Half Block For-Credit Offerings
Immerse Yourself in the Life of the Mind
For-credit academic offerings during the nine-day half-block give students the opportunity to explore courses outside of their major and requirements or to work closely with professors to delve deeper into a subject matter for which they already have foundational coursework. Students can earn 0.5 units of credit towards the 32 required for graduation and tuition for half-block is already included in the spring semester tuition.
Registration in Banner via Single Sign-In for Half Block is open in Add/Drop along with Fall 2024 schedule changes.
2025 For-Credit Half-Block Courses
Maybellene Gamboa, Assistant Professor
Description: An introduction to natural history museum animal collections, including the history and ethics of animal collections, appropriate curation of animal collections, and applications of animal collections for ecological research. Students will have the opportunity to tour animal collections in regional museums and to create their own animal specimens to be deposited into Colorado College collections.
Instructor: Melanie Auguste, Visiting Instructor
Description: This is a course that explores the principles of sports economics through the lens of Women’s Sports to understand the impact that changing dynamics in society, technology, and media can have on business models. We will start by looking at the historical economics and growth of women’s sports landscape and then dissect what has happened over the last couple of years – Women’s World Cup, Women’s March Madness, etc. – to identify what has driven the change in tide and where do we think it will go. Additionally, the format of the course would be designed to reflect being in modern day business environments – digesting shifting information, developing a point-of-view, and communicating a recommendation.
Instructor: Tim Nguyen, Visiting Assistant Professor
Description: The study of the development and implementation of a personal financial and investment program. Includes analysis of budgeting and tax planning, managing liquidity, financing large purchases, protecting assets and income, analyzing investment information, examining alternative investment types, and investing money for retirement. There is no enrollment limit to this course and it is graded Pass/Fail only.
Instructor: Georg Grassmueck, Visiting Associate Professor
Description: The study of the development and implementation of a personal financial and investment program. Includes analysis of budgeting and tax planning, managing liquidity, financing large purchases, protecting assets and income, analyzing investment information, examining alternative investment types, and investing money for retirement. There is no enrollment limit to this course and it is graded Pass/Fail only.
Instructor: Eli Fahrenkrug, Associate Professor
Description: This class is all about scale. We'll use the molecular shape of water to rationalize everything from snow meteorology to the six-fold symmetry of snowflakes. We'll zoom out to consider metamorphism of snow on the ground as it relates to stress, strain, and avalanches. We'll spend 5 days in the classroom and 4 days digging in the snow.
Instructor: Jared Harris, Lecturer
Description: This class will deepen understanding of basic concepts important for success in organic chemistry: Lewis structures, hybridized atomic orbitals, VSEPR theory, resonance structures, and acid-base chemistry. An introduction to drawing and interpreting three-dimensional bond-line representations of organic molecules will also be provided.
Instructor: Matt Cooney, GIS Technical Director
Description: This course will introduce the student to the fundamentals of GIS. The geospatial skills learned will be directly transferable to any discipline. The primary desktop software we will use is ArcGIS Pro, however, you will also have access to and utilize ArcGIS Online. The first week of the course is a combination of lectures, demonstrations, discussions, and applied lab exercises focused on spatial inquiry and introduction to commonly used tools in GIS. Most of the time being spent using the GIS software. The second week of the course will be dedicated to working on your final research project conducted on a topic of interest to you.
Instructor: Madi Powell, Technical Director and Skye Mahaffie, Visiting Artist
Description: Design, construct, paint, dress, and shoot on a set in-studio. Topics will include production design, set lighting design and staging, sound design and camera movement for the set, and on-set creative roles.
Instructor: Alistaire Tallent, Associate Professor
Description: Taught in France. Prerequisite: Must be enrolled in French Semester. .5 unit
Instructor: Steve Getty, Director, Quantitative Reasoning & The Colket Center and Karen Chui, Assistant Director, Quantitative Reasoning Center
Description: The ability to analyze and represent data using multiple platforms is a key skill for students to possess in their analytical “toolbox.” Students and faculty at Colorado College have been requesting an introductory course to the programming and data visualization language R. Especially as R becomes more widely used in an array of disciplines and professions, this Half Block course will be designed to help students either begin or improve their skills coding in R, and then analyze and present data visualizations in R. The course will include either individual students or student pairs using datasets of interest to them to analyze, represent, and interpret an aspect of the data set using R.
Instructor: Sarah Hinkle, Director, Speaking Center
Description: Various departments across disciplines, including the sciences and mathematics, are now acknowledging the significance of communications in their fields (Darling & Daniels, 2003). The Speaking Center offers in-person oral communication tutoring sessions and connects students with a network of trained peers who can support their learning in communication. Students and faculty have been requesting additional resources to refine communication in formal and informal settings. This new Half Block course will be designed so students will be able to apply theoretical concepts in the areas of communication, apply pedagogical practices fundamental to teaching/training, and apply peer tutoring & training theoretical concepts and practice. The target audience for this course is prospective peer tutors in the Speaking Center and will include individual work and student pairs engaging in collaborative efforts: practice sessions, test critiques, role-play, and group discussion. Peer Tutoring provides academic support for students by strengthening effective communication skills and employing strategies using communication-specific principles for upcoming oral presentations.
Instructor: Srda Popovic, Distinguished Visiting Instructor and Slobodan Djinovic, Distinguished Visiting Instructor
Description: Course is designed as interactive workshop for students interested in social change movements and their operational environment in contemporary digital era. Connecting elements of change theory with practical skills of understanding communications, digital environment and building online campaign that have real impact on “offline” world. Picking the case study early in the half-block, students work in small groups to develop media strategies for social movements or change organizations. Students investigate the movement’s vision, values, strategy, and organization. Groups then innovate and develop a toolbox of online campaigning techniques that integrate real world activism with digital on-line strategies.
Instructor: Max Sarkowsky, Visiting Instructor
Description: We will dive into the fundamentals of creating and implementing sound and music for live performances of all kinds by tuning into our ears and thinking sonically. Starting with a writing practice of lyrical description we will then learn Q-Lab, the industry standard sound design software, to activate our creativity. For the half block weekend, we will retreat to the mountains (either BACA or the CC cabin) to collect field recordings. The course will culminate with a final design project. For any student interested in how sound moves through our world, how it moves us as humans, and how we can use the power of sound to bring live performance to life in ways that only sound can do.
Instructor: Eiko Otake, Visiting Artist and Robert Mirabal, Visiting Artist
Description: Co-taught by renown interdisciplinary artists and long-time collaborators Eiko Otake and Robert Mirabal, each participant will create and present stories to reveal one's own humanity and how we might affect others. We will work individually and collectively to articulate the content and the manner of delivery and to imagine wider and wilder ways to harvest stories both factual and tall tales. What are the possibilities of stories? How do our bodies, our heritage, and history play roles in story telling?
Instructor: Brett Woodard, Director, Career Center
Description: This course is designed to introduce students (targeted for Juniors and Seniors, but open to all students) to the fundamentals of planning and organizing job/internship search strategies. Emphasis is placed on Industry research and effective use of employment search tools (e.g., resumes, cover letters, interviewing, networking and management of career pathways). The course stresses the value of the liberal arts degree in the labor market and develops job/internship search skills that will be useful throughout life.
Instructor: Adam Light, Assistant Professor
Description: This course is a research project in interdisciplinary materials science designed for first- or second-year students. No prior experience or training is required. After a brief introduction to elements of plasma physics, surface chemistry, and materials properties, students will choose a material and a property they wish to modify. Using the tools available and with the guidance of the instructor, students will design and carry out an experiment to determine whether they can effectively modify the selected property. The curriculum includes goal-setting, project management, and self-assessment, with the aim of helping students build capacity for independent work. Students will gain experience in a low-stakes environment, have ownership of asking and answering scientific questions, and generate potentially fruitful ideas for collaborative research with faculty in the future.
Instructors: Chris Schacht, Director of the Ruth Barton Writing Center
Description: This course has two purposes: (1) to delve into the complex processes involved in writing and talking about writing; and (2) to prepare students to work as writing consultants in the Colorado College Writing Center. Key course themes include the theory and practice of writing, the theory and practice of tutoring, critical thinking, self-awareness, and team-building. Students will have the opportunity to discuss and apply theories to specific tutoring situations, role play, solve problems in groups, and practice tutoring. Interested students must apply during second block for participation in the class. The course is held annually during half block. ½ unit; Pass/Fail only; COI required.
