Curriculum
UBB offers three pathways to higher education: the College Program, the Certificate Program, and the Arts and Lecture Series.
- College Pathway: Students in this pathway move through the series of coursework required for their Associate of Arts (A.A.) or Associate of Science (A.S.) degree. Courses offered in this pathway are generally part of the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, and Natural Science and Qualitative Skills degree areas. Students earn credit through Ohio University’s College Program for the Incarcerated and the Course-Credit-by-Examination (CCE) option. UBB instructors teach the course, following the curriculum and textbook that OU recommends. After students have finished the semester-long UBB course, they are enrolled to take the CCE exam which determines their overall course grade.
- Certificate Pathway: This pathway is designed for students who are not interested in credit-bearing coursework. These courses are structured as workshops (1-3 sessions), seminars (6-8 weeks), or semester-long courses. Certificate courses are designed by the UBB instructor, and students earn a Certificate of Completion at UBB’s annual graduation.
- Arts and Lecture Series: Offered twice per month, the Arts and Lecture Series is open to all prisoners. Guest artists and lecturers, from actors to activists, from astronomers to cellists, present to UBB students and other interested prisoners. Presentations are held on Saturday evenings from 6:00-8:30pm. Find information about the next presentation here.
UBB offers between 10-15 courses per semester, with most students taking 2-3 each. To prepare students to succeed in college courses, all new UBB students are required to complete or test out of our two college preparatory classes: Math and English. For our current schedule, please download our Term 1 (January 2012) schedule. For detailed course information, download our Term 1 (January 2012) course catalog.
A Sample of our Certificate Pathway Courses
Advanced Studies in Law and Legal System: This 6-week seminar will involve case studies in the major areas of law, including contracts, torts, property, and constitutional law. We will learn substantive and procedural law and the importance of the Rule of Law in a civil society through reading and analyzing cases. Taught by Joe Brotherton.
Advanced Writing for Publication: Advanced Writing for Publication is a writing course for those who already write well and want to hone their skills, sharpen their style, and prepare pieces for publication. We are particularly interested writers of short stories and creative nonfiction. Each student will be expected to bring work to the class for critique on a regular basis and to submit at least one article to a magazine, journal, or contest during the semester. Taught by Carol Estes.
Creative Nonfiction: Creative nonfiction is a tricky genre, rooted in both the real and private world of the storyteller. In this 8-week seminar, writers will examine the unique challenges of creative nonfiction, such as truth versus fiction, memory versus imagination, and the persona of the first-person narrative, as well as putting into practice the literary devices of imagery, metaphor, dialogue, and patterns of language—while remaining true to the human experience of the world. Taught by Dickey Nesenger.
How Men Grow Up…or Don’t: Key Elements of Masculine Formation: In every culture, a man is judged by how well he can do three things: procreate, provide, and protect. In this six-part discussion series, we will examine how men are socialized in our society, how that process has shaped our traditional roles as sons, friends, and lovers, and how those roles are changing in the 21st century. Taught by Larry Daloz.
Literature and Society: This course will focus on the relationship between literature and society, or the multiple ways in which fictional literature expresses or engages social and political realities. In addition to introducing strategies for interpreting literary forms in relationship to their social and historical context, this course will provide practice in close reading techniques, group discussion, and academic writing tasks. While this course aims to acquaint students with some of the common conventions of reading and discussing fiction within an academic context, fostering a general enjoyment of reading is likewise a central objective. Taught by Gillian Harkins and Annie Dwyer.
Statistics for the Social Sciences: Social scientists often use statistical techniques to gain information about large and hard-to-study populations. This 6-week seminar is a general introduction to statistics and probability from a social science perspective. Topics include organization of data, central tendency and dispersion, correlation, regression, and statistical inference. Taught by Joe Walch.
Studio Art: The art studio class is a 6-week long investigation into a single idea (eg, portrait; Surrealism, Abstract, landscape). Each student makes one piece of art based upon the shared theme. Preparatory compositional work is done in pencil and the final painting in acrylic paints. Taught by Pete Brook.
Writing for the Stage: We will examine the principles of drama through the perspective of connection: idea, character, content, and audience. Students will learn the techniques of playwriting and how to become critical thinkers through analysis of dramatic writing as both literature and theoretical expression. Students will be increasingly challenged through creative writing and the reading of play scripts, leading to the completion of an original one-act play. Scenes from plays will be performed as staged readings during the final week of the course. Taught by Dickey Nesenger.
