By Laura Karr

Ten new University Studies Program courses offered at UK for the Spring 2011 semester are being used as a test run of classes for the new General Education program UK is trying to implement.

The UK Staff Senate will vote on Dec. 13 regarding the new added courses and the movement towards a more General Education curriculum.

“The courses being offered in the spring semester will be a test run to permanently add the course to its specific department or not,” Michael Mullen, associate provost for undergraduate education, said.

The humanities, natural science, social science, cross cultural and inference sections will all be adding new courses.

An e-mail was sent over a campus-wide listserv Wednesday morning giving a complete description of the courses offered.

According to the e-mail, the courses that will be added to the USP list will include two humanities courses, Theatre: An Introduction and Living on the Right Side of the Brain.

Theatre: An Introduction, USP 120, will be a course that offers an introduction and investigation into the analysis, research, production and creative/artistic techniques vital to the art of theatre and performance.

The second humanities course, Living on the Right Side of the Brain UK 100, will give students the opportunity to better understand creative strategies that will help in future problem solving.

A natural science course that can be used for students USP requirements will also be added. The course is titled Physics of Energy, USP 100. The goal of the course is to give students proper vocabulary and the conceptual basis that will allow you to understand the energy problem and participate in solving it.

The Social Science USP is also adding a course titled Making Men: Critical Approaches to Masculinities, A&S 100. The course we will discuss historical, sociological, psychological, literary, popular culture and anthropological perspectives on the making and unmaking of masculinities among different ethnic, class and age groups in the U.S. and abroad.

The Cross Cultural section will be adding four new courses. They include Societies in Global Perspective, USP 110, The Arts as Soft Power in International Relations: The Japanese Tea Ceremony, A-H 310, Global Conflicts and Wired Worlds, A&S 100.

Another class will be added to the inference section that will satisfy students Statistics 200 required course.

The class is titled Introduction to Statistical Reasoning. The course is concerned with the informed consumption of statistical information, particularly inferential information.

According to the e-mail, all of the classes being offered will satisfy three credit hours.

Whether or not the courses end up being added, Mullen said it would still be beneficial for students to take them.

“Students who take the courses will get credit for taking the course whether it is added to the specific department or not. Either counting towards their USP requirement or towards the department if the course is added,” Mullen said.