Mar 28, 2024  
2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions


 Course Numbering System

001-099 Developmental Courses (Credit Type DV*)
100-299 Lower division courses; may have prerequisites
300-499 Upper division courses
500-599 Foundational graduate courses and Education graduate certification courses
600-699 Graduate courses

*DV - Developmental courses completed at Avila count toward Term hours, Term GPA and Career GPA, but are not counted in Career hours. Developmental courses completed at another institution are counted in Term hours and Term GPA, but are not counted in Career hours or Career GPA.

Catalog Course Information

The number in parentheses after the course title indicates the credit in semester hours.

The letters following the course description indicate the semester in which the course is given. Fall semester course offerings are indicated by FA; spring semester, SP; summer session, SU. Where frequency of course offering is not indicated, the course is given as required.

 

Theatre

  
  • TR 288 - Stage Management Practicum (1-2)

    Participatory experience by assuming duties as stage manager or assistant stage manager for department production. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Departmental permission.
  
  • TR 289 - Directing Practicum (1-2)

    Participatory experience by assuming duties as assistant director for department production. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Departmental permission.
  
  • TR 324 - History & Literature of the Theatre II (3)

    Development of theatre and drama from the Elizabethan period to the present. SP, odd years.
  
  • TR 361 - Stage Management (3)

    Techniques for stage managers in educational, community, and professional productions. FA, odd years.
  
  • TR 377 - Auditioning Techniques (3)

    Preparatory steps for interviews, auditions, selection of material, and proper dress; theatrical standards and hierarchy; resume and vitae writing; and practical class projects. FA, odd years.
  
  • TR 380 - Special Topics (1-3)

    Selected topics to be determined by the department.
  
  • TR 390 - Directed Studies (3)

    Under faculty supervision, an advanced study project is pursued in the area of choice. May be repeated for credit with departmental permission. Prerequisite: Permission of department.
  
  • TR 391 - Repertory Theatre (3)

    Under faculty supervision, advanced acting and directing projects will be pursued in a repertory theatre format. Collaboration and the use of theatrical hierarchy will be practiced. This course is intended to prepare students specifically for the senior capstone experience. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Departmental permission. SP, even years.
  
  • TR 411 - Media Production & Performance (3)

    Investigation of the influence of media on the actor’s performance and study of production styles within an audio and video context. Examination of script, blocking for video, and working with actors, directors, and production crew. Participation in script adaptation, preproduction planning, actual production, and post-production editing and evaluation. Prerequisite: Departmental permission.
  
  • TR 415 - Playwright Seminar (3)

    Analysis of significant plays and their respective playwrights, including major periods of world theatrical history. SP, even years.
  
  • TR 425 - Dramatic Theory & Criticism (3)

    Study of the major documents in dramatic theory and criticism, including commentaries from 500 B.C.E. through the early 21st Century. FA, odd years.
  
  • TR 451 - Scene Design I (3)

    Principles and theories of scenic composition. Practice in hand drafting, CAD, and model making. Focus on preliminary scenic designs. Prerequisite: TR 251  or equivalent. FA, odd years.
  
  • TR 452 - Scene Design II (3)

    Survey of theatre architecture and scenic styles. Study of the designer in a production organization. Practice in drafting, model making, and rendering. Focus on full scenic designs. Prerequisite: TR 451 . SP, even years.
  
  • TR 453 - Advanced Scenery & Prop Construction (3)

    Advanced techniques in woodworking, painting, metal, fabric, and plastics. Prerequisite: TR 251  or departmental permission. SP, odd years.
  
  • TR 454 - Advanced Lighting & Sound Design (3)

    Practice in different approaches to stage lighting and sound design through light plots, sound engineering, and realized demonstrations. Prerequisite: TR 253  and TR 257  or departmental permission. FA, even years.
  
  • TR 455 - History of Costume (3)

    Survey of historical dress from the Egyptians to the present. Practice in research and costume design. SP, even years.
  
  • TR 462 - Theatre Management (3)

    Survey of business management in educational, community, and professional theatre. Techniques in developing and maintaining a theatre will be examined through the development of a mock theatre on paper and with presentations. SP, even years.
  
  • TR 463 - Advanced Directing (3)

    Practical application of principles and directorial concepts in class and studio projects. Prerequisite: TR 281  or departmental permission. SP, odd years.
  
  • TR 471 - Acting Styles I (3)

    Examination of classical acting technique through discussion of period style, acting exercises, and scene work. Primarily focuses on Shakespearean comedy and tragedy. Other styles may include Classical Greek, Roman Comedy, and Restoration/French Neo-Classical. Prerequisite: TR 271 , TR 272 , or departmental permission. FA, even years.
  