Yoga: A Map of Human Development with Tools for Transformation and Lasting Change: This course will explore the Eastern Wisdom Traditions along with correlating Western brain science. An introduction to Integral Theory, Spiral Dynamics, and the study of human development will also be included. Each session will consist of 1.5 hours of in-depth physical practice, followed by 45 minutes of the philosophy and psychology of yoga. Taught by Cathy Iacobazzi.
A Sample of our College Pathway Courses
AAS 101 – African American History I, 1526 – 1865: Survey of key economic, political, ideological, and social elements that shaped destinies of black people in United States from 1526 to 1865. 4 credits. Distribution area: Social Sciences. Taught by Gary Idleburg.
BIOS 103 – Human Biology I: Basic Principles: Humans as biological organisms: our origins, ecology, and inheritance; and functioning of our body systems. 5 credits. Distribution area: Natural Science, Applied Science, and Quantitative Skills. Taught by Claire Horan.
BMT 170 – Small Business Operations: Prepares students for selection and operation of small business. Balanced look at all major aspects of confronting small-business operator, including finance, personnel, sales, and success and failure factors. 4 credits. Distribution area: part of the Associate in Applied Business (A.A.B). Taught by Joe Brotherton.
ENG 313 – English Literature: 1660-1800: Authors, works and genres of Restoration and 18th-century English Literature. The purpose of the course is to introduce you to some of the best authors of the period and allow you to sample a few of the most important forms taken by English literature of the Restoration and 18th-century, notably, comic drama, satire in verse and prose, and the novel. 4 credits. Distribution area: Arts and Humanities. Taught by Roger Sale.
GEOG 121 – Human Geography: This course is an introduction to cultural geography—the study of how various aspects of human culture are expressed spatially, including language, religion, economic organization, population demographics, forms of government, and organization of land and buildings, organized around five themes: region, diffusion, ecology, interaction, and landscape. 4 credits. Distribution area: Social Sciences. Taught by Gary Idleburg.
MATH 113 – Algebra: Topics in algebra including functions, linear equations and systems, polynomials, rational and radical expressions, quadratic equations, exponential and logarithmic functions, and inequalities. 5 credits. Distribution area: Natural Science, Applied Science, and Quantitative Skills; fulfills Tier I Quantitative Skills. Taught by Alec Ramsay.
MATH 115 – Pre-Calculus: Graphs, inverses, and operations of functions. Study of polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions. Additional topics include trigonometry and analytic geometry. 5 credits. Distribution area: Natural Science, Applied Science, and Quantitative Skills; fulfills Tier I Quantitative Skills. Taught by Ed Tellman.
PHIL 301 – Introduction to Philosophy: Analysis of typical philosophical problems arising in study of nature, society, and religion for purpose of developing thoughtful and consistent intellectual perspective. 3 credits. Distribution area: Arts and Humanities. Taught by Ken Himma.
PSC 100 – Survey of Astronomy: General introduction to astronomy with emphasis on the structure of the universe beyond our solar system. Topics include historical astronomy, planets, comets and asteroids, the sun, stars and galaxies, interstellar matter, black holes, the “Big Bang” theory, and evolution of the universe. Familiarity with basic algebra and geometry is helpful. 5 credits. Distribution area: Natural Science, Applied Science, and Quantitative Skills. Taught by Jake Cooper.
PSY 101 – General Psychology: Introduction to psychology. Survey of topics in experimental and clinical psychology including physiological bases of behavior, sensation, perception, learning, memory, human development, social processes, personality, and abnormal behavior. 5 credits. Distribution area: Social Sciences. Taught by Barbara Bennett.
PSY 273 – Child and Adolescent Psychology: The course deals with the basic principles of human development from the prenatal period through adolescence. Topics included cover biological, cognitive, and socioemotional development from a variety of perspectives. 4 credits. Distribution area: Social Sciences. Taught by Barbara Bennett.
SOC 101 – Introduction to Sociology: Nature of human society and factors affecting its development. Fundamental concepts of sociology: culture, personality, socialization, social organization, groups, institutions. 4 credits. Distribution area: Social Sciences. Taught by Gilda Sheppard.
SPAN 111 – Elementary Spanish I: This class will focus on developing proficiency in listening, reading, speaking, and writing essential to interactive language learning. You will learn the basic grammar and vocabulary and develop skills in reading and writing Spanish. This class is the first of a three-course sequence of beginning Spanish. 4 credits. Distribution area: Arts and Humanities. Taught by Stacey Reeh.