Courses
Rutgers University-New Brunswick Summer Session offers more than 2,400 undergraduate and graduate courses in over 250 fields. Convenient schedules are available in the morning, afternoon and evening. Courses can be taken on the New Brunswick campus, online, or at an off-campus location throughout the state.
View All Summer Session Courses
Instructor(s): Kaitlin BooherExpand
This in-person course will be an exciting introduction to a century that produced some of the most enduring and important photographs of all time. Students will explore photographs made in both an artistic context in addition to many others, from advertising and fashion, to astronomy and physics, to social studies, and journalism. Students will look at photographs in a variety of forms in museum collections, develop critical reading and writing skills used to discuss photographs, and gain an appreciation for this diverse medium that remains a primary form of communication, art making, and scientific technology today.
Course instructor, Kaitlin Booher is a Ph.D. candidate in art history and specializes in the history of photography. Her dissertation is about the history of fashion photography between 1912 and 1968. Additionally, Booher had worked as a photography curator and organized exhibitions about photography and video art.
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Instructor(s): Caroline Clauss-EhlersExpand
This online course focuses on understanding the enormous biological, social, and emotional changes that occur during this transitional time. Critical developmental aspects of adolescence are discussed that include identity, sexuality, peer relationships, parent-child relationships, and romantic relationships. This course examines adolescence within a sociocultural context that explores the influence of culture, race, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation, among other variables. Educational and clinical implications for teachers and practitioners are considered throughout, including the impact of COVID-19 on the adolescent experience.
Course instructor, Caroline Clauss-Ehlers, specializes in work with adolescents and families. She is the lead editor on the upcoming book published by Cambridge University Press entitled Social Justice for Children and Young People: International Perspectives, which includes country case studies and chapters addressing critical social justice issues for young people.
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Instructor(s): April GrierExpand
Afromusicology explores the evolution of Black music in America beginning with the Ring Shouts and Work Songs of enslaved blacks circa 1619 to the current Hip Hop Era of the 21st Century. This course will examine the Africanisms that shaped African American music, culture and oral tradition. Students will also recognize the evolution of the Blues, Jazz, Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop as art forms and their impact as a vehicle and voice for social equality and protest against discrimination and oppression in American society's past and present. Within this context, its relevance and impact will be viewed relative to the African American experience, and how this music has helped to shape and define African American culture in particular and American culture in general.
Course instructor, April Grier has taught at Rutgers University for over 17 years. Aside from her teaching experience, she's worked as a casting director and project manager for a small media production company, receiving first-hand experience with film production and working directly with actors, cinematographers, directors, and voiceover artists. She earned a B.A. in Music Education and an M.A in Jazz Studies with a concentration in Jazz History. She also holds an M.A. in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers-Newark. Her Master’s Thesis on jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson, Black Feminism and Africana Womanism won an honors award in 2006. Aside from Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-New Brunswick, Grier taught Music Appreciation, Jazz Appreciation, and Music Theory at Essex County College and Music Theory at Newark School of the Arts for several years.
This course fulfills the core requirements for Africana Studies Major and Minor degrees, School of Arts and Sciences.
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Instructor(s): Nada El-KounyExpand
This in-person course will examine the rich, diverse, and complex nature of the peoples and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa with a primary focus on Morocco, Egypt, Palestine-Israel, Lebanon, and Iraq. The course will address contemporary issues regarding the everyday lives of people of the region through a range of topics such as sports, popular culture, gender, religion, migration, and youth mobilizations. Students will gain a deeper knowledge of the diversity of contemporary life in the Middle East and North Africa through a holistic understanding of culture, family relations, gender, and religion. It will encourage critical thinking on a range of dilemmas posed by readings and films.
Course instructor, Nada El-Kouny is an Egyptian international PhD student. El-Kouny’s dissertation research is based in Egypt, and focuses on rural transformation from the 1950s until today. In addition to Egypt, El-Kouny has lived in Palestine-Israel during high school years, and travels extensively to other countries in the region like Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco. El-Kouny has a background in journalism in Egypt and has covered nationwide political events such as the 'Arab Spring' uprisings from 2011-2013. Moreover, El-Kouny has experience in documentary film production on the experiences of women in Egypt.
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Instructor(s): Jonathon AppelsExpand
In this course, students will compare the value of New Jersey beaches with beaches from other far flown geographic regions, including the sands of Atascadero, cliffside beaches of the Olympic Peninsula, Hawaii's beaches, the surfing beaches of Portugal, the liberated beaches of Southern France, the thermal bathing beaches of Iceland, and the ninety-mile beach of Australia with golden sand and blue water of the Tasman Sea.
