Fall Course Descriptions

ADDS 4010 advanced, non-liberal
Instructor: Dr. Debra Kram-Fernandez

This advanced examination of substance abuse treatment focuses on substance-abusing clients and their families, encouraging them to form a heterogeneous group that is treated from an individualized perspective. We will explore practical skills and treatment strategies and address substance abuse as a disability and a complex problem. The concept of recovery will be addressed as a process that is holistic, individualized and functionally based. Using an integrated approach, we will examine personalized assessment, behavior change strategies, and effective treatment modalities. This course is aligned with the Community and Human Services Area of Study guidelines for Skills and Application and Integration. This course is aligned with the BS in Addiction Studies program guidelines Skills and Application and Integration.

Meets SUNY General Education requirements?
no

SOSC 2996 introductory, liberal
Instructor: Dr. AmyRuth Tobol

According to the American Psychological Association (2021), resilience is defined as: "…the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. " (https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience) “Adapting well” means different things as our individual life circumstances, personal strengths, weaknesses and resources differ. In this course, we will be thinking about resilience from a social science perspective. How do our communities help us to create resilience in the midst of global (and personal) stressors such as the pandemic? How does making art – both process and product – help to create a resilient community? In turn, how does community engagement help us to build our ability to be resilient? We will be thinking, writing and creating about these questions through readings, discussions and working with fiber. For purposes of this study, “fiber arts” includes knitting, crocheting, sewing, macramé, weaving, embroidery, applique, rug hooking, braiding or plaiting, lace making, quilting. Drawing on cultural anthropology, textile studies, research in the arts and social science literature, we will learn about the role of creating, specifically using fiber arts as our medium, for cultural survival, community resilience and personal resilience. During our virtual meetings, students will be encouraged to bring their work and share the experience of creating with fellow students (think sewing circle, or stitch and –itch). The experiences of creating, framed in part by what we read, will be the subject of required writing assignments. Students will also be encouraged to teach their preferred method of creating to the class. Preparation and implementation of one teaching session facilitated by students will be an option in fulfillment of a final project. Students will also be encouraged to explore examples of creating resilience in their communities and might turn that exploration into a final project. More options will be provided in the learning contract. If a student is interested in taking this as an advanced course, please contact the mentor to discuss that possibility: AmyRuth.Tobol@esc.edu.

Meets SUNY General Education requirements?
no

HUSV 4020 advanced, liberal
Instructor: Dr. Debra Kram-Fernandez

The purpose of this course is to help students develop self awareness about their perceptions and biases, and how these may impact their work within the helping profession. Students will critically analyze power differentials including race, class, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, ability, and how these forces overlap and influence practice. This course is aligned with the Community and Human Services Area of Study guidelines for Diversity. This course is aligned with the BS in Addiction Studies program guidelines for Diversity.

Meets SUNY General Education requirements?
no

HUSV 3030, advanced, liberal
Instructor: Dr. Debra Kram-Fernandez

The purpose of this course is to guide students on an exploration of the history, context, types, developmental phases, ethical questions and relevant theories of group work. This course is aligned with the Community and Human Services Area of Study guidelines for Skills and Application and Integration. This course is aligned with the BS in Addiction Studies program guidelines for Skills, Assessment & Education, and Application and Integration. 

Meets SUNY General Education requirements? 
no

ANTH 3025 advanced, liberal
Instructor: Dr. Anamaria Ross

This course explores key concepts and issues pertaining to human health, illness, and medicine through an interdisciplinary perspective that includes biocultural and medical anthropology, the sociology of medicine, global public health, and other sources. It addresses issues of current interest, such as the health effects of modernization, development and globalization, the social determinants of health, the social construction of disease and suffering, the medicalization of reproduction and aging, and the formative role of cultures in health, illness and healing experiences. A holistic anthropological approach is used to discuss healing practices and experiences in several cross-cultural contexts, while taking a critical look at Western biomedicine as well. Medical practices are viewed as cultural systems and their relationships with other social domains and institutions are examined in comparative perspective.

Meets SUNY General Education requirements?
yes, other world civilizations

COMW 3006 advanced, liberal (2cr.)
Instructor: Stacey Gallagher 

This course is designed to provide in-depth work in research writing. Students will approach an analytical research paper- a literature review - sequentially by completing a series of assignments, including creating a research question, finding and reading a journal article, fact checking and learning how to question a source, doing an annotated bibliography, drafting-writing-revising a literature review, and doing an oral presentation based on the literature review. The course will focus these assignments on one topic of the student’s choice for the term. Students also maintain a journal throughout, to promote fuller understanding of themselves as writers and researchers. Students will end the term with an advanced-level, analytical research paper as well as an understanding of the multiple ways in which research may be approached. This course may be taken for 2 or 3 credits, but should be taken only once (contact your mentor to arrange for the 3-credit study). Students in the 3-credit version complete additional work (journal article critique, discussions). This course may be used to fulfill educational planning credit with mentor approval. To be successful in this course, students should have the ability to do advanced-level work including familiarity with library-based research; introductory-level work in college writing preferred.

Meets SUNY General Education requirements?
yes, basic communication

INMS 3055 advanced, liberal 
Instructor: Dr. Anamaria Ross

This course examines women's roles and experiences as healers using a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspective. The course is grounded in ethnographic, biographical, historical, and journalistic accounts. Women have played a central role in healing and care-giving in all human societies and throughout history, often being subject to different expectations, challenges, and dangers compared to their male counterparts. From birth to the end-of-life, from home remedies to homeopathy, from shamans to surgeons, women's healing knowledge and skills have made a significant impact on their families, communities, and their own destinies, as well as being a means of empowerment and social action.

Meets SUNY General Education requirements?
no

CRWR 3085, advanced, liberal
Instructor: Dr. Elaine Handley

This course will focus on using writing and mindfulness as tools to explore caregiving, process experience, and increase self-knowledge and awareness in our role(s) as caregiver. Caregiving, whether done professionally or in our personal lives, is a highly demanding role that encompasses a number of skills. Writing can be a method for gaining greater insight into that role, a means of problem-solving and expressing feelings, as well as a way to enhance understanding through critically analyzing the caregiver role. Studies show that writing about stressful aspects of our life, such as taking care of another person, promotes physical and mental well-being in the caregiver. We will use writing as a mindfulness practice, and incorporate other mindfulness activities in our lives, to further build resilience. Students will engage in creative non-fiction writing and advanced level students will also do a research project. This course provides students with practice in creating personal narratives, enhancing writing skills, and helping them discover ways in which writing is a tool to enhance explicit and conscious awareness.

Prerequisite: A prior college level writing course.

Meets Gen Ed requirements? 
yes, basic communication

INMS 2996 introductory, liberal
Instructor: Dr. Debra Kram-Fernandez

The purpose of this course is twofold. While physical benefits of a daily yoga practice are well-known and abundant, the beauty of yoga lies in the tools for healthy living that can be taken off the yoga mat. Many current schools of psychotherapy incorporate yogic principles or philosophy. The word “yoga” means to yolk—to bring together. Yoga practice brings together the physical, the mind, and the spiritual. With seven, virtual group practice sessions and exploration of two texts, this course will introduce learners to the stages/limbs of yoga that move through ideas of morals and values, self-discipline, physical yoga—the yoga postures, breathwork, attention to all clarity in all senses, and ultimately harmony and integration. There are many interpretations of the ancient yogic texts. This course will combine an overview of key principles and experiential yoga practice. Students must be able to attend the seven practice sessions on an online virtual platform. 

Meets SUNY General Education requirements?
no