Humanities

This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of oil painting. Working from direct observation, students will learn to translate the three dimensional into two and acquire the tools necessary to decode the appearance of things. Emphasis will be placed on discovering how truly unexpected and different from preconceptions these appearances can be. Students will work on projects that will progressively develop their abilities to determine value and color relationships while at the same time improving their drawing and compositional skills. Prerequisite: ART 101 and 104 or permission of the instructor.

Introduction to various techniques in watercolor painting. Prerequisite: ART 101 and 104 or permission of the instructor. Spring, odd-numbered years.

Intermediate-level problems in objective drawing techniques with a focus on the human figure. Prerequisite: ART 101.

The course will focus on further developing the perceptual painting techniques explored in Oil Painting I. Students will experiment with subject matter, technique, and scale. Prerequisite: ART 206.

Intermediate-level approaches in watercolor painting. Studio problems will provide opportunities for more personal development. Prerequisite: ART 207. Spring, odd-numbered years.

This course will focus on further developing the painting techniques explored in Oil Painting II. Students will work on developing a cohesive body of work that explores more self-directed goals and stylistic choices. Prerequisite: ART 311.

Further work in sculpting the complete figure in clay, along with experiencing other techniques and materials in sculpture. More human anatomy for artists will be emphasized beyond what is taught in ART 120. Prerequisite: ART 120.

Exploring the subtractive method using various media and encouraging the student's individual expression. Prerequisite: ART 321.

Exploration of human anatomy for the emerging artist. Skeletal and muscular structure will be studied in the clay medium. Prerequisite: ART 120.

Additional experience in figure drawing with an emphasis on anatomy and development of graphic proficiency. Prerequisite: ART 302.

Continued mastery of figure drawing. Prerequisite: ART 333.

Continued mastery of figure drawing. Prerequisite: ART 334.

Introduction to visual design and conceptual thinking using Adobe Creative Suite and Apple hardware. Prerequisite: ART 104.

This course examines the fundamentals of typographic form and history. Students study the characteristics of letterforms and explore the relationship between illustration and typographic design. Projects integrate type and image utilizing hierarchal principles and spatial organization to produce effective typographic communication. Digital and hand lettering techniques will be explored. Spring semester.

Explores principles, terminology and theories of color perception from Chevreul through Albers. Taught with computer applications. Prerequisites: ART 101 or 104 or permission of the instructor. Fall semesters.

Introduction to the techniques and aesthetics of digital photography. Emphasis will be placed on understanding photographic principles and digital imagery workflow. Prerequisite: ART 101 or 104 or permission of the instructor. Also required: digital single lens reflex camera.

Continued exploration of technical processes in shooting and printing digital photographs. Students are challenged to develop greater artistic expression and impact in creating original images. Prerequisite: ART 361.

Developing competent likenesses and personal style in both drawing and painting media. Concerns range from anatomical structure to characterization through lighting, pose and media handling. Prerequisites: ART 101 and 206. Spring, even-numbered years.

Emphasis on developing multi-figured composition. Prerequisite: ART 313.

Emphasis on developing multi-figured composition. Prerequisite: ART 321.

This course addresses the designer's role in the strategic development of brand identity and visualization of complex graphic systems utilizing the Adobe Creative Suite software and other visual media. Spring semesters

A study of Greek and Roman literature and culture and its influences on the Western tradition

A study of the syntax, style, and content of Christian texts of the second through the sixth centuries (e.g., works by Athanasius, Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom). This course may be repeated for credit if the reading is different. Prerequisite: CLS 214 or CLS 220.

A study of the evolution of the concepts of justice and of the legal systems of the Greeks and Romans and their legacy to the Western tradition.

A study of the various interrelationships of the non-Christian and Christian in the ancient world, with readings from primary sources.

