Fall 2022 Graduate Course Offering

GS 510 GIS: GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer-based tool that analyzes, stores, manipulates, and visualizes geographic information, usually in a map. This course is aimed at graduate students in different fields (e.g., food studies, cultural heritage, art history, etc.) allowing them to gain more experience and knowledge on the potential of GIS as a tool to aid in evidence-informed policy and decision making. This 1-credit course will cover a general introduction to GIS using a free and open-source software package. This course has been designed for those with little or no GIS experience.

GSB 501 PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS: ACCOUNTING, FINANCE, AND ECONOMICS
This course provides a survey of accounting, finance, and economics basics. Accounting methodologies, financial analysis, valuation, and macro and microeconomics (fiscal and tax policy, privatization, investment, tariff/subsidy, regulation), are studied for both large and small organizations and enterprises. Case studies, lectures, and in-class exercises provide for a practical approach to financial business management. Valuation, international macroeconomics, public goods, externalities, and the role of business in society are also examined. The course assumes no prior knowledge of business techniques or terminology.

GSB 502 PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS: MARKETING MANAGEMENT, AND OPERATIONS
This course teaches the core elements of marketing in nonprofit, public, for-profit, and social enterprise organizations. In the first section, students examine the strategic marketing process from initial research and analysis through writing a marketing plan. The second course section highlights the latest tactics used in executing the plan, including digital content marketing and offline real-time techniques. The course content reflects continuing changes in the operating environment, including the imperative to develop sustainable organizations, the impact of digital technologies, the continued blurring of boundaries among the nonprofit, for-profit, and public sections in the economy, and the increasing interconnectedness of local and global markets.

GSR 502 RESEARCH METHODS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES
This course aims at enabling students to appraise the main aspects, potential, and limits of theoretical and applied social research methods, and to use them appropriately according to their specific research needs. The course covers the epistemology of social science and the logic of research design. It reviews the steps in the research process from the research idea to the research questions, formulation of hypotheses, and deciding on method. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods will be described and practiced. The main methodological problems of quantitative and qualitative analysis, data gathering, data quality, and interpretation of evidence will be discussed. Presentation skills for researchers will be explained and practiced.

CH 502 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
This course will investigate the most pressing and contentious issues in Cultural Heritage today. It is intended to foreground some of the arguments which will come up in other courses such as contested heritage, authenticity, interpretation, sustainability etc. It may also include guest lectures from heritage practitioners in order to understand the practical implications of theoretical issues. The precise subject matter will be adjusted to focus on current real-world issues.

CH 508 HERITAGE AND TOURISM: MEETING THE CULTURAL "OTHER"
Heritage tourism is considered to be a vital source of income for many communities, but it can also lead to negative impacts. ‘Overtourism’ in historic cities has led to local people being displaced and has damaged the historic environment. In the global south, the development of a tourism industry has often resulted in an undermining of traditional practices and values. Through on-site visits, lectures, seminars, and interactive classroom discussions this course will explore the challenges facing heritage tourism in the 21st century. Particular emphasis will be placed on factors affecting the impact on host communities, the visitor experience, and developing heritage tourism in a way that is both ethical and sustainable in the long term.

FS 501 FOOD, ENVIRONMENT, AND SOCIETY
How do we affect the Earth’s resources with our food choices? This course covers the interrelationship of food and the environment: it reviews the global agri-food system, its structure, and evolution with particular reference to global food security. Through an interdisciplinary perspective, it will discuss the existing knowledge on the major global challenges for food production, including climate change, depletion of natural resources, and changes in diets. The social, economic, cultural, and psychological determinants of food consumption habits and patterns will be analyzed with the view to exploring the linkages between sustainable production and sustainable diets. The governance of the agro-food system will be examined: the mandates of the UN agencies, the main regulatory frameworks, and associated intergovernmental processes, transnational and national civil society, and social movements. The course includes one or more field trips to UN Agencies.