The days of instruction are broken up with field observation and exploration, lecture, discussion, somatic research techniques, individual and group projects; each student will write detailed observation in their Saturday environmental log. We always go to Asbury Park.
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Instructor(s): Susan EngelhardtExpand
This 3-credit course introduces a diversity of bio-career categories, discusses specifics relevant to overarching career paths and explores career opportunities within. Throughout the course, professionals share their journeys and students work through case studies relevant to various professional environments, seeding group discussions for further role-play and completing individual career development plans.
Biotechnology and bioengineering inform a diverse set of career options across industrial, academic, government and other sectors and work. These areas bring with it the opportunity to contribute directly to human health and social benefit. As students focused in these areas and defining career paths, it is important to be prepared. Students will plan their bioengineering and biotechnology-centric professional journeys; to reflect on their interests, talents, and opportunities, to connect with those who have transitioned to successful careers, and to create actionable development plans.
Course instructor, Susan Engelhardt, is the co-director of the Rutgers iJOBS Program (interdisciplinary Job Opportunities for Biomedical Scientists) and developer of courses in professional preparedness. Engelhardt has spearheaded academic programming to inform and prepare students for diverse careers in the Biomedical Sciences. With this course, she brings this programming to a wider group of students.
This is a Graduate level course, with admittance to rising seniors with at least a 3.0 GPA and having satisfied >90 credits. For undergraduate students, it will count as a general elective.
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Instructor(s): April GrierExpand
Explore the Black Renaissance in the film industry through the historical depiction of the black image from the beginning of Cinema to present day in this asynchronous online course. Each week students will view and discuss two films from the past and present that are similar in context, yet contrasting in direction and cinematic approach. Weekly recorded lectures will review online discussion, provide further analysis of assigned films, and assign basic film technique exercises.
Course instructor, April Grier has taught at Rutgers University for over 17 years. Aside from her teaching experience, she's worked as a casting director and project manager for a small media production company, receiving first hand experience with film production and working directly with actors, cinematographers, directors, and voiceover artists.
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Instructor(s): Efe KhayatExpand
Travel back in time and become familiar with the histories and literary traditions of three major world cultures. This fully online course offers a unique comparative overview of the classical literatures and cultures of Africa and Asia. Students will explore the deep commonalities and rich diversities of Silk Road cultures at a time when these cultures where at the center of world history.
Course instructor, Professor Efe Khayyat is a Turkish scholar of comparative literature who is deeply familiar with the texts and traditions of Crossroads regions.
This course fulfills the AHo or AHp SAS core requirement.
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Instructor(s): Tara MalangaExpand
In a country where most people have not grown up with the threat of devastating epidemic disease, it is easy to forget what it was like to live without modern advances in medicine and vaccination. “Disease in History” merges the discipline of history with medicine, investigating the impact of disease on human history beginning with the Black Plague and ending in the modern day with global epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and Zika. Students will be encouraged to make connections between the understanding of disease, fear of disease, and how disease manipulates and is manipulated by human agency. Students will study excerpts of medieval and early modern texts that deal with disease, as well as modern-day representations in movies and shows, examining human reactions to and representations of deadly disease. Disease can change the way we think and act, in turn, changing history. For students with a STEM or pre-med focus they will have the option to delve into the accounts of historical epidemics and identify scientifically what may have been the culprit. For other students, projects will focus on understanding the disease and its impacts in a particular time and place.
Course instructor, Tara Malanga’s research focuses on the decimation of the native population of present-day Mexico in the wake of the Spanish conquest. The native populations were ravaged by wave after wave of deadly disease, sometimes killing 30% to 40% of a town’s population at a time. Her work focuses on understanding the native Nahua perspective of these epidemics and what it was like to contemplate disease, death, and the afterlife while upwards of 90% of the population died over the course of a century. Additionally, as a graduate student, Tara Malanga was an intern at Johnson & Johnson, where she worked closely with their chief historian and archivist to research and write copy for the Museum that the company has since built in New Brunswick.
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Instructor(s): Dr. Labros SidossisExpand
The local diet of Crete Island is associated with numerous health benefits. This three-week course (July 9 – 30) provides students the opportunity to study this Mediterranean diet in its place of origin, along with sustainable food production and consumption patterns, emphasizing traditional Mediterranean practices. Students will also be exposed to the complex concept of food systems and its association with culture, public health, economy and the environment through the example of the agriculture-based diet and economy of Crete Island. Participants must apply online, complete personal interview, have a minimum 2.5 GPA and consent of instructor.
The application deadline is March 1, 2020.