This course is meant to provide hands on experience in the classroom for students interested in improving their pedagogical skills in general and their Latin teaching in particular. Students are assigned a 1st-8th Latin classroom at Hillsdale Preparatory Academy. They commit to that classroom for one semester, during which time they provide Latin instruction on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:10-11:45. Outside of the classroom, students are expected to grade assignments, create and submit lesson plans, coordinate with their teaching partner (if applicable), conduct teacher observations, communicate with their classroom lead teacher, and attend teacher development seminars. This course is for 1-2 credits. All students, with the exception of the student administrator, must commit to the Latin instruction portion of the course. Enrollment is by instructor permission only; interested students must complete the application and interview process. Students repeat CLS 450 for up to 6 credit hours; such hours count towards the overall maximum allowable internship and practicum credit (6).

This course will introduce the student to representative Great Books of the Western World from Antiquity to the Middle Ages and will teach the principles of close reading and literary analysis. Selections may include the Bible and works by authors such as Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Vergil, Ovid, Augustine, and Dante. The writing content includes a variety of writing exercises that incorporate traditional rhetorical and research skills.

A continuation of English 104 but with a focus on Great Books in the British and American traditions.  English authors may include Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Swift, Wordsworth, Dickens, and Yeats; American authors may include Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Twain, Frost, Hemingway, Faulkner, and O’Connor.  The writing emphasis continues with a variety of writing exercises that incorporate traditional rhetorical and research skills.

This course will introduce the student to Great Books of European literature from the Renaissance to modern times. Some emphasis will be placed on this literature in the context of general historical and artistic periods and movements: Renaissance Humanism, Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism. When appropriate, the function and form of literary works (for instance, the lyric, the novel, the short story) will be discussed. Authors studied may include Petrarch, Erasmus, Montaigne, Cervantes, Voltaire, Racine, Goethe, Schiller, Rousseau, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Aleichem, Kafka, Camus, Bernanos, Sartre, Undset, and Solzhenitsyn. The writing requirement for the class will be at least one 5-page paper.

A literary survey of Old and Middle English literature in the context of its age. Readings may include authors such as Augustine, Boethius, Caedmon, Bede, Alfred the Great, the anonymous poets of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Marie de France, the medieval dramatists and mystics, Chaucer, Langland, Malory, and selections from the 15th century.

A literary survey of English Renaissance literature in the context of its age. Readings may include authors such as More, Wyatt, Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Donne, Herbert, Marvell, and Milton.

A literary survey of Restoration and Romantic literature in the context of its age. Readings may include authors such as Dryden, Pope, Swift, Johnson, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats and Austen.

A literary survey of Victorian and Modern literature in the context of its age. Readings may include authors such as Brontë, Dickens, Tennyson, Browning, Newman, Eliot, Yeats, Woolf, Joyce, and Auden.

A survey of American literature from the Colonial period through 1865. Readings may include authors such as Bradford, Bradstreet, Franklin, Crèvecoeur, Emerson, Poe, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, and Dickinson.

A survey of American literature from 1865 to today. Readings may include authors such as Twain, James, Wharton, Eliot, Frost, Stevens, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, O'Connor, Ellison, and McCarthy.

ENG 401 provides an upper-division study of the particular authors, themes and periods initiated in the 300-level courses. Regular offerings include courses on major authors such as Chaucer, Spenser, Milton and Shakespeare, or special studies on subjects such as Old English language and literature, Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, 18th-century literature, Romantic poetry, Victorian literature, 19th-century novel or 20th-century literature. Please consult the Departmental Bulletin for details.

ENG 403 provides an upper-division study of one of the following areas: the Western literary tradition (including courses on major authors from Italian, French, Spanish, German, Scandinavian, Yiddish, and Russian traditions); one or more of the traditional genres (epic, romance, lyric, tragedy, comedy, essay, novel, short story); literary criticism and theory; history of the English language; or advanced writing (creative, research, expository). Please consult the Departmental Bulletin for details.