FS 502 SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS
The aim of the course is to review the conceptual and analytical frameworks for the ‘sustainability’ of the food system and to analyze how sustainability is pursued in practice by different actors. The food system refers to all processes involved in the production, processing, consumption, and disposal of food; it implies the involvement of different sectors, disciplines, and stakeholders and the intersection with aspects of public health, environment as well as social and economic development. The course will review and analyze the co-existence of multiple contemporary food systems and their sustainability, from the global to the community level, from primary production to agribusiness, including the role of institutional actors and social movements in imagining and practicing alternatives to the current industrial food system. The course includes transferable skills related to the management of projects dealing with sustainability. One or more field trips to regional and local food systems in Italy will also be included.

FS 503 NUTRITION POLICIES AND PROGRAMS
The course covers nutrition from a public health and environmental policy perspective, as debated and applied at both international and national levels. The main definitions and concepts are provided related to macro and micronutrient requirements, human metabolism, and diet-related diseases, such as under-nutrition, malnutrition, and over-nutrition. Special emphasis will be given to food safety and food safety policies, including foodborne pathogens and surveillance, antibiotic resistance, food labeling, food additives and allergens, chemical use in food production, genetic modification of food, and the new genome editing techniques applied to agriculture. The course analyzes critically current nutrition problems and challenges and reviews the regulatory frameworks and policy options towards healthy, balanced, and environmentally sustainable diets.

FS 518 THE GLOBAL FOOD ECONOMY
This course introduces students to key concepts in economics as applied to the food system, and in finance and accounting. Microeconomic concepts are covered as they relate to consumption, production, marketing, and information, as well as associated externalities and public goods. Emphasis will be on concepts and analyses relevant to agriculture and the food system e.g. global food trade, market structures, supply chains, and networks. Basic concepts and theories of macroeconomics are elaborated, including national income, unemployment, inflation, growth, together with key policy issues of stabilization and sustainability. The last part of the course provides a survey of finance and accounting principles and methodologies. Case studies, lectures, and in-class exercises provide for a practical and active learning approach. The course assumes no prior knowledge of economics and finance. The course may include a field trip.

PST 501 RELIGIONS AND EMPIRES
The course provides students with systematic knowledge and understanding of religious topography and religious history of Rome, Europe, and the Mediterranean. It explores various religious traditions from the foundation of Rome to the Protestant Reformation. The focus is on topics related to the ancient Etruscan religion, Roman religious beliefs and practices, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as traditions that shaped to a significant extent the cultural and political history of Rome, Italy, and Europe. Students will also learn about the cultural, social, and political impact of these religious traditions on the later development of Europe and the Western world in general. This course enables students to choose elective courses and helps them design their own academic profile, which best suits their research interests and future careers.

PST 504 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PEACE AND WAR
This course focuses on the international political and economic aspects of conflicts from WWII up to today. It explores the concepts of Empire and Hegemony in contemporary international affairs. The course also investigates various theories and strategies to avoid conflicts, such as hegemonic stability theory, balancing between major powers, cooperation within international institutions, trade integration, or socialization of norms and principles. The absence of a major war on a global scale does not indicate the presence of peace, since conflicts and competitions take place on a different level (through, for instance, trade wars, sanctions, boycotts, embargos, etc.). In addition to that, global actors in contemporary international political economy (ranging from states, religious and non-governmental organizations, to multinational corporations, arms dealers, transnational extremist organizations, etc.) often have competing objectives when waging the costs and benefits of war and peace. Only when the actors of conflicts and the political economy factors that drive them are addressed, can one understand the conditions of resolving the conflicts and promoting peace.

PST 511 PEACE, POLITICS, AND RELIGION
The course explores the relationship between politics and religion since the birth of Western modernity. The course will equip students with the conceptual tools necessary for the analysis of how religion and religious institutions affect the State and vice-versa. The course also addresses various theories of religion as part of the socio-political sphere, ranging from the classical secularization paradigms to the issue of post-secularization. Various case studies will be examined, ranging from the period of early modernity up to the present.

PST 513 INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION
This course is a study of the current system of international law, tracing its historical development and concluding with a discussion of recent proposals to strengthen the international system of law and justice. The course will also look into the recent cases relevant to the international legal system, such as the cases of international terrorism, genocide and the work of international tribunals, and the International Court of Justice.