B.A. Degree Completion - Liberal Studies
Course Descriptions
Winter 2015
(As of 11/10/14)
EXP-400-1 Women’s Education Program (Phoenix Raine)
Now in it’s 16th year, the Women’s Education Program class continues to meet Thursdays 8:00–
11:30 in room 201a/b. Students participate as active members in maintaining and building
community, attending the art studio; writing workshops; and/or the computer lab. When
possible, students will contribute their skills, abilities, and interests to the Women’s Education
Program (WEP) to help assure the success and sustainability of the WEP. Through a number of
educational activities and a fundraising event, students will increase their understanding of the
world of homeless and low-income populations. The WEP is a collaborative women’s
community, dependent on the contributions of students through service learning.
EXP-303-1 Writing Prior Learning (Phoenix Raine)
Antioch has always valued the experience and knowledge of adult learners. The writing prior
learning course is designed to foster an in depth understanding of the correlation between
experience and learning. Students will conceptualize their experiences into narratives and
learning competencies that will validate credit for the learning. The narrative is an expression of
one’s learning that details discernable outcomes from previous experiences that will then be
evaluated as upper division liberal arts credit.
PSYC-360-1 Liberatory Psychology and Cultural Healing (Phoenix Raine)
Psychologies of liberation are emerging on every continent in response to the collective
traumas imposed by colonialism and globalization. A theoretical foundation of participatory
methodologies enhanced through incorporating art will provide a radical interdisciplinary
approach towards creating individual and community wellbeing. The course will explore how
addressing the cultural crypt of oppression can provide insight into our individual and collective
healing. Using some historical and current events as ways to "see through" and "listen into" the
psychological wounds of individuals and communities, we will engage the heart and mind in
collaborative artalogue (art + dialogue). The creation of public spaces, the work of liberation
arts, and critical cultural theory are highlighted as contexts for the theory and practice of
liberation psychology. While drawing on post Jungian theory, trauma studies, liberation arts,
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and contemporary cultural work, and also encouraging imaginal reverie, this course will explore
the concepts and implementation of cultural healing aligned with students’ interests.
A&L-480-1: LGBTQ Literature (3-4 credits) (Evan Peterson)
Students will read and view a variety of texts to gain a richer understanding of LGBTQ
experience, literature, and culture in America and abroad, culminating in a final critical essay or
creative piece that engages with an understanding of "queer" as identity, activity, and/or
process. Texts include Orlando, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Gender Outlaw, Paris is Burning,
Party Monster, and Fun Home.
A&L-480-3: Documentary Film (BJ Bullert)
Documentary filmmaking is a living tradition. Historically, documentary filmmakers have
influenced global policy agendas, framed political debates, witnessed events, and constructed
views of reality for audiences that inspire action. The course focuses on documentary
filmmaking in history and as practice. Students analyze contemporary and historical films from
technical, economic, aesthetic, political and cultural perspectives, and develop their own
creative visual storytelling talents through hands-on assignments, short essays, reflective
writing, and finally, the production of a short film.
A&L-480-1: Designing Communication (BJ Bullert)
Students learn to design effective messages by analyzing their intended audiences, the context
for communication and the strengths and limitations of different media. They gain experience
writing for publication, including op-eds, blogs, letters to the editor. They practice visual
communication, and public speaking. Together, they develop their abilities to use reflective
practice by learning with and from each other through peer-to-peer and instructor feedback.
Readings include essays on rhetoric, political communication and brain science, including the
work of linguist George Lakoff.
LIB-445-1: Senior Synthesis Seminar (BJ Bullert)
This course supports implementation of the senior synthesis project, preparation for the
symposium presentation, and completion of the BA in Liberal Studies degree process.
A&L-480-2: Socially Engaged Studio Art (Mary Coss)
Socially engaged art goes beyond art with social intention to an art practice that engages the
public. This is an active studio arts class where students work within the visual arts realm,
folding in other art forms when inspired. This studio class explores the intersection of art and
life through hands-on art making, aesthetic and ethical discussions and writing, and through the
exploration of contemporary art. No previous art experience necessary. (Plan on spending $50
on art supplies.
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ENVC-480-1: Small Farm and Garden Development & Business Planning (Perry Acworth)
This course is intended for students seeking the answers for “what it takes” to develop a
successful small farm enterprise or garden-based organization, both not-for-profit and for
profit. We will explore what this means by addressing not just the economics, but also the
environmental, and socio-political realms. Through readings, discussions, field trips and handson experiences, this course will “go deeper” into the essential characteristics of innovative,
alternative farms and garden organizations both locally and nationally. The culminating project
for this class is the development of an enterprise business plan. Through this process students
may gain a working knowledge of business planning terms, production alternatives, market
opportunities, creative financing and funding strategies.