For more information, visit the program website.
Instructor(s): Caroline Clauss-Ehlers, Ph.D.Expand
This 3-credit, fully online, graduate course provides a unique perspective about families in the 21st century. The changing family constellation and diversity of family experiences are at the heart of this course. Additionally, students gain firsthand knowledge about key stressors confronting families today (e.g., domestic violence, substance abuse, parenting). Techniques and strategies are provided throughout.
The instructor, Dr. Clauss-Ehlers, is an award-winning, national expert in family psychology. She is a fellow of APA's Division 43, Society for Couple and Family Therapy. She is board certified in the specialty of couple and family therapy. She has written extensively on this issue.
If you are interested in learning more about how families work and family dynamics-- this is the course for you. This course has been taken by graduate students in communications, counseling, public health, psychology, education, and social work, among other areas. All are welcome. It is required for Master's students in School Counseling at the Graduate School of Education. The course is also an elective for Counseling Psychology Master's students at the Graduate School of Education.
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Instructor(s): Fulya PinarExpand
Gender is a forming component of any society, determining both the everyday-life issues such as labor and family relations and structural issues such as nation-state and knowledge formations. This course provides an introduction to the field of gender studies through multi-disciplinary and ethnographic perspectives, by focusing on how the rapid globalization in the last century have been changing the concepts of society, popular culture, and social institutions. Through this course, students will learn to scrutinize both historical and contemporary issues pertaining to gender around the world, while contemplating and seeing the possible applied ways of engaging with gender issues through the examples of non-governmental organizations, activisms, and social movements.
Course instructor, Fulya Pinar is conducting ethnographic research on refugee women’s and LGBTI+ individuals’ care networks in Turkey, formed through the recent Syrian migrant influx into Turkey. Pinar is particularly looking at the ways in which care takes different shapes in local, national, and international organizations. Therefore, Pinar is experienced in looking at both local/bottom-up/informal and international/neoliberal/formal networks of care from a gender perspective. Currently, Pinar is not only conducting research, but also volunteering for the refugee women’s and LGBTI+ individuals’ networks. Moreover, Pinar is conducting weekly art-sessions with refugee women to build a counter-museum and a counter-archive with them, where the refugees become the artists/curators instead of the "objects" of arts.
This in-person course fulfills the Contemporary Challenges (CC) Diversities and Social inequalities (CCD) requirement.
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Instructor(s): Ines RauschenbachExpand
Study the wonderful world of microbes this summer! This 4 credit, lecture and lab combination course will cover a wide variety of topics, such as structure, function, and metabolism of microbes, concepts in molecular microbiology, diversity of microbes and their impact on the environment, as well as a range of topics in epidemiology and human health. In the lab, students will be working on hands-on projects to develop their laboratory skills.
The lecture is taught in a small setting and is a mixture of short lectures and hands-on learning activities to foster and develop critical thinking skills in discipline. The “paper-free” lab includes inquiry based learning and hands-on observation to explore various topics in microbiology. Students will learn foundational microbiology techniques that will allow them to work independently or do research in any other microbiology laboratory.
Course instructor, Ines Rauschenbach is the undergraduate program director for the microbiology program in her department. She is passionate about engaging students in the material. Students will be become active participants of the learning process by engaging in active learning activities and applying their skills in the lab. The “paper-free” laboratory portion is taught interactively with iPads and other current lab technologies.
General Microbiology is requirement for many different science majors for all campuses.
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Instructor(s): Sunni WitmerExpand
This online elective explores popular music of various societies from around the world, and how it is created and transformed by cultural and musical influences from other societies and world views when they encounter and interact with one another. Students will examine the artistic, cultural, and socioeconomic effects of global popular music. Topics of inquiry include hybridity and diversity in music; the effects of globalization on musical/cultural development; and the social, political, and cultural ramifications resulting from expressive cultural forms expanding around the world, both historically and currently.
Course instructor, Sunni Witmer is an ethnomusicologist. Witmer’s area of specialty is the music of the Caribbean and Brazil, primarily early twentieth-century urban popular genres and ensembles. She holds the PhD in music with a concentration in ethnomusicology from the University of Florida (UF), a MM in flute performance from Louisiana State University, a MA in Latin American Studies from UF, and a BM in flute performance from UF. She has conducted fieldwork in Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Portugal, and Russia.
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Instructor(s): Dr. Michael MerrillExpand
Goddagens! Experience a unique opportunity to learn in-person why Sweden consistently ranks as one of the happiest societies on earth. This summer spend one-week in Sweden exploring the country and meeting people who call Sweden home. Organized by the Swedish Workers' Education Association (ABF), students meet daily with government officials, employers, trade union leaders, civil society activists, and journalists learning about what makes this country great.
