Fall 2025 Courses
Can Giving Change the World?
Greg Larson
Through the lens of philanthropy, this course introduces students to local and global efforts toenact social change. As individuals and organizations attempt to address social problems and
generate change to create a more just and equitable world, philanthropic and innovative giving
strategies are more commonly being used. This class will focus on the growing philanthropic
movement at local, national and global levels to combat the most pressing contemporary
challenges facing society such as poverty, environmental degradation, and disease. Students will
learn about the strengths and limitations of philanthropy as one model for addressing
contemporary social problems, and in doing so, better understand the overall challenges related
to enacting social change in different places around the world.
Reproductive Justice
Jessica Liddell
This class is an interdisciplinary course exploring reproductive justice, defined as: theright to have children, the right to not have children, and the right to raise children in safe and
healthy environments. Students will become familiar with the major concepts and debates in
reproductive justice and will analyze how health inequality intersects with gender, sexual, racial,
ethnic and economic identities and status. We will explore a wide range of reproductive justice
topics and critique the role many professions have played in perpetuating reproductive
oppression, while also examining how we can move forward and promote reproductive justice
for all.
Music, Meaning, and Manipulation
James Randall
We are inundated with music in our daily life, but few consider how it influences our thoughts and behaviors. In the media, music is used in sophisticated ways to sell us products, political candidates, and belief systems. We are being manipulated. While music may seem like magic, there’s a careful process behind it. This course examines research in the fields of musicology, neuