Courses

Painting, sculpture and architecture from Pre-Columbian Mexico (1500 BCE to 1521 CE), with particular attention to the Olmec, Maya, Aztec and Teotihuacan cultures, along with their writing, calendars, and belief systems.

An introduction to Buddhist and Hindu temple building, sculpture and painting in the countries of Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, and Indonesia, with emphasis on form and meaning in Southeast Asian religious art.

A survey of ceramics, textiles, metalwork and monumental sculpture and architecture produced in the Andean region (mainly modern-day Peru) from c. 2500 BCE until the Spanish Conquest in the 15th century CE. Covers the Chavín, Moche and Inca cultures, among others.

Building on the foundation provided by the survey (Spanish 250), this course provides in-depth exploration of different texts and genres. The course content will emphasize empire and its decline; the Counterreformation, conversos and moriscos, mysticism; variations on love literature and gender representation; court politics and literary patronage; emergence of the modern subject.

Principles of artificial intelligence (AI). Topics include search and optimization; probabilistic reasoning; decision processes; reinforcement learning; machine learning; and ethics of AI. Programming projects.

Nowadays many jobs are impacted by artificial intelligence, and machine learning in particular, because we can learn from data in new ways thanks to more powerful computers and increasing amounts of data. Artificial intelligence studies the construction of intelligent machines, while machine learning is considered its main branch, using large data sets for tasks such as identifying patterns and making predictions.

An interdisciplinary approach to the development of a distinct arts and letters tradition in the German-speaking world from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment.

An interdisciplinary approach to the development of a distinct arts and letters tradition in the German-speaking world from the Enlightenment to the present.

The art and architecture of ancient Egypt, from the fifth millennium B.C to the defeat of Cleopatra by the Romans in the first century B.C. Focus on the cultural developments of the Nile Valley civilization and its interactions with other parts of the ancient Mediterranean world. The Great Pyramids, King Tutankhamen, and other fascinations of ancient Egypt come to life through classroom lecture/ discussion and museum visits.

The art and architecture of ancient Greece, from the early seventh century B.C. through the late first century B.C. including sculpture, architecture, and pottery from Greek sites in Turkey and in Italy and objects from mainland Greece. Works of art are discussed not only for their artistic value, but also as historical artifacts that provide information about the daily lives of the ancient Greek people.