Spring Quarter 2025

This class will approach the fundamentals of acting, structured for students outside the acting emphasis. Tools learned in class can be applied to directors, screenwriters, and storytellers of various genres.

This course explores the practical realities of living as a professional artist in a variety of work settings and across a range of creative areas with significant contributions from guest speakers. Students will analyze their strengths and weaknesses, set clear goals to work toward for the remainder of their degree program, and create an online, professional presence including a portfolio.

This course provides the student with the fundamental understandings of how the accounting process is used to measure and report economic events to outside stakeholders. The course focuses on fundamental concepts, required financial statements, and key relationships. The course emphasizes the role of accounting in decision making by investors, creditors, and regulators. The primary objective of this class is that students will be able to demonstrate, at a basic level, an understanding of the knowledge and practice of the core business discipline of accounting.

This course exposes students to the vast wealth of the English-language poetic tradition. Beginning with the micro-sagas, riddles and serenades that populate Old and Middle English verse, students advance to engage with major writers and works of intervening centuries before concluding with the more familiar speech—but also the bewildering disjunction—of the poetry of our modern era.

This course focuses on issues central to an enterprise’s long- and short-term competitive position. Students learn the importance of sound strategic thinking and apply this knowledge to classroom exercises.

Comprehensive introduction to basic tools and principles of Game Design including game systems, their components and interaction. Exploration into game analysis and game definitions. Opportunities to conceive an original idea and create a pitch to sell a game concept.

This course is an introduction to the creative process needed when designing and producing animation for the screen. Students will complete several projects designed to introduce them to the process necessary to take an idea from the conceptual phase, further develop and refine it, and then transform it into a tangible, animated element. Students will also further develop their understanding and use of Adobe After Effects, which is the primary tool of execution for this class.

From first reading through to performance, students rehearse and perform a musical from a classic or contemporary writer. Students must audition to register for this class. This course may be taken multiple times for credit.

Picking up where Writing Short Fiction I leaves off, this course affords advanced students additional instruction in the demanding art of short story writing.  The workshop model continues to serve discussions of original student work, and during other class discussions particular stress is laid on finer aspects of craft and sincere engagement with more recent masters of the form. 

This course will teach students how to write and speak effectively in business and other communication.

Students taking this course will write creatively in a variety of literary genres, including fantasy, science fiction, mystery, horror, romance, western, and/or historical fiction. Assignments will aim to improve students' ability to better understand these genres and to write publishable fiction in various modes, and further to better grasp universal components and principles of fiction writing that apply regardless of whether a story's horse has a saddle, fangs, mounted lasers, or wings.

The 20th century confronted Western civilization with a huge array of cultural movements, political crises, and technological breakthroughs. This course provides students with the historical grounding necessary for a serious reconnaissance into the recent past via its major cultural products. Some of these works have emerged over time as radiant masterworks, and others have proved to be but nightmarish visions. All, however, merit study and critical treatment, as they mark our previous century in all its alarm, acceleration and terrible beauty.

Students will participate in a small group providing musical scores and sound effects for movies, television and video games. Analysis of scoring techniques and practicum will be explored.

This course will familiarize students with fundamental scientific concepts and explore how the application of those concepts affects society and global economics. Topics include: the structure of the atom and its applications in biology and physics; circuits, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet of Things; DNA, diseases, and vaccines. Each topic builds towards the question, "what does Catholic teaching tell us about how we as Christians live and participate in this rapidly changing world?" 

This course will familiarize students with fundamental scientific concepts and explore how the application of those concepts affects society and global economics. Topics include: the structure of the atom and its applications in biology and physics; circuits, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet of Things; DNA, diseases, and vaccines. Each topic builds towards the question, "what does Catholic teaching tell us about how we as Christians live and participate in this rapidly changing world?" 

This class will build on the skills learned in Fundamentals of Post-Production. Students will analyze different editing styles and techniques for impact and effectiveness. They will apply these different approaches in various exercises relating to pacing, rhythm, emotion, montage and style, as well as the interplay of picture and sound. The application of proper media management and workflow will also be incorporated.

