Signature Courses Descriptions

Cross-Cultural Psychology

• Course Code: PSYC3361
• Field of Study: Social Sciences and Humanities
• Credits: 3
• Course Description: 
• This course, offered in both a 5 week [Chengdu Session 1 or Shanghai Session] and 4 week [Chengdu Session 2] format will expose students to the influence of culture on human behavior in high technology, global setting. The course will illustrate differences and commonalities in behavior (verbal and non-verbal), attitudes, and values across a range of cultures around the world with particular emphasis on Chinese culture. Issues concerning cultural contact and intercultural relations will be considered in a real-world context to enhance a student's ability to deal with and understand variations in human behavior across cultures and ethnic groups. Methodological issues of particular importance to cross-cultural research will be discussed.

Listening to Live Music

• Course Code: MUSIH 2315
• Field of Study: Social Sciences and Humanities
• Credits: 3
• Course Description:
• Listening to Live Music in Chengdu is a course that hopes to deepen the way you understand music and, through new understanding, inspire the way you experience music. The purpose of this class is to transform your experience with music by focusing on live performance, the people who make music, and the musical happenings around us. Over the course of the semester, we will explore, without prejudice, a variety of live music performances that will help you develop a lifelong ability to analyze music performance, think critically about the act of listening to music, and consider your critical role as a member of the audience. You do not need a musical background to have a successful semester. Through listening, reading, and associated assignments, the objective is to deepen your experience of music.

Movies and Chinese Culture

• Course Code: CINE 2755
• Field of Study: Social Sciences and Humanities
• Credits: 3
• Course Description: 
• - Guest speaker from Sichuan Film & Television University
• - Visit Leshan Giant Buddha Statue
• - The final examination will invite a guest speaker during week III from Sichuan Film & Television University to teach students how to write a film screenplay synopsis. The final exam will be a project to write a screenplay synopsis to demonstrate cultural conflicts within Chinese between different groups/generations/genders/occupations/traditional and Westernized Chinese, etc.

Oral and Written Report

• Course Code: ENGL 2207
• Field of Study: Liberal Arts
• Credits: 3
• Course Description: 
• This course focuses on methods and genres of writing and communicating in contemporary business, including for-profit, non-profit, and government sectors. Consistent with shifting expectations in professional business discourse, the work in this course combines traditional writing projects with multimedia and digital elements. This is not a course in writing in accounting, finance, or any other specific business discipline. Rather, our goal is to provide you an introduction to the ways that people write in the Business workplace. This course is structured with an emphasis on community-based writing and will expect you to form team-based partnerships with local businesses. This is because the most effective way to learn to write is to write for real audiences, integrating real-world concerns with writing practices. The limits of this course are the limits of your imagination.

Professional Development and Experiential Learning in China

• Course Code: UNIV 2005
• Field of Study: Professional Program
• Credits: 3
• Course Description: 
• This experiential learning endeavor will provide you the opportunity for self-reflection, develop as a professional, build your professional network, and inform your career choices. You will spend 16 hours each week working at an organization in Chengdu.
• Course Objectives
• - Help you have a successful educational experience at your internship site.
• - Provide a forum for exploring common challenges and opportunities in the workplace including job responsibilities, communication with co-workers, and so on.
• - Identify skill sets crucial to success in the professional field you have chosen to explore in your Professional Development and Internship class and the internship site.
• -Aid you in connecting theories and knowledge gained in other academic classes with “real world” experiences.
• - Identify diverse career opportunities available in Chengdu and beyond.
• - Increase your success with teamwork, time management, and project documentation.
• - Improve your reflective and analytical writing.

Public Speaking

• Course Code: SPCH 1155
• Field of Study: Communications
• Credits: 3
• Course Description: 
• This course is an introduction to Speech Communication: formal speaking, group discussion, analysis, and evaluation of messages. This introductory course in public speaking assumes you have no previous experience on your part. By the conclusion of this course, you will have confidently and successfully given several presentations. You will know how to conquer fear. Take this opportunity to empower yourself to speak on topics about which you care. Knowing how to analyze an audience and to understand the process of communication enables you to mold your beliefs to your audience. Effective organization of your ideas will communicate them clearly. Being able to analyze, understand and evaluate messages will make you a powerful listener. You may even enjoy taking risks as you share your beliefs, values, and ideas with others. Every student begins with a clean slate and the potential for an “A” grade. It is my responsibility to enable you to acquire the tools for success. It is your responsibility to take advantage of this opportunity to develop a lifelong skill that empowers you to succeed in the real world, the ability to communicate effectively. The emphasis is on practical experiences, and therefore, lecturing by the instructor is kept to a minimum.

World Music

• Course Code: MUSIH 2310
• Field of Study: Social Sciences and Humanities
• Credits: 3
• Course Description: 
• A course of music appreciation to acquaint the student with an overview of the Global Music Scene. This is a unique course that will intricately weave culture and music illuminated by topical literature and music. We will be utilizing both musical selections as texts as well as support from other reading materials. One objective of this course is to see how music reflects the social and political environment of the music makers, the listeners, and vice versa in a local and global context. Students will have an opportunity to contribute to this body of knowledge despite previous experience or knowledge of the subject matter. This course will also blend musical topics within other disciplines, including but not limited to philosophy, art, and science. In addition, the current atmosphere of today’s socio-cultural environs will lend itself to bringing this discussion into the 21st century.

World Food & Culture

• Course Code: HUMN 2205
• Field of Study: Social Sciences and Humanities
• Credits: 3
• Course Description: 
• Have you ever wondered how a particular culture’s cuisine developed? How do location, biodiversity, migration, social class, and trade impact the development of a particular culture and its unique dining habits? Why are some foods seen as delicacies in one culture, but ignored or even derided in others? How does one’s own culture influence the perceptions and understanding of another culture’s food? How have modern conveniences impacted food culture and sustainable food supplies? This course seeks to answer these questions in an engaging, informative, and fun way. The course will provide opportunities for students to learn from and be guided through these fascinating questions “in the field” to grow in their appreciation of the diversity, history, and economy of China's rich cuisine and culinary ethnobotany. Nevertheless, beyond the examples from Chinese history and food culture, multiple other geographic regions and cultural groups will be compared, including Africa, Europe, Latin, and North America, the Middle East, Polynesia, and beyond.

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