This course will survey American literature from its beginnings to the middle of the nineteenth century. We will consider the voices of men and women, the enslaved and the free, and the colonized and the colonizer. Through first-hand accounts, journals, lectures, novels, and poetry, we will explore how early Americans viewed and responded to the various events of their day, and understand how these texts reflect historical, cultural, and literary moments in American history.

Instruction and practice in expository prose used in technical writing, layout and design, and translation of technical documents for the lay audience. Students will explore the importance of the writer's purpose and audience. In addition, we will examine the use of tone, voice, graphics, document design, content organization, standard document formats, and rhetoric when preparing technical communications.

In this special topics course, students will examine contemporary issues and theoretical questions associated with video game culture. Students will read, discuss, and write about literary texts and cultural artifacts by placing them in dialogue with theory and literary criticism. Students will examine contemporary issues and theoretical questions that are associated with video game culture. Students will critically analyze emergent media through thought-provoking assignments and play that will force them to ask new questions about their roles as gamers in (presumably) one of their favorite hobbies. Together, we will explore the various methodologies, theories, and genres of games to determine a suitable definition, how they function within a given culture, their ties to other dramatic and narrative forms, and how they are received and consumed by various demographics.