A study of French life and culture from the Middle Ages to the Revolution of 1789. Conducted in French. Prerequisite: A minimum grade of "B-" in FRN 201 or permission of the instructor.

Faculty-led travel during summer, spring break, or January interterm in a French-speaking country. Organized, supervised, and evaluated by a member of the Hillsdale College French faculty.

A course designed to increase the student's range of self-expression in the speaking and writing of French. Grammar study is included. Prerequisite: FRN 301 or 302 or permission of the instructor. Offered every third semester.

Practice in oral and written expression, with study of grammar to develop an acceptable prose style. Prerequisite: FRN 301 or 302 or permission of the instructor. Offered every third semester.

French using international business usage and terminology as points of departure. Prerequisite: FRN 301 or 302 or permission of the instructor. Conducted in French. Offered every third semester.

A study of representative plays from the French theatre of the 20th and 21st centuries.

A seminar dealing with a major theme, literary movement, genre, author or comparison of two or more authors. This course may be repeated for credit if the topic is different. Offered every spring.

Students who have completed MUS 324, Beginning Conducting, and MUS 424, Advanced Conducting, and who wish to continue the study of conducting may sign up for private conducting lessons. Permission of instructor required.

Students who have completed MUS 324, Beginning Conducting, and MUS 424, Advanced Conducting, and who wish to continue the study of conducting may sign up for private conducting lessons. Permission of instructor required.

The history of Western music from its beginnings in ancient Greece to about 1600. An introduction to the main styles, genres, composers, and musical concepts situated in historical context. Prerequisite: MUS 206, 201.

The history of Western music from about 1600 to 1800. An introduction to the main styles, genres, composers, and musical concepts situated in historical context. Prerequisite: MUS 206, 201.

The history of Western music from about 1800 to the present. An introduction to the main styles, genres, composers, and musical concepts situated in historical context. Prerequisite: MUS 206, 201.

A capstone music course focusing on a specialized topic within musicology. Students will develop several key skills: working with primary sources, music analysis, and engaging with notable scholarship and issues in musicology. Prerequisite: at least one 300-level music history course or current enrollment with permission of the instructor.

Extends the essential foundation of the music theory sequence by pursuing detailed studies in a designated topic. The purpose of the course is to acquire theoretical experience with a specific selection of musical repertoire, a particular aspect of musical material and form, and/or methodologies of musical analysis, but also to develop students' technical and expressive vocabularies in ways that reinforce and enrich their music-making more broadly. The course may draw from a fixed collection of topics, including counterpoint, orchestration, and post-tonal theory, but additional topics may be introduced on an individual or recurring basis. Prerequisites: MUS 321 and MUS 321L or permission of instructor

An introduction to the special grammar and vocabulary of the Jewish Bible (Old Testament) in Greek, with an emphasis upon acquiring proficiency in reading selected texts. Prerequisites: CLS 103, 104

An introduction to the grammar and vocabulary of Koine Greek with emphasis upon building proficiency in reading the Greek New Testament. Prerequisites: CLS 103, 104.

Open to all students interested in learning the fundamentals of competitive public speaking, or in polishing and employing existing skills. The Hillsdale College Individual Events Team actively and aggressively pursues regional excellence. The course includes instruction in Individual Events techniques in the areas of informative, persuasive, extemporaneous, and impromptu speaking, as well as in the oral interpretation of prose, poetry and drama. Students participate in an active season of on- and off-campus tournaments. Students may repeat the course for credit each semester during their four-year course of study. Students must be active members of the competitive team or have the permission of the instructor and department chairman.

A survey of the major developments in the theory and practice of rhetoric in Western Civilization, beginning with the Renaissance. The Belles Lettres, Enlightenment and Modern Periods in the Western Tradition are explored. This course continues to explore the relationship between rhetoric and truth, knowledge and the political order that began with the Greek and Roman traditions of public persuasion. Readings and lectures are designed to encourage students to engage rhetorical theory at the levels of theory building, philosophy, application and analysis. Students will examine the works of such figures as Erasmus, Ramus, Campbell, Whately, Blair, Burke, Vico and Richards. *Note: Students who enroll in this course without taking either CLS 311 or RHM 290 must have the permission of the instructor.