LIB-302-1: Diversity, Power and Privilege (Anne Harvey)
This course will explore issues surrounding the American constructions of race/culture, gender,
social class, ability, and sexual orientation. While these are categories most of us have taken for
granted, in this class they will be critically examined. Human differences will be investigated
from multiple perspectives. We will examine the themes of diversity, power and privilege using
historical, psychological and sociological perspectives, investigating how inequality is
maintained, which will include an examination of our individual and collective roles. We will
also explore the processes of individual and social change as we examine social justice
movements. Students will bridge theory and practice by developing an application project
relevant to their worlds of work, family, and community.
LOS-306-1: Introduction to Non Profit Management (Anne Harvey)
Students will develop an overview of management functions in non profit organizations and will
be introduced to the seven core competencies of non profit leadership in today’s ever changing
economic, social and political climate. The most successful non profit organizations are those
with staff and board members who have working knowledge of financial management, board
development, legal issues, resource development, and planning for change. This course will
address these aspects of non profit management along with cultural competency, fundraising,
program evaluation, and governance. Organizational as well as individual wellness, building
community collaborations, and leadership principles will also be examined with an emphasis on
participatory learning opportunities and case studies.
SOC-440-1: Homelessness: The Deepening Scandal (3-4 credits) (David Bloom)
The course will focus on the roots of homelessness in America today with an emphasis on how
homelessness has grown as a major social problem in Seattle and King County since 1980. It will
consider who is homeless and why, local efforts to address the problem—including both social
service and social action efforts, impediments to effective solutions, the sectors of society that are
responsible for addressing homelessness, and the actions that will be necessary to end
homelessness, both locally and nationally. Students will interact with local activists throughout and
construct their own strategies for ending homelessness to present to local elected officials at the
conclusion.
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PSYC-480-1: Special Topics in Psychology and Human Services (Anne Harvey) (1-4)
Students with specific interests in a psychology or human services related topic will each design
an independent study and meet together with this instructor five times over the quarter to
deepen their learning, share resources and knowledge and explore new ideas. Each student
will develop an independent study contract delineating learning goals, learning activities, and
demonstrations of learning.
SOJ-480-2: Civil Rights Tour of the South (Mary Lou Finley)
Join a bus tour of key civil rights movement sites in the South on a tour led by well-known civil
rights leader Dr. Bernard LaFayette. We will be meeting with 1960s civil rights activists who will
tell their stories, visiting civil rights museums and other public history sites, and participating
while on the bus in a “rolling seminar” on civil rights history, nonviolence, and the meaning and
uses of nonviolence today, including stories of recent nonviolence work in Ferguson, Missouri
and Berlin, Germany.
Tour highlights include visits to the Martin Luther King Center and Museum in Atlanta and an
exploration of the movements in Albany, Georgia, St. Augustine, Florida, and Savannah,
Georgia, less-well-known movements which nonetheless had a significant impact on the
passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The class will also meet for four sessions on campus after
the tour, allowing us to explore readings on these movements in more depth. Special focus on
women in these civil rights campaigns.
Tour dates: Tour leaves from the airport in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, January 2 at 10am and
returns to the airport on Monday, January 5 at 4pm. Additional costs: $485 tour fee +
Roundtrip airfare to and from Atlanta, GA. Some financial assistance may be available if
needed. Contact Mary Lou Finley or Anne Harvey for more information on tour arrangements.
LIB-440-1: Competency Integration Seminar ("CIS") (Sue Woehrlin)
This seminar assists students in integrating program learning, emphasizing breadth of
knowledge in the liberal arts, as well as deep knowledge in one's area of concentration. The
seminar supports completion of the portfolio, demonstration of program core liberal arts
competencies, and design of the senior synthesis project. This course is taken in the student's
penultimate or next-to-last quarter, and is a pre-requisite for enrolling in the Senior Synthesis
Seminar and ones Senior Synthesis Project.
LIB-440-WKND Competency Integration Seminar ("CIS") (Sue Woehrlin)
This seminar assists students in integrating program learning, emphasizing breadth of
knowledge in the liberal arts, as well as deep knowledge in one's area of concentration. The
seminar supports completion of the portfolio, demonstration of program core liberal arts
competencies, and design of the senior synthesis project. This course is taken in the student's
penultimate or next-to-last quarter, and is a pre-requisite for enrolling in the Senior Synthesis
Seminar and ones Senior Synthesis Project.
