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Course Descriptions
MASS 500 Practitioner as Researcher
Introduction to a wide variety of approaches in social science research. Aims to prepare students to plan, implement and utilize social science research in their lives as citizens, professional practitioners and family members. Students participate actively in course planning, with attention to research aims, design, data analysis and interpretation, and utilization.
Note: This course is recommended to be taken as a student's first MASS course; it must be taken within the first 12 credits in MASS and is open only to matriculated MASS students.
MASS 502 Career Development: Theory and Practice
Theories and practices that may be utilized to help people make appropriate career choices. Design and implementation of an innovative life-planning process. Students who desire to enter the professions of student affairs or student personnel in higher education are especially encouraged to enroll in this course.
MASS 506 Sibling Violence
Sibling violence across the life cycle, cultures and diverse populations. Relationships between sibling violence and other social problems.
MASS 507 Human Ecology: A Study of Interrelationships Among People, Families and Environments
Diversity of environments and people living and interacting in them. Examination of environments from perspectives of influence, interdependency, change, maintenance, value, wellness, impactors pressing on them. Forces and issues to help human service professionals deal with ecology of the environments in which people exist and interact.
MASS 508 Foundations of Social Science
Consideration of social sciences as justifiable modes of inquiry. Credible and logically coherent knowledge claims, valid research methods. Historical and sociological constitution of current norms in social science, domination of statistical methods, centrality of notion of social science "findings." Alternative methodologies of research and implications. Works of Kuhn, Feyerabend; feminist standpoint theory; contemporary critiques of social science.
MASS 509 Social Work Practice in Health Care
Introduction to social work services relevant to medical settings and settings where workers need to be attentive to physiological concerns. Range of theories and practices critical for work in healthcare settings, including hospitals, outpatient clinics, nursing homes, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. Special attention to settings serving diverse ethnic and immigrant populations. Differential assessment and intervention practices, various consultation services, interdisciplinary practices and evaluations relevant to present-day medical social work.
MASS 510 Personality Theories
Exploration of distinctive features of major personality theories and their implications for every day living and professional practice. Perennial concerns of humankind, as portrayed by such thinkers as Freud, Jung, Adler, Fromm, Horney, Sullivan, Murray, Goldstein, Maslow, Rogers, Erickson, Lewin, Skinner and current feminist research. Emphasis on sharing ideas and themes that have a direct bearing on effective, significant living in the students’ personal and professional worlds.
MASS 511 Theory and Practice of Counseling
Overview of major counseling theories. Emphasis on how theories illuminate practice. Detailed look at psychotherapy and understanding ways the relationship between client and therapist can be used to guide therapeutic interventions. Use of counseling techniques in every day situations; crisis intervention; cross-cultural issues.
MASS 512 Group and Individual Dynamics
Examination of interaction between individuals and groups. Through participation in group and experiential activities, the class explores individual and group behavior as a function of group processes and phases of development.
MASS 513 Approaches to Brief Treatment
Various time-limited treatment models for working with individuals, families and groups. Examination and critique of task-centered, solution-focused, strategic, crisis intervention, cognitive and psychodynamic approaches. Consideration of brief treatment across the life cycle, across cultures and with diverse populations.
MASS 514 Helping Professions: Comparative and Critical Perspectives
Major overview and synthesis of psychotherapy, social work and education, and secondary review of ministry and criminal justice as helping professions. Historical roots; ideological assumptions; role and function in selecting and treating clients; training programs and professional ethics. Gaps and deficiencies in theory and practice; societal reactions to efficacy of the professions; criticism and defense of the professions.
MASS 515 Psychology of Gender
Theoretical approaches to the psychology of gender. Among these approaches is the social construction of "difference" vs. essentialism and the notion of continuums.
MASS 516 Counseling and Change Processes
Overview of counseling processes designed to improve professional communication skills. Focus on active listening, reflection, questioning techniques, cognitive reframes, functional analysis, etc. Change processes emphasized should be useful to counselors, caseworkers, administrators, educators, human resource management personnel and others. Gender, social class and ethnic and sexual diversity issues addressed.
MASS 517 (also EDUC 572) Expanding Perspectives on Children
Professionals and those preparing to work with children in such areas as medicine, social work, psychology and education share and expand theories-in-use that guide their practice with children. Formal and informal sources of current knowledge about children’s growth and development.
