Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (SSC)

Explores the range of professional and graduate school opportunities in human services and related fields.

This course introduces students to contemporary and historical international relations centered on the scientific study of international politics and the principal forms of international conflict and cooperation. The nature of the international system, the causes and effects of international conflict, and the difficulties faced by countries in establishing international cooperation will all be discussed in this course. In addition to the traditional focus on war and peace, students will consider political dimensions of the international economy, the role of international organizations, the worldwide trends toward democratization and economic interdependence, and prospects for global development. This course is the same as PSC 102, so course repeat rules will apply.

Studies the health and human service system in the United States and locally, as it has been affected by history, changing values, and changes in the economic and political environment. Particularly emphasizes the gerontological, childhood, and community mental health service systems.

The one credit UB Seminar is focused on a big idea or challenging issue to engage students with questions of significance in a field of study and, ultimately, to connect their studies with issues of consequence in the wider world. Essential to the UB Curriculum, the Seminar helps transition to UB through an early connection to UB faculty and the undergraduate experience at a comprehensive, research university. This course is equivalent to any 198 offered in any subject. This course is a controlled enrollment (impacted) course. Students who have previously attempted the course and received a grade of F or R may not be able to repeat the course during the fall or spring semester.

The three credit UB Seminar is focused on a big idea or challenging issue to engage students with questions of significance in a field of study and, ultimately, to connect their studies with issues of consequence in the wider world. Essential to the UB Curriculum, the Seminar helps students with common learning outcomes focused on fundamental expectations for critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and oral communication, and learning at a university, all within topic focused subject matter. The Seminars provide students with an early connection to UB faculty and the undergraduate experience at a comprehensive, research university. This course is equivalent to any 199 offered in any subject. This course is a controlled enrollment (impacted) course. Students who have previously attempted the course and received a grade of F or R may not be able to repeat the course during the fall or spring semester.

Examines developmental milestones, needs, and characteristics of children from infancy through the early school years; including child-care play, personality, learning activities, and family relationships. Also discusses controversial areas of child rearing, and current trends. This course is the same as LAI 205 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

An applied skills course for the delivery of human services. Considers the roles and functions of case management and various vulnerable client groups as target populations. Involves analyzing cases for client needs and comprehensive service planning. Practice competency, quality of care, and ethical standards are major concerns of the course. Small group activities and community-based interviews are important student learning experiences.

Introduces specific techniques and skills employed in human services careers.

Introduces procedures by which social scientists gather, analyze, and interpret information about the social world. Particularly emphasizes the use of campus-based resources for social service research.

This course provides an introduction to the American legal system. A primary focus is the connection between law and politics. To that end, it examines the nature of judging and judicial decision-making, the organization of the state and federal legal systems, judicial selection, the power and role of the Supreme Court, and the relationship between the courts and the other two branches of government. This course is the same as PSC 215 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

Provides a foundation in statistical techniques for interpreting quantitative social data, including binomial and normal distributions, the Chi-Square test, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis.

This course is designed to introduce students to the nature of nonprofit organizations in the United States. It provides students with an understanding of what nonprofit organizations are, how they are structured, and how they differ from for-profit and government organizations in their form, operation, objectives, and outcomes. The course also examines the role that nonprofit organizations play within the broader economic and social ecosystem, and identifies some of the unique challenges and opportunities that nonprofit organizations face. Students will learn about a wide range of nonprofit organizations in the United States and how they aim to address a diverse set of issues in society.

Examines current ethical positions and their application to ethical and social questions in medicine. This course is the same as PHI 237, and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

This course analyzes the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States produced by the Justices in cases regarding fundamental civil liberties. This course will focus largely on case law and constitutional outcomes of cases involving freedoms of speech, religion, press, and of the criminally accused. This course seeks to familiarize students not only with the Supreme Court opinions that have shaped laws in this country, but also to examine the context in which these decisions were reached, and how the Justices arrived at their conclusions. Not only will the decisions themselves be looked at, but so will the political environment in which they were made. This course is the same as PSC 302, and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

This course addresses the history of the Constitution, the role of the Supreme Court (and other courts) in interpreting the Constitution, and the powers given by the Constitution (as interpreted by the Court) to the different branches of the federal government and the states. Readings consist of Supreme Court decisions themselves, and students are expected to carefully read cases before they are analyzed in class. This course is the same as PSC 303 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

