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TCXG 131 Composition: Introduction to Argument (5) C
Introduces the principles of argument, including critical thinking, analytical reading skills, and writing skills needed for academic writing in humanities. Also covers skills for managing the writing process and how to transfer learning to other disciplinary contexts of writing.
TCXG 230 History of World Culture: Prehistory to the Classical Age (5) I&S/VLPA
Survey of the cultural production and social formation from prehistory through the development of the great classical societies of Asia, Africa, and Europe.
TCXG 240 Landscape in Contemporary Art (5) VPLA
Develops alternative means of expressing and communicating ideas about landscape through a variety of art projects and proposals. Examines the changing role of landscape in art and the influences of environmentalism, politics and global culture in those changes. Includes: field trips, art projects, reading, process book, and project proposals.
TCXG 241 Studies in American Literature (5) VLPA Heldrich, Morris
Examines the aesthetic, social, and cultural expressions of American Literature through its major authors, modes, themes, and periods. Students will practice the analysis of literary discourse and the formation of critical arguments. Offered: AWSp.
TCXG 242 Studies in English Literature (5) VLPA Heldrich, Morris
Examines the aesthetic, social, and cultural expressions of English literature through its major authors, modes, themes, and periods. Students will practice the analysis of literary discourse and the formation of critical arguments. Offered: AWSp.
TCXG 270 Understanding Literature (5) VLPA
Develops essential tools for close and informed reading of fiction, drama, and poetry. Considers how a text generates aesthetic pleasure, how it achieves moral or social impact. Develops skills in literary analysis through reading literary texts, through discussion, and through critical writing.
Instructor Course Description:
Anne Beaufort
TCXG 284 3-Dimensional Art and Contemporary Approaches to Sculpture (5, max. 15) VLPA
Examines 3-dimensional images and explores innovations and trends in contemporary sculpture. Covers formal design elements, and historic and cultural meaning. Includes studio projects, process book, reading and discussion, and research project.
TCXG 301 Intensive Spanish: Reading Skills (5, max. 10) VLPA
An intensive skills building course. Focuses exclusively on the components of language that help students become better readers: vocabulary development, grammar recognition, and strategies to put background knowledge, use of cognates, and other forms of transferable knowledge to work when reading a text in Spanish.
TCXG 302 Intensive Spanish: Conversation Skills (5, max. 10) VLPA
Intensive skills-building course. Focuses on the components of language that will help students understand and speak Spanish: vocabulary development, grammar recognition, and strategies to put background knowledge, use of cognates, and other forms of transferable knowledge to work when listening to and speaking Spanish. Not open to native speakers of Spanish.
TCXG 303 Intensive Spanish: Practical Writing Skills (5, max 10) VLPA
Intensive skills-building course. Focuses exclusively on the components of language that will help students become better writers. Practical approach to vocabulary development, grammar review.
TCXG 335 History of Photography (5) VLPA
Surveys the history of photography from 1839 to the present with an emphasis on various dimensions of the medium from art to advertising, journalism, photographic documentary, surveillance and pornography. Analyzes the photograph in the context of technological advancement, aesthetics, social and cultural influences, critical and theoretical discourses.
TCXG 336 Glass Arts (5) VLPA
Covers issues related to glass arts and object making. Includes instruction in the fundamentals of glass blowing, sand casting, relief sculpture, and related mold-making practice. Emphasis on teamwork and safety in the Hot Shop.
TCXG 341 Writing Popular Fiction (5) VLPA
Teaches students to write popular fiction. Explores questions of narrative, characterization, action, form, formula, and code in popular genres. Uses primary and secondary texts to study mystery, romance, spy thriller, western, horror, and science fiction. Emphasizes per review, revision, assessment, and reflection as methods of producing excellent written work.
TCXG 360 Women Artists from the Renaissance to the Present (5) VLPA
Explores the painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, and new art forms of women from the Renaissance to the present, placing their work in artistic and cultural contexts. Situates women artists in the framework of general art history to provide an overview of women artists' careers and production.
TCXG 367 Ideas Through Objects: A Conceptual Approach to Art (5) VLPA Budge, Naidus
Explores the metaphorical possibilities within objects through various contemporary art-marking techniques. Emphasis on the development of meaning through the creation or manipulation of objects. Instruction in both formal and conceptual art making. Offered: AWSpS.
TCXG 368 Human Figure in Contemporary Art (5) VPLA
Develops drawing skills and alternative means of expression through a variety of studio art projects based on the human figure. Considers figurative work from the Renaissance to contemporary performance artists. Includes studio projects, a process book, reading and response, and research project.
