MCI 100. Negotiation for Success.1 Credit.
This is a one credit course that has been developed based on the premise that everyone is involved in some form of negotiation every day. Negotiation is indeed an essential skill that is called upon frequently in our private as well as professional life. From the shop floor to the boardroom, negotiation is something that one cannot avoid. Knowing how to negotiate, and more importantly, how to manage it well, is the key to increasing sales effectiveness, developing sound working relationships with co-workers, building better customer relations, achieving career goals, and obtaining a higher salary. The course is open to everyone but is designed especially for first-generation college student.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
MCI 101. Health, Aging and Intersectionality.1 Credit.
This course explores the intersections between illness, aging and identity. Students will have the opportunity to find new ways to approach, reflect on and talk about topics ranging from aging and disability to issues limiting the health and wellness of underrepresented and marginalized groups through language, poetry and other mediums.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
MCI 103. Higher Education in Prison: Past, Present and Future.1 Credit.
This course focuses on the longstanding, but only recently attended to, field of higher education in prison. Since the late 19th century, higher education institutions and religious institutions have provided myriad educational opportunities for incarcerated people; recently, with justice and education advocates figuring prominently in getting the 1994 Pell ban repealed and movies like "College Behind Bars" being such a success, the spotlight has increased on higher education in prison programs. This course will explore the history of these programs, the current landscape of the field, as well as hear from experts currently building the field into a comprehensive discipline with impacted persons co-leading the charge. This course is open to anyone interested in learning more about higher education in prison.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
MCI 107. The Case for Race:The Role of the Courts in American Racial History.1 Credit.
Since the adoption of the US Constitution, lawmakers have proclaimed equality and freedom for all. Why have the courts not enforced this basic premise? This one-credit course will explore this question by the lenses of salient race-based legal decisions - including Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas - that guide how our society, its institutions, and individuals regard, think about, and even act towards others every day.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
MCI 110. Race: A Dangerous Symbol.1 Credit.
This one-credit course is intended to explore how the racial symbolic system plays itself out in the everyday world, and the ease and advantages that White-Americans have in navigating the everyday world. The course will directly address the difficulties, disadvantages, micro-aggressions and violence that people of color face in their everyday worlds, as a result of the American symbolic system surrounding race. The course is designed to provide a cultural theory of symbolic self in a pervasive racialized system.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
MCI 111. Banned Book Club.1 Credit.
This one-credit, seven-week course will take a book club format and explore classic and contemporary novels that have been removed from school curricula and library shelves around the United States. Students will choose the books to be read and discussed during the semester. This course will explore the social, political, and cultural rationale for, and implications of, limiting exposure to these literary works. This on-ground, discussion-based course is open to anyone interested in reading and discussing great literature.
Prerequisites: None
MCI 115. Science, Society, and DEI.1 Credit.
In this discussion-based course students will consider topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in science education, careers, and medicine. Topics will include the impact of DEI in science, research, and health/medical disparities. Students will reflect on how stereotypes and biases impact advancement in science education, government and private initiatives to promote an inclusive workplace in the STEM field, and ways to acknowledge and alleviate inequities in science and medicine.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, All
MCI 122. The Power of Pardons.1 Credit.
The Power of Pardons explores the positive impacts community when legally available pardons are accessed by those who qualify. With instruction given on how the CT pardon process works, who qualifies, and how one applies, successful competition of this course qualifies studies to earn additional credits toward graduation by assisting local CT residents in completing pardon applications. This course is part of a collaboration with 'The Work Place,' a Bridgeport organization that provides services to people returning to their communities after incarceration.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
MCI 124. Inside Policing.1 Credit.
In partnership with the Hamden Police Department students learn first-hand about important challenges and issues police deal with daily. A range of timely topics is examined including challenges of recruiting a diverse department,?policing?in the aftermath of negative publicity, and mental health challenges for police. The course considers contemporary issues and provides a closer look at the everyday realities of?policing?than can be gained in a more traditional classroom setting.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
MCI 190. Special Topics.1 Credit.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed