Emory University Course Atlas: A Comprehensive Guide

The Emory University Course Atlas is a comprehensive search tool designed to help students, advisors, and administrators navigate the university's diverse course offerings. It provides a centralized platform for finding information about classes, regardless of program or career, streamlining the course selection and registration process.

Introduction

The University Course Atlas is a valuable resource for anyone involved in academic planning at Emory University. Whether you're an undergraduate exploring introductory courses, a graduate student delving into advanced topics, or a faculty member managing curriculum, the Course Atlas offers the tools and information you need. This guide will explore the features and functionalities of the Course Atlas, providing a detailed overview of how to use it effectively.

Key Features and Functionalities

Centralized Course Information

The University Course Atlas aggregates data from all undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs at Emory University. This allows users to search and browse course offerings from across the university in one place.

Up-to-Date Information

The Course Atlas refreshes itself using data from OPUS, Emory's student information system. This ensures that course details, including availability, meeting times, and instructor information, are current and accurate. Changes made to course details and student enrollment are reflected in the Atlas in real-time.

Schedule Planning Tools

The Course Atlas provides tools for building and comparing different course schedules. Users can create multiple carts to explore various course loads, weekly schedules, and class combinations.

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Registration Assistance

The Course Atlas includes registration indicators that alert users to class status and any additional steps required before registration.

Seamless Integration with OPUS

Once a user has finalized their schedule in the Course Atlas, they can click "GO TO REGISTRATION" to send the courses in their Primary Cart directly to OPUS for registration.

Accessing and Navigating the Course Atlas

Accessing the Course Atlas

The University Course Atlas can be accessed at any time without logging in by entering atlas.emory.edu into a browser window. For schedule building and registration, users must log in using their Emory credentials by clicking the login button in the top right corner of the Atlas. Emory recommends logging out of Atlas when you are finished with your session.

Basic Search

The Course Atlas offers a basic search function with the following standard fields:

Title, Subject, Instructor, or Keyword: Users can enter a topic (e.g., Medical Anthropology), subject (e.g., Painting), instructor (e.g., Kenneth Hornbeck), or keyword (e.g., Globalism) to initiate a search.
Term: The search defaults to the upcoming term, but users can select a different term from the drop-down menu.
Any Subject: Users can filter results to show classes in a specific subject (e.g., AMST).
Any Campus: Users can filter results to show classes on the Atlanta Campus, Oxford Campus, or Online.
Any General Education Requirements (GERs): Users can filter results to show undergraduate courses that satisfy General Education Requirements.
Any Career: Users can filter results to show classes for a specific career.

Advanced Search

The Course Atlas also provides advanced search options to narrow results based on specific criteria:

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Any Session: Users can select classes offered during the regular term, special sessions, or summer sessions.
Any Instruction Method: Users can select how the class is taught (e.g., In Person, Distance Learning).
Any Component Type: Users can select the type of class needed (e.g., Laboratory, Lecture).
Any Course Status: Users can select between Open or Waitlisted classes.
Any Meeting Time: Users can select a specific combination of days of the week (e.g., MWF, TTh) and time slots (e.g., 8am-8:50am).
Any Business Attributes: Users can select the requirement they're trying to fulfill (e.g., Accounting).
Any Other Attributes: Users can select a class attribute specific to their college or program (e.g., Nursing Elective Course).

Additional Features

Viewing Course Materials

The Course Atlas provides access to course materials, such as PDFs and Word files, if the instructor has made them available. PDFs will open in a new browser tab, while Word files will download to be opened in Word.

Viewing Required Books

If the instructor has specified required books for the class, this information will be visible in the Course Atlas.

Cart Management

The Course Atlas allows users to add classes to their cart(s) for schedule planning. A grey pop-up box will appear at the bottom of the screen when a class is added to the cart. Users can clear their cart by clicking "clear cart" in the top right corner of the cart view.

Important Considerations

Enrollment Guarantee

Adding a class to your cart(s) in the Course Atlas does not guarantee enrollment in that class.