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LOS-410-WKND Narrating Change: Stories for Collective Action (Sue Woehrlin)
Stories affirm experience. Stories facilitate learning. Stories inspire dreams. Stories galvanize
action. Stories are a source of voice and power. Stories are the language of relationship,
pattern and context that help us engage and influence the complexities and messiness of
existence. In sum, we make meaning and navigate life together using stories. This course
explores the ways story-- with all of these rich dimensions-- can be used to prompt
organizational and community change. Theory and methodologies are drawn from multiple
academic, professional and applied fields of practice, including: organizational change,
narrative medicine, narrative therapy, narrative mediation, community development,
participatory action research, social change and community-based arts. In a dynamic interplay
of theory and practice, students alternate study of the underlying principles of story-based
change with engaging an application project that utilizes stories from their own organization or
community in cycles of reflection and action. This course is designed for practitioners and
leaders of all kinds wanting to improve organizational practice and/or activists working for
social change in life affirming and empowering ways.
LIB-410-1: Mapping Worlds: Wayfaring at the Margins (Sue Woehrlin)
Maps illuminate, inform, inspire and empower, but also obscure, deceive and oppress. Drawing
from geography, history, politics, psychology, information technology, science and art, we will
examine maps as navigational guides to uncharted territories, social constructions, political
instruments, visual representations, metaphors of identity and relationship, and expressions of
the human imagination. Highly experiential, participants will learn to read, use, interpret,
deconstruct and create maps. We will study map elements and conventions then try our hand
at making maps of personal geography, journeys, the nature of place, margins of power and
inner or imaginary worlds. We will learn about the intersection of social, political, economic
and environmental issues in various places around the globe through map interpretation. In
teams, students will study one special map/map maker that changed history and 'map' their
significance & contribution. Finally we will play with map art in various modalities (No special
artistic skill required!). Students address many core competencies in this course; most
especially multiple lenses, global perspectives, social justice and creativity.
LIB-302-1: Diversity, Power, & Privilege (Ron Harris-White)
This course will explore issues surrounding the American constructions of race/culture, gender,
social class, ability, and sexual orientation. While these are categories most of us have taken for
granted, in this class they will be critically examined. Human differences will be investigated
from multiple perspectives. We will examine the themes of diversity, power and privilege using
historical, psychological and sociological perspectives. We will investigate how inequality is
maintained, which will include an examination of our individual and collective roles. We will
also explore the processes of individual and social change as we explore ways to address the
status quo. Students will bridge theory and practice by developing an application project
relevant to their worlds of work, family, and community.
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GBL-480-2: Critical Media Studies (Michael Viola)
This course is an exploration of global media in an age of corporate globalization (1970s to
present). In this class we will explore how the culture industries of global media (such as
journalism, television, advertisements, news, printed text, film, popular culture, and the
internet) mediate social, political, and economic formations and make them a vital part of the
human experience. This exploration will take place through a combination of in-class
discussions, small group activities, student-led facilitations, and collective analysis.
Incorporating an interdisciplinary lens of critical theory, we will examine the conditions of
global media to ask how it has been utilized as a means of rendering social relations natural and
unchangeable in a variety of geographic locations. On the other hand, if global media is a key
factor in the construction of contemporary social arrangements, we will also examine how
media contains the means for their potential undoing. In asking these questions, we will
explore how communities are mobilizing media as an important mechanism for social
transformation. Central inquiries we will attend to throughout the course are: How has global
media incorporated and contested the central tenants of “globalization”? How can we utilize
critical theory to sharpen our understanding of global media and it relationship to larger
structures of global inequality?
GBL-480-1: Post-colonialism & Narrative of Resistance (Michael Viola)
This course is an exploration of migrating theories, literatures, cultures, and practices in a
postcolonial era – the time after World War II where former U.S. and European colonies gained
“independence” from imperial domination. Of particular interest, is the diasporic movement of
populations as a result of colonialism as well as the various forms of resistance communities
mobilized in resistance to their domination. Through assigned readings and in-class discussions
we will explore central tenants of postcolonial theory, its history as well as scholarly debates
and interdisciplinary criticisms. Furthermore, through a combination of small group activities,
student-led facilitations, and collective media analysis we will examine how theories of
postcolonialism can offer viable strategies, insights, and “narratives of resistance” to the myriad
forms of injustices that mark our contemporary moment. Central inquiries we will attend to
throughout the course are: Who are some of the key actors/agents/scholars of postcolonial
theory? What were the myriad forms of resistance mobilized by historically subjugated peoples
against colonial control? How can we utilize the insights of marginalized and oppressed
communities to confront unjust relations of the present such as racism, patriarchy, militarism,
and other forms of domination? How can postcolonial theory frame our understanding of
migrations and global diasporas?
