Accelerated Summer College courses
Course Catalog for Accelerated Summer College
May 18 – June 26, 2015
Please click to register for Accelerated Summer College courses.
Get ahead with the Accelerated Summer College (ASC) in a six-week, eight-credit experience that offers an innovative instructional model to help you get ahead or catch up in your academic career. Accelerated Summer College students will take two of the courses below, each course is worth four credits.
Students should be advised that credits earned at Saint Michael's College are transferable at the discretion of the receiving institution.
Student Life and Academics will have required orientation activities for all enrolled students on May 17, 2015.
Organizational Problem Solving
This course will engage each student in developing professional skills, working with a team, and providing research and ideas of real value to a company or organization. Each of the sections, described below, will partner with a different client, receive a challenge or challenges from that client, conduct research and work to develop solutions, culminating in a public presentation to the client. Along the way, students will learn resume writing, interview skills, research techniques, business etiquette, and presentation skills. Each section has a maximum number of students, so students will indicate their first and second choices of site options of the community/Vermont-based organizations and non-profits, prior to the beginning of the summer program.
BU 117 S - Market Research
The OPS sections that partner with profit-making businesses will give students an exposure to the realities of contemporary organizations and to the skills and knowledge needed to make an impact on these organizations. Working in teams, students will take on the role of external consultants, meeting with representatives from a client organization and then conducting research on an assigned challenge. The project will culminate in a presentation of recommendations to the client. As in all the OPS sections, students will also learn career-relevant competencies, including preparation of impactful resumes, cover letters, and interviewing skills.
BU 117 T - The Business of Responding to Poverty
Students will explore firsthand a local non-profit and its approach to alleviating poverty through education, community building, and direct assistance in Vermont. In the classroom, students will examine the complexities of poverty in Vermont and experience a variety of programmatic responses from local organizations through tours, interviews, and volunteer opportunities. Students will conduct varied research for the administration of one non-profit and work on a project related to programming, development (fund raising), or marketing for this organization. Students will present findings and creative solutions to the staff.
BU 117 U - Wilderness Photography
This digital-based photography section of OPS will explore the methods and artistry of outdoor, adventure photography and multimedia storytelling. Through the analysis of historical and contemporary work, students will develop the technical skills and creative approaches necessary for documenting recreational and adventure sports pursued in the natural world. Additionally, in the experiential learning component of this class, students will be responsible for creating multimedia marketing presentations for Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing. By the end of the class, students will be proficient in the following Adobe programs: Photoshop, Audition and Premiere.
Accounting
AC 141 Financial Accounting
Introduces accounting principles and practices applicable to the preparation and analysis of financial statements of a business organization. Major topics include the accounting cycle, classification of elements of financial statements (assets, liabilities, equity), measurement of income, and preparation and analysis of financial statements.
Anthropology
AN 109 Cultural Anthropology
LSC: Global Issues that Impact the Common Good
An introduction to the principles and processes of cultural anthropology. The course not only provides students with basic insights into facts and theories, but also, most importantly, the anthropological attitude of a commitment to understanding and tolerating other cultural traditions.
Biology
BI 110 Topics: Environmental Science
LSC: Processes of Scientific Reasoning
The goal of this course is to help students develop an understanding of the basic scientific principles and concepts underlying healthy ecosystem and biosphere functioning and sustainability. With this knowledge students can become active participants in moving toward a more sustainable society helping to devise sustainable development that allows us to meet our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Business Administration
BU 190 Personal Financial Planning
This is survey course of topics pertaining to one’s own personal finances. Using a 6-step financial planning process, students will learn how to assess their current financial position, develop a set of personal financial goals, and create and implement a financial action plan. By the end of the course, the student will be better positioned to make personal finance decisions and to be a wiser money manager and consumer of financial services products. Specific topics addressed include personal financial statements and budgeting, taxes, financial services and institutions, consumer credit, property and motor vehicle insurance, fundamentals of investing, and retirement planning.
BU 214 Management
This survey course covers the basic principles and management fundamentals of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Topics covered include leadership, group dynamics, team management, motivation, and communication skills.
BU 215 Marketing
This course will provide a review of the fundamental topics in marketing management, and expose the student to various analytical and decision making tools currently used by marketing managers. The course will focus on the various elements of the marketing mix, and on how the marketing manager must control and integrate each of them to achieve competitive advantage.
BU 405 Principles of Advertising
This course focuses on the management of the promotion function in the context of an integrated marketing communications perspective. The course will consist of an in-depth analysis of the uses of advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing, social media, and public relations techniques. The emphasis in the course will be on selecting the most appropriate vehicles for transmitting the organization's marketing message and on integrating the various options into an optimal integrated program.