The theory and process of preparing and delivering specialized forms of public speeches. Emphasis is placed on a variety of types of persuasive and ceremonial speeches. Students are provided the opportunity to develop a personal rhetorical style appropriate for impromptu, extemporaneous and manuscript speaking. Prerequisite: RHM 201 or permission of the instructor.

A consideration of the elements necessary to effective speech writing. Through the study of rhetorical masterpieces, students learn elements of style and arrangement especially suitable for discourse written for oral communication. Emphasis is on student production of original speech manuscripts. Prerequisite: RHM 201 or permission of instructor. RHM 320 preferred.

Media ecology is the study of media environments, of how technology and techniques, modes of information and codes of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value. It is a deeply historical, meta-disciplinary, and robust qualitative approach to understanding both communication and the human condition. Some core ideas within media ecology are wrapped up in aphoristic statements such as "The medium is the message" and "Media are environments, and environments are media," and "the user is the content of any medium." This course looks closely at canonical figures within the tradition—Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong, and Jacques Ellul—as well as its major analytic-theoretical tributaries—orality literacy studies, technology studies, and bias studies. Specific recent figures will vary.

A seminar concerned with the interrelation of rhetorical theory and practice: questions of theory, politics, philosophy and cultural history. Offered as needed, specific topics vary, and the course may be taken for credit more than once.

An extensive examination of contemporary ideas about the nature and function of rhetoric. Students will conduct in-depth readings into the works of such major figures as I.A. Richards, Jean-FranÁois Lyotard, Richard Weaver, Kenneth Burke, Jurgen Habermas, Stephen Toulmin, and Michel Foucault. Emphasis will be placed on the implications of rhetorical theory for notions of truth, ethics, knowledge, rationality, and the political order. Prerequisite: RHM 290 or permission of the instructor.

The study of speeches influential in shaping public life in America, especially within the political sphere. Primary emphasis is placed upon the textual analysis of selected speeches for the purpose of discovering the rhetorical dynamics, as well as linking each speech to its historical context. Special attention is paid to the changing nature and function of oratorical culture throughout American history.

An exploration of the major methodological approaches to the explanation of the persuasive dynamics of rhetoric. Students will learn to write analyses of specific instances of rhetoric from various theoretical bases, including neo-Aristotelian, ethical, dramatistic, ideological, and postmodern perspectives. Prerequisite: RHM 290 or permission of the instructor.

Individual work on a topic or problem selected and supervised by the Rhetoric and Media staff. Prerequisites: second-semester junior standing and permission of the staff member selected to be in charge of the student's work. Enrollment in this course is limited to those who have chosen rhetoric as their field of concentration. Offered on demand.

Introduction to the study of Iberian and Latin American Literature with focus on poetry, theater, essay, and narrative.

Special topics course focusing on grammar, writing, or conversation

The history of drama and theatre in Europe from approximately 1500 to approximately 1800. Renaissance, Neoclassical, Elizabethan, Spanish Golden Age, English Restoration, and early German Romantic periods are considered with particular emphasis on the relationship between dramatic literature and the social, political, religious, and theoretical thinking that is reflected in the plays. This course satisfies the general college core requirement for a second-tier literature course.

This course will directly involve students in the research, conceptualization, and production of a main-stage play. Students will embark on a rigorous study of the author, the author's other works, the theatre history and the cultural history of the time period of the play. Students will be expected to incorporate their research into all aspects of the production and produce a substantial essay on some aspect of the play. This essay will be included in a dramaturgical pamphlet presented to each audience member. Prerequisites: THE 210 and 215.