Registration Appointment

A message indicating that your shopping cart appointment is not open means that you are not yet eligible to register for courses.

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Enrollment Permissions

A message indicating that you do not have permission to enroll next semester means that you do not meet the necessary prerequisites or program requirements for the selected courses.

Waitlisting

Certain schools, such as the Laney Graduate School, may not use the waitlist option. If this is the case for your school/department, there is no need to take action in the Add to waitlist field. After transferring classes to OPUS, the system will recognize classes in your cart that are not set up for waitlisting.

Curriculum Management and Course Catalog

The University Course Catalog is a comprehensive listing of all courses in the Office of the Registrar’s database, regardless of their active status or whether they are offered in a particular semester. Classes are offered based on the active courses in the Course Catalog.

Course Modifications

Any new course, change to an existing course, or inactivation of a course must be approved by the Dean/Department and Curriculum Committee, or the appropriate governing body of the school in which the course resides. All schools of Emory University, except Emory College of Arts and Sciences, must complete the “Request to Add/Change/Inactivate a Course” form. The form must be completed entirely and correctly and submitted electronically. The “Course Submission Guide” offers a detailed description of the key elements of a course to ensure the submission is complete and correct.

Processing Time

After a new course or a change to an existing course is approved and submitted, the Registrar’s Office requires at least 15 business days to process the request. Once the request is processed, the class can be scheduled in CourseLeaf/CLSS by the approved scheduler assigned to the department/school. This process takes place based on the CourseLeaf timeline.

Class Offerings Submission

Class Offerings must be submitted in CourseLeaf/CLSS no later than the date listed on the timeline for a semester. Class Offerings will be submitted and updated directly into CLSS. Approved schedulers will have an opportunity to submit and update classes for the assigned schools/departments during the Planning Phase.

Scheduling Phases

The scheduling cycle in CourseLeaf/CLSS is divided into four phases:

Plan: Departments/Schools put their initial schedule together, securing faculty, setting enrollment capacities, times, determining cross-listings, preferred locations, etc. All fields are editable by schedulers during this low-risk phase.
Proofing: CLSS administrators enter cross-listings, process workflow items, process some room assignments, and make any necessary updates. Some schools may not be able to make changes during this phase.
Publish: Departments/Schools make final scheduling updates right before the schedule goes live for students. Certain fields, such as meeting patterns, cancellations, credit hours, and writing designations, should not be changed without notifying enrolled students.
Archive: All scheduling changes cease in CLSS. This phase indicates the end of the scheduling cycle, and schedulers are prohibited from making adjustments to class schedules. Any class scheduling changes at this point are considered retroactive requests and must go through a formal approval process before being updated in SIS/OPUS.

Rules and Validation

CourseLeaf/CLSS uses a set of rules to assist in correctly submitting the schedule of classes into OPUS. Rules can be set at the section level or the scheduling unit level and can vary between Modes and Phases. There are three types of messages that you will receive if there are errors once you "Save Section" or "Validate":

Error: Indicates that the section or scheduling unit may not be saved as is. The error description will give the rationale and possible solutions to the error.
Warning: Indicates that the section or scheduling unit may be saved, but caution should be taken before completing the schedule. The warning description will give the rationale and may list possible issues that may arise from this section.
Work flow: Indicates that the section or scheduling unit may be saved as is but approval or additional work by the Registrar's Office will be required to complete the entry of the class or schedule into OPUS (i.e. Cross-listings). The work flow description will give the rationale.