This course provides an overview of the scholarship on legislative politics, with a focus on the U.S. Congress. In this course, students gain a deep understanding of how Congress has evolved since its founding (and why it has evolved the way it has), who chooses to run for Congress (and why), who gets elected to Congress (and why), how members of Congress represent their constituents, how Congress is organized (and why it is organized the way it is), how legislation is enacted, and how Congress interacts with other actors such as the President and the bureaucracy. We will also explore several topics especially relevant to contemporary legislative politics in the U.S, such as the rise of partisan polarization and legislative gridlock, the incidence and impact of filibusters and obstructionism, the intricacies of the budgetary process (including debates surrounding the debt ceiling and government shutdowns), and Senate confirmations of presidential appointees. This course is the same as PSC 304 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

Integrates theory and current research with practical aspects of child rearing and family health. Explores developmental processes and behavior of young children as individuals and in group settings.

This course examines the distinguishing characteristics of the legal process. It treats the adversarial system, the nature of law, the character of legal reasoning, the system of precedent, law school education, judicial policy-making, and the limits and nature of judicial power. It seeks to examine the unique characteristics of the judicial process, contrast those characteristics with those found in the legislative and executive processes, and explores how the process of judicial decision-making influences what courts do and the power they wield. This course goes beyond simply learning the rules that govern judicial processes to consider and evaluate the implications of those rules. This course is the same as PSC 305, and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

This course looks at the policy-making process, broadly construed. This is not a course about specific health policy or specific educational policies. Instead, this course is about developing a toolkit for understanding the policy process or policy development in any substantive area. The course begins by looking at how policy-makers tend to view the world. What are the theoretical and empirical models they tend to use, and why? Next, the course considers different kinds of market failures and how each suggests that a different kind of governmental intrusion would be appropriate, along with how policy-makers test and evaluate policies. Finally, the course looks at how elected officials and other explicitly political forces affect the policy process, and how executives and legislatures control the policy process. This course is the same as PSC 314, so the course-repeat rules will apply.

Identifies community mental health service components and explores trends and issues in the delivery of mental health services.

Explores causation, prevention, advocacy, housing, education, employment, and community services. Defines career opportunities in this area.

Autoethnographic Writing is an intensive writing course in which students draw on, analyze, and interpret their lived experience(s) while connecting it/them to formative aspects of identity, cultural rules and resources, communication practices, traditions, shared meanings, and larger social and political issues. Autoethnography is a form of autobiographical writing that relies on self-examination, socio-cultural research, critical self-analysis, and interpretative synthesis. Autoethnographies situate the lived experience of the author within broader contexts of cultural norms and values, communication practices, histories and traditions, symbols, shared meanings, and/or social and political events. Autoethnographic writing is interdisciplinary and intersectional in nature, as the author examines both personal experience(s) and related aspects of time-periods, popular dynamics, political phenomena, et cetera. Reading, researching, and writing about the complex links between experience and context offers unique benefits to students who wish to gain deeper insight into the complexity of their own lives and the lives of others.

This course is designed to introduce students to the ways the health and human services professionals communicate in the discipline. Whether one's role is as a social worker, nurse, counselor, advocate, etc., there are many common writing practices employed in the field. Such writing practices include: clinical reports, creation of educational material, academic writing, charting, policy recommendations, reflective writing, poster presentations at conferences and oral presentations. Students will also explore forms of electronic and visual communication. Students will learn how to structure a research report and write using appropriate style guidelines.

For employed paralegals or other legal workers or students interested in becoming paralegals. Students learn skills necessary to increase billable hours and productivity. Covers legal analytical research and writing, using legal terminology, professional legal writing of interoffice memos, civil pleadings, and discovery motions. Other topics covered are Evidence Preservation, Interviewing and Investigation, Introduction to Torts, Contracts, Criminal Law, Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure, and Rules of Ethics for Paralegals.

Students learn to independently conduct thorough law library research and draft memorandums of law on a variety of legal issues. Focuses on proficient legal analytical research and writing. Students draft several memorandums of law, each one more complex, which they should be able to use as professional writing samples.

Adolescence is a unique stage of the life course. This course explores social processes and the socialization of children and adolescents, including patterns of parent/teenager/peer relationships, generational succession, and age stratification and the status system, self-identity, adolescent sexuality, and youth subcultures. This course is the same as SOC 335, and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

Explores the moral status of legality and the legal status of morality, the status of unjust laws, and the role of moral judgments of lawmakers. Is a good law one that does good? This course is the same as PHI 338, and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

Addresses issues in violence and violence prevention with sections on theoretical definitions and historical context. Topics include the social context of violent behavior in families, child abuse and neglect, abusive parenting, violence against women, abuse of the elderly, violence in communities of color, and the media's influence on the development of antisocial behavior. Explores special problems of child protection services and the justice system's approach toward domestic violence.

