Course Offerings

Recommended SU London Electives include:

MAR301 Essentials of Marketing
Description: Exploration for non-Whitman students of the principles of marketing as a major business function and social process. Students develop a full understanding of the marketing concept and learn how marketing interrelates with other business functions. They learn how to identify the political, economic, and social factors that affect an organization’s marketing decisions; how elements of the marketing mix work together, and how to understand the various techniques of marketing. 

ECN362 Globalization, Development & the Environment 
Description: This course addresses some of the most important concepts and issues of the modern world from the perspective of political economy. We will review differing perspectives on the changing global economy and the nature of the modern state and address key ideas regarding development through the experiences of developing countries and their peoples in Asia and Africa. We will also examine the clash between the priorities of development and the imperatives of globalization with environmental concerns. This course is relevant for students pursuing careers in government, international organizations, NGOs, business and the media. While many economic issues and ideas are dealt with, no background in economics is necessary. 

COM400.2 Media and the Olympics
Description: You will arrive in London having just watched the world's most prestigious and largest regularly-scheduled international sporting event: the 2012 Olympics in London through the prism of NBC and American-based media. And you will be in London just as they begin to assess the impact of their 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, a massive undertaking involving transportation, security, venues, urban renewal, sustainability, citizen involvement, and artistic and cultural initiatives. There could be no better time and place for this course, which provides a scholarly and professional perspective on the synergy among the Modern Olympics and Paralympics, society, and media. Among the many aspects of the Games this course examines are: the evolution of the Olympic Movement's ideals and how media promote those ideals (or not); the evolution of the Games themselves, through analysis of political, economic, and cultural dimensions of the London Olympics in 1908 and 1948; similarities and differences in American and British media coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics, with special interest in how differently the Paralympics are presented; interaction and use of social media and traditional media outlets by key players like the IOC, the British Olympic Committee, London's Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, and international sports federations; the influence of sponsorship and advertising by some of the world's largest corporations; the impact of the Olympics and Paralympics on the city of London, especially its venues and citizens, and its legacy. 

WRT 105 --  Critical Analysis and Argument 
Description: In WRT 105 you will focus on critical analysis and argument, practices that are central to the academic work you do at university, as well as in your professional careers. The course will involve you in a shared topic of inquiry—an urgent issue that requires multiple points of view and kinds of knowledge— that you will engage with through readings, a range of informal and formal writing assignments, a modest amount of database and web research, and a lot of conversation with your classmates. You will compose for different audiences and experiment with a range of rhetorical approaches, you will learn to revise and refine your ideas with the feedback and suggestions of peers and instructor. You will deepen your reading practices as you read both popular and academic essays. The course is structured on a studio model so that each and every day in class you and your peers will collaborate on, discuss, and share texts and ideas, and you will invent, compose and revise in class as well as outside of class.

Other Course Options Include:

COM400.1 Eye on America: British Mass Media and U.S. Politics
Description: British viewers and readers are continually preoccupied with American politics, with UK television and the print media reporting every move made by the President and events on the Hill too. This keen interest is due, in part, to what is imagined to be the 'Special Relationship' between the two countries, which continues to exercise the minds of British politicians and therefore journalists. However, the Obama presidency has perhaps caused many in Britain to question this relationship. But, as the world's single remaining superpower, decisions made in the White House and the Congress have a direct impact on British foreign policy as well as on its economy. For these reasons and more, studying national American politics in London and from a British perspective offers students a unique opportunity to explore a range of differences between what they know of the United States as Americans and how their country, Americanism and, most particularly, its political and media culture is perceived and understood in the United Kingdom. The course will begin with an introduction to broadcasting and the print media in the U. K., focusing particularly on the ways in which 'news' is constructed and consumed in Britain. The course will then explore how the British mass media covers events surrounding President Obama, the current financial crisis and domestic issues as viewed from abroad. The class will include regular guest speakers providing students with an opportunity to question distinguished British practitioners closely about their work and the way in which they report on the U.S. Although intended for students of mass communications, this course should also appeal to those studying political science and anyone with a general interest in the interface between politics and the media.

HOA201 Masterpieces of Art
Description: An exploration of the making of masterpieces and the development of genres in European art (religious, mythological, portraiture, landscape, the nude, etc.) through paintings in London's superb National Gallery. Exploration continues behind the masterpieces: London's outstanding array of museums and galleries constitutes the basis for further discussion of major art-historical themes (restoration and conservation, artists' houses and education, patrons and collectors, taste and connnoisseurship, fakes and forgeries, etc.). During weekly visits, students will test theories put forward in class in front of original art works. 

HOM300.1 Performance Live: London
Description: This course examines the performing arts with particular focus on contemporary art works and issues. We will examine artists working in fields such as music, theatre, dance and inter-disciplinary art forms, coming from a range of backgrounds - popular, classical, street-art, experimental etc. And we will look at look at texts by practitioners, critics & theorists from these various fields that present practical and aesthetic concepts relevant to all performing arts. We will examine changes and cultural movements that have transformed the performing arts in the past fifty years. This will include a consideration of different performance-ritual models, such as comparing the traditional staged performance with rock concerts and performance in non-western cultures. We will also consider performance from a sociological perspective, looking in particular at performance in "everyday" life. And we will look at the democratization of the arts through new media and the ever increasing blurring between art and life in Reality TV and re-enactment culture. Weekly attendance at musical events is required. Course fee will be billed from Syracuse to cover cost of tickets (2011-12 fee = $200).

HST368 Islam and the West
Description: Islam has for centuries been Europe's neighbor and cultural contestant with a history of conflict and co-existence. Since September 11 there has been increasing talk of a "clash of civilizations", but globalization has also created an interdependency of faiths which requires greater cooperation, understanding and dialogue. A recurrent theme of this course will be whether it is possible to separate the world into monolithic entities called "Islam" and the "West". Further, we are increasingly witnessing "Islam in the West" as Muslims spread in large numbers to Europe and the U.S. Another theme will be the relations between religion and state in Islam and Christianity. 

HST414 America: A Foreign Perspective
Description: What is "America" in relation to the rest of the world? This course not only considers the meaning of America in contemporary international relations, but also poses two important questions: what does America desire from the world; and, what does the world want from America? The course is divided into two sections. Before the mid-semester break students will examine a number of ways in which the world perceives the role of America in international relations and how it views itself. Students are initially asked to consider the influence of enduring imaginaries of American identity used by policymakers to understand their mission in the world. They will also examine significant discursive constructions adopted to symbolise and provide meaning for the threats and challenges faced in the world. Finally they will study the historic failures and future possibilities for American attempts to secure the unipolar moment and project a positive national image to the rest of the world. After the break the course will focus on the most contentious issue in American foreign relations. Students will analyse elements of the American strategic priority of national security in the post-9/11 environment and how the pursuit of this military objective is perceived in different regions of the world. 

PSC362 Religion, Identity and Power
Description: Since the 18th century various strands of social thought argued that the demise of religion was one of the processes involved in modernity. The recent ascendancy of religious movements and prominence of religious ideas has questioned secularization and raised important questions about religion as a political force and an alternative/resistance to globalization. The first part of the course concentrates on theories and debates; the second part examines conceptual and historical issues in relation to various local, national, and transnational religious ideas and movements, including various Islamic revivals and the new Christian right.