Courses

COR 105
Foundations for Success on a Naropa Journey (1)
Foundations for Success on a Naropa Journey is designed to enhance student learning both in the classroom and beyond. The content and the format provide support on intrapersonal, interpersonal and community levels. The topics were designed by students and staff to offer students an opportunity to deepen the Naropa experience and transition into college life.

COR 110, COR 115
Writing Seminars I and II (6)
Students acquire an understanding of the writing process—from generating and drafting ideas to revising and editing texts—across a range of rhetorical tasks and genres. They practice the art of scholarly investigation, building a set of research and writing skills that enable them to make informed choices and to adapt their writing to the needs of a particular audience and purpose. They also learn to become proficient critical readers, approaching a variety of texts (literary, theoretical, etc.) with a writer's awareness of craft and a critic's ability to interpret and respond to textual meanings and effects. In addition, students develop the information fluency needed in order to critically evaluate and effectively utilize emerging information sources and technologies.

COR 130
Contemplative Practice Seminar (3)
The Contemplative Practice Seminar introduces the tradition of contemplative education as it has been developed at Naropa University, with an emphasis on its vision, purpose and application to the academic, artistic and psychological disciplines taught in the various majors. Students are introduced to contemplative practices that have shaped these disciplines, especially emphasizing mindfulness- awareness and sitting meditation practice. This course is designed to integrate the personal journey of the entering student with the rest of his or her Naropa educational experience.

COR 150
Diversity Seminar (3)
The Diversity Seminar emphasizes the development of knowledge, critical thinking, analytical skills, and interpersonal and intergroup interactions necessary for living and working in a society characterized by diversity. Students engage in inquiry and analysis of the complexities of multiple and competing theories of race, class, gender, ethnicity, disability, age, sexuality, nationality and religion, and how they shape and are shaped by social and cultural life in the United States. Through diversity and contemplative education, students can awaken a greater understanding of others, develop self-understanding and develop understanding of self in relation to others in order to promote ethical behaviors and values that support a diverse world.

COR 210
Humanities Seminar (3)
Taught by core faculty members from various academic departments, the Humanities Seminar introduces students to the excitement of scholarship. While each of these topics courses reflects the disciplinary focus of its instructor, all address educational goals in a set of skills basic to becoming well educated in today’s world. Prerequisites: COR 110 and COR 115.

COR 220
Civic Engagement Seminar (3)
Taken in a student’s second year, the Civic Engagement Seminar adds a public dimension to academic learning developed by students in the first-year seminars. Each seminar section focuses on a unique topic chosen according to the expertise of individual faculty. Through community-based learning, students develop skills that allow them to act effectively in the world. Prerequisites: COR 130 and COR 150.

HUMANITIES (HUM)
HUM 233
The Socially Engaged Imagination (3)
In this course we explore the role of creative writing in personal and social change. We read and discuss imaginative literature—short stories, novels and plays—and notice what happens in us and through us, individually and collectively. We move back and forth between reading and writing, investigating how texts speak to us and how to “speak back” through writing. Readings range from Chinua Achebe, James Baldwin and Gabriel Garcia Marquez to Ursula K. LeGuin, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. While turning our attention to the politics of the imagination, at home and far away, we create a collaborative, participatory learning community, engaging our world through imaginative writing. Note: This course fulfills the Artistic Process requirement.

HUM 235
Western Philosophy I: The Fox and the Hedgehog (3)
Western philosophy begins with the thought of ancient Greeks and Romans. The nature of being itself and constructing a rational world were examined as they moved from a mythological worldview to one of science and logic. With a special focus on Plato and Aristotle, we read primary sources to discover the problems they considered and the impact their answers have had on three thousand years of Western history and thought, in particular linguistics, Christianity and modern culture. Students produce a portfolio of their philosophical vocabulary and contemplation.

HUM 245
Western Philosophy II: Of Goths and God (3)
Western Philosophy continued developing after the fall of Rome: from Augustine ofHippo to Thomas Aquinas, through medieval time up until the 1600s Enlightenment; establishing an intricate matrix of Christian, Islamic and Jewish thought. Using primary source readings, we examine the attempts to construct all-encompassing and symmetrical systems of thought. Students produce a portfolio of their philosophical vocabulary and contemplation.

HUM 253
Women and the Expansion of Democracy (3)
Black women played a critical role in the centuries-long African American resistance movement for freedom and equality. They demonstrated phenomenal organizational abilities and provided crucial behind-the-scenes support and leadership. Women were the midwives to the American revolution of the middle years of the twentieth century. This course examines the contribution of African American women in gaining fundamental human rights for persons of African descent. The lives of some of the major women participants such as Ella Baker, Septima Clark, Jo Ann Gibson Robinson and Fannie Lou Hamer will be the pathway to our exploration of the significance of their role.

HUM 330/331
Democracy, Education and Social Change I and II (3 each)
This class provides opportunities for students to experiment with theories and practices of democracy, education and social change. In addition to exploring texts that address issues of democracy and education, students engage in participatory democracy by working with a group of students in a local school. The class meets for one hour a week on the Arapahoe campus and for three hours a week in one of the Lafayette public schools. Students are encouraged to commit to this program for the entire academic year. Students who stay with the program for two semesters will be eligible for a $1,000 AmeriCorps award.

HUM 482
Martin Luther King Jr. and the Search for the Beloved Community (3)
The 1955–56 Montgomery Bus Boycott brought to the fore a leader of immense distinction in Martin Luther King Jr., and it opened the way for the creation of the mass-based Southern Nonviolent Freedom Movement. The new leadership and the new energy that came forth not only quickened the pace for large-scale political change, but also gave birth to the vision of the “Beloved Community.” This course explores the ways in which King and his associates in the South-based, Black-led Freedom Movement sought to make whole the nation’s broken community by transcending barriers of race, religion, class and ethnicity.

SOCIAL SCIENCES (SOC)
SOC 202
Orientation Leadership Training (3)
This course provides a unique opportunity for current students to learn lifelong skills and cocreate an intimate community by helping new Naropa students begin their journey. Prior to fall orientation, students become skilled at communicating and group facilitating, building intimate communities, discussing diversity issues and activity planning. Upon completion of training, students serve as orientation peer leaders and facilitate groups of new students for one week by providing support, resources and activities during their transition.