MASS 518 (also EDUC 504) Multiculturalism and the Practice of Schooling
Examination of diverse cultural backgrounds of students and teachers; ways in which these differences affect the practice of schooling, particularly in early childhood, elementary and secondary educational settings. Nature of "education that is multicultural" and link to issues of school culture, educational policy, community relations, curriculum, classroom interactions, teaching styles, student learning, grouping practices, labeling, assessment and the need to develop strategies for the improvement of educational practice. Dynamics of race, class, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability and sexual orientation; effects on schooling.
MASS 519 Existential-Humanistic Counseling
Jungian analytical psychology provides framework to discuss existential relations to counseling and in-depth psychological interventions. Utilization of psychospiritual teachings and practices in myths/storytelling, active imagination, meditation, dream analysis and development of personal rituals. Students select a therapeutic model for in-depth exploration and personal integration.
MASS 520 (also EDUC 530) Adolescent Psychology and Education
Advanced study in the psychological, social and education characteristics and needs of adolescents. Research and theory relative to cognitive development and functioning, self-development and peer and adult relationships of non-handicapped and handicapped youth emphasized. Fieldwork may be required.
MASS 521 Adult Development
Integrates theory with experiences, provides yardsticks for evaluating own development. Implications of life-cycle development for professional fields of counseling, education, human resource development and management. Identity, intimacy, finding work, generativity, mid-life transitions, finding and becoming a mentor, life review. Debate between life-stage theorists and those who conceptualize development as independent of age and stage. Comparison of developmental issues of men and women.
MASS 522 (also EDUC 501) Crucial Issues in Education
Interdisciplinary framework for the study of contemporary educational problems. Analysis and criticism of current issues, uncovering historical, sociological, philosophical and economic foundations. Special attention to cultural diversity, educational equity and institutionalized forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, classism and homophobia.
MASS 523 Folk/Popular Education
Different theories and practices of folk education. Comparison and connection of Antonio Gramsci’s and Paulo Freire’s work. Examination of relationship between folk education and radical social change. Focus on folk education movement in Latin America and in communities of color in the U.S.
MASS 524 (also ELED 502) Child Growth and Development
Cognitive, psychosocial and aesthetic development of children from birth to age 12. Impact of poverty, racism, gender and social class on child growth and development. Roles of the teacher and the schools embedded in societal context. Course project will involve a child study based on direct interaction with a child and family. Minimum 30 hours of fieldwork required.
MASS 525 Couples and Family Therapy
Theoretical foundations, practice applications and ethical issues of major schools of family therapy. Progression from first contact with family, assessments, intervention techniques, termination process. How issues of socioeconomic class, race, gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity are addressed within the family therapy context.
MASS 526 Human Behavior in the Social Environment I
Foundation of human behavior and the social environment as a basis for direct practice with individuals and families and for the management of social service programs. Individuals and families are viewed as transacting with their environments throughout the life course. This perspective provides students with a framework for understanding the range of normal bio-psycho-social development.
MASS 527 Human Behavior in the Social Environment II
Continuation of Human Behavior in the Social Environment I. Focus on psycho-social dysfunction. Emphasis on multiple determinants of human behavior, including biological, psychological, social and environmental factors.
MASS 528 Adult Disorders
Development of problems in adulthood using various theoretical models. Exploration of pathology through ego psychological, cognitive/behavioral and environment theories. Attention to biological nature or basis of many adult disorders. Attention to cultural and gender bias in psychopathology.
MASS 529 Troubled Families/Troubled Children
Examination of family functioning characteristics, including socialization practices, supervision, discipline, parent/child relations, family conflict, marital discord. Stress and disorganization, violence, parental mental health and family isolation in relation to problem behavior among children and adolescents. Exploration of both risk and resiliency.
MASS 530 Mothering: Feminist Perspectives
Interdisciplinary course exploring nurturing or caring aspects of women's experiences. Facts, theories, emotions, ideals as seen by selected scholars in history, psychology, sociology, political science, literature. Assumption that a feminist perspective is practical as well as theoretical, and that it illuminates possibilities for the future as well as criticizes limitations of the present.
MASS 531 Women in the Workplace
Historical development, ethnic diversity and current social relations that shape women's situations in their workplaces. Case studies of specific occupations and comparative analysis of the labor process. Current theories of the labor process and assessment of their explanatory power with relation to women workers.
