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
Unique Number 62290
Tuesdays 3:30-5:30 p.m.
Professor Bruce Pennycook, School of Music & Dept. of Radio-Television-Film
This seminar will present a survey of the wide variety of ways that digital technologies are changing how we create art and media. The seminars will include presentations on digital sound design, digital cinema production, interactivity especially in gaming and live performance, real-time “show control”, visualization, networked audio/visual presentation and performance, “wearable” computers for new expression in dance and movement, interactive story telling. We will also examine some current software and hardware systems used by professional artists, designers, and producers.
“Exploring Digital Arts & Media syllabus”:bdp/pdf/exploring_dam_syllabus (PDF)
BDP 101: Health Inequality in Childhood and Adolescence
Unique Number 62295
Mondays 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Professor Robert Crosnoe, Dept. of Sociology
Health inequality in childhood and adolescence appears in all stages of the human life course as a function of the stratification of American society by race, social class, gender, and other factors. In childhood and adolescence, inequalities emerge in mental health, obesity, health behavior, and other aspects of health that lay a foundation for the even greater inequalities in health, including life expectancy, that characterize adult populations. Thus, combating early health inequalities can have long-term, lasting effects on the general well-being of American society as a whole. Because the first step in combating such early health inequalities is to understand them, this seminar will investigate in detail the various inequalities in health that arise and persist during the early life course by listening to experts from the health field, reading research articles on health, and discussing both the causes of health problems and possible methods of preventing such problems.
“Health Inequality in Childhood and Adolescence syllabus”:bdp/pdf/101_hica (PDF)
BDP 101: Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship
Unique Number 62300
Tuesdays 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Professor Steve Nichols, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
This course will examine the entrepreneurial process and will take an interdisciplinary approach to the development of ideas, inventions, talents and skills necessary to convert them into products and services for artistic, social and commercial applications. The term “entrepreneurship” has a broad range of meanings, but this course uses it in the sense of the creation of new products, services, and other benefits. BDP 101 focuses on creativity in all fields (including disciplines such as sciences, music, engineering, classics, architecture, pharmacy, and liberal arts). The course will provide lectures by the faculty in the Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship BDP as well as outside speakers. Students will work both an individual and team activities and assignments.
“Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship syllabus”:bdp/pdf/101_ice (PDF)
BDP 101: Introduction to Cultural Studies
Unique Number 62305
Wednesdays 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Professor Mary Kearney, Dept. of Radio-Television-Film
What is culture? How is it practiced? How do we differentiate culture from other aspects of our lives? What is the difference between high culture, popular culture, folk culture, and mass culture? What are subcultures? What is the significance of economics and politics to culture? What is the relationship of culture to identity, taste, and ideology? How do modes of production affect cultural content and form? What roles do consumers play in cultural meaning? How has contemporary popular culture been affected by digital media? How are power and knowledge exercised and negotiated in culture? Can culture contribute to social change? These questions provide our foundation for a comprehensive introduction to Cultural Studies as an interdisciplinary field of critical inquiry and scholarly analysis. Through lectures, screenings, discussions, and field research, we will study culture from a variety of perspectives, including artifacts and practices, ideas and emotions, events and rituals, spaces and institutions, identities and communities. In addition, we will consider the production and consumption of cultural texts in both the mainstream and alternative sectors, as well as the relationship of cultural practices to sociohistorical context and everyday life.
This seminar introduces students to key concepts, methodologies, theories, and questions related to Cultural Studies and exposes them to the diverse ways culture is studied and researched across campus. Professors from such disciplines as Anthropology, Sociology, History, Theatre, Media Studies, and American Studies will give guest lectures about such subjects as folklore, media, sports, food, music, performance, subcultures, and the culture industries.
“Introduction to Cultural Studies syllabus”:bdp/pdf/101_ics (PDF)
BDP 101: Introduction to International Studies
Unique Number 62310
Tuesdays 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Professor Eugene Gholz, LBJ School of Public Affairs
This course surveys a selection of issues in contemporary international affairs such as the rise of China, the war on terror, the war in Iraq, urbanization in the developing world, and the protection of human rights. Encouraging an understanding of our global environment is a crucial part of modern university education, and understanding international affairs will build a foundation for students’ social, political, and economic engagement beyond the classroom.
“Introduction to International Studies syllabus”:bdp/pdf/101_iis (PDF)
BDP 101: Introduction to Film Studies
Unique Number 62315
Wednesdays 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Professor Lynn Wilkinson, Dept. of Radio-Television-Film
What is film? Why do we go to the movies? How are films produced and consumed? What is the function of film in society? How do filmmakers tell stories? In this seminar, we will try to answer these and other questions through an introduction to film as a subject of critical analysis and scholarly inquiry. Through lectures, screenings, and discussions, we will look at film from a variety of perspectives: the role of film as an industry and art form; the development of film form and style; the relationship between entertainment and ideology; the contribution of film to definitions of gender, race, and nation; and the dynamics of mainstream cinema, art film, and alternative filmmaking. Students will learn about the diverse ways film is studied and researched across campus. Professors from film studies, history, art history, communication, government, and foreign languages and literatures will give guest lectures about various aspects of film studies, including the Hollywood studio system, the star phenomenon, film genres, foreign films, experimental cinema, film history, the global film industry, and so forth. These lecture topics will be coordinated with required film screenings.
“Introduction to Film Studies syllabus”:bdp/pdf/101_ifs (PDF)
BDP 101: The Organizations of Culture
Unique Number 62320
Wednesdays 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Professor Kurt Heinzelman, Dept. of English
Individual artists—whether they be writers or dancers or painters or actors or musicians—hone their skills largely in private, in solitary practice and relentless experimentation and repetition. But the culture of these various artistic practices relies on more than just individual accomplishment. We wouldn’t hear the pianist if it weren’t for the orchestra or the recital hall or the jazz club. The writer needs to be published, the work distributed, reviewed in newspapers and journals, and so on. “Cultivate” is the verb form of “culture.” It is what culture shares with farming—the need to grow, to nurture, to harvest. Like rice production, the cultures of creativity require a village. This course will be about how culture is organized, institutionalized, produced, and distributed. We are fortunate that metropolitan Austin is so culturally rich. Among the organizations that will visit with us to discuss their mission and the means by which they try to achieve this mission are a theater company, a dance company, a museum, a publishing company, an opera company, and others. I should perhaps add that I am a poet, with considerable administrative experience in the management of the arts. So, I can look at the creation of culture from both inside and outside the practice of the individual artist. I have been the Executive Curator at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Director of Education at the Blanton Museum of Art, and a member of the Board of Directors both of the Rude Mechs Theatre Company in Austin and of the Dylan Thomas Prize for Writers in Swansea, Wales.
“The Organizations of Culture syllabus”:bdp/pdf/101_oc (PDF)
BDP 319: Human Rights: Theories/Practices
Unique Number 62345
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Professor Barbara Harlow, Dept. of English
Introduces 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.
“As a Sociology major, I have interests not only in how sociological theory is formulated, but also how it is implemented in the political context. The Social Inequality, Health, and Policy BDP provided an outlet for me to take courses and gain experience in this area, without having to declare multiple majors or extend my tenure at the University.”