  • TR 473 - Acting Styles II (3)

    Examination of contemporary acting technique through discussion of experimental style, acting exercises, and scene work. Styles covered include 1960s experimental theatre, theatre of images, theatre of commitment, and post-modernism. Prerequisites: TR 271 , TR 272 , or departmental permission. FA, odd years.
  
  • TR 477 - Advanced Acting (3)

    Addresses advanced acting technique and form through class discussion, improvisation, and scene work. Individual and group projects at the advanced level. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: TR 271 , TR 272  or departmental permission. SP, odd years.
  
  • TR 480 - Special Topics (1-3)

    Selected topics to be determined by the department.
  
  • TR 490 - Directed Studies (3)

    Under faculty supervision, an advanced study project is pursued in the area of choice. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Departmental permission.
  
  • TR 495 - Internship (3)

    Student pursues, under faculty supervision, an internship project in the area of choice. Prerequisite: Departmental permission. 2015 CORE: Creativity & Culture, Contribute, Community Engagement.
  
  • TR 499 - Senior Project (3)

    Senior capstone experience in individual student’s discipline incorporating all areas of concentration. Meets the Capstone requirement in the major. Prerequisites: Departmental permission and Senior standing.

Women’s and Gender Studies

  
  • WS 111 - Introduction to Religious Studies (3)

    This course will provide a critical analysis of religion as a human endeavor through historical, anthropological, and sociological standpoints. Through the academic study of religion, students will become conversant with major themes, issues, figures, and phenomena that have been instrumental in religion’s social description and analysis. PRE-2015 CORE: Level II. 2015 CORE: Belief & Reason, Acquire.
  
  • WS 210 - Images & Realities of Gender (3)

    This course will introduce students to the social construction and significance of gender from feminist, interdisciplinary, and multicultural perspectives. Students will analyze the ways that gender (in combination with race, sexual identity, and social class) affects access to opportunity, power, and resources. PRE-2015 CORE: Level III. 2015 CORE: Belief & Reason, Acquire, Interdisciplinary Studies.
  
  • WS 214 - Psychology of Gender (3)

    This course provides an exploration of various perspectives on the role of gender in the formation of individual identity, as well as the interrelationship between gender identity and society. Students will examine the construction and development of gender identity through a scientific lens. The interaction between gender stereotypes and relationships, work, and health are explored. 2015 CORE: Explorations of Nature, Transform. FA.
  
  • WS 221 - Divas, Ingénues & Vixens (3)

    A study of folk, popular, and refined music from the Western tradition specifically analyzing the compositions, performances, and role of women in music and applying feminist perspectives. Comparative elements such as ethnomusicology and male musicians will be utilized to provide a framework for gender within the greater context of the music of women. PRE-2015 CORE: Level II. 2015 CORE: Creativity & Culture, Transform. SP.
  
  • WS 225 - Catholicism (3)

    This course explores the history and fundamental beliefs of Catholics on God, Christ, the Spirit, scripture, liturgy, the Sacraments, and the Church. We will also examine contemporary trends and issues such as peace and justice, women, and ecumenism within the Catholic tradition. PRE-2015 CORE: Level II. 2015 CORE: Belief & Reason, Transform.  SP.
  
  • WS 253 - Gendered Media (3)

    A critical/cultural approach will provide a framework for understanding how gender, class, race, age, and ethnicity influence the production, construction, and consumption of the media. The emphasis is on understanding gendered media from a global perspective and empowering media consumers through both critical analysis and active creative production. 2015 CORE: Creativity & Culture, Transform, Global Studies.
  
  • WS 275 - Gender & Literature (3)

    This course explores the expression of gender as it appears in selected literature from the 19th Century to the 21st Century. In this class, we will explore Western heteronormative masculinity and femininity as well as alternative gender expression. Among the secondary focuses evaluated in this course are issues of power, authority, social representation, and social change as they relate to gender issues. Prerequisite: EN 111  or EN 112 . PRE-2015 CORE: Level II. 2015 CORE: Social Justice & Civic Life, Transform. FA, SP.
  
  • WS 278 - Global Literary Perspectives (3)

    Through the lens of literature, this course explores the flows of people and their culture and labor across borders. Each text is examined in terms of its artistic and political dimensions with a focus on identity, gender politics, and historical revision. Rather than discrete nations and single cultures, the course concentrates on movement, hybridity, and multiplicity. In addition to physical movement, the course examines other possessions that move across the borders including information, language, traditions, and beliefs, examining ways in which people remember, re-imagine, and reshape their sense of self and community. Prerequisite: EN 111  or EN 112 . PRE-2015 CORE: Level II. 2015 CORE: Social Justice & Civic Life, Acquire, Global Studies. FA, SP.
  
