Summer Online Core Course Initiative: Meet Your Faculty
The Summer Online Core Course Initiative (SOCCI) launched in summer 2020 with support from the Office of the Provost in partnership with the Student Hybrid Experience (SHE) Advisory Board and Educational Technology Services.
Undergraduate students are able to complete courses delivered online and asynchronous in fulfillment of university core curriculum requirements. Faculty from the College of Arts & Sciences and School of management work in tandem with an assigned instructional designer and AV multimedia developer as part of the ETS Online Course Design Program. The program builds online readiness among faculty through cohort-based, immersive, hands-on experience. Faculty are introduced to online learning best practices, innovative use of technology, and institutional quality standards for course design across all delivery formats.
Learn more about the SOCCI initiative »
Students: Learn more about Summer Sessions on the USF website »
Courses Offered
BAIS 100: Introduction to International Studies (Core E)
Course Developer & Instructor: John Zarobell, Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2020 | Course First Offered: Summer 2020
The course addresses broad international issues that affect many aspects of our everyday lives. Issues of cooperation and conflict among states, globalization, economic development, human rights protections, and environmental degradation all encompass global concerns that directly impact individuals at the local level.
BIOL 103: Human Biology with Lab (Core B2)
Course Developer & Instructor: Leslie Bach, Assistant Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2023 | Course First Offered: Summer 2023
A course for non-majors surveying the major systems of the human body and introducing concepts of human health and disease.
BUS 204: Fundamentals of Business Analytics (Business Core)
Course Developer & Instructor: JohnCharles (JC) Sander, Adjunct Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2023 | Course First Offered: Summer 2023
Data analysis and modeling using spreadsheet software to support management decision making, including: simple and multiple regression models; forecasting; business simulation models; decision analysis; and optimization models for resource allocation.
BUS 302: Principles of Marketing (Business Core)
Course Developer & Instructor: Ryan Langan, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2022 | Course First Offered: Summer 2022
This course examines the role of marketing in society and in the organization. It focuses on consumer behavior and the marketing mix product, price, promotion and distribution, and frame lectures. It emphasizes identifying and meeting consumer needs, developing effective marketing strategies and understanding how to apply these strategies in different situations. Throughout the class students address factors that are shaping today’s marketing landscape, including technological disruption, globalization and the contest for innovation and social impact.
BUS 304: Management & Organizational Dynamics (Business Core)
Course Developers & Instructors: Courtney Masterson, Associate Professor; Tom Maier, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2021 | Course First Offered: Summer 2021
Covers the theory and practice of management and organizational dynamics with emphasis on meeting the challenges of a changing work place environment. Topics include: the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling and the study of personal and group behavior in organizations. Course themes are: diversity in the work place, globalization, ethics and social responsiveness, changing technology and effective management of these challenges.
BUS 308: Systems in Organizations (Business Core)
Course Developer & Instructor: Eric Lacy, Instructor
Course Developed: Spring 2023 | Course First Offered: Summer 2023
A study of production systems in organizations. Integration of human, technical, and information systems as parts of the process of the creation and distribution of goods and services. Supply chain management, process design, project management, quality control, information and work force management.
ECON 112: Principles of Macroeconomics (Core E & Business Core)
Course Developer & Instructor: Sandhya Patlolla, Assistant Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2023 | Course First Offered: Summer 2023
Introduction to aggregate economics, stressing the forces that shape overall economic activity and determine economic growth, employment, interest rates, and inflation.
ENGL 202: Great Works of Western Literature — Romance, Revolution, and Exile (Core C1)
Course Developer & Instructor: Omar F. Miranda, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2020 | Course First Offered: Summer 2020
This course is an exploration of literature from the Western tradition. It will help in the development of critical and analytical thinking and writing skills as students peruse the authors of classical or timeless works.
ENGL 220: Poetry Studio for Non-Majors (Core C1)
Course Developer & Instructor: Dean Rader, Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2024 | Course First Offered: Summer 2024 (planned)
In Creative Writing, students will be required to read and respond to (in writing and discussion) various short stories and poems, by both published and student writers, and to produce a portfolio of new and original fiction and poetry, including some revision.
ENVS 100: Understanding Our Environment with Lab (Core B2)
Course Developers & Instructors: John Lendvay, Professor; Tracy Benning, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2022 | Course First Offered: Summer 2022
This course is an introduction to environmental science and environmental studies for non-science majors. It examines the environmental impact of population growth on natural resources; mineral and resource extraction; water resource use and water pollution; air pollution and climate change; and conventional and sustainable energy supplies. Emphasis is placed on a holistic approach to environmental science using class discussions, laboratory exercises, and environmental surveys to reinforce scientific principles.
MATH 106: Business Statistics (Core B1 & Business Core)
Course Developer & Instructor: Jennifer Chubb, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2020 | Course First Offered: Summer 2020
Applied mathematics and statistics taught through the medium of spreadsheets (Excel). Topics include Introduction to Excel; basic algebra for spreadsheet modeling; descriptive statistics; elementary probability theory.