SOJ-480-1: Popular Culture, Sports & Social Change (Michael Viola)
Description Forthcoming
*SPIR-390-2 Joseph Campbell on Myth, Symbol and the Sacred (Randy Morris)
The purpose of this class is to provide an overview of the lifework of Joseph Campbell and his
contributions to the study of psychology, mythology and spirituality. In addition to placing his
work in the intellectual context of the 20th century, we will also examine the key elements of his
view of the nature of archetypes, the role of metaphor and symbol, personal mythology and
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the sacred dimensions of existence. Special attention will be given to his formulation of “the
myth of the hero” and how this myth functions in individual psychology as well as popular
culture. We will conclude with an inquiry into Campbell’s understanding of a newly emerging
“global” mythology. Learning will include a personal encounter with a mythic story and image in
order to make myth a living experience for students. An increased appreciation of Campbell’s
ideas will enhance the understanding of our own personal mythologies and the responsibility
we each carry for the emerging mythology of the future.
LIB-301-1: Liberal Studies Seminar (Randy Morris)
In the Liberal Studies Seminar, students explore the history, meaning, significance, and debates
surrounding liberal arts education as well as ways of thinking, knowing and learning required by
such an education. They gain a deeper understanding of Antioch University Seattle’s (AUS)
liberal studies program, and in particular, a grounded understanding of its mission in “preparing
learners to be advocates and leaders for social justice and sustainability in a global
context.” We emphasize critical thinking and analysis.
Students learn about and plan for the successful completion of their degree as they analyze the
production of knowledge, survey the theory and philosophy of self- directed, adult and
experiential learning, and assess their own strengths and areas for development in their degree
completion program. In this process, they develop their abilities to write, speak, and dialogue in
academic setting. Through methods that include critical reflection, class discussion, course
readings, guest speakers, interactive activities, writing assignments, and other activities,
students will actively participate in the practice of self-directed, experiential, and culturally
relevant learning.
PSYC-494-1: Abnormal Psychology (3-4) (Faculty TBD)
Introduces students to the theories and concepts of human behavior, as understood in the field
of psychology. Topics include: defining abnormal behavior; understanding the historical
context; reviewing psychological models and forms of assessment; delineating the major
categories of abnormal behavior; treatment interventions; and social, cultural, ethical and legal
issues related to this area of study. This class satisfies prerequisites for admission to the School
of Applied Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy.
*PSYC-490-1: Theories of Personality
Writing Courses
WRTG-405/605: Writing in Academic Contexts (3 credits)
Writing in Academic Contexts offers students a critical exploration of reading and writing
intrinsic to the university. Students compose a variety of genres, from personal narratives to
more formal, academic writing incorporating outside research. The writing workshop approach
includes tutorials supporting the writing process, peer editing, and successful revising and
proofreading techniques.
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WRTG 406/606-: Inquiry and Research (3 credits)
Inquiry and Research offers students a comprehensive experience in writing from and about
research within academic communities. The class emphasizes critical reading & thinking, the
development of technical & library skills as well as the integration of primary & secondary
sources in writing. Students will gain experience in composing in multiple genres requiring
formal research.
WRTG-400/600: Writing Strategies Seminar (1 credit)
The Writing Tutorial offers Antioch students both small group instruction and writing
workshops that support both undergraduate and graduate students’ writing in their academic
program. Through structured, small group, bi-weekly meetings led by an expert faculty
member, students process their writing: from generating ideas, composing, proofreading to
revising.
WRTG-407: Technical and Professional Writing (3 credits) (Kovar)Examines the forms of
writing required in professional, administrative and research settings: memos, grants and
proposals, research writing and technical reports. Students learn the need for understanding
the rhetorical contexts for writing (subject, audience, ethics, context and purpose) as they
engage in writing a variety of professional related genres.
WRTG-490: Writing Creative Nonfiction (3 credits) (Peterson)Is "creative nonfiction" a
contradiction? Hardly! Telling true stories is an art form. We write to know ourselves, to bear
witness, to heal, and to intrigue ourselves and others. Explore lived experiences, your own and
others', while experimenting with voice and form.
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