This course acquaints students with a sociological understanding of the causes, consequences, and treatment of social deviance. Students will critically evaluate definitions of deviance and analyze various social psychological and social structural explanations for deviant behavior, making special note of the policy implications of each theoretical perspective. The course covers specific acts of deviance, from violent behavior and mental illness to the deviant behavior of corporate elites and the police. Theories of deviant behavior will be deployed to explore issues related to the treatment/punishment of social deviants. This course is the same as SOC 345 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

Scholars from a variety of disciplines study cities, suburbs, and metropolises, among other spatial phenomena. In this course we will explore their ideas taking a sociological approach to urban trends and city life more specifically. We will discuss sociological theories and research about the development and consequences of cities and city life, the spatial patterns of metropolitan areas, and the sources of inequality in urban areas in addition to many other topics. This course is the same as SOC 348 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

Introduces the aging process. Explores physiological and clinical aspects.

Considers the family: What is it? How does it work? How does it fail to work? Provides both United States and cross-cultural perspectives. Explores the theoretical foundation of family therapies.

This course introduces law as a social institution, with a focus on how some of its central features (lawyers, disputes, rules, etc.) are related to wider historical and social characteristics. Students will explore theoretical approaches to understanding the relationship between law and society, the role of law in everyday life, the social organization of the legal profession, and the relationship between law and social change. This course is the same as SOC 373 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

Examines the practical aspects of managing a human services organization. Discusses the basic functions of management, including planning, budgeting, personnel, and organizational development. Presents these themes around such functions as team management, the consumer as customer, innovation, and creativity in attaining excellence.

Acquaints students with ongoing research in the range of disciplines affiliated with cognitive science. Primarily requires attendance at the weekly colloquium and symposium series of the Center for Cognitive Science. Requires students to read any relevant literature that has been publicly announced prior to the upcoming colloquium or symposium.

This course examines the close relationship between urban public schools in the United States and the neighborhoods and communities in which they are located. In doing so, the course explores how and why a child's home address is one of the major factors influencing the quality of education that s/he receives. It also introduces various policies and mechanisms that public leaders have pursued in an effort to disrupt the school-neighborhood connection that results in racial and socioeconomic inequities in access to quality education. Topics include: the relationship between school and neighborhood segregation; the relationship between neighborhood conditions and academic performance; how families decide where to live and where to send their children to school; how school districts give families choices; how gentrifying neighborhoods affect the demographic composition of schools; and how school disciplinary practices differ on the basis of race, class, and location.

Studies statutory and case law relating to pollution control, natural resources management, government regulation of land use, and the process and logic of decision making in governmental and legal institutions.

Provides students an opportunity to explore relevant issues in dealing with an elderly population in the health-care arena. Special focus on the frail elderly and aged with chronic medical conditions. Points of interest include incapacitation, consents, confidentiality, ancillary and other services, rites of passage, the health-care team, managing the difficult patient, lethality assessments, family/professional relationships, health-care settings and intercultural communication.

According to the World Alzheimer's Report (2013) 35.6 million individuals suffer from dementia globally and the costs related to their care exceed $604 billion per year. With the number of cases estimated to triple in the next 40 years, dementia and Alzheimer's is a healthcare crisis that will affect us all in some way, especially those working in healthcare and human services. This course will prepare students to work in various health and community settings and address the unique needs and concerns of dementia care.

This course provides a comprehensive view of the addictions treatment process. It identifies and develops skills necessary to assess and treat individuals in addiction treatment programs. It emphasizes common treatment practices, requirements and regulations expected of treatment programs and professionals.

Prepares student in human services, environmental studies, and urban and public policy for grant development. Overview of fundraising among non-profits, development of grant-writing strategies, and how to research and create grant proposals in a competitive market. Extensive proposal writing and composition. Integrated with current, ongoing internships if students simultaneously pursue a practicum in Health and Human Service (SSC 496) or and Environmental Internship (SSC 496). Students not pursuing a practicum or internship will adopt and research a non-profit organization appropriate to their field of study.