TCXG 369 Shakespeare (5, max.10) VLPA
Examines selected works of English playwright William Shakespeare. Students read plays and engage in class discussion and textually supported interpretations in writing. Covers historical background of Shakespeare’s England and play settings, as well as relevant theology, philosophy, and natural science.
TCXG 371 The World Stage (5,max. 10) VLPA
An investigation of western and non-western forms of staged performance from a historical, social, political, and cultural perspective. Subjects include the classical stage, medieval mystery plays, Jesuit theater, Noh and Kabuki theater, the Peking opera, Yiddish theater, Agit-Prop, the cabaret, the operatic gesamtkunstwerk, Avant-Garde theater, and Performance Art.
Instructor Course Description:
Elena Hartwell
TCXG 373 Introduction to Poetry Writing (5) VLPA
Introduces students to the craft and process of poetry writing from initial draft to advanced revision. Explores current writing styles, poetic forms, and various aesthetic issues. Students discus craft, assigned writings, and share work with other class members. Recommended: courses in upper-division writing and literature.
Instructor Course Description:
Philip J Heldrich
TCXG 377 Art of the Americas (5) VLPA
The art of the United States, Mexico, and Canada is united by common historical events. Explores the painting, sculpture, and architecture of these three countries in the context of indigenous cultures, conquest and colonization, revolution, independence, and the search for national identity.
Instructor Course Description:
Julie A. Nicoletta
TCXG 379 Modern Architecture (5) VLPA
Examines twentieth-century architecture and its origins. Focuses on issues concerning style, technology, urbanism, regionalism, function, and reform to address the diverse forces that have shaped modern architecture.
Instructor Course Description:
Julie A. Nicoletta
TCXG 380 Humanities Research and Writing Seminar (5) VLPA
Covers developing a thesis, designing an outline, doing preliminary research, writing drafts, and presenting a completed 20-page paper. Focus on a different theme each quarter. Includes required field trips.
Instructor Course Description:
Michael Kucher
TCXG 381 Introduction to Fiction Writing (5) VLPA
Introduces the process and techniques of fiction writing. Readings familiarize students with various writing styles and strategies of other writers. Students discuss craft, the assigned readings, and share work with other class members. Recommended: at least one writing/literature course.
Instructor Course Description:
Philip J Heldrich
TCXG 382 2-D Design and Contemporary Approaches in Art (5, max. 15) VLPA
Introduction to basic aspects of creating and understanding two-dimensional images and exploration of innovations and trends in contemporary art. Covers formal design elements and historic and cultural meaning. Includes studio projects, journal/drawing book, reading and discussion, and research project.
Instructor Course Description:
Beverly Naidus
TCXG 383 South Sound Contemporary Art: Creativity and the Art of Seeing (5) VLPA
Explores several forms of artistic expression -- photography, printmaking, painting, video and sculpture in stone, metal, ceramics, and glass. Definitions and theories about creativity and the creative process. All examples of artworks come from contemporary artists living in and near Tacoma, Gig Harbor, Olympia, and the Olympic Peninsula.
TCXG 386 Contemporary Art and Studio Drawing (5) VLPA
Covers principles of drawing. Includes markmaking, outline, negative-positive relationships, proportion, perspective, and composition. Intensive, hands-on coursework.
TCXG 387 Varieties of Literary Criticism (5) VLPA
Investigates different approaches to reading and analysis of literary texts. Draws readings from a range of theoretical and practical criticism. Considers how critical theory adds to the understanding and enjoyment of literature. Gives attention to the history of critical ideas.
TCXG 390 Site Specificity in Art (5) VLPA
Focuses on concepts of site and place through contemporary art-making procedures. Includes instruction in both formal and conceptual approaches to site-specific installation. Emphasis on creating connections and dialog between place, artist, audience.
TCXG 391 Reconstructing Self in Art (5) VLPA
Covers issues related to the generation of identity and change. Includes instruction in the fundamentals of conceptual object making, self-documentation, and basic three-dimensional construction techniques. Emphasis on problem solving, visual literacy, and presentation.
TCXG 392 Labor, Globalization, and Art (5) VLPA Naidus
Explores issues of labor and globalization through the art process. Experiments with contemporary art practices, making projects that examine work histories and that follow the global journey of a commodity. Discussions focus on the history of labor art and how art is intersecting the global justice movement.
