BDP 101 courses are restricted to freshmen and sophomores, or to students participating in the Bridging Disciplines Programs. The courses meet for two hours per week for the first eight weeks of the semester. They do not satisfy a substantial writing component requirement.
BDP 101: Exploring Digital Arts & Media
Applies to Digital Arts & Media BDP certificate
Professor Neal Daugherty, Center for Arts and Entertainment Technologies
Exploring Digital Arts & Media is a Bridging Disciplines Forum Seminar and one-credit course that aims to present a broad survey of digital art and media. For most of the eight seminars there will be a guest speaker in the first hour then in the second hour there will be a lecture/discussion period based on the presenter’s work and on the general topic. Students in this course will learn about the many areas of specialization that the phrase “digital art & media” covers ranging from the Internet to game design.
BDP 101: Introduction to Museum Studies
Applies to Museum Studies BDP certificate
Professor Janice Leoshko, Department of Art and Art History
This course is an introduction to the interdisciplinary study of museums, archives, libraries, galleries, and other institutional sites of collection, preservation, research, and education. Students will learn how museum professionals select and curate objects, define and serve their publics, and preserve and shape the histories, heritage, and identity of cultures and societies. They will also learn how scholars analyze museum practices of collection and representation, and how practices of curation have spread beyond museum walls.
BDP 101: Introduction to Public Policy
Applies to Public Policy and Social Inequality, Health & Policy BDP certificates
Professor Edwin Dorn, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
The Bridging Disciplines Program in Public Policy has two goals: to introduce you to a substantive arena of policy, and to familiarize you with the policy-making process. Underlying these goals is an attitude toward the sources of change in a society, which is this: major transformations do not always begin with powerful leaders or large institutions; often, they begin with a scientific discovery or an act of protest. A journalist’s inquiry into the effects of agricultural chemicals, for example, gave rise to the environmental movement; and a black woman’s refusal to yield her bus seat to a white man galvanized the civil rights movement. In other words, this BDP provides insights into how change happens.
BDP 101: Professional Ethics in Law, Business, and Medicine
Applies to all Ethics & Leadership BDP certificates
Professor John Dzienkowski, School of Law
This course presents and critically examines the regulation of professional ethics in three distinct professions. It compares and contrasts how the professions of law, business, and medicine address similar ethical dilemmas. We will examine the rules, the policies, and seek to determine the instrumental and intrinsic justifications underlying the rules. Students write three 3-page papers on ethical dilemmas presented in the three professions and a 10-page paper on an ethics issue in an area of their choice.
Other BDP Courses
BDP 126: Thinking Like a Lawyer
Applies to all Ethics & Leadership BDP certificates
Professor Ward Farnsworth, School of Law
This course introduces students to legal reasoning and to perspectives on the American legal system. We will study classic problems and cases from several branches of American law, including the law of contract, torts, and civil procedure. In addition to teaching students the style of thought used by lawyers and judges to solve problems, the course is an excellent chance for students interested in attending law school to sample the classroom experience. Upper-division standing required.
BDP 319: Human Rights: Theories & Practice
Applies to Human Rights & Social Justice BDP certificate
Professor Evan Carton, Department of English
This course will introduce students to the interdisciplinary study and practices of human rights at home and around the world. Drawing on materials from the humanities, social sciences, law, fine arts, and public policy, the course will engage both historical precedents and contemporary debates over the relevance of a human rights discourse to academic inquiry and extracurricular advocacy. Divided into five sections, the syllabus is designed not only to encourage a broad understanding of human rights’ emergence into current public policy and persistent humanitarian narratives, but to facilitate as well the opportunity to research these concerns through specific topical examples, both issue-oriented and regionally-grounded.
BDP 319: Museum Studies
Applies to Museum Studies BDP certificate
Professor Chris Bell, Department of Geological Sciences, and Professor Julia Guernsey, Department of Art and Art History
This class, one of the foundation courses in the Museum Studies portfolio, is designed to introduce students to some of the main issues in museum studies and practices. The course will explore these issues through a focus on both art and natural history museums and their practices of collecting and display. Topics to be considered include issues of cultural heritage, the legalities of collecting, who “owns” specimens and works of art, the legacies of colonialism, issues of classification, and the relationship between collecting and global conflict.