and for local rootedness and cosmopolitan independence. This course fulfills the English Department's Literary History II requirement. Syllabus
QAC200/PSYC293: Introduction to Data Management Jennifer Rose
Location: Allbritton 204
9:00-11:30am and 1:00-3:30pm Weekdays Jan 7-16, 2015
Reading Period: Jan 19, Final Exam: Jan 20
Gen Ed Area Dept.: NSM QAC

Data management is the most critical component of data analysis, and comprises the vast majority of the work. Without properly managed data, statistical analysis is inaccurate, if not impossible. Therefore knowing how to manage data and conduct quality control checks on managed data is essential for data analysts in any discipline. The goal of the course is to provide hands on, project based instruction in data management techniques using SAS Enterprise Guide statistical software. Students will be provided with research questions and data sets, and they will be required to manage the data in order to prepare it for statistical analysis. Students in this course will learn how to use statistical software to evaluate, clean, and manipulate data sets to get the data ready for statistical analysis. They will also learn best practices for data management, basic quality control checking using summary reports, descriptive statistics, and graphing. SyllabusGOVT311: United States Foreign Policy Douglas Foyle
Location: 41 Wyllys Ave, Room 115
9:00-11:30am and 1:00-3:30pm Weekdays Jan 7-16, 2015
Reading Period: Jan 19, Final Exam: Jan 20
Gen Ed Area Dept.: SBS GOVT

GOVT311 is appropriate for all undergraduate class years.
This course provides a survey of the content and formulation of American foreign policy with an emphasis on the period after World War II. It evaluates the sources of American foreign policy including the international system, societal factors, government processes, and individual decision makers. The course begins with a consideration of major trends in U.S. foreign policy after World War II. With a historical base established, the focus turns to the major institutions and actors in American foreign policy. The course concludes with an examination of the challenges and opportunities that face current U.S. decision makers. A significant component of the course is the intensive discussion of specific foreign policy decisions. Students are strongly encouraged to stay current with foreign policy developments through reading one of the major newspapers (e.g., New York Times or Washington Post) in either the paper or on-line version. Syllabus

Courses Offered in Winter 2014

ENGL370: Graphic Novel (41 Wyllys, Room 112)
Instructor: Will Eggers
Class meets daily from 9-11:30am and 1-3:30pm.
Gen Ed Area/Dept: HA/ENGL 
Click here for course syllabus. Since the ground-breaking publication of Art Spiegelman's Maus in 1993, "graphic novels" have entered the global cultural mainstream. A truly multicultural genre, comics created by men and women around the world now appear in U.S. high school and college curricula, hold the attention of academic critics, and earn big box-office returns in cinematic adaptations.

GOVT311: United States Foreign Policy (41 Wyllys, Room 113)
Instructor: Douglas Foyle
Class meets daily from 9-11:30am and 1-3:30pm. 
Enrollment limit:19
Gen Ed Area/Dept: SBS/GOVT

Click here for course syllabus. This course provides a survey of the content and formulation of American foreign policy with an emphasis on the period after World War II. It evaluates the sources of American foreign policy including the international system, societal factors, government processes, and individual decision makers. The course begins with a consideration of major trends in U.S. foreign policy after World War II. With a historical base established, the focus turns to the major institutions and actors in American foreign policy. The course concludes with an examination of the challenges and opportunities that face current U.S. decision makers. A significant component of the course is the intensive discussion of specific foreign policy decisions.


QAC 201/SOC 257/GOVT 201/PSYC 280/NS&B 280: Applied Data Analysis (41 Wyllys, Room 110)
Instructor: Lisa Dierker
Class meets daily from 9-11:30am and 1-3:30pm. 
Enrollment limit: 15
Gen Ed Area/Dept: NSM/QAC

Click here for course syllabus. In this project-based course, you will have the opportunity to answer questions that you feel passionately about through independent research based on existing data. Students will have the opportunity to develop skills in generating testable hypotheses, conducting a literature review, preparing data for analysis, conducting descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, and presenting research findings. The course offers unlimited one-on-one support, ample opportunities to work with other students, and training in the skills required to complete a project of your own design. These skills will prepare you to work in many different research labs across the University that collect empirical data. It is also an opportunity to fulfill an important requirement in several different majors.


COMP112: Introduction to Programming (AWKS 112)
Instructor: James Lipton
Class meets daily from 9-11:30am and 1-3:30pm. 
Enrollment limit: 12
Gen Ed Area/Dept: NSM/MATH


The course will provide an introduction to a modern, high-level programming language including a discussion of input/output, basic control structures, types, functions, and classes. The lectures will also discuss a variety of algorithms as well as program design issues.