AUBURN – Registration for the spring semester at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn campus is open. The semester will begin Tuesday, Jan. 17, and registration will continue through the first week of classes. Some of the new courses include the following:

HUM 332, Religion in Culture and Politics: The course will look at one or more historic or contemporary issues or events in order to explore the connection between religion and the origin, progress and outcome of each issue or event under consideration. Cr. 3.

HUM 399, Franco-American Archival and Commentary Work: The course consists of directed study and work in the Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine at Lewiston-Auburn.

Students will work on special projects with the professor, who is also the scholar attached to the collection, as well as with the collection coordinator. Much of the work will consist of a hands-on approach to learning, done by the students themselves.

The projects will include locating and obtaining materials, their conservation and preservation, cataloguing and accessioning documents, as well as projects of public service and community outreach. Cr. 3.

LOS 316, Diversity in the Workforce: The course examines historical perspectives on work, the nature and meaning of work for men and women, similarities and differences between men and women that affect work, and the impact of work on men and women. Students will read from works in psychology, sociology, literature and management and organizational behavior. Cr. 3.

SBS 399, This Consuming Life: Culture and Commodication: The course examines the place of goods and commodities in social life, moving beyond the narrow economic aspects of purchasing consumptive items to exploring the value of activities surrounding the goods for sociability, identity formation and political-cultural expression. It will trace the way consumption figures into everything from personal identity to the economy of cities and neighborhoods to globalized popular culture. Cr. 3.

CPD 622, GIS Applications/Intro to ArcView: The graduate course is an introduction of Geographic Information Systems, stressing the practical applications of graphical user interface software packages such as ArcView. Topics will include displaying, downloading, editing, analyzing and printing public domain and user-created geographical data sets. The main emphasis is on the acquisition of system operations skills.

Most courses meet weekly starting at 9 a.m., 1, 4 or 7 p.m. Interested students are asked to call 753-6500 to request a course guide, general assistance or to schedule an appointment with an academic adviser. Some evening appointments are available. The complete spring semester course listing is available at www.usm.maine.edu/lac/schedules.