Course instructor, Dr. Michael Merrill is a nationwide valued labor educator and historian who has been involved in the New Jersey labor movement for numerous years. He is the Director of the LEARN (Labor Education Action Research Network) program here at Rutgers –New Brunswick which provides convenient and inexpensive public access to the most groundbreaking thinking about how to establish our initiatives on a more complete, open-minded and democratic basis, in our society. Dr. Merrill has long-standing contacts with the ABF and with many of the officials, leaders and activists who meet with the class in Stockholm
As a Rutgers Global offering the regular course tuition-and-fees, cover most of the cost of the visit to Sweden.
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Instructor(s): Keri SansevereExpand
In this fully online 4 credit course, students will learn why the past--and its material evidence--matters. Students will have the opportunity to examine how things decay, try our-hand at some experimental archaeology, analyze objects of comfort used during the COVID-19 pandemic, look at protest signs and graffiti as rapid response collecting, and more! The course is designed with a flexible learning schedule.
This course meets intro requirement for anthropology and evolutionary anthropology majors/minors and meets Core Curriculum Requirement: HST.
Dr. Sansevere holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Monmouth University and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Temple University and is an anthropologist by profession. Her academic interests include historical archaeology, contemporary archaeology, and cultural anthropology. Dr. Sansevere is very interested in issues that relate to power, gender, race, economy, and politics. She has worked in museums, in the private sector of archaeology, and have taught elementary through college learners over the course of the last 15+ years. She has been at Rutgers for about 5 years, she has experience teaching the following courses: Intro to Archaeology, and many other related courses. She lives in Asbury Park with her two beloved cats--Oscar and Cookie. Outside of academic life, Dr. Sansevere loves riding her bike through town on a warm summer evening and is an accomplished vegan cook and baker.
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Instructor(s): Andres M. Gonzalez-SaizExpand
This online course offers a general overview of the four subfields of anthropology (Biological/Physical Anthropology, Archeology, Linguistic Anthropology, and Social/Cultural Anthropology), a discipline studying social and physical practices and behaviors characteristics of humankind. Not just a historical exploration of the foundation of the discipline, this course encourages the students to analyze contemporary issues such as war, spirituality, and the material production of commodities (like fashion and technology), and their influence both in Global North societies and in those communities living in the farthest corners of earth.
Course Instructor, González-Saiz is a Colombian anthropologist with more than 10 years of experience in research about violent conflicts and political transitions in Latin America. His current research explores the sociopolitical effects of recognizing one group of combatants victims while denying such status to others through the concept of "military victimhood" in the most recent iteration of the Colombian Peace Process.
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Instructor(s): Hyacinth MillerExpand
Expand your knowledge beyond American borders with the history of the Caribbean. This online asynchronous course allows students to research the Caribbean, past and present. Students will discuss different topics, such as globalization and inequality; migration and diaspora; the legacies of slavery and colonialism; race and racism; gender and sexuality; and tourism. Leave the course with a greater appreciation of the region that is the crossroads of the world and largely responsible for the riches of many European powers.
This course satisfies the following SAS Core Learning Goal in Contemporary Challenges, Our Common Future [CCO]: [B] Analyze a contemporary global issue from a multidisciplinary perspective.
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Instructor(s): Milton AchelpohlExpand
This fully online course has incredible importance for the social and political moment we are in — between the Trump administration, #MeToo and growing conversation on LGBTQ+ topics, masculinity is in need to theorizing and students will have the unique opportunity to explore the past study of masculinities, and play a part in extending that theory.
This course will provide students with skills in critically analyzing theory in Women's and Gender Studies broadly, and more specifically guide students in their work of generating their own critically grounded theory on masculinities. Beyond academic skills, the course also provides a practical set of skills in naming and understanding the ways that masculinities have been constructed, and how this is critical to understanding political and social movements today.
Course instructor, Milton Achelpohl’s work centers masculinity in a project of theorizing white masculinity through an intervention of Black Feminist Theory. He has taught for over 5 years across K-12 and university settings and devotes his scholarly, activist and intellectual life to the topic of masculinity as it relates to gender, race and social justice more broadly.
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In this online course, students will examine the human language by studying words, their meaning and sounds, and the format of sentences and phrases, and more.
This course is a requirement for declaring a Linguistics Major and fills two core curriculum requirements – Ahq and QRx.