Examples of Emory University Course Offerings

To illustrate the breadth of courses available at Emory University, here are some examples of graduate-level courses:

RLR 500 - Historiography and Islamic Civilizations Studies

This advanced graduate-level course introduces students to historiography as applied to Islamic Civilizations Studies. It emphasizes the importance of grounding in historiographical theories and practices for graduate work in the study of Islam. The course is divided into two parts:

Part 1: Introduction to major contemporary approaches to historiography, particularly as they can be applied to the MENA region and South Asian Muslim societies. This section focuses on the "New Historicism" or the "linguistic turn" in contemporary historiography, introducing students to important historiographical theorists such as Marc Bloch, Marshall G. S. Hodgson, Jan Vansina, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Hayden White, Michel de Certeau, and Elizabeth Clark.
Part 2: Critical examination of an important topic in the historical study of Islam and/or Islamic civilizations. Students will become familiar with current approaches to the historiography of Islam by Western historians, with special attention given to major historiographical problems in the field of Islamic Studies. The course may also examine historiographical methods used by Muslim historians to study their own history.

RLR 500 - Ethics after Murdoch and Cavell

This course explores the work of Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) and Stanley Cavell (1926-2018) to address the question of ethics that refuses both voluntarism and the full externalization of conscience into social scripts. The course examines Murdoch’s work, beginning with early essays such as "Vision and Choice in Morality," moving into The Sovereignty of the Good and her novel The Bell, and concluding with explorations of Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. The course then focuses on several essays by Cavell, including “The Wittgensteinian Event,” “Knowing and Acknowledging,” “Aversive Thinking,” "Music Discomposed," and “Performative and Passionate Utterance,” as well as his reading of The Awful Truth (1937), a film that will be watched in class.

RLR 500 - Postcolonialism and the New Testament

This course explores postcolonial theories and methods of reading the New Testament, focusing on key theorists, imperial histories, New Testament readers, and applications to New Testament interpretations and translations. It examines selected key postcolonial theorists such as Edward Said, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak. It also examines the histories of selected empires and their entanglement with New Testament texts. The course explores key exponents of postcolonial interpretations of the New Testament and the strategies they employ for reading, including R.S. Sugirtharajah, Fernando F. Segovia, Benny Liew Tat Siong, and Musa W. Dube. The course samples postcolonial interpretations of the main genres of the New Testament (Gospels, History, Epistles, and Apocalypse).

RLR 700 - Non-Western Models for the Study of Religion

This seminar studies major texts, theories, models, and approaches central to the study of religion from non-Western perspectives, with world Christianity as a major focus. The reshaping of global Christianity has prompted questions about the dominance of Western models and perspectives in theological discourse and the study of religion. The course focuses on non-Western realities and dimensions, and critical appraisal of data and sources from contexts around the world, producing alternative theoretical models and frames of reference, including postcolonial, decolonial, and intercultural approaches.

RLR 700 - Critical Hindu Studies

This course traces the construction of the field of Hindu studies with a focus on themes of identity, caste, race, and Hindu nationalism. It considers how Hinduism is taught today through the “world religions” model and raises the question of whether Hinduism was invented. The course examines scholarship that considers whether Hinduism was a colonial invention or whether the idea of Hinduism was in place prior to the colonial context. It also examines the question of who speaks for Hinduism from the perspective of religious studies scholars and Hindu-centered perspectives.

RLR 700 - Judah’s Prophetic Traditions

This course surveys the prophetic traditions preserved in the Hebrew Bible, focusing primarily on prophetic activity during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. It also gives attention to antecedent material in the "ancient Near East," Israelite prophetic traditions, and Pentateuchal materials that contributed to Judah's prophets.

RLR 700 - Bhakti: South Asia’s Heart Religion

This course explores bhakti, which is intense love directed toward the divine, and investigates the various claims made about it by studying relevant works of poetry, music, theology, and scholarship.

RLR XXX - The Devil in Early Christian Thought

This seminar analyzes the construal of the Devil in Early Christian thought, focusing on the third through fifth centuries. It explores themes such as the Devil’s role in salvation history, his ontological status, theodicy, exorcism, and practices of resistance. The seminar also analyzes methods and approaches adopted by modern interpreters, utilizing theories from disability, gender, narrative, and Africana studies, and frameworks from philosophy, anthropology, psychology, and quantum gravity research.

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