By Sarthak Shah and Caitlin Feely
Looking to get ahead on courses, catch up on classes you haven’t yet worked into your schedule, or free up space in coming semesters? Summer semester is a great opportunity to meet your goals—and this year, Case Western Reserve University’s classes will be delivered remotely, allowing credits to be earned from wherever you are. From engineering to theater, there are a wide range of courses from which students can choose.
Below, you’ll find selections of undergraduate courses being offered over the summer—one from each department—in subject areas including:
Unless otherwise noted by prerequisites or limitations, these courses are open to all undergraduates.
Graduate and professional schools also will offer courses remotely this summer; some even are adjusting their classes to address the pandemic. The dental school, for example, plans to offer a COVID-19-specific course on enhanced infection control dental care protocols, while the law school is developing research labs in international and health law for students who may not get to participate in summer externships.
Undergraduate courses also are being added—so be sure to check out the offerings.
Registration opens Monday, April 13, in SIS. Check out the CWRU Summer Session website for the full list of undergraduate courses.
For more information on graduate/professional course offerings, check SIS.
Business, Law & Politics
Comparative Political Violence
POSC (Political Science) 334/434
Instructor: Pete Moore
This is a non-standard, simulation-based course analyzing the causes and processes of political violence in comparative perspective. The course begins by engaging some classic philosophical work on power, conflict, and violence. It then moves to specific cases drawn at different historical periods and from across the world (North America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East). For each case, students are organized into groups representing actual political actors. Collaborative research and written assignments serve to prepare each group for an in-class simulation exercise.
Principles of Macroeconomics
ECON (Economics) 103
Instructor: Daniel Shoag
While Microeconomics looks at individual consumers and firms, Macroeconomics looks at the economy as a whole. The focus of this class will be on the business cycle. Unemployment, inflation and national production all change with the business cycle. We will look at how these are measured, their past behavior and at theoretical models that attempt to explain this behavior. We will also look at the role of the Federal Government and the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States in managing the business cycle.
Leading People (LEAD I)
ORBH (Organizational Behavior) 250
Instructor: Tracey Messer
In this course, you’ll learn about the context in which managers and leaders function; gain self-awareness of your own leadership vision and values; understand the options you have for careers in management based on your own aptitudes, orientations and expertise; and develop the fundamental skills needed for success in a chosen career. Through a series of experiential activities, assessment exercises, group discussions, and peer coaching, based on a model of self-directed learning and lifelong development, the course helps students understand and formulate their own career and life vision, assess their skills and abilities, and design a development plan to reach their objectives. The course enables students to see how the effective leadership of people contributes to organizational performance and the production of value, and how for many organizations, the effective leadership of people is the driver of competitive advantage. This is the first course in a two-course sequence.
Essentials of Personal Finance
MGMT 205
Instructor: Karen Braun
This course will provide students of all disciplines with an essential foundation in personal finance. The course will focus on four core areas of personal finance:
- Budgeting and saving
- Investing
- Obtaining credit and controlling debt
- Minimizing financial risk through the use of insurance
The course will also cover the essentials of personal taxation, retirement planning, and estate planning. This course will enable students to gain the fundamental knowledge and skills needed to make wise financial decisions as they move forward in life, which in turn will impact their ability to function as productive leaders in the workplace and financially literate global citizens.
Personal Financial Planning with Digital Technology
MGMT 206
Instructor: Lakshmi Balasubramanyan
In the digital era, financial technologies have worked its way into our digital wallets and portfolio. Mobile banking services, budgeting and investing apps are inextricably linked with how we conduct our personal finances. While financial literacy deals with underlying finance concepts such as time value of money, compounding, budgeting and investing, financial technologies dictate how we access tools to carry out day-to-day budgeting, investing and consuming. In the digital era, financial technologies, Fintech, serves as an enabler of financial literacy, FinLit. While technology is not a substitute for literacy, Fintech complements literacy. Technology has created a level playing field and has advanced the access to credit and investments.
