Fall Semester Classes

An interdisciplinary course introducing students to the environment and lifestyle of Britain today. Students will gain an awareness and understanding of contemporary Britain. Essential differences that exist in culture and attitude between the United States and Britain, often concealed by a “common” language, will be identified. Students will explore the differences and similarities between the two cultures and reflect on their own country, culture, and values. Required for all first-time Wroxton Semester students.

In this introductory astronomy course, students will learn about orbital motion, telescopes, stellar astronomy, celestial co-ordinates, the solar system and its evolution, types of stars, galaxies and the universe. Students may take the course for 3 credits, or 4 credits with the optional lab component.

The purpose of this course is to give a broad introduction to the origins, development, structure, and workings of the British system of Government and of British politics.

The aim of this course is to chart British history – social, cultural, political and economic – from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth century.
This is a fascinating period in Britain’s history and by the end of the course students will be able to identify the factors that lead the country to change from an agricultural society run by a wealthy social elite to a modern industrial democracy. Students will be able to appraise and compare those changes – how and why they happen – in this course.

This course will encourage students with and give structure to their creative writing. Whether they have been writing regularly for years or haven’t written anything since school, this class will help students hone and refine their own writing voice. Each class will focus on a specific aspect of the writing process, e.g. description, dialogue, plot and setting. Students will write a wide range of short stories. By writing regularly and by receiving positive critical feedback, students will find that their writing improves. Hopefully they will want to continue writing stories long after the course has finished.

The course will investigate the interrelationships between the public/commercial media and British culture over time. Students will be provided with the conceptual tools to analyze the dynamics between the historic, political, economic and cultural aspects of British society. The course will be practically oriented.

The course is an introduction to the history of painting and allied arts from the early modern period, c. 1485 to the present. Content will be studied against artistic developments in Europe, particularly where British and American artists relied on Continental sources for training and inspiration. Lectures will cover the development of style and technique, the choice and range of subjects and the relationship between patrons and artists. All major artists will be covered, and a series of supervised visits to the national collections will support the lecture and tutorial program.

This course provides an awareness of the environmental and managerial aspects of international business. Students will explore the complexities and implications of exposure to international competition and technology.

Students develop essential aspects of critical thinking and apply those skills in evaluating international systems, environmental issues, and human rights questions. Not only will this course demonstrate the global dimensions of crucial contemporary issues, it will also develop the relational thinking that students will be expected to exercise in other academic contexts and throughout the rest of their personal and professional lives. This course is as much about how to study and think about global problems and relationships as it is a course about specific global issues.

This course provides an overview of various topics related to wine. These include: history, production, service and distribution.

A writing and oral communication course which emphasizes the importance of collaborative communication techniques used in the workplace. The course features an extended simulation that integrates work-related written and oral communication through practical application. The simulation allows students to gain experience similar to that of the workplace. The course also concentrates on business writing, including letters, memos, reports and proposals; oral presentation; listening skills; and group dynamics.

The 21st century is characterized by “information overload”. Individuals in Western democracies are subject to influence and manipulation of representations in all their forms. Democracy, built upon persuasion, has become viewed with cynicism. This course investigates the historical development of the techniques used by Public and Commercial organizations. Issues such as advertising and public relations will be amongst the topics studied. Students will be assisted in developing techniques for detecting and resisting propaganda whilst on the course.

This course will examine Shakespeare’s texts both in their original context and with particular reference to performance from Shakespeare’s era through to today. Over the term we will discuss why we still perform these plays, what they still have to say, and how the way that these plays are staged changes their meaning and reception. The selection of plays will be based on performances we will see (normally including Stratford-upon-Avon and London), and our focus of study will be on analyzing the performance choices, and what they reveal about the production’s interpretation of the text. Shakespeare is constantly being revisited, revised and reimagined, and this module will make you part of that discussion, and hopefully show you why his works remain powerful and relevant to modern audiences.

With the advent of virtual communities, online social networks, and the rapidly advancing use of social media, the question of effective communications can be addressed through multiple lenses. Drawing upon the theoretical literature from various disciplines, this course will enable students to understand what constitutes social media and its associated technology and its impact on communications within groups, organizations, and society in general. Students will be expected to actively engage in several forms of social media. In addition, students will be introduced to the concept and practice of social network analysis and its role in measuring communication flows within organizations and groups.

The aim of this course is to explore the development of Britain’s welfare state and examine current debates and controversies surrounding social policy in Britain. We cover topics such as poverty, unemployment, welfare, housing, health care, education and social services.
Amongst others, this course explores the meaning of a welfare state and determine the reasons why Britain has one. Different theoretical perspectives on state intervention and definitions of ‘poverty’ are explored and we chart the development of a National Health Service and appraise its current effectiveness. Likewise, students will also chart the evolution of the English education system and evaluate outcomes for different social groups today.

This course explores modern theatre, covering everything from modern classics to new writing, and the development of performance styles during that period, including the work of Stanislavski and Brecht. This will revolve around productions that we will go to see live, keeping us up to date with modern performance history. In recent years, these have included revivals of classic plays such as Waiting for Godot and The Crucible, as well as more entertaining plays. By engaging with new stagings and classic productions, we will track the social changes across the period, and how drama reflects the society it was made in, as well as speaking to modern audiences, and why we keep alive the ancient tradition of theatre-going, and maintain its purpose both to entertain its audience and explore the human condition.

The aim of this course is to introduce the major debates and issues concerning women and minority ethnic groups in various areas of contemporary life in Britain.
This course will introduce, analyse and assess key feminist theory and interpret and evaluate the effect of social, ecommconomic and political factors on women’s lives, such as the family, the education system, the labour market and the political system. The course examines definitions of and explanations for racism, key debates surrounding immigration and analyses the experience of minority ethnic groups in the UK in areas such as education and health care.

This course is designed to provide an overview of both the historical and modern discussions of women in literature by female British authors. The first half of the term focuses on historical texts (by Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Christina Rossetti and Aphra Behn) before the second half of term when we compare and contrast these with the work of modern female British authors. The authors have not only been praised for their innovative literary works and experimental styles, but several of them have also reflected either in their fiction, or in essays and interviews on the position of women, and women writers in particular, in history and contemporary society. A critical analysis of literary text will go arm-in-arm with an analysis of historical and societal context.