Students taking this course will write creatively in a variety of literary genres, including fantasy, science fiction, mystery, horror, romance, western, and/or historical fiction. Assignments will aim to improve students' ability to better understand these genres and to write publishable fiction in various modes, and further to better grasp universal components and principles of fiction writing that apply regardless of whether a story's horse has a saddle, fangs, mounted lasers, or wings.

This course is an exploration of stage movement based on work of masters such as Suzuki, Alexander, Feldenkrais, and Bogart. It may include physical character development, Kabuki theatre physical techniques, Noh theatre physical techniques and mask work.

Description TBA

As this course engages apparently timeless literary works from the classical tradition, it situates them within specific historical contexts. This approach enables students to come to both a greater appreciation of the enduring power of story, and a recognition of the relationship of works of art with their surrounding culture. Masterworks of pagan antiquity (Homer and/or Virgil) give way to key texts of early Christendom (Augustine, Beowulf, et al) in order to further illuminate the impact of Christian theology and anthropology on artists and thinkers in myriad disciplines.

This course is structured to give students an intermediate understanding of advanced concepts, theories, and ideas in finance. Topics include: capital budgeting; capital structure analysis; costs of capital; dividend policies; mergers and acquisitions; international finance.

This course introduces students to the diverse world of radio, television, news, cinema, internet, print and advertising. Students will learn how to critically experience such media and analyze its desired results. Students will also explore how media has developed and evolved through history and examine the current influences of media on society from a cultural, artistic and economic perspective. In addition, we will explore what the role of Christians in this new media environment can and should be, and how we can best utilize the opportunities available to us to become who we want to be.

In this production intensive class which builds on the directing fundamentals learned in Directing I, students will work together weekly to create short film subjects, dealing with spiritual and Christian subject matter, in an attempt to connect noble themes to photographed light. Students will be assigned weekly subjects and be expected to present them in class for feedback and analysis.

This course explores the craft of screenwriting through analyzing and studying successful screenplays in a wide variety of genres and styles. Students read excerpts from numerous masterworks of screenwriting and strive to craft writing samples that achieve artistic and technical excellence guided and inspired by what they have read.

From first reading through to performance, students rehearse and perform a musical from a classic or contemporary writer. Students must audition to register for this class. This course may be taken multiple times for credit.

As this course engages apparently timeless literary works from the classical tradition, it situates them within specific historical contexts. This approach enables students to come to both a greater appreciation of the enduring power of story, and a recognition of the relationship of works of art with their surrounding culture. Masterworks of pagan antiquity (Homer and/or Virgil) give way to key texts of early Christendom (Augustine, Beowulf, et al) in order to further illuminate the impact of Christian theology and anthropology on artists and thinkers in myriad disciplines.

This course is an introductory-level course for students. Its intent is to give an in-depth understanding of the differences between—and similarities of—leadership and management. The course focuses on the major traits of leaders and managers, and augments these with examples of great historic leaders, including George Custer and Jesus Christ. The course also studies the many leadership traits of Abraham Lincoln and looks at how these can be applied in modern business to improve management techniques. As part of the learning process, students give summaries of Lincoln’s leadership lessons, using short, Power Point presentations.

In this senior level workshop, students will have the opportunity to develop key deliverables for a current client or prospective client of a local social media agency. The student will learn about the research, strategy, execution, promotion, and creative elements that make up a digital agency, or service-based business. The class will be structured around short lectures, supported by scheduled in-office training with the social media agency team to implement course material in service of an actual client or prospect. At the end of the course, students will have a solid understanding of how social media can communicate a brand’s story, and how to deliver this service in a viable way.

Students will continue their study of screenwriting with a focus on writing narrative films under 40 minutes in length. They will screen and analyze multiple examples of short cinema to gain an understanding of the qualities possessed by the best examples of the form. They will write numerous short scripts with the goal of generating one or more short scripts of high quality that can be produced either inside or outside the university setting. Students will critique one another's work with instructor supervision and guidance. Considerable time will be required for students to write. Students will read and respond to the required texts.

The senior project is a series of courses (up to three) in which students will work either individually or as part of a team and create or contribute to a significant media project that spotlights their area of emphasis. Class III is the post-production phase. Instructor approval is required to take this class.

