Summer Session 1

This entry-level course in economics covers the fundamentals of macroeconomics and, together with ECN 101, it provides the necessary prerequisites for any other upper-level course in economics. This course introduces students to the study of economics as a field of knowledge within the social sciences. In the first part, focus will be on the definition, the explanation, and the significance of national income, business fluctuations, the price level, and aggregate employment. In the second part, special attention is devoted to the functioning of a payment system based on currency and bank money. Finally, students will discuss the instruments and the functioning of public policy aimed to stabilize prices and maintain high levels of output and employment within the current macroeconomic context. Current economic news will be regularly scrutinized.

For students who have completed at least two years of college-level language studies or the equivalent. This course offers cultural readings from a variety of sources, including some literary pieces, as well as magazine and newspaper articles reflecting the contemporary scene in the countries where the language is spoken. Vocabulary expansion and development of techniques of expression are accomplished through oral and written exercises.

The focus of this course is to introduce the students to the evolution of the United States political system with an accent on the reading of the US Constitution as a starting point for an in depth analysis of its legal system. There will be comparative examples drawn from the constitutional experience of the United Kingdom and Canada. The course will also examine the evolution of the American legal system in the context of American politics and international law. (Students may not earn credit for POL 201 and POL 208.)

Introduction to major theories and research findings of social psychology in order to provide an understanding of the roles of cognitive and motivational processes in social behavior. The focus of this course is on how people's behavior, feelings and thoughts are influenced through social environment.

In recent decades, corporate financial reporting has evolved from an unadorned "accurate financial statements" obligation to a broader ESG (environmental, social responsibility, governance) mandate requiring firms to explain and justify their actions across many activities to multiple stake-holders beyond owners of equity shares. CEOs are regularly more visible than ever before, explaining strategic business choices and their impact on employees, customers, the environment, global trade, and public policy trade-offs in general. Just as large firms have been gradually adapting their behavior and structure to that transition, they are now confronted by a medical pandemic which throws all previous calculations aside. The course explores what firms are doing right now, and will have to do even more intensively in the near future, to sustain their financial existence, while responding to the contemporary public and political appetite for social stability assurances and economic security.

This course will be focused on providing students knowledge and tools for digital entrepreneurship, both corporate and personal. On a corporate level, students will learn the basic rules and the main impacts of the digital innovation on business models, audience experiences, and brand storytelling. On a personal level, students will learn the basics of personal communication, branding and storytelling, along with the primary tools of the social media communication and its most relevant features, possibilities and challenges (in doing so, students will be able to evolve their own personal accounts too). The course will offer a combination of lessons and workshops, with the frequent analysis and discussion of relevant case studies focused mostly on lifestyle, show business, fashion and art.

This course will survey the history of Italy from the end of the Roman Empire to the dawn of the Renaissance. Topics covered in this nearly 1000-year stretch of time include, but are not limited to, the Germanic invasions of the fifth century, the rise of the papacy and the papal states, the Arab and Byzantine conquests of Sicily and southern Italy, civic government in the medieval city-states, political thought in the age of Dante, Humanism, and the early Renaissance fascination with Roman antiquity. This class takes advantage of FUS’s unique position on the doorstep of Italy and will include several guided visits to medieval churches, castles, towns, and abbeys in Ticino and the northern region of Italy. All reading are in English, a combination of medieval sources in translation and recent scholarship. (This course carries an additional fee: 150 CHF)

Basic concepts of the discipline are discussed in this class with a focus on the evolution of the state and the role of the individual from historical, ideological, and comparative perspectives.

The course begins with a review of functions and their graphs, after which students are introduced to the concepts of differentiation and integration. Understanding is reinforced through extensive practical work, with a strong emphasis on applications in economics, statistics and management science.

Based on classical music milestones, from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the course provides the students with the basic elements needed in order to learn active listening and to develop critical and comparative skills. It explains the various genres from symphonic music to opera, offering the students the tools to better understand the various idioms in Western music, and the historical and cultural context of their creation. The use of the "great works" will also create a cultural portfolio for students and introduce them to the debates related to the character and purposes of music, as well as to its chronological evolution.

This course examines the political processes that shape conflict and consensus in Middle Eastern societies. From this perspective, main regional conflicts are analyzed. The confrontation between (1)Iran and the Arab World and (2)Israel and the region at large are surveyed in light of intra-Arab antagonisms and the historical great power rivalry for hegemony in the area. Special focus is directed toward an understanding of the politics of modernization and the clash between tradition and modernity. Recommended POL 100.

This course is designed to provide students with a basic knowledge of financial accounting concepts, procedures, analysis, and internal reports as an essential part of the decision-making process. The focus is on the three basic steps of the accounting process: recording, classifying, and summarizing financial transactions. Emphasis is placed on the general accounting activities leading up to the preparation of financial statements.

(Course begins: 28 May 2022) This course will introduce students to all aspects of archaeological field methodology, from actual excavation and documentation to the processing and study of material culture. The project aims to reconstruct the history and prehistory of the Seggiano valley and the Monte Amiata region through close study of the areas around Castello Potentino. In 2022, the dig will focus on the immediate area of the castle to establish a basic stratigraphy and historical sequence that can be correlated to landscape and settlement pattern. Students will also have the opportunity to learn about the history and material culture in central Italy from the Iron Age to the Medieval Period. Students are strongly encouraged to enroll in the companion course, ENV 297: Biodiversity and Heritage.

(Course begins: 28 May 2022) In this interdisciplinary environmental science course students will learn the fundamentals of biodiversity measurement methods while also considering biodiversity in the context of socio-ecological systems in the Seggiano Valley, Italy. This course will take a deep-time perspective on human landscape use and heritage as embedded within local environments. Weekly topics will include: defining invasive species, methods of paleoenvironmental reconstruction, the role of charismatic megafauna as cultural keystone species, the significance of affective ecology, the challenges of depredation by reintroduced apex predators, and understanding different types of local ethnobotanical use. Students are strongly encouraged to enroll in the companion course, ARC 297: Archaeology and Material Heritage.