This course will cover four areas:
- Comparing banking services and costs
- Digital banking: Using mobile apps and financial technologies for financial management and decision making
- Personal finance and digital money
- Risks in the digital era: Identity protection
Health & Wellness
Health, Culture and Disease: An Introduction to Medical Anthropology
ANTH (Anthropology) 215
Instructor: Todd Fennimore
This course is an introduction to the field of Medical Anthropology, the cross-cultural study of culture, health and illness. During the semester, you’ll learn theoretical orientations and key concepts; the cross-cultural diversity of health beliefs and practices (abroad and at home); and contemporary issues and special populations (e.g., AIDS, homelessness, refugees, women’s health, and children at risk).
Humanities, Art & Social Sciences
Art History I: Pyramids to Pagodas
ARTH (Art History and Art) 101
Instructor: Angelica Verduci
The first half of a two-semester survey of world art, this course highlights the major monuments of the ancient Mediterranean, medieval Europe, MesoAmerica, Africa and Asia. There is special emphasis on visual analysis and socio-cultural contexts.
Introduction to Game Design
ARTS (Art Studio) 286
Instructor: Jared Bendis
Game design creates meaningful play through interactive experiences. This introductory studio-based course explores games through the development and creation of 2D video games. The course aims to provide a critical vocabulary and historical context for analyzing games and gaming theory and focuses on the skills and techniques necessary to develop 2D video games.
Classical Mythology
CLSC (Classics) 202
Instructor: Rachel Sternberg
In this course, you’ll learn the myths of Classical Greece and Rome, as well as their interpretation and influence. This course counts for the College of Arts and Sciences Global & Cultural Diversity Requirement.
Climate Change and Pandemic
English 285
Instructor: Matthew Burkhart
Students in this course will explore the shared terrain between climate change films and writing (Cli-Fi) and cultural expressions that dramatize pandemics. While the common fare of Cli-Fi centers on speculative and dystopian fiction, this course also attends substantially to what Rebecca Solnit has framed as “hope in the dark” as she writes of “extraordinary communities that arise in disaster.” More than just a recipe for gloomy summer reading, this course invites participants to consider how we define our humanity—individually and collectively—as we envision consequential cultural, environmental, economic and political paths to navigate public health crises.
General Psychology
PSCL (Psychology) 101
Instructor: Robert Greene
Methods, research, and theories of psychology. Basic research from such areas as psychophysiology, sensation, perception, development, memory, learning, psychopathology, and social psychology.
Religion in America
RLGN (Religious Studies) 215
Instructor: Brian Clites
This course is an introduction to American religions, with a particular focus on religious diversity in the United States. As we examine the myriad beliefs and practices of America’s religious communities, we will pay close attention to how religion and culture have shaped each other from the 1600s to today.
High Art and Guilty Pleasures
USSY (Think About The Symbolic World) 293
Instructor: Steve Pinkerton
How, and why, do we draw distinctions between art and entertainment? Lowbrow and highbrow? A crowd-pleasing “flick” and a critic-approved “film?” This seminar will explore the logic of this common sorting process, as well as its consequences. After all, such distinctions historically have been linked with other forms of discrimination—often amplifying or silencing certain voices on the basis of gender, race or class. Traversing a range of artworks, novels, comics, and movies, we’ll work both the high and the low ends of the cultural spectrum, paying special attention to works that seem to blur or combine the usual categories–compelling us to ask whether great art and guilty pleasures can sometimes be one and the same.
Dating, Marriage and Family
SOCI (Sociology) 208
Instructor: Samuel Belkin
What is the family today? How has it changed over the last century? How will it change in the future? This course aims to answer these questions as it explores the influences of work, education, government, health and religion on today’s changing families. The course considers the factors that affect mate selection. It also examines parenting, roles of husbands and wives, family dysfunction and divorce.
Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: James Bond and Popular Culture
THTR (Theater Arts) 206
Instructor: Jeffrey Ullom
The 21 films of James Bond have become part of popular culture, and the figure of the superspy has become mythic in proportion. This series, from its first installment in 1963 to the latest reinvention of James Bond in 2006, not only depicts one dashing man’s efforts to save the world from disaster again and again, but also traces the development of our popular culture. Issues of violence, sex, the presentation and treatment of women, racial stereotypes, and spectacle among other topics can be discussed after viewing each film, providing an opportunity to explore the changing expectations of American audiences and the developing form of contemporary cinema. Students who have taken USSO 286D may not receive credit for this class.
Sex and the City: Gender & Urban History
WGST (Women’s & Gender Studies) 124
Instructor: Einav Rabinovitch-Fox
Gender is an identity and an experience written onto the spaces of the city. The urban landscape—with its streets, buildings, bridges, parks and squares—shapes and reflects gender identities and sexual relations. This course examines the relationship between gender and urban space from the 19th century to the present. Using Cleveland as our case study, this course will explore some of the many ways in which cities and the inhabitants of cities have been historically sexed, gendered and sexualized. We will explore the ways in which gender was reflected and constructed by the built environment, as well as how urban space and urban life shaped gender and sexual identities. The course is organized thematically and explores different aspects of city life such as prostitution, urban crime, labor, politics, urban renewal and decay, consumption and leisure and the ways in which sex and gender intersects with these issues.
Introduction to Philosophy
PHIL (Philosophy) 101
Instructor: Christopher Haufe
Through readings from classical and contemporary philosophers, you’ll explore basic problems of philosophy and methods of philosophical thinking as well as problems raised by science, morality, religion, politics and art. All sections share core materials in theory of knowledge, metaphysics, and ethics, despite differences that may exist in emphasis.
Elementary Medical Spanish
SPAN (Spanish) 101M
Instructor: Elena Fernandez
In this study of Spanish related to health professions, students will gain familiarity with basic written and oral vocabulary and basic grammatical structures for the assessment and communication of Spanish-speaking patients in a variety of settings. Students will also learn vocabulary used in the regular Spanish 101 class. This course is for students who have not taken Spanish before or have minimum knowledge of the language.
Introduction to Creative Writing
ENGL (English) 203
Instructor: Thomas Dawkins
This course is especially for students who wish to try their creative writing abilities across a spectrum of genres. The course explores basic issues and techniques of writing narrative prose and verse through exercises, analysis, and experiment.
Human Learning and the Brain
COGS (Cognitive Science) 322/BIOL 302
Instructor: Barbara Kuemerle
This course focuses on the question, “How does the human brain learn?” Through assigned readings, extensive class discussions, and a major paper, each student will explore personal perspectives on learning. Specific topics include, but are not limited to: the brain’s cycle of learning; neocortex structure and function; emotion and limbic brain; synapse dynamics and changes in learning; images in cognition; symbolic brain (language, mathematics, music); memory formation; and creative thought and brain mechanisms. The major paper will be added to each student’s SAGES writing portfolio. In addition, near the end of the semester, each student will make an oral presentation on a chosen topic.
Science & Tech
Introduction to the Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe
ASTR (Astronomy) 103
Instructor: William Janesh
This introductory astronomy course describes the universe we live in and how astronomers develop our physical understanding about it. Topics covered include the properties of stars; the formation, evolution, and death of stars; white dwarfs, pulsars, and black holes; spiral and elliptical galaxies; the Big Bang and the expansion of the Universe.
Genes, Ecology and Evolution
BIOL (Biology) 214
Instructor: Leena Chakravarty
Prerequisites: CHEM 105 or CHEM 111
The first in a series of three courses required of the biology major, this class covers topics such as biological molecules (focus on DNA and RNA), mitotic and meiotic cell cycles, gene expression, genetics, population genetics, evolution, biological diversity, and ecology.
