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

Baseball and America
Photography: Design in Nature
Principles of Computer Science
Introduction to Data Analytics
Creative Writing
Birds in Our Landscape
Introduction to Meteorology
Introduction to GSIJ
Soccer: Around the World with the Beautiful Game
Introduction to Media and Society
Cultures of Advertising
Media Professions
Entrepreneurial Leadership
Introduction to Psychopathology
Islam and Society: Then and Now
Introduction to Sociology
Grammar and Style
Sports Media Seminar

AMST 207 Baseball and America
Online Course
American Studies
Professor Chris Hatch

This class focuses on baseball and its relationship to American culture. For a long time, baseball has been the quintessential American game. In this class, we will examine the role(s) of technology, media, culture and nationalism in explaining the unique role of baseball to the American identify.  No prerequisites.  This course partially addressed the social inequality and ethical judgement goals.

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.

CPSC 120 Principles of Computer Science
Online Course
Computer Science
Professor Hanquing Hu

Designed to appeal to a diverse audience, this course examines some of the fundamental ideas of the science of computing within a particular topic area, which varies from semester to semester. The topic of this class will be the learning fundamental of programming through Plotly, a data visualization library in python (https://plotly.com/python/). Past topics have included Graphics and Animation, Multimedia, Robots, and Web Site Development. This course is intended for students with no previous programming experience and is appropriate for those who are interested in computer science as well as those who might not have considered computer science but are interested in a particular topic area. This course counts towards the major and minor in computer science but cannot be taken concurrently with or after completion of CPSC 124. No prerequisites.

DATA 101 Introduction to Data Analytics
Online Course
Data Analytics
Professor Jim Capreedy

Introduction to Data Analytics introduces students to answering questions with large datasets. We explore data types, obtaining data, integration, management, visualization, and examples of data modeling. We will also explore questions of data privacy, the ethics of collecting, storing and manipulating data, and the specter of bias. Students will also begin to acquire fluency in the R statistical computing language and will fine tune professional skills including effective communication, presentation, and storytelling with data. Students will develop a working knowledge of data analytics through hands-on projects and case studies in a variety of domains. Class sessions will be a combination of lecture, demonstration, independent coding work, and group collaboration. This introductory course is open to all students interested in the applications of data analytics and is the first course in the Data Analytics minor. The course partially satisfies the quantitative reasoning goal.

ENG 290 Creative Writing
Online Course
English
Professor Geoffrey Babbitt

The purpose of this course is to help you become a better writer. One of the most important steps toward that goal is to focus less on things like meaning, expression, and plot and more on strategy, method, and manner. By calling a poem “a small (or large) machine made out of words,” W.C. Williams imparts just this lesson: We admire machines for what they do; it would, of course, be absurd to ask what they mean. For the savvy reader and writer, Williams suggests, it is the same: A work of literature is good because of how its language functions, how its words work upon the reader.  As we read great writers, we will constantly be asking ourselves why they did it that way. The set of choices any writer faces may seem grand—subject, style, conceit—or small—punctuation, word choice, line break—but what you will inevitably begin to see is that they all matter a great deal. We will be reading a very diverse selection of work, so the kinds of lessons you gather will vary.  What I hope this illustrates for you is the significant breadth of what poems and stories can do. Reading is an activity that should constantly grant you permission in your own writing to till new ground, to create the unprecedented. No prerequisite. 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.

GSIJ 100 Introduction to GSIJ
Online Course
Gender, Sexuality and Intersectional Justice
Professor Jessica Hayes-Conroy

Race. Gender. Sexuality. Ability. How do these intersectional social categories determine access to rights, resources, and power? In this course, we examine the notion that sex, gender, sexuality, ability, race, and other categories of identity shape the social world in a myriad of ways, from how we organize our families and communities and how we spend time, to how we conceptualize the self and make meaning, to how we interact with our environment and create and re-create the body. This class seeks to challenge conventionally held "truths" and offer creative alternatives, including even how we conceive of and practice classroom learning itself. The course serves as a gateway to three justice-oriented majors: LGBTQ+ Studies, Gender and Feminist Studies, and Bodies, Disability, and Justice. Students are encouraged to think through the histories and impulses of each of these overlapping fields, and to raise their own questions about the meaning and practice of justice and how we can achieve it. The course invites students into a collective dialogue about how we can utilize critical theory and feminist, queer, and crip critique as a method of creatively re-imagining a more just world. No Prerequisites. This course substantially addresses the social inequalities and ethical judgement goals.

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.

MGMT 101 Entrepreneurial Leadership
Online Course
Business, Management and Entrepreneurship
Professor Melanie Dun Moodie

As technology and globalization continue to spur interconnectedness, leaders must navigate tumultuous environments where change is rapid, discontinuous and unpredictable. Innovation, ingenuity and an ability to add value by solving problems are necessary. This course will examine the attributes required of successful entrepreneurs in contemporary leadership roles. Students will learn how to take an idea to impact. They will consider important concepts, such as ethics, sustainability, economic Darwinism, and managing uncertainty. They will discuss product invention, service implementation, economic choice, risk and return, scale and scope, value creation, and small business generation. As a significant course assignment, students will develop a strategic plan for a product, service, startup or organization that is worthy of implementation. No prerequisites.

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.

WRRH 313 Sports Media Seminar
Online Course
Writing and Rhetoric
Professor Ben Ristow

The last century has seen a radical transformation in media representations of athletics and the figure of the athlete. Sports media has evolved over the same period from print journalism to a host of evolving new media, including podcasts, documentary film, and now, social and interactive media. Athletes are not passive spectators to the narratives that construct them, and they take political or social justice stances, argue for fair labor conditions, and advocate for themselves and others on multiple platforms. Sports media is a lucrative, global enterprise, and this seminar analyzes the way that sports are represented, distributed, and consumed in our contemporary moment in the U.S. Students read, write, view, and produce essays and scripts in written and video form, and they learn about careers in journalism, sports communication, television/film production, and podcasting. No prerequisites.  The course partially satisfies the social inequality and cultural difference goals.

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.