TCXG 402 Eco-Art: Art Created in Response to the Environmental Crisis (5) VLPA
Investigates how art can address the environmental crisis. Experiment with contemporary art practices, creating work that reflects concerns about the environment. Discussions focus on the ways contemporary artists define eco-art, the history of the art that looks at nature, the landscape, and current ecological theory.
TCXG 403 Body Image and Art (5) VLPA
Explores questions about body image through contemporary art making strategies. Examines how the human body is portrayed in popular visual media, considers relevant art history, and uses drawing, photography, and site-specific projects to investigate the students' stories about the body.
TCXG 404 Art in a Time of War (5) VLPA
Examines art that addresses the topics of war and peace. Analyzes contemporary popular media and how they frame war and violence. Students create art, read and discuss how art might prompt our society to visualize new ways of resolving conflict.
TCXG 405 Cultural Identity and Art (5) VLPA
Examines the concept of cultural identity and fear of difference. Through reading, analysis of contemporary media and art, and studio artwork, students make art pieces that explore cultural identity using digital photography and text, photocollage, site-specific installation, and community-based art.
TCXG 407 Art and the Public (5) VLPA
Explores issues associated with the creation of public art. Investigates the individual’s role in community establishment, cultural politics, memorialization, and visual response to social and political events that shape our communities. Studio course, personal supplies and art display permission required.
TCXG 464 Teaching Writing (5) VLPA
Studies theories and practices of writing education and the history and challenges of writing assessment. Explores learning communities. Emphasized pedagogical questions of social class, ethnicity, multilingualism, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and nationality.
Instructor Course Description:
Anne Beaufort
TCXG 469 Art Theories, Methods, Philosophies (5) VLPA
Studies theories, methodologies, and philosophies that have shaped the practice, analysis, and criticism of art such as aesthetics, formalism, Marxism, structuralism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, feminism, and postcolonialism.
TCXG 470 The Material World: Art and Artifacts (5/7) VLPA
Examines material culture created and used by humans to cope with the physical world. Employs interdisciplinary methods drawing from art history, historical archaeology, anthropology, and museum studies. Uses hands-on study of everyday objects as a means to understand the world around us.
Instructor Course Description:
Julie A. Nicoletta
TCXG 471 Aspects of Culture and Art (5) VLPA
Considers various ways of exploring the relationship of “art” to its cultural contexts. Covers US or international topics, depending on student interests.
TCXG 481 Children's and Young Adult Literature (5) VLPA
Explores the variety and richness of contemporary children’s and young adult literature. Discusses current trends and issues, and explores multi-ethnic literature and literature from other countries.
TCXG 482 Editing a Literary Arts Magazine (5) VLPA
Studies small literary magazines from the editorial perspective. Covers how to establish and defend editorial policy, assemble literary selections, collaborate with writers and editors, conceive of magazine design, and evaluate contemporary literature within the context of current publications. Credit/no credit only. Recommended: one course each of upper division writing and literature.
Instructor Course Description:
Philip J Heldrich
TCXG 483 Film Directors (5) VLPA
Examines the idea of film authorship: does film, most often an industrial and collaborative medium, allow for the director’s "individual" expression? Can we speak of a Woody Allen film in the same way that we speak of a Shakespeare play or a Jane Austen novel?
Instructor Course Description:
Claudia L. Gorbman
TCXG 484 Writing Creative Non-fiction (5) VLPA
Examines the craft of the emerging genre of creative non-fiction. Combines intensive study of published work with a workshop in which students critique each other's work. It is recommended that students complete at least one other writing or literature course before enrolling.
Instructor Course Description:
Philip J Heldrich
TCXG 485 Writing Center Pedagogy (5) VLPA
Investigates current theories and practices of writing pedagogy, emphasizing the pedagogical assumptions of individual instruction. Students learn to respond constructively to writers and to texts. They also gain expertise as writers and teachers. Required for students who wish to work in the Writing Center.
TCXG 488 Modern Novel (5) VLPA
Examines Cervantes' Don Quixote and twentieth-century works inspired by it. May include Don Quixote, Kafka's Castle, Borges' Labyrinths, and Nabokov's Pale Fire.
TCXG 490 Special Topics (3-5, max. 15)
TCXG 495 Career and Internship Development (2)
Credit/no credit only. Helps students transition from college to career by developing the tools and resources to manage careers over a lifetime. Covers essential elements of career development including self-assessment, exploration of the world of work, and the search for employment. Credit/no credit only.
Instructor Course Description:
Judith A. Colburn