Principles of Biomedical Engineering Design
EBME (Biomedical Engineering) 370
Instructor: Colin Drummond
Recommended prerequisites: EBME 310
Students learn and implement the design process to produce working prototypes of medical devices with potential commercial value to meet significant clinical needs. They critically examine contemporary medical problems to develop a specific problem statement. The small-team-based class encourages groups to integrate their knowledge and skills to design a device to meet their clinical needs. Students need project planning and management, including resource allocation, milestones, and documentation to ensure successful completion of projects within the allotted time and budget. A panel of advisers and outside medical device experts provide formal design reviews. This course is expected to provide the student with a real-world, capstone design experience.
Introductory Organic Chemistry Laboratory I
CHEM (Chemistry) 233
Instructor: Gregory Tochtrop
Prerequisites: CHEM 106 or CHEM 111 and CHEM 113 or equivalent
Corequisites: CHEM 223 or CHEM 323
This introductory organic laboratory course emphasizes microscale operations. Students also will learn synthesis and purification of organic compounds, isolation of natural products, and systematic identification of organic compounds by physical and chemical methods.
General Physics II – Electricity and Magnetism
PHYS (Physics) 122
Instructors: Corbin Covault, Harsh Mathur, Diana Driscoll
Pre-requisites: PHYS 121 or PHYS 123. Co-requisites: MATH 122 or MATH 124 or MATH 126.
This physics course focuses on electricity and magnetism, emphasizing the basic electromagnetic laws of Gauss, Ampere, and Faraday. Students also will examine Maxwell’s equations and electromagnetic waves, interference and diffraction. This course has a laboratory component.
Introduction to Data Structures
EECS (Electrical Engineering) 233
Instructor: Erman Ayday
Prerequisites: EECS 132
Students in this course will learn principles of the programming language Java, pointers, files, and recursion. They’ll also explore representation and manipulation of data; one-way and circular-linked lists, doubly linked lists, and the available space list. Other topics covered include different representations of stacks and queues; representation of binary trees, trees and graphs; and hashing, searching and sorting.
Scientific Writing in Materials Science and Engineering
EMSE (Materials Science and Engineering) 368/468
Instructor: Frank Ernst
This course properly prepares students for scientific writing with a comprehensive spectrum of knowledge, skills and tools, enabling them to fully focus on the scientific content of their thesis or publication when the time has come to start writing. Similar to artistic drawing—where the ability to “see” is as (or more) important as skills of the hand—proper scientific writing is intimately linked to the ability to critically review scientific texts. Therefore, students will practice both authoring and critical reviewing of material science texts. To sharpen students’ skills of reviewing, examples of good and less good scientific writing will be taken from published literature of materials science and engineering and analyzed in the context of knowledge acquired in the course.
Elementary Differential Equations
MATH (Mathematics) 224
Instructor: Ulises Fidalgo
Pre-Requisites: MATH 223 or MATH 227
Take this first course in ordinary differential equations. Students also will learn first order equations and applications, linear equations with constant coefficients, linear systems, Laplace transforms, and numerical methods of solution.
Computers in Mechanical Engineering
EMAE (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) 250
Instructor: Richard Bachmann
This course explores numerical methods, including analysis and control of error and its propagation, solutions of systems of linear algebraic equations, solutions of nonlinear algebraic equations, curve fitting, interpolation, and numerical integration and differentiation. Recommended preparation: ENGR 131 and MATH 122.
Introduction to Oceanography
EEPS (Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences) 115
Instructor: Sharmila Giri
Interested in the sciences of oceanography? In this course, you’ll study the physical, chemical, biologic, and geologic features and processes of the oceans. You’ll also explore the differences and similarities between the oceans and large lakes, including the Great Lakes.
Set your schedule
For both graduates and undergraduates, check the timeline for summer course registration.
Once you’re ready with your schedule, complete registration through SIS.