Can we ever be 100% certain that our beliefs are true? If so, what is the grounding for this certitude? Can reason prove everything we believe? What is the relationship between faith and reason, between theology and philosophy, and between religion and science? These and related questions will be explored in this class. Figures studied will include St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, JP II, Kierkegaard, and others. Special attention will be given to JP II’s encyclical Fides et Ratio.

Application of the ideas learned in Real Estate Principles and the role of a salesman therein. Covers the listing, selling, and closing processes. Additional topics incluse financing, escrow, taxes, and devloping relationships withing the industry, etc.

This class is designed to provide students with several opportunities to explore and research into environments and complementary object designs of various art styles, to promote the development of students’ individual art style.

In this seminar-style class, students will use the fundamentals of film criticism to lead weekly 3 hour presentations (a lecture and an interactive discussion with peers) under the guidance of the instructor. Topics will include: genre, context of both the film and culture, director's background and intent, the process of making the film, and the cultural/critical response to and surrounding the film. The series of films will explore classic and contemporary works by some of mainstream cinema's successful outliers in an attempt to better understand: the principles of storytelling, the ways in which films become cultural artifacts, the filmmakers who make them, and the times in which they are made.

This course is based on the Compassion Cultivation protocol developed at Stanford University, with insights and techniques from psychology, neuroscience, and contemplative practice and presented in a Catholic context. Dynamics of compassion explored are: fostering self-compassion, receiving compassion from others, and extending compassion to others. The course integrates evidence-based meditation and prayer techniques, interactive discussions, and lectures as well as real-world exercises to put learning into practice. Students commit to a daily meditative period to cultivate compassion.

This course provides advanced writing experience for students who have completed multiple scripts for the screen. Assignments will be individualized based on student experience, interest, and skill, and may include development and writing of feature film scripts, television episodes or pilots, short film scripts, and scripts for web-based distribution. Students may also rewrite existing works for which they've written earlier drafts. Students will read and lead discussions of numerous screenplays. Students will pitch their stories, and may be asked to pitch to students in other courses. Students will critique one another’s work in large and small groups, with instructor supervision and guidance. They will also develop a personalized career strategy as a writer for the screen. The knowledge, skills, and experience gained in this course will serve aspiring writers, writer-directors, and writer-producers for film, television, and new media. Considerable time will be required for students to write and develop scripts outside of class.

This course provides the student with the fundamental understandings of how the accounting process is used to measure and report economic events to outside stakeholders. The course focuses on fundamental concepts, required financial statements, and key relationships. The course emphasizes the role of accounting in decision making by investors, creditors, and regulators. The primary objective of this class is that students will be able to demonstrate, at a basic level, an understanding of the knowledge and practice of the core business discipline of accounting.

This course exposes students to the vast wealth of the English-language poetic tradition. Beginning with the micro-sagas, riddles and serenades that populate Old and Middle English verse, students advance to engage with major writers and works of intervening centuries before concluding with the more familiar speech—but also the bewildering disjunction—of the poetry of our modern era.

Description TBA

This course explores the craft of filmmaking through an in-depth analysis of the work and career of prolific directors. Students will study the distinct visual styles, filmmaking philosophies, and career paths that have lead to commercial and critical success in the entertainment industry. 

This course provides students with information on how to obtain work and succeed as a television, film, voice over, or stage actor. This course prepares students for the actor's journey, with emphasis on career tools (resumés, headshots, reels, self-tapes), strategies, audition techniques, industry terminology, and extensive information about casting, representation, and union membership.

A thorough breakdown of the process of creating from initial concepts to final design taught by professionals at one of the top design studios in San Diego.

This seminar course examines the cultural history and the cultural significance of important world literature. It asks students to study texts in the context of the period in which they were written as well as to consider them in relation to contemporary discussion and response. Although emphasis will be upon the primary texts in the seminar, students will undertake their own research projects that allow them to explore further the materials introduced and discussed in the seminar.

This course focuses on the traditional and materials techniques used to create hand-drawn illustrations and imagery. Graphite, charcoal, ink, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, and collage will be used to create projects rooted in originality. The assignments are intentionally experimental, allowing students to explore innovative solutions in image making. Form, structure, tone, light, shadow, texture and color, combined with different approaches to visual style, atmosphere and mood will be covered.

In this course students learn the human-centered design process, which moves from concrete observations about people to abstract thinking then back to the concrete with tangible solutions that are desirable, feasible, and viable in today's global business environment. 

