Hobart and William Smith Colleges

J-Term

J-Term runs from January 2 to January 17, 2025. Current students and non-matriculated students will be able to take one course with an HWS faculty member for 3.5 hours, seven days a week (note that J-Term courses meet on weekends). Classes are scheduled in the mornings, with afternoons and evenings for class preparation, projects and assignments.

Please note: All J-Term courses will be offered remotely.

The tuition for courses is $3,000 for current HWS students, including graduating seniors, and non-matriculated students.

HWS matriculated students can register through their HWS PeopleSoft account from November 11 to December 16. Non-matriculated students should fill out a non-matriculated student application form and send it to Nicholas Metz at nmetz@hws.edu.

2025 COURSES

Photography: Design in Nature
Birds in Our Landscape
Introduction to Meteorology
Soccer: Around the World with the Beautiful Game
Introduction to Media and Society
Cultures of Advertising
Media Professions
Introduction to Psychopathology
Islam and Society: Then and Now
Introduction to Sociology
Grammar and Style

ARTS 161 Photography: Design in Nature
Online Course
Art and Architecture
Professor Christine Chin

Photography allows us to see and explore the natural world in ways that expands human vision and understanding. We will use our cameras to look for specific design elements in the natural world and bring nature inside in improvised tabletop studios. Camera controls, exposure, lighting, and lenses will be discussed to help students achieve their photographic goals. Looking at the work of artists who photograph nature will help us explore larger questions: Can photography help us to understand the species who share our planet? What are the possibilities and limits on how photography can advocate for the natural world? How does photography explore the effects of and interactions between humans and nature? No prerequisites. This course substantially addresses the artistic process goal.

ENV 216 Birds in Our Landscape
Online Course
Environmental Studies
Professor Mark Deutschlander

Birds are an apparent and familiar part of our environments, whether hiking in a national forest or spending time in our own backyards. From pristine natural areas to the most urban settings, birds are ubiquitous and serve as sentinels for the health of the environment. Examining population trends and geographical distributions of birds can help us understand the impacts of urbanization, pollution and pesticides, climate change, and more. In this course, you will learn how distributions of birds inform scientists about environmental change and the impacts of change on the function of ecosystems. You will learn, firsthand through field excursions and exercises, to identify local bird species and how to conduct some basic field techniques for direct monitoring of birds. You will learn how scientists collect distribution data on birds using remote sensing and how citizen science has greatly advanced our ability to understand the distributions and movements of birds. You will also learn how scientists communicate their findings by reviewing scientific publications, which we will use as case studies of how birds in our landscape impact us and tell us about our environments. No prerequisites. The course substantially satisfies the scientific inquiry goal.

GEO 182 Introduction to Meteorology
Online Course
Geoscience
Professor Neil Laird

The influence of weather and climate affect our daily activities, our leisure hours, transportation, commerce, agriculture, and nearly every aspect of our lives. In this course many of the fundamental physical processes important to the climate system and responsible for the characteristics and development of weather systems will be introduced. We will examine the structure of the atmosphere, parameters that control climate, the jet stream, large-scale pressure systems, as well as an array of severe weather phenomena including hurricanes, tornados, thunderstorms and blizzards. Upon completion of this course, we will have developed: (a) a foundation of basic scientific inquiry (b) a basic comprehension of the physical processes that govern weather and climate, and (c) an understanding of the elements of weather and climate that are most important to society. No prerequisites. The course partially satisfies the quantitative reasoning goal and substantially satisfies the scientific inquiry goal.

HIST 112 Soccer: Around the World with the Beautiful Game
Online Course
History
Professor Virgil Slade

Soccer (football) is undisputedly the most popular sport in the world and is watched weekly by literally hundreds of millions of people across the globe. This game is said to foster community and is widely understood to generate affective relationships powerful enough to exceed the everyday social divisions which order the world we live in. However, what is not apparent in this rhetorical understanding of the `beautiful game' is how soccer is also implicated in both creating and maintaining the very divides that it supposedly has the ability to transcend. This course provides a whirlwind tour of the sport that explores its industrial roots, its dissemination around the world, and with scheduled pit-stops on five continents, makes visible the sometimes hopeful, oftentimes violent, and always controversial nature of the beautiful game's rich past.  No prerequisites. This course partially fulfills the social inequality and ethical judgement goals and substantially fulfills the cultural difference goal.

MDSC 100 Introduction to Media and Society
Online Course
Media and Society
Professor Rebecca Burditt

Media surrounds us. Instagram feeds, Facebook updates, films, advertisements, and Netflix series form a rich textual backdrop to our everyday lives. In MDSC 100, we will pay special attention to the media that we regularly encounter and make sense of it through close analysis, theoretical intervention, and the creation of our own media texts. By turning a critical eye toward communication in its various forms, we can begin to understand how media both shapes, and is shaped by, the social, cultural, economic, and political contexts in which it is created and circulated. This course provides the theoretical background and foundational skills for pursuing a major in the field of media studies. No prerequisites.  This class partially fulfills the artistic process, social inequality, and cultural difference goals.