MUS 203: Music & Social Protest (Core F)
Course Developer & Instructor: Byron Au Yong, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2020 | Course First Offered: Summer 2020
Music can be a vehicle for social change and singing songs can comment on as well as affect changes within society. Using multicultural case studies from the US and Latin America, we consider how musicians and activists use musical sounds and performance practices as tools to empower people. The class contains a historical survey/lecture component and a performance lab component (no prior musical experience required).
PHIL 209: Aesthetics (Core D1)
Course Developer & Instructor: Brian Pines, Adjunct Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2023 | Course First Offered: Summer 2023
Traditional and contemporary theories of art and aesthetic experience; a study of selected problems in philosophy of art.
PHIL 220: Asian Philosophy (Core D1)
Course Developer & Instructor: Geoffrey Ashton, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2021 | Course First Offered: Summer 2021
This course examines the historical development and contemporary debates of some of the main philosophical traditions of Asia. The topics include metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical questions raised in Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist and Confucianist philosophies. References will also be made to the larger cultural and political issues that are relevant in these traditions today.
PHIL 240: Ethics (Core D3)
Course Developer & Instructor: Nick Leonard, Assistant Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2021 | Course First Offered: Summer 2021
This course critically analyzes ethical arguments and various positions on contemporary ethical issues. The course will be composed of three focus areas: Ethical Theory, Social Issues, and Ethics of Everyday life. Approximately one-third of the course will be devoted to each area.
PHIL 251: Mind, Freedom, Knowledge (Core D1)
Course Developer & Instructor: Rebecca Mason, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2022 | Course First Offered: Summer 2022
An examination of three central questions in philosophy: What is the nature of the mind? Do we have free will? How can we know anything at all? Texts by current and historical philosophers.
POLS 100: Introduction to Politics — Ideas and Institutions (Core E)
Course Developers & Instructors: Elisabeth Jay Friedman, Professor; Jeffrey Paller, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2021 | Course First Offered: Summer 2021
This course is part of a two-semester sequence designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to the study and practice of politics. We will investigate individual and collective political beliefs in conjunction with political practices, noting that frequently the two do not cohere to one another. Collective political beliefs are frequently known as ideology; where does ideology come from and how does it function in different locations? The course will also provide an introduction to international and domestic political institutions. Institutions become the framework for solving political dilemmas, yet invariably these institutional frameworks are good at dealing with some issues and dynamics, but less capable at dealing with others. How do political institutions in various places assist and hinder the political process? Besides examining the US system, students will be introduced to the varied ideas about and practices of democracy in other countries. Students will use the methods of comparative political analysis to develop expertise in one country. Throughout the semester, students will engage in debates representing the complexities of world politics, as well as engage in deeper study of pressing contemporary issues.
PSYC 260: Psychological Statistics (Core B1)
Course Developer & Instructor: Alex Ochoa, Assistant Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2023 | Course First Offered: Summer 2023
The rationale and methods of statistical inference through two-way analysis of variance and correlation.
RHET 103: Public Speaking (Core A1)
Course Developers & Instructors: Leigh Meredith, Associate Professor; Nicole Gonzales Howell, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2023 | Course First Offered: Summer 2023
Students practice skills for oral presentations and explore public speaking as a component of civic life. Foundational to the course are the practices of ethical speech-making, corresponding to the Jesuit value of eloquentia perfecta–speaking and writing for the common good. This course emphasizes the practice and assessment of oral communication for various purposes and in response to rhetorical situations that require public words to advocate, inform, and celebrate.
RHET 120: Written Communication II (Core A2)
Course Developer & Instructor: Melisa Garcia, Assistant Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2023 | Course First Offered: Summer 2023
In RHET 120, students continue examining, interrogating, and practicing writing, speaking, and digital communication. Students discover and develop research projects based on their goals and interests, building connections between their lived experience and the wider world of human knowledge. Pursuing the Jesuit value of eloquentia perfecta–speaking and writing for the common good–students work both independently and collaboratively to understand and address diverse perspectives.
SOC 150: Introduction to Sociology (Core E)
Course Developer & Instructor: Stephanie Sears, Associate Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2021 | Course First Offered: Summer 2021
This course introduces students to the basic concepts, theories, and methods in sociology. It surveys such issues as: culture, socialization, family, social inequality, race and ethnicity, sexism, deviance, and social change.
THRS/ENVA 404: Environmental Ethics (Core D3)
Course Developer & Instructor: Sam Mickey, Adjunct Professor
Course Developed: Spring 2023 | Course First Offered: Summer 2023
Provides an overview of ethical responsibilities for the natural world. The course explores the diverse ethical responses to environmental problems including contemporary philosophical and religious beliefs regarding nature.