Course Descriptions

Beliefs and Values

Hours: 2 or 4
Instructor: Dr. Chris Ciocchetti (1 section: max 13 students)

Develop a strong core of beliefs and values to start your college experience. We engage in personal, in-depth discussions about the most important questions arising from philosophy, religion, ethics, and politics. We visit various religious sites, read about the French and American existentialists, and carefully examine how different people answer questions about work, death, love, and suffering. Students will find the class personally challenging, but they will leave the course with a stronger sense of their own beliefs and values and the skills and community support needed to thrive in a diverse world. 

 

Great Events in STEM: Science and Mathematics in Paris

Hours: 2 or 4
Instructor: Dr. Thomas Ticich (1 section: max 13 students)

In this course we will explore some of the characteristics of science and changes that happened in science mainly during the late 18th century through the early 20th century.  Some of these changes brought about scientific revolutions, changes in our basic understanding of the world or changes in the way we do science.  We will focus on several intellectual change moments:  the emergence of evolutionary theory, the transformation of chemistry into a systematic and quantitative science, and the changes that swirled around the beginning of the 20th century in science, arts, and engineering. We would be remiss if we did not talk briefly about the phenomenon of Gothic architecture and the important role that institutes in Paris played in the development of medicine.

 

The Innocents Abroad: Cultural Literacy & Tourism

Hours: 2 or 4
Instructors: Dr. Matthew Blasi, Dr. Ryan Doherty (2 sections: max 26 students)

In Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad (1869), he paints a satirical portrait of Americans engaging as tourists on the global stage. The question remains: how can we, much less freshmen college students, learn to be responsible and thoughtful American tourists abroad? How do we respond to immersion in cultures not our own? How do we seek to compare and contrast our culture with what we may encounter in other countries? How do we be successful, respectful, culturally literate tourists? In this course, we will read the works of Americans who went abroad, as well as works by French authors that will help provide a cultural context for our trip to Paris. We will also visit sites of cultural import, discuss Louisiana’s particular contribution to French culture, and vice versa, and learn to how to engage in an interculturally competent manner as global citizens.

 

Paris Noir 

Hours: 2 or 4
Instructors: Dr. Andia Augustin-Billy, Dr. Dana Kress (2 sections: max 26 students)

This course examines the achievements of a few of the countless African-Americans who sought refuge in Paris because their own country did not share or value their experiences and denied them the very human dignity and opportunity they found so abundantly in France. Their experiences can help us learn to appreciate the common ground we share so that we can build mutually beneficial relationships through respectful engagement with a broader world.

View photos for the 2023 Paris Noir course.

 

Urban Canvases and Private Vaults: The Dual Worlds of Public and Private Art

Hours: 2 or 4
Instructors: Joshua Chambers, Dr. Kyra Rietveld, Jessica Hawkins, John Hawkins (4 sections: max 52 students)

This immersive course takes you beyond the museum walls to explore how art comes alive in public spaces. From street art to iconic galleries, from advertising design to hidden gems around the city, you’ll see how a city’s art shapes its streets and minds. Gain a fresh perspective on what makes art "public" and how the city’s diverse art forms reflect its rich history, culture, and social context.

 

Paris by Library

Hours: 2 or 4
Instructor: Patrick Morgan (1 section: max 13 students)

In this course, we’ll talk about what it is that libraries do, and we’ll use some historic libraries that remain important in contemporary Paris as guideposts for our explorations - in research, and in person! We’ll learn how libraries such as the American Library in Paris, the  Bibliotheque Historique de la Ville de Paris (the city’s oldest public library), the Bibliotheque Nationale (the French national library) - and the people who have been part of their histories - have fit into the city’s evolution, and we’ll also examine how the city itself and representations of it have changed over time as reflected by these libraries. We will also consider larger themes, like collective memory and the role that information sharing and libraries themselves have in crafting a meaningful life, and we’ll consider how these participate in the life of a society more broadly, from social services to activism.

 

Writing Paris, Writing Home

Hours: 2 or 4
Instructor: Dr. Jeff Hendricks (1 section: max 13 students)

Writing Paris, Writing Home is an introductory, immersive course in creative writing. Through the close reading of short poems, literary nonfiction, fiction, and letters by established authors and through the composition and group critique of work of your own, you will discover and put into practice basic techniques of creative writing that draws its subject from the sensations of home and the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch of Paris.