Computer Science
CS 111 Introduction to Computer Science
LSC: Quantitative Reasoning
The summer ASC Computer Science course is an excellent means of exploring potential interest in a minor or major in Computer Science. We will combine our campus experience with a visit to a local software development company. Students will be introduced to problem solving using a computer. We will explore the software development process, and learn how to write programs in an object oriented language. Programming language constructs introduced include: primitive data types; classes and methods; control structures; and arrays. Students will implement many short programs. (Java is the programming language currently being used.)
Economics
EC 101 Principles Macroeconomics
LSC: Social and Institutional Dimensions of Human Behavior
An introduction to the macroeconomic approach to economic analysis. Students learn how to measure and interpret: Gross Domestic Product (GDP), unemployment and price levels through a discussion of fundamental economic concepts and the role of markets. We examine macroeconomic instability through a study of causes and policy prescriptions from two major opposing schools of thought: Classical and Keynesian. We continue with a study of money, interest rates and the Federal Reserve. Current economic problems and policy debates including economic controversies on the role of international trade, monetary and fiscal policy, the deficit, economic growth, and productivity are also highlighted.
EC 103 Principles Microeconomics
LSC: Social and Institutional Dimensions of Human Behavior
Introduction to how economists interpret the everyday decisions of consumers, businesses, and workers. Develops concepts and models that explain what is produced, how it is produced, and how output is distributed. Applies the insights of economic analysis to real-world questions such as minimum wage, business profits, taxes, outsourcing, and environmental policies.
English
EN 101 College Writing
In this workshop course, constant writing allows students to develop ease in writing, practice academic writing, and experience all aspects of the writing process: considering and understanding purpose and audience; generating ideas; gathering and organizing material; finding and sustaining a focus; developing a thesis; making arguments; using evidence; citing sources; doing multiple revisions; and editing for clarity, style, and correctness.
Environmental Studies
BI-110 - Topics: Environmental Science
LSC: Processes of Scientific Reasoning
The goal of this course is to help students develop an understanding of the basic scientific principles and concepts underlying healthy ecosystem and biosphere functioning and sustainability. With this knowledge students can become active participants in moving toward a more sustainable society helping to devise sustainable development that allows us to meet our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
History
HI 103 U.S History since 1865
LSC: Historical Studies
A survey of American society and culture from 1865 to the present. An emphasis will be placed on social history and popular ideologies. Students will consider the ways that family structure, immigration patterns, labor, religious traditions, civil rights, women's liberation, and other related factors have continued to affect our nation.
Mathematics
MA 120 Elementary Statistics
LSC: Quantitative Reasoning
The material and techniques of statistics are an essential background for many fields, and for all of modern life. We will learn to describe sample data about probability distributions including the Normal distribution (which you may know as the bell curve), and about line of best fit correlation and regression. We will also study the topic that comes to your mind first when you think about statistics: sampling and drawing conclusions from those samples, called hypothesis testing and statistical inference. At the end of the course we will cover the related topic of Chi-square tests.
MA 104 Pre-Calculus
A study of logarithms, exponentials, functions, graphing, polynomial and rational functions, conic sections, trigonometric functions, inverse trigonometric functions, and trigonometric identities.
Political Science
PO 285 Comparative Politics
LSC: Global Issues that Impact the Common Good
What is a nation state? Capitalism? Authoritarianism? This course provides an introduction to comparative political analysis and central concepts in this field. The course will investigate political development and contemporary politics, governments and policies of countries around the world.
Psychology
PS 101 General Psychology
LSC: Social and Institutional Dimensions of Human Behavior
An introduction to the field of psychology, its methods, major perspectives, theories, and area specialties, with emphasis on the normal adult human being. The course explores basic psychological areas such as biopsychology, perception, learning, motivation, developmental, personality, social, abnormal, and therapies.
PS 250 Social Psychology
LSC: Social and Institutional Dimensions of Human Behavior
This course focuses on individuals and how their thoughts and behaviors are influenced by the presence, real or imagined, of others. The course will include topics such as the self, social cognition, social influence, group dynamics, prejudice, attraction, helping behavior, aggression and conflict.
PS 320 Psychology and Law (Forensic Psychology)
Forensic Psychology examines psychological research, methods, theory, and practice as they apply to the legal system. Topics include psychopathy, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, media violence, the psychology of police, mistaken eyewitness testimony, criminal profiling, false confessions, assessments of competence and insanity, jury decision making, punishment and sentencing, and juvenile and adult corrections. These issues and others are explored through an examination of the relevant court cases and decisions, media coverage, and empirical literature.
Sociology
SO 101 Introduction to Sociology
LSC: Social and Institutional Dimensions of Human Behavior
This course is an entry level introduction to the basic institutions of society (education, religion, the economy, etc.) and an examination of culture, population, groups, the individual, socialization, social stratification, interpersonal interaction, and community. The "sociological imagination" and standard methods of research and theories are included.