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Instructor(s): Siobhan GibbonsExpand
This live-online course, meeting Tuesday and Thursday nights, will require a commitment to 30-45 mins meditation practice 6 out of 7 days a week. This course will provide students with a comprehensive introduction to mindfulness meditation. Students will learn how to cultivate a personal mindfulness meditation practice, how to teach short mindfulness meditations to the population they work with e.g. students, patients, clients etc. They will also develop a critical analysis of the mindfulness meditation movement in US.
Students will be introduced to the MBSR course which has over 40 years of research showing its effectiveness in helping adults and children deal with stress. Students will walk away with a better understanding of how to handle stress in their own lives and how to teach some of these skills to the people they work with. They will also have a critical perspective on the US mindfulness movement.
Dr. Gibbons is one of the 6 people in NJ who are Certified to teach Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) class. She has been teaching mindfulness meditation at Rutgers New Brunswick since 2008. She is qualified to teach the Mindfulness Based Eating Awareness Training and Mindfulness Based Chronic Pain Management courses. She is also a certified 200 hours yoga teacher.
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Instructor(s): Gabriele LazzariExpand
This online course guides students through an exploration of literatures and cultures across the globe. It focuses on short stories that show the richness and diversity of cultural expression. It gives students powerful instruments to better understand the world we live in by focusing on four main topics: heritage, culture, translation, and migration. Students will look at the world around them with a sharper, critical eye. They will be encouraged to reflect upon important issues in our society, from cultural heritage to migration.
Instructor, Gabriele Lazzari is an international student, who is passionate about intercultural dialogue through literature. Lazzari has years of experience teaching texts in translation and enjoys learning from his students' experiences.
This course fulfills the following SAS Core Curriculum Learning Goal [AHp]:p. Analyze arts and/or literatures in themselves and in relation to specific histories, values, languages, cultures, and technologies.
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Instructor(s): Jonathon AppelsExpand
Students are often familiar with Jersey Shore music culture, especially Asbury Park, but students don't often compare the musical styles that have evolved on differing beaches. This course studies the many connections between all of the arts, music, and summer beach culture. Students will gain a full understanding of how summer beach culture music has contributed to popular music today. Students will see the rise from humble beginnings of Bruce Springsteen.
Course instructor, Jonathon Appels has an M.A. in Music and has created sound design for Theatre and Dance performances.
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Instructor(s): Dr. Labros SidossisExpand
This three-credit course encourages a lifestyle change. The program will take place in Greece, where the Mediterranean lifestyle has been implemented for thousands of years. Lectures, workshops and other educational activities will cover the fundamental principles of the Mediterranean diet, a dietary pattern that has been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and recently proposed as a health promoting diet in the 2015-2020 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The program will also address other Mediterranean lifestyle practices, including: 1) consumption of fresh, minimally processed, local, seasonal and eco-friendly foodstuffs, 2) frugality and moderation in relation to energy balance and body weight, 3) use of herbs and spices to introduce a variety of flavors and palatability to dishes and allow for a reduction in salt use, 4) adequate hydration with emphasis on water and traditional herbal infusions, 6) adoption of a physically active lifestyle, 7) conviviality with regard to the social and cultural value of meals and physical activity, and 8) stress relief and adequate rest during the day.
Participants must apply online, complete personal interview, have a minimum 2.5 GPA and consent of instructor.
The application deadline is March 1 , 2020.
For more information, visit the program website.
Instructor(s): Dr. Jessica LisaExpand
This course explores the science, culture, and sustainability of microbial agricultural products through readings, lectures, group projects. Throughout the semester, students explore the cultural history and microbiology of agricultural products such as cheese production, wine and beer fermentation, fermented sausages, and mushroom cultivation, with an appreciation of cultural heritage, on site, in New Jersey.
Students will learn about the factors that control microbiological growth and activity, and how humans exploit and manipulate microbes in food and beverage production and agricultural practices. Students will study the complex chemical and biological processes that create different fermented foods, with techniques that blend modern scientific knowledge with traditional values and practices. Students will also explore past agricultural practices and changes that have occurred over the last century or more in the production of this agricultural product, discuss challenges facing the agricultural industry, and articulate how these challenges are being addressed.
Course instructor, Dr. Jessica Lisa, has carried on her family’s traditions of growing and fermenting foods, vegetable preservation, cheesemaking, and wine production. Understanding the microbiological processes associated with these traditional preservation practices has always been an interest to the instructor. The melding of family tradition, modern science, and sustainable practices provides the instructor with a unique perspective that is particularly relevant to the course.
This 3-credit course fulfills SAS and SEBS Core Curriculum Learning Goals for Contemporary Challenges and Natural Sciences.
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