Instructor: Dan Miska, Senior Lecturer
Description: A laboratory based human cadaver dissection course designed to help students gain an advanced understanding of selected joints of the human body and to develop the skills of human cadaver dissection.
Instructor: Ken Scriboni, Visiting Instructor
Description: A half-block course involving both cultural and practical knowledge of regional cooking in contemporary Italy with special attention to the cuisine resulting from the new encounters of the traditional regional cooking (itself the result of historical cultural exchanges) with contemporary migrant cultures.
Instructor: Ricky Sweum, Visiting Instructor
Description: Study today’s music business; learn practical steps for building multiple revenue streams within the music industry. Investigate the current job market as a live and studio performing musician, composer and arranger, songwriter, teacher, producer, recording engineer, manager, and more. Topics on brand-building, building an audience, marketing, social media, and press-kits will be covered. Develop an understanding of music copyrights, royalties, and sync licensing. Explore aspects of the recording industry, from the inception of a song idea, all the way through recording, production, and distribution, using digital, physical, and cryptocurrency medias.
Instructor: Anil Ganti, Visiting Engineer
Description: This half-block course offers students a foundational understanding of the critical needs and opportunities in climate technology. Students will be introduced to emerging climate technologies across various sectors while engaging in open discussions on hotly debated topics within the field. Additionally, the course will introduce students to analytical frameworks commonly used in evaluating new technical concepts and addressing global-scale challenges. By the end of the course, students will gain valuable insights into how studying the physical sciences and engineering can contribute to mitigating the worst impacts of climate change. The course is open to all Colorado College students, regardless of their major.
Instructor: Jamal Ratchford, Associate Professor and Anbegwon Atuire, Assistant Professor
Description: This groundbreaking course centers multidisciplinary ways of thinking rooted in healing epistemologies that counter violence as hegemonic ways of thought that inform the being, doing, living, existing, and energies of human beings. It imagines possibilities of being human in ways that de-center violence as a hegemonic way of thinking that consequently shapes our lives. Students will engage work from The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC), The Wellbriety Journal to Forgiveness, The Center for the Practice of Somatic Extimacy, mindfulness practices, scholarly sources, and a field trip to Santa Fe.
Instructor: Gail Murphy-Geiss, Professor
Description: A course designed to put sociology into practice for a community, organization, or movement. A praxis course is distinguished by genuine collaboration with community partners and by a process of reflection that incorporates lessons learned in the classroom and application of theoretical understandings to work for social change. Must be arranged at least one block in advance. May be taken for up to 1 unit on any schedule, including as a block course(s), as a year- or semester- long course taken as adjuncts, as a half block with or without additional adjunct blocks or as only adjuncts. Prerequisite: consent of instructor & Sociology 229.
Instructor: Jessica Sanchez Flores, Assistant Professor and Rebecca Garcia, Professor
Description: This course will use food as a lens to examine the connections between diasporic Indigenous communities of Guam and Mexico as a result of Spanish colonization. Students will engage in hands-on food-based activities, which include preparing and cooking food with indigenous roots to Mexico and Guam, and selecting and purchasing ingredients from local establishments. Along the way, students will learn some Spanish, Nahuatl and CHamoru vocabulary used in the kitchen. In addition, we will read and analyze a range of texts and resources, including cookbooks, film, and food-based literature. All in all, this class highlights that food is central in the ways Indigenous identities travel, adapt, and fuse, and with that we show that Indigenous peoples are a critical part of an evolving global community.
Instructor: Santiago Guerra, Associate Professor
Description: This course introduces students to the theory and practice of oral history and qualitative interview methodologies. Students will learn how to develop an oral history and/or qualitative interview based research project, and how to incorporate oral evidence as data into research and writing.
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Questions?
For-Credit
Contact the corresponding academic department of the program you're interested in.
Non-Credit
Please contact the Career Center at careercenter@coloradocollege.edu or (719) 389-6893.