MASS 533 Women and Violence
Ways in which race, ethnicity, class, levels of education, culture and/or nationality shape women’s lives in connection with violence and each other. Ways in which violence has been perceived and lived by women of color; ways in which these issues have affected and divided women of color. Public policy and service delivery; origin and development of organized women’s movements in the U.S.
MASS 534 Complex Unity
Seminar in political theory. Focus on notions of solidarity and coalition that are not dependent on agreement and sameness. Need for theorizing and constructing such solidarity are explored. Investigation of political deployment of notions of nation, community, identity.
MASS 535 Substance Abuse
Examination of epidemiological information and etiological determinants of substance abuse, including physiological, psychological and social factors. Examination of specific substances of abuse, including alcohol and other depressants, as well as stimulants, hallucinogens, nicotine and caffeine. Evaluation and treatment issues. Attention to special populations affected by substance abuse and addiction.
MASS 537 Traume and Recovery
Examination of human adaptations to traumatic events. Historical and social context in which trauma has been identified and explored. Stages of recovery, framework for clinical work with traumatized people.
MASS 539 (also EDUC 594) Social Action as Curriculum
Involving students in an effort to revitalize public education. Pursuit of a local or national social action interest; development of related integrated curriculum. Documentation of work on the project in context of a qualitative research effort. Graded S/U only.
MASS 540 Leadership and Change in Organizations
Exploration of the leadership process through case examples. Examination of characteristics of successful and exemplary leaders in contemporary society. Early lives of leaders, their lifestyles and values, successes and failures.
MASS 541 Power and Influence in Organizations
Review and analysis of power and influence in organizations in contemporary society. Roles and interactions of individuals, small groups and organizational units in accomplishing the objectives of an organization. Organizations from private, public and volunteer sectors are used to compare the similarities and differences in managing power and influence. Current theories are applied to actual practice in class discussion and individual student projects.
MASS 543 (also EDUC 506) Teaching, Learning and Schooling
An introduction to the school as a social institution and to issues pertaining to teaching, leaning and schooling. Exploration of the relationship between culture, teaching and learning; constructivist model of learning, including its implications for teaching and schooling; structure and social purposes of schooling; how students and teachers experience schooling; ideas and issues related to school reform. Some field experience required in local elementary/secondary schools. This course does not meet any program requirements in the School of Education, nor does it count for New York state teacher certification.
MASS 544 (also EDUC 541) Applied Research Techniques
Basic issues in educational research; development of critical skills as consumers of research. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies; experimental, quasi-experimental and single-subject research designs. Issues of validity, reliability and sampling, descriptive and inferential statistics.
MASS 545 (also EDUC 596 and SPED 596) Learner-Centered, Community-Based Instruction
This course will model learner-centered instructional practices based on the Foxfire approach to teaching. Theoretical foundations, including the work of John Dewey, will be examined. Participants will explore the active involvement of students in developing connections between their lives, communities, and curriculum. Graded S/U.
MASS 546 (also EDUC 502) Foundations of Multicultural Education
Exploration of diverse educational experiences of women, ethnic and racial minorities in the U.S. Ways in which power, equity, cultural politics, empowerment, imagination and the social construction of identity produce cultures and invest them with a range of meanings. Specific cultures and sub-cultures are studied. Criteria for understanding diversity as broadly defined and consideration of the complex dynamics of race, gender, sex and class, and the pedagogical issues posed by diversity. Students collectively or individually define and explore an area of relevant interest. A series of short papers and one research project are required. Consent of instructor is required for non-matriculated students.
MASS 548 Social Work Practice in the Schools
Policies and organizational components guiding school social work. Range of theories and practices relevant to work in schools, including practices relevant to all schools and those that are unique to a particular school. Urban, rural, elementary, high schools; settings serving diverse ethnic and immigrant populations. Differential assessment and intervention practices, various school-linked services, consultation, interdisciplinary practice and evaluation.
MASS 549 Futures and the Human Services
Forces of change and trends challenging human services in the future. Necessary actions required to guide human services through the many transitions that lie ahead.
MASS 550 Race and Ethnicity in American Society
Historical and sociological analysis of racial and ethnic controversies in American history and society. Background on the historical development of relationships between dominant and minority groups in American society; examination of racial and ethnic issues in contemporary America.
MASS 551 The American Dream: Image/Illusion/Realities
Social, economic, political, psychological, literary and popular cultural themes surrounding questions of the “American Dream”; its illusory qualities and its approximation to social reality. Values related to success, pleasure, morality and care; rationality, individualism, community.
