If you're looking for a change of pace in your class schedule next semester, make sure to check out the back of the fall 1995 class schedule.
Each semester SF State offers a variety of experimental and variable course topics that are not normally scheduled or listed in SF State's bulletin.
Experimental and variable topic courses for fall 1995 are offered so students can have flexibility added to their schedules. The courses also address issues and topics students want to learn about, but that aren't normally offered through the regular schedule.
"I've never really looked at those courses before, but many of them look appealing in terms of teaching students things that are important in today's society," said Jim Whitehead, a psychology junior.
Credit from the classes can be applied to graduation after the course has been approved by the department or program involved and can even fulfill other requirements in a major.
The cinema department is offering the three unit course, "Homosexuality in Film," (CINE 404).
The course will explore how homosexuals have been portrayed in both American and foreign films, and deals with issues of lesbian and gay gender stereotypes.
"Only San Francisco State could offer such a course and have it appear normal," said Shawn Debaux, a cinema senior.
Department faculty and instructors planning on teaching the courses decide what experimental courses they'll offer each semester.
The experimental and variable courses offered fall semester are listed in the back of the class schedule.
Jenny Wright, an art major, is taking the Interactive Media I and Conceptual Art course that teaches students multimedia programming, digital photography, study of conceptual art models and projects in interactive media.
"I was so excited to see the course offered because it is so important to learn skills that can be applied to a job in the outside world," Wright said.
Another class offered for undergraduates that might make some students raise an eyebrow are: Watergate and the Future of American Democracy and Interpersonal Violence. This course explores social, cultural, and psychological studies of violence.
One of the variable courses, College Success Skills, is not an experiment and has been taught by Albert Reyes, academic counselor at the advising center, for 15 years.
Graduate students can also enroll in courses such as Hormones and Behavior under the biology department or Cyberspace/Humanities, a study of the clash of scientific and humanistic cultures.
"The course sounds intense, but I hear so much about cyberspace and the future that maybe it should be required to take courses that take on the future because it is inevitable," said Pete Limpty, a humanities major.
A total of 38 departments at SF State are offering one or more experimental courses next semester.