These classes will be offered in the upcoming semester. Check MavLINK for enrollment appointments and to enroll.
MA CCT Courses offered Fall 2023 Semester
CACT 8000: Intro to Critical and Creative Thinking
This course is the foundational introductory course for the Master of Arts in Critical and Creative Thinking program (MA CCT). It focuses on the development of students' skills as critical thinkers and creative problem solvers as well as the cultivation of students' capacity to recognize and leverage tools, resources, and ideas toward finding innovative solutions to everyday problems.
Prereq: Graduate status and acceptance into MA CACT program or permission of instructor.
Instructor: Brian Kanouse
Fall 2023
CACT 8080: Independent Study
This course is designed for those students who are independently pursuing an area of study that is not covered under the existing curriculum. The student will be supervised by a member of the faculty of the MA in Critical and Creative Thinking program. All course assignments, readings, requirements, and expectations will be clearly communicated to the student in advance. May be repeated for credit for a total of six credit hours.
Prereq: Admission into the MA CCT program, successful completion of 6 hours of CACT coursework, including CACT 8000, and permission of faculty member. Not open to non-degree graduate students.
Instructor: Joseph Price
Fall 2023
CACT 8090: Graduate Project
The Graduate Project is an applied student project under the direction of a faculty advisor. In the project, the student will apply interdisciplinary knowledge and skills gained within the program to address a problem or to expand knowledge within or across disciplines. The product or artifact produced by the student may take a variety of forms.
Prereq: Permission of faculty advisor and Graduate Program Committee Leadership (or its designee). Not open to non-degree graduate students.
Instructor: Joseph Price
Fall 2023
CACT 8060-850: Occupations and Careers (OSL)
This course examines what makes individuals and groups happy and satisfied with their jobs, and the factors that can turn “a dead-end job” into a meaningful pursuit that lasts decades. The course utilizes a life course approach and covers early socialization experiences to retirement transitions. It also employs a sociological lens to explore how individual experiences in the work realm are affected by stratification (such as race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, social class, and parental status) and as well as by occupational norms and structures, workplace relationships, and culture and practices at the organizational and societal levels. Cross-listed with SOC 8186/4180.
This course supports the Organizational Science and Leadership concentration in the MA in Critical and Creative Thinking.
Instructor: Sam Ammons
Fall 2023
CACT 8060-851: Special Topics: Latino/a American Migrations (IMDC)
In this course we will use an interdisciplinary lens to study the changes and continuities of migration in the Americas. The course starts with an overview of immigration to the Americas during the first era of mass migration (1850-1920) to explore the relevance of European migrations for national and identity constructions in the Southern Cone of America. Students then will be introduced to the impacts of social and political change on emigration flows, both regionally and beyond the region. They will also explore migration related policies at the national and regional level. We will also study the changes and continuities in the migration system of the Americas. Lastly, we will analyze the new North-South migration, as well as immigration to Latin America from Asia (recent and historical), Europe, and Africa.
Crosslisted with SOC 8256, SOC 4250, LLS 4250, LLS 8256. This course supports the International Migration, Development, and Citizenship concentration in the MA in Critical and Creative Thinking.
Instructor: Cristián Doña-Reveco
Fall 2023
CACT 8110: Global Social Issues: Creative & Critical Analyses (CGA)
Listed as Global-Local in MavLINK and catalog. This course focuses on global cultural and social forces and how they interact to form nexuses of both opportunity and obstacle to constructive human engagement on a wide array of social issues. An overview of topics covered in the Cultural and Global Analysis concentration in the Master of Arts in Critical and Creative Thinking. This course will provide students with the analytical tools, collaborative engagement skills, and applied problem-solving techniques that will help students succeed in this concentration and program.
This course supports the Cultural and Global Analysis concentration in the MA in Critical and Creative Thinking.
Instructor: Nikitah Imani
Fall 2023
CACT 8520: Positive Organizational Psychology and Leadership (OSL)
This course is a graduate seminar on organizational psychology and leadership that focuses on the understanding and critical analysis of theory and practice pertaining to individual functioning at work. Positive organizational psychology theories and practices will provide the overarching framework in understanding potential solutions to challenges and problems facing leaders and their employees. (Cross-listed with PSYC 9421).
This course supports the Organizational Science and Leadership concentration in the Master of Arts in Critical and Creative Thinking.
Instructor: Lisa Scherer
Fall 2023
CACT 8306: International Development and Sustainability (HE)
This course introduces students to different concepts of international development through the lens of sustainability. The course explores a broad range of activities related to international development, including international aid, trade, philanthropy, interventions in conflict, peacebuilding, public health, human rights, social justice, and the environment. (Cross-listed with PSCI 4290, PSCI 8296)
This course supports the Health and the Environment concentration in the MA in Critical and Creative Thinking.
Instructor: Patrick McNamara
Fall 2023
CACT 8206: Comparative Religious Ethics (EV)
An introduction to historical and contemporary approaches to comparative religious ethics, with special focus on specific case studies as encountered in societies and religious communities across the globe. In addition to reading authors from a variety of perspectives (Aristotelians, natural law theorists, philosophers of law, pragmatists, theologians, and historians of religion), students will be introduced to special topics in the field, e.g., religion and public life, religion and law, syncretism, the secular/non-secular divide, etc. This course supports the Ethics and Values concentration in the Master of Arts in Critical and Creative Thinking. (Cross-listed with RELI 4200, RELI 8206)
This course supports the Ethics and Values concentration in the MA in Critical and Creative Thinking.
Instructor: Curtis Hutt
Fall 2023
CACT 8310: Ecological Writing & Analysis (WCR)
This course provides students with the opportunity to develop expertise in a wide range of foundational works and key techniques of ecological writing and theory in English. By engaging mindfully with these works and techniques, students will develop advanced skills in ecologically oriented critical analysis and creative thinking. This course supports the Writing and Critical Reflection and the Health and the Environment concentrations in the Master of Arts in Critical and Creative Thinking. (Cross-listed with ENGL 8310)
This course supports the Writing and Critical Reflection concentration in the MA in Critical and Creative Thinking.
Instructor: Eric O'Brien
Fall 2023
For more information on any of the concentrations in the MA CCT, or to view course listings and course descriptions, please see the Graduate Catalog.