2025-2026 Course List

Graduate level Sculpture and three-dimensional studies studio course focusing on a personal aesthetic expression. May be repeated.

Graduate-level exploration of installation art, focusing on the development of a contemporary and personal voice. Students will learn how to create dimensional works that relate to specific architectural environments. A variety of material and conceptual approaches will be explored with an emphasis on non-traditional materials and non-technical processes. Previous sculpture experience is not necessary. Students will become aware of a diverse array of artists working within the field of installation.

Students will learn to present their work professionally and to articulate their ideas in oral and written formats. Analysis and contextualization of work in relation to contemporary art and art history will be emphasized. Course should be taken during the second semester of graduate study.

Field experience in professional setting relating to the specialization: graphic design, museum or arts administration, etc.

Required of all candidates of the MA degree, this course is culmination of the previous sequential graduate studio blocks and reviews. Concepts developed will result in a body of work that constitutes the graduate exhibition or presentation. An oral defense of the ideas presented in the exhibition or presentation is required. Documentation will be submitted by the MA candidate and will become part of the Department of Creative Arts files. The candidate will also create and submit appropriate announcements, posters, and descriptions for public relations.

Broad survey of astronomy: the night sky, seasons, moon phases, eclipses, light, telescopes, stars, stellar evolution, galaxies, cosmology, the solar system.

Survey of our solar system: the sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and meteoroids; history of the discovery and exploration of the solar system.

The probability of extraterrestrial intelligent life; the chemical basis of life; planetary environments; habitable zones; the Drake equation; UFOs; space travel; interstellar communication; limits on technical civilizations. General Education Categories 2 and 3.

The probability of extraterrestrial intelligent life; the chemical basis of life; planetary environments; habitable zones; the Drake equation; UFOs; space travel; interstellar communication; limits on technical civilizations.

Techniques for observing with the naked eye, binoculars and small telescopes; constellation and star identification; use of star atlases and handbooks; observations of stars, binaries, clusters, nebulae, planets and the sun and moon, etc. Students will also learn how astronomical theories are formulated and tested by observing phenomena in the sky. Evening observing labs required.

Prerequisites:

AST 101

The celestial sphere; coordinate systems; sidereal and solar time; diurnal motion; precession; proper motion; refraction; aberration; parallax. Requires a background in trigonometry.

Celestial mechanics; gravitational and tidal forces; stellar motions and parallax; radiation and matter; magnitudes and stellar spectra; binary stars and stellar masses; stellar structure and evolution.

Prerequisites:

MATH 121 and PHYS 221

Stellar endpoints; close binary systems; variable stars; the Milky Way; normal galaxies; galactic evolution; active galaxies and quasars; cosmology.

Prerequisites:

AST 215, MATH 122, PHYS 222

Operating the 0.5 meter telescope; operating the BRC 250 astrograph; learning to install and operate ancillary equipment for both telescopes.

Prerequisites:

AST 201 and AST 215, Consent

Photometric systems; observational techniques of point-source photometry: methods of data reduction; interpretation of data.

Prerequisites:

AST 215

Observations of extended sources; photometric calibration of extended sources; use of secondary standard stars.

Prerequisites:

AST 353

Reduction of digital images to determine positions, proper motions, and parallaxes of stars; analysis of errors.

Prerequisites:

AST 201 and AST 215

Line identification; radial velocity determinations; spectral classifications.

Prerequisites:

AST 225

Students will conduct supervised research in astronomy.

Prerequisites:

Consent

A course in a particular area of astronomy not regularly offered. May be repeated for credit on each new topic.

Prerequisites:

Consent

Individual study under the guidance of an astronomy faculty member.

Prerequisites:

Consent

Special arrangements must be made with an appropriate faculty member or the departmental office. May be repeated for credit on each new topic.

Students will conduct supervised research in astronomy.

Students will gain an understanding of anatomic and pathologic concepts necessary to assess musculoskeletal injury. This course is designed for the graduate athletic training student.

Prerequisites:

Acceptance into the M.S. in Athletic Training degree program