The Council on Academic Affairs will be voting on new courses and to change the rural studies minor for fall 2016 at 2 p.m. Thursday in Room 4440 of Booth Library.

The CAA approved the rural studies minor at the end of spring 2015; there have been some revised changes to the minor with the removal of GEG 3310: Introduction to Biogeography and the addition of ANT 3900: Hunters and Gatherers.

GEG 3340: Land Change Science, SOC 3622: Population, SOC 3820: Environmental Sociology and SOC: 4131 Sociology of Poverty and Social Welfare were also added.

Many of the new courses will be held weekly in a lecture with professors on campus or online from the students’ homes.

Marita Gronnvoll, the CAA chair, said Eastern has a lot of diverse courses for students to choose from.

“I couldn’t be more excited to see how the courses turn out,” she said.

HIS 4922: Doing Media History is another new course that will focus on interdisciplinary approaches to the study of both “new” and “old” media.

By working with archival sources both on campus and online, students will learn and practice historical and critical approaches to media.

HIS 3160: Ancient Iran is another course the CAA will be voting on; it will survey the history, institutions and culture of ancient Iran, or Persia, from c.550 BCE to c.650 CE.

Topics will include internal political structures, such kings and nobility, the nature and function of religions like Zoroastrianism, Christianity and more. Persian relations with the Greeks and the Romans, and Islamic-era legacies of ancient Persia will also be a topic during this course.

RUR: 4400A an Independent Study for the Rural Studies minor, is a course that will be also voted on; this course is an intensive individual study on a topic selected by the student under the supervision of a faculty member.

There have also been some revised courses such as MUS 2502: Comprehensive Musicianship Four; this course will be building on the chromatic alterations and extensions covered in MUS 2501. This course will also focus on writing, analysis and performance of 18th and 19th century tonal compositions.

EDP 2330: Educational Psychology, AET 3163: Computer Programming in Technology and AET 4163: Computer Database in Technology will be added to the agenda after Thanksgiving Break.

Nick Sineni can be reached at 581-2812 or njsineni@eiu.edu.