A continuation of the skills developed in Vocal Techniques I, this course will provide the student with the opportunity to explore their natural singing voice and find their vocal identity through a variety of musical genres. Utilizing healthy vocal technique, students will develop and practice skills to enhance solo vocal performance. Topics may include but are not limited to: body alignment, releasing tension, onset/offset, breathing, resonance, focus of tone, registration, articulation, and expressivity. Students continue to work on sightsinging techniques, further developing aural skills and melodic and rhythmic dictation and working with sightsing material with shifting meters. Individual private training will have continued focus on each individual student's abilities as well as development of more refined and nuanced vocal skills needed for singing a variety of musical genres.

The 20th century confronted Western civilization with a huge array of cultural movements, political crises, and technological breakthroughs. This course provides students with the historical grounding necessary for a serious reconnaissance into the recent past via its major cultural products. Some of these works have emerged over time as radiant masterworks, and others have proved to be but nightmarish visions. All, however, merit study and critical treatment, as they mark our previous century in all its alarm, acceleration and terrible beauty.

In this course students learn about the basic structures of sound reasoning, focusing largely on classic Aristotelian logic. The course serves to help students think and argue with clarity as well as to effectively analyze arguments of others. The course includes a careful analysis of the operations of the intellect, i.e., understanding, judgment, and reasoning, focusing on their products, i.e., term, proposition, and syllogism.

This course focus on teaching students the essential skills of designing props for animation. Students will learn about the role of props in storytelling, the principles of design, and the techniques for creating props that fit within different animation styles. Students will be guided through concept sketches, refinement, and color theory.

Description TBA

In this course students learn about the basic structures of sound reasoning, focusing largely on classic Aristotelian logic. The course serves to help students think and argue with clarity as well as to effectively analyze arguments of others. The course includes a careful analysis of the operations of the intellect, i.e., understanding, judgment, and reasoning, focusing on their products, i.e., term, proposition, and syllogism.

As this course engages apparently timeless literary works from the classical tradition, it situates them within specific historical contexts. This approach enables students to come to both a greater appreciation of the enduring power of story, and a recognition of the relationship of works of art with their surrounding culture. Masterworks of pagan antiquity (Homer and/or Virgil) give way to key texts of early Christendom (Augustine, Beowulf, et al) in order to further illuminate the impact of Christian theology and anthropology on artists and thinkers in myriad disciplines.

This class is designed to help students develop drawing skills by translating what students observe about three-dimensional objects into lines and shapes on a two dimensional medium, while incorporating surface textures and varying line qualities into object and environment design concepts.

This course is designed for junior and senior entrepreneurial business students, and builds upon earlier courses in leadership, project management, and Project Execution I. The course’s intent is to show how to successfully visualize, plan, brief, execute, and debrief a more complex project involving the entire class. The center piece of the course is the actual execution of a three-day wilderness campout involving JPCatholic students as part of their overall academic experience. The course shows how management (represented by half students) can successfully plan and brief a project that is executed by other staff (represented by the other half), which in-turn demonstrates the importance of visualization, discussion, and tapping into the experience of others, as well as how to successfully debrief the team to learn valuable lessons. Consequently, the course gives valuable insight, since the division of duties mimics real-life project execution in the business world, where management and staff have different roles and responsibilities.

This course offers an in-depth exploration of René Girard’s Mimetic Theory, providing a powerful framework for uncovering the hidden structures of human desire and violence in art, culture, and daily life. Students will examine how mimetic theory interprets the history of storytelling, from ancient myth and Greek tragedy to Shakespearean drama and the works of modern filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick.

This builds upon the collaboration between students that begins in Feature Film: Pre-Production II. Students are invited to participate in various roles as the pre-production process progresses from creative development through scheduling, budgeting, casting, camera and lighting tests, scouting locations, storyboarding, and more.

As this course engages apparently timeless literary works from the classical tradition, it situates them within specific historical contexts. This approach enables students to come to both a greater appreciation of the enduring power of story, and a recognition of the relationship of works of art with their surrounding culture. Masterworks of pagan antiquity (Homer and/or Virgil) give way to key texts of early Christendom (Augustine, Beowulf, et al) in order to further illuminate the impact of Christian theology and anthropology on artists and thinkers in myriad disciplines.