This course is intended to provide undergraduate students with a broad overview of early childhood education, including topics such as Early Childhood Foundations (history and theory), Curriculum and Assessment based upon Developmental Domains, and Early Childhood Models and Approaches. Practices such as designing developmentally appropriate early childhood environments and the role of documentation in children's learning and development are explored. Undergraduate students will explore their role as a reflective early childhood professional by observing and analyzing in a birth-2nd grade setting. This course will guide students toward active membership and involvement in professional early childhood organizations. This course is the same as LAI 416 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

The course focuses on understanding and respecting the role that diversity in its various forms plays in human services and other nonprofit work. Practitioners and professionals may frequently encounter populations that differ from themselves in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, as well as other identities and social statuses. This course is designed to encourage students to examine how their own identities and experiences shape how they see, interpret, and respond to the needs of the individuals and communities they serve, as well as how certain policies, interventions, or leadership styles may affect individuals and groups differently. In doing so, it aims to build the competencies needed to work effectively and sensitively in organizations with multicultural, diverse client populations, and to recognize and promote the capabilities and strengths of marginalized individuals and groups. Students will explore issues of diversity.

Examines the human service system as it affects the mental health needs of children; also addresses specific needs of special groups.

This course is designed to introduce students to Play Therapy techniques and help students determine how they can be applied as treatment modalities for Children with Mental Health Issues and Disabilities. Students will review major mental health issues in childhood, explore play therapy as a modality appropriate for children's developmental stage, identify therapeutic strategies, and develop a plan for implementing an appropriate program of treatment

This course is designed to introduce students to advanced Play Therapy techniques and help students determine how they can be applied as treatment modalities for cutting edge topics that face youth and teenagers of today. Students will explore such topics as gender identity/expression, school refusal, drug and alcohol abuse, learning disabilities, and appropriate manners in which to incorporate parents into play. Students will explore play therapy as a modality appropriate for children¿s developmental stages, identify therapeutic strategies, and develop a plan for implementing an appropriate program of treatment for children and their families.

Explores legal aspects of human services focusing on the constitutional right to privacy, the right to die, involuntary hospitalization and treatment of the mentally disabled, and entitlements. Covers family law, the rights of the elderly and the disabled, and laws concerned with special education.

What are human rights? Do human rights have a direct impact on the policies governments pursue, or on the attitudes people hold toward others? How can human rights be enforced? How have nongovernmental organizations developed, and how effective are they in spotlighting abuses? This course explores these questions among others by focusing on the ways in which human rights have been articulated, particularly in the last 60 years. This course also looks at abuses of specific rights and the remedies that could be sought for them. Special attention will be given to nongovernmental organizations that have been instrumental in promoting and monitoring human rights around the globe. This course is the same as PSC 430 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

Allows students to explore up-to-date information and current debates in their chosen field. Topic titles and offerings vary from semester to semester. Students should check with the Office of Interdisciplinary Degree Programs to determine how the course may be used to fulfill major requirements.

Allows students to explore up-to-date information and current debates in their chosen field. Topic titles and offerings vary from semester to semester. Students should check with the Office of Interdisciplinary Degree Programs to determine how the course may be used to fulfill major requirements.

Law, Legal Writing and Advocacy introduces undergraduates to the practical written and oral application of legal principles by giving them basic tasks a lawyer would perform. Students gain a basic knowledge of the legal system and the lawyers' role in it. They are given hypothetical factual situations that involve legal issues. They are asked to analyze the factual situation and to present the legal issues involved from different perspectives: the defense, the plaintiff/prosecutor, the judge, and law enforcement.

Program evaluation is an important aspect of designing and executing effective programs in nonprofit and public organizations. Program managers and organizational leaders need to be able to assess whether the programs and policies that they have put in place serve those individuals and groups that they are intended to serve, and do so efficiently and ethically. Funders, policymakers, and government officials also rely on program evaluations to help determine whether their resources are being utilized appropriately, and which programs they should continue to support. This course provides students with an overview of the frameworks, tools, and methodologies used to perform a program evaluation. Students will have an opportunity to practice some of the skills involved in evaluation, and to work together with classmates to create a sample program evaluation.

This course provides an introduction to the critical role that fundraising and philanthropy play in nonprofit organizations in the U.S. Most nonprofit organizations - educational, social and human services-related, cultural, environmental - rely at least to some extent on funds that they raise from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Therefore, individuals who work at nonprofit organizations - even those who are not development officers - need to be aware of how fundraising works and the specific tools and strategies that organizations deploy to cultivate donors. In this course we will explore various modes of fundraising and the activities associated with each. We will also investigate why different types of donors are motivated to give, as well as the obligations that nonprofit organizations have to their donors.

Community internship, health and human services internship, or environmental studies internship. See the appropriate SSC advisor for details.

Various instructors offer independent study. Check with the Office of Interdisciplinary Degree Programs each semester.