MASS 552 Race and Hispanic Caribbean Peoples
Past and present contexts of how race has been experienced among peoples in and from the Hispanic Caribbean. Broad historical settings and socio-cultural circumstances of the question of race. Racial identities, questions of gender, class and sexuality in Caribbean and U.S.
MASS 553 Community and Identity
Viable models toward formation of a resistant/decolonized subjectivity. Borders, exile, nomadism, margins, traveling, war of position, war of maneuver, community, home, nation, as examples of such models. Metaphorical or real places or locations from which to think about, fashion and refashion identities and struggles against oppression(s).
MASS 554 Narrative Study of Lives
Interdisciplinary investigation through film, literature and storytelling of narrative concept and methodology in the study of women's and men's lives. Is the narrative study of lives just any story, or history? Does it have to conform to a certain structure or carry a message? How is it related to identity, culture and language? Does it differ, in any systemic way, when constructed by differences in gender, race, class or sexual preference? What is important and what is marginal about a life story? Exploration of the concepts of subjectivity and reflexivity in relationship to people's ways of knowing.
MASS 560 (also EDUC 560 and SPED 560) Conflict Resolution in Educational and Community Settings
Conflict analysis, management and resolution in educational and community settings with sensitivity to issues of race, class and gender. Explores practices that are non-violent, non-coercive and effective in building solid and satisfactory personal and group relations. Reflection on root causes of conflict; development of conflict resolution skills and practices for those involved in educational and community settings. Team-taught with SPED 560.
MASS 561 Peace and War
Cross-disciplinary introduction to the study of peace. Lecture and discussion format with faculty from various departments and schools; class discussion; analysis of lectures and required readings.
MASS 562 Overview of Crisis Intervention
Transitional and developmental crises and range of crisis situations. Definition of crisis and impact of trauma on individual, family, group, community. Coping strategies for dealing with aftermath of crisis event and approaches to crisis intervention. Processes involved in helping people who have experienced trauma; trauma debriefing methods.
MASS 575 Integrative Seminar
Students define, research, refine and successfully complete an integrative paper or project. Paper must involve an interdisciplinary social science topic or issue, be relevant to student's educational and professional goals and demonstrate competence in relevant theory and practice. This capstone course in the MASS program is to be taken during the student’s last semester. Open only to matriculated MASS students. Prerequisites: MASS 500 and completion of 28 other credits.
MASS 580A Staff Social Welfare Policy and Practice
Introduction to the analysis of social policies and programs. Based upon frameworks of policy dimension, values, and knowledge, selected social policies are examined within a historical and contemporary context. Principles of social and economic justice in analysis of social policies and programs. Attention to the differential impact of these policies and services on at-risk and oppressed populations.
MASS 580E (ALSO SPED 580A) Collaboration with Families
Course is designed to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions Turnbull and Turnbull (1997) identify as necessary for developing “reliable alliances” with families. These attributes include: “knowing yourself, knowing families, honoring cultural diversity, affirming family strengths, promoting family choices, envisioning great expectations, communicating positively, warranting trust and respect (p. 47).” Participants will also develop an understanding of families and schools as interactive social systems. Although the course will focus specifically on developing collaborations that support families of children with special needs, and/or those from diverse social, cultural and linguistic traditions, the concepts presented are applicable to strengthening partnerships with all families.
MASS 580F Child Welfare Policy
This course examines the framework within which child welfare services are provided and the content of child welfare services. The role played by the federal government in setting policy for the nation is reviewed. Using New York state as illustrative, the role of state and local units of government is addressed, as is the way in which state and local units of government, acting through public and voluntary agencies, fulfill their responsibility to families and children. The unique part that is played by family court is also covered.
MASS 580G Student Affairs: Theory and Practice
Historical review of the American college and university with special attention given to the development of student affairs and the ever changing needs of an expanding and diverse student population. Emphasis is placed on the philosophical and theoretical foundations of the profession and how they are applied within the various departments that are commonly considered components of the field. Students are introduced to student affairs as a profession, address the development of basic professional competencies and examine the construct of student affairs within the complex organizational structures of contemporary colleges and universities.
MASS 580N Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Senegal
Course study will focus on sociological, political, economic and developmental issues of this small democratic country in West Africa. A two-week, on-site experience in March or May 2001 will focus on human service and education institutions in Senegal. In addition to four credits of tuition, there will be a program cost including travel, housing accommodations, meals, etc.