  • WS 309 - Marriage & the Family (3)

    Examination of the major aspects of the family as a social institution; the current trends, changing nature, and possible developments of the family in the future. FA, even years.
  
  • WS 311 - American Women (3)

    This course explores changing cultural images of women, examines the role of gender in structuring American society, and compares the experiences of American women from a variety of racial and ethnic groups as well as class positions. Additionally, this course includes a discussion of important theoretical and methodological concerns related to women’s and gender history. Meets the upper-division requirement for American History in the history major. 2015 CORE: Social Justice & Civic Life, Contribute.
  
  • WS 319 - Women, Religion & Community in the U.S. (3)

    This course will examine women and religion and how the interaction of religious and gender ideologies helped shape experiences and create women’s communities within a variety of religious traditions in the United States. We will view religious experience through a multicultural lens which includes the perspectives of African-American, Native American, Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant women and some women founders of American and international religious groups. PRE-2015 CORE: Level II & III.
  
  • WS 326 - Feminist Theory & Practice (3)

    This course provides an overview of the major philosophical issues that have defined feminism as a subject of intellectual inquiry and offers practical engagement of these issues through its community engagement component. Although feminism’s historical focus has been on women, an even more fundamental issue for the movement has been how power and oppression are created from and wielded upon various categories of humans. In this light, this course will explore the construction of numerous identities (including “woman,” “man,” and many other ways of understanding the self), how power is negotiated from those identities, and how these translate into issues of subjectivity, rights, politics, aesthetics, sexuality, ethics, and a host of other issues. PRE-2015 CORE: Level II. 2015 CORE: Social Justice & Civic Life, Contribute, Community Engagement. FA.
  
  • WS 331 - Women & Science (3)

    This interdisciplinary course in Women’s Studies and Natural Science introduces students to the complex and challenging relationship between women and science and technology across the globe. The course introduces students to the history of women and science and technology, including the ways in which female biology has been framed  by philosophers, physicians, and scientists from the ancient Greeks to the present and ways in which science has used gender as a way to explain the natural world. The course examines examples of gender bias in the substance of science and technology on both a broad and individual basis, identifies gender stratification within scientific and technological professions, explores the ways in which women use science and technology regarding reproduction, and analyzes persistent barriers to women’s participation and advancement in STEM fields. PRE-2015 CORE: Level III. 2015 CORE: Social Justice & Civic Life, Transform. Global Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies.  FA, odd years.
  
  • WS 332 - Sex & Sexuality in America (3)

    This course examines the history of sex and sexuality in America from pre-colonial Native societies to the modern-day. This class uncovers the ways that ideas of sex and sexuality have changed over time and the impact of constructions of gender and sexuality on marginalized groups with the United States and in a global context.  Meets the upper-division requirement for American history in the history major.  2015 CORE: Belief & Reason, Contribute.
  
  • WS 370 - Fairy Tales & Culture (3)

    This course is an exploration of the creation, transmission, and implications of culture to power relations (particularly gender) of fairy tales in modern world history since 1450 C.E. in a global context. Meets the upper-division World History requirement in the history major. 2015 CORE: Creativity & Culture, Contribute.
  
  • WS 372 - Being Together: A Global Context (3)

    This interdisciplinary course will introduce the student to thinking about what it means to exist together with other human beings in the midst of a “global” world, especially as that concept is navigated by means of gender, racial, class, and other differences. We will consider both the genesis of these categories and also how best to understand them, and we will do so largely by recognizing that they are influenced or determined by other categories, like, for example, power and desire. In this way, the course will consider both the most basic philosophical issues involved in existing with others (recognition, acknowledgment, and inter-subjectivity, as well as their failures) as well as the more specific ways in which we come to relate to and identify ourselves and each other (gender, race, class, and others). We will conclude the course by exploring issues of justice in light of a global context and of our explorations throughout the semester. 2015 CORE: Social Justice & Civic Life, Transform, Interdisciplinary Studies, Global Studies.
  
  • WS 380 - Topics in Women’s Studies (1-3)

    Special topics in women’s studies are explored from a variety of academic disciplines. Course topics are determined based on faculty/student interest and program needs. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
  
  • WS 462 - Rhetoric of Women (3)

    Using gender as a category of rhetorical study, this course locates and listens to rhetoric by and about women. Students will study diverse rhetoric produced by women as well as general feminist rhetorics. Prerequisite: EN 213 , EN 279 , or EN 350 . SP, even years.
 

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