Outreach College

UA Home • Contact • Registration

Independent Study through Correspondence:

Instructor Spotlight

Katrina Jagodinsky, Ph.D. Candidate

Thinking historically is an important skill in today's rapidly changing society, but history explains little about 21st century America without including diverse perspectives.

Professor Jagodinsky offers courses that feature the contributions of women and ethnic minorities in forming an intercultural society from the colonial to the contemporary period. HIST 236 offers insight into the American Indian experience since 1492 and highlights Native participation in major events and trends in U.S. History. HIST 253 and HIST 254 emphasize women's shifting roles in American society and politics in tandem with America's transition from colonial project to global powerhouse. HIST 452 describes the unique ethnic history of the United States, a country that has variously viewed its ethnic diversity as both strength and weakness. Students interested in intercultural relations and the relationship between the past and the present should enjoy these classes greatly. They will learn to analyze historical images and literature, and government documents and group interests as they read about familiar historical events through the lens of marginalized Americans.

• HIST 236 - Indians in the United States
• HIST 253 - History of Women in the United States: Colonial America to 1890
• HIST 254 - History of Women in the United States: 1890 to Present
• HIST 452 - American Ethnic History

 

Deborah Kaye, Ph.D.

Our Jewish historian, Dr. Deborah Kaye, teaches a unique course about the history of the Holocaust. Drawing on extraordinary memoirs, diaries, interviews, and letters of Jewish and German men and women, Dr. Kaye paints an intimate portrait of the genocide.

Dr. Kaye, who has been a member of Tucson’s Holocaust Education Committee for many years, writes:

“The Nazi slaughter of European Jewry during World War II, commonly referred to as the Holocaust, occupies a special place in recent history. It also has a special place in the university curriculum. When students sign up for my course in the Holocaust it is a life-changing event. I teach students how to frame questions for making sense out of the Nazi genocidal project, but it is and will always be a difficult subject to grasp. The genocide of innocents by one of the world’s most advanced nations simply mocks our optimism about human reason and progress. It raises doubts about our ability to live together on the same planet with people of other cultures and persuasions. Before it happened, virtually no one thought such a slaughter likely or even possible. For me, teaching this subject remains a great honor and special privilege.”

• HIST 202 - History of Modern Sexualities
• HIST 312 - Economy and Society in Historical Discourse
• HIST 325 - History of France: Development of the Modern French State, 1815-Present
• HIST 374 - The Holocaust
• HIST 414 - Cultural History of Germany to 1714
• HIST 415 - Cultural History of Germany from 1714 to 1989
• JUS 370A - History of the Jews: Modern Jewish History
• JUS 370B - History of the Jews: The Jew in the Medieval World (to the 17th Century)
• JUS 377 - Modern Israel

 

Kathryn Norcross Black, Ph.D.

Using the traditional technique of lecturing to large groups of students, Dr. Kathryn Norcross Black has taught both Human Sexuality and the Psychology of Gender at Purdue University and The University of Arizona. Today she enjoys teaching these same subjects through UA Correspondence, and not just because it gives her a chance to tell people that she teaches sex by correspondence!

Correspondence courses allow for flexibility of both timing and location. Recent students have submitted assignments while physically in such places as Turkey, Costa Rica, and on tour in the United States. While the Human Sexuality course uses a text and multiple choice evaluations of student knowledge, it also emphasizes writing skills and develops personal analysis of issues in this area. The Psychology of Gender course uses only written evaluations. Both courses require some interviewing and interaction with others, which past students have clearly enjoyed.

• PSYC 216 - Psychology of Gender
• PSYC 364 - Human Sexuality

 

Jack Perry, MA, NCC

Each student taking FCSC 197B, "College Career Planning", brings a unique background and experience profile to their career planning efforts. That is the challenge and also the "fun" of teaching this online correspondence course, states Jack Perry, MA, NCC, career counselor and course instructor.

"I am constantly amazed at the diverse goals of the students."

Many students enroll for the course because they have never done career planning before, and this course is a perfectly reasonable place to start. Freshman through seniors, and graduate students and alumni have successfully completed the course over the years. There is no right or wrong reason to do career planning, but studies clearly show that those individuals who engage in some form of systematic self and career exploration make better decisions. It may seem obvious, but people rarely take the time and effort to think through, let alone "plan" their careers.

"I am a practical-type career counselor." says Perry, who has been teaching the course since 2003. "A good career counselor will never 'push' anyone into a career, but we do offer tools and guidance for people to find their own path...and then take steps to pursue it."

That is what this course and career counseling is all about: helping people identify, clarify, and ultimately reach their goals. So, whether you are just starting out with your career plan, or you have some solid goals that you want to pursue, this course can help you get where you want to go.

• FCSC 197B – College Career Planning