MASS 580S (also ANTH 571S) Kinship, Gender and Sexuality
Interrelations between kinship, gender and sexuality. Analysis of power and difference undertaken through a focus on kinship, gender, and sexuality. Use of ethnographic, sociological, historical and theoretical materials to raise questions about how, for example, kinship works to bind people emotionally to social structures; how the powerful meanings and ties of kinship, with their correlated signifying ties to gender and sexuality, are made available for larger social projects; and about the exclusions and shifts effected when meanings grounded in everyday social life are redeployed at these larger levels. Questions raised by anthropologists about the ways kinship mediates the relationship between nature and culture, the processes through which worldviews are naturalized and the uses of such naturalizations for authorizing particular constructions and constellations of social difference (in particular, gender, race, sexuality, class) and systems of inequality and hierarchy. Studies of kinship, gender, and sexuality are grounded in readings on their places and uses in such social projects and venues as colonialism, decolonization, prostitution, queer subcultures, reproduction, nation-building, “race” and racism, and new reproductive technologies (NRTs).
MASS 580Z Working in Community Settings
Understanding and working effectively with task groups, agencies and communities; building and sustaining partnerships in community settings. Task groups and member roles and responsibilities, strategic planning within agency and community settings, inclusion of diverse groups in agency and community planning and community intervention roles and skills.
MASS 581B The HIV and AIDS Epidemic
Overview of the HIV epidemic in this country and worldwide. Impact of the disease through the lens of history, basic biology, epidemiology, ecology and public policy. Current prevention strategies and the major issues confronting human service practitioners working with HIV individuals.
MASS 581C Mental Health Practice
Familiarize students with social work’s bio-psycho-social-spiritual, strength-based perspective and how it informs practice in the arena of mental health. Diagnostic system and the most commonly diagnosed disorders as presented in The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version 4 (Text Revision). Manual will be critiqued from a strength-based, culturally competent, bi-psycho-social-spiritual perspective to assess its validity as a practice tool. Contributions of both environment and biology in the genesis of mental health difficulties. Mental health service delivery system, the technology it utilizes to treat mental health symptoms and the effectiveness of the various technologies. Major social movements which have altered the manner in which services are delivered such as deinstitutionalization, the consumer movement, the advent of HMOs and the shift toward a biologically-based conception of mental illness.
MASS 581D Psychology of Racism and Racial Identity
Examines the psychology of racism and racial identity within multicultural communities, focusing on critical works in this area. In this context, focuses on how the intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, social class and sexual orientation relate to privilege, powerlessness and authorization for contemporary multicultural psychology (e.g. Asian, black, Latino/Latina, Native American communities).
MASS 581E Disability in Society
Phenomena of disability and how perceptions are formed related to this phenomena. Lifespan of individuals with disabilities including family life, education, health issues, work, independence, social activities and the milieu of services available. Disability to groups of individuals who are not traditionally thought of as disabled, but who face challenges not unlike those who do have disabilities.
MASS 581P Prevention Strategies for Children and Youth
This course will review the factors that place children and youth at risk, including poverty, discrimination, family conflict, poor parenting, physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and learning and cognitive problems, and will explore the implications for behavior. Protective factors will also be examined. The utility and effectiveness of prevention in comparison to treatment will be considered. Various treatment modalities will be described and the empirical research assessing the effectiveness of the practices will be reviewed.
MASS 581X Compassionate Communications: Foundations and Applications to Interpersonal and Intergroup Conflict
Students will study theory, research and practice related to Compassionate Communication. The course will combine both academic study and experiential approaches with the goal of understanding the impact of different modes of communication on individuals, relationships, communities and social structures.
MASS 595 Internship 1-4 credits
An applied learning experience for advanced students integrating theory with practice in a health, human service, criminal justice, community, education, non-profit or business setting. Faculty sponsor required. Open only to matriculated MASS students. Maximum number of credit hours for one internship is four hours. For more information, SEE MASS Internship Guidelines.
MASS 597 Independent Study 1-4 credits
Independent study can include research or projects in areas of special interest to MASS students that are not available as regular course offerings. Demonstrated academic competence in the subject area and consent of the instructor. Maximum number of credit hours for one independent study is four hours. For more information, SEE MASS Independent Study Guidelines.