This class is designed to help students develop drawing skills by translating what students observe about three-dimensional objects into lines and shapes on a two dimensional medium, while incorporating surface textures and varying line qualities into object and environment design concepts.

A continued senior-level graphic design capstone experience. This course builds on the previous and provides opportunities for more hands-on and practical design projects, interactions with local businesses and/or non-profit clients, and a focus on building out students’ creative portfolio and resume.

In this course students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively communicate an idea to an audience through the use of a documentary film. Students will view and analyze current and past documentaries and identify the idea, concept and structure that makes up the film. Students will create a documentary film that either records the present using behavioral or anthropological means, or recalls the past using historical or biographical elements, incorporating visuals, statements and interviews with verifiable truths.

From first reading through to performance, students rehearse and perform a musical from a classic or contemporary writer. Students must audition to register for this class. This course may be taken multiple times for credit.

This course builds on prior courses covering the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Study of the Catechism will be completed through an in-depth analysis of the third pillar, namely, the section on Catholic morality.

In this course, students will continue their study of the Sales Process, engaging with real world "Sales" situations outside of the classroom, then analyzing the process in class.  Students will also engage in discussions with actual sales & business development professionals. Finally, students will explore how the Sales Process relates to developing a business plan in both a theoretical and applied approach by working with a local non-profit organization.

This class will provide students with the opportunity to develop fully interactive game environment inside a game engine. Students will use basic first-person game controller to navigate inside an interactive game environment in order to validate their designs.

Description TBA

In this class we will focus on the development of contemporary dance as an expressive medium, with emphasis on developing technical skills at the Beginning level.  It is an opportunity to explore how the body moves in both functional and expressive ways. This course encourages you to think about the studio space as a laboratory – it’s a place to experiment, to explore new ways of moving. It's a place for observing and developing a physical listening. There will be written assignments, class discussions, a lot of dancing and a final collaborative project.

Students conduct research on a primary text and write a lengthy paper, practicing revision and editing skills as they develop their original theses.  This class encourages a “close reading” of a primary text, requires students to build an annotated bibliography to evaluate secondary and tertiary source material, and introduces rhetorical concepts in the effort to help students become stronger readers and writers.

This course continues to build students' proficiency in motion picture production using real-time rendering in Unreal Engine through several group projects. Additional topics include motion capture, facial capture, and virtual camera tracking.

Movie sets and props empower filmmakers to tell stories that take place in locations and environments that are either difficult to attain or simply do not exist in the real world. This course allows students the opportunity to collaborate within the art department to build sets and craft props for a feature film.

This class is an exploration in modern electronic music, synthesizers, computer assisted rhythm, and production. Primarily demonstrated with third party software (ProTools and Ableton live), the student will produce electronic compositions and develop unique sonic environments. NOTE: Knowledge of musical fundamentals is helpful.

This class will explore selections from primary texts of some of the classics of Christian mysticism. Special attention will be given to the writings of St. Catherine of Siena, St. John of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Avila. Topics covered will include: prayer, friendship and union with God, stages in the spiritual life, charity, virtue, sin, dark nights, mystical experiences, and conversion.

Description TBA

This is a course in the various understandings of metaphysics, or the nature of being as being, beginning from Plato’s Timaeus, continuing through the Classical period by means of Aristotle, and the Middle Ages in St. Thomas Aquinas. The course continues by covering several related questions, beginning with Natural Theology (discussing the traditional proofs for the existence of God, the Divine Attributes that can be understood using reason alone, the analogy of being, and the act of creation), continuing with the “problem of evil” and the question of free will.

Description TBA

This is a course in the various understandings of metaphysics, or the nature of being as being, beginning from Plato’s Timaeus, continuing through the Classical period by means of Aristotle, and the Middle Ages in St. Thomas Aquinas. The course continues by covering several related questions, beginning with Natural Theology (discussing the traditional proofs for the existence of God, the Divine Attributes that can be understood using reason alone, the analogy of being, and the act of creation), continuing with the “problem of evil” and the question of free will.

Follow-up to the LaunchPad sequence. Entrepreneurial students will receive mentorship as they continue to launch their company. Goal is to make meaningful progress toward the start or growth of their company.