MDSC 200 Cultures of Advertising
Online Course
Media and Society
Professor Leah Shafer

Advertising is among the most pervasive forms of cultural representation in our global society. In this course, we approach advertisements as economic, aesthetic, and ideological forces whose analysis reveals crucial information about cultural attitudes and ideologies of their time and place. We will study the industrial and aesthetic history of advertising by analyzing advertising campaigns as well as their strategies, themes, and practices. Our materials will be drawn from both corporate and non-profit campaigns, global and local campaigns, and from anti-consumerist actions and other resistant practices. Our work will cover diverse media, including: print culture, television, film trailers, mobile marketing, social networking sites, and new media branding and marketing campaigns. No prerequisites. This course partially addresses the artistic process, social inequalities, cultural difference goals.

MDSC 211 Media Professions
Online Course
Media and Society
Professor Lisa Patti

How do you break into a career in the media industries? What are the jobs that make the production, distribution, and exhibition of media possible? How do you prepare for media professions, and how do you pivot from one role to another? How have careers in the media industries changed over time? How have women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ media professionals navigated the politics of representation? We research media labor in the film and television industries and other communications fields, including advertising, marketing, public relations, and journalism. We also participate in the Behind the Scenes Career Trek in New York City, meeting with alumni and visiting the companies where they work. We develop our understanding of media professions by exploring memoirs, interviews, and documentaries featuring first-person perspectives of artists, executives, and other media professionals. Students will develop resumes and professional networking skills. No prerequisites. This course partially fulfils the artistic process goal.

PSY 221 Introduction to Psychopathology
Online Course
Psychological Science
Professor Jamie Bodenlos

This course primarily focuses on understanding the diagnosis, etiology, and evidence-based treatment of adult psychological disorders such as mood and anxiety disorders, substance use and eating disorders, personality disorders and schizophrenia. Emphasis is placed on understanding psychological disorders through theoretical models, empirical evidence, and real-life examples such as memoirs, client interviews and guest speakers.. Evidence based treatments such as various types of psychotherapy, medications, and other biological interventions will be discussed. This course partially addresses the scientific inquiry and social inequalities goals. Prerequisite: PSY 100.

REL 219 Islam and Society: Then and Now
Online Course
Religious Studies
Professor Etin Anwar

This course is an historical study of the rise of Islam and the making of Muslim societies from seventh century Arabia to the current global contexts. It examines basic beliefs and their cultural, social, legal, and political manifestations in both majority and minority settings. It also analyses how Islam is transformed, translated, and appropriated in Muslim societies in response to challenges brought forth by modernity, nationalism, war and terror, and the global economy. Overall, the course brings multiple perspectives on the historical and modern developments of Islam and their diverse societal transformations, including the Muslim presence in Southeast Asia and North America. No prerequisites. This course substantially addresses the cultural difference and ethical judgement goals.

SOC 100 Introduction to Sociology
Online Course
Sociology
Professor Polina Ermoshkina

An introduction to the fundamental concepts of sociology, this course focuses on such central issues as the social nature of personality; the effects of social class, race, and gender on social life; the interactional basis of society; and the place of beliefs and values in social structure and social action. A fundamental concern is to analyze the reciprocal nature of social existence, to understand how society influences us and how we, in turn, construct it. Typically, the course applies the sociological perspective to an analysis of American society and other social systems. Note: All upper-level sociology courses require SOC 100 as a prerequisite. No prerequisites. This course substantially addresses the social inequalities goal and partially addressed the cultural difference goal.

WRRH 201 Grammar and Style
Online Course
Writing and Rhetoric
Professor Cheryl Forbes

This core course focuses on English grammar and the ways knowing English grammar improves writing style. This core course focuses on English grammar and the ways knowing English grammar improves writing style. No prerequisites.

ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL INFO

Refund Policy
Notification of withdrawal and requests for refunds must be made in writing and addressed to the appropriate Dean. A full refund will be given to students who withdraw before the second day of classes. After this deadline, the refund of tuition and return of federal and education loans and other sources of payments are prorated based upon the percentage of the term that the student is enrolled. If the student is enrolled past 60% of the term, there is no refund of costs of attendance. The official withdrawal date used by the appropriate Deans Office will be used to determine the prorated refund.

Loan Information
Students taking one class during J-Term can apply for a private alternative loan to assist with the costs.

For more information regarding aid options, please contact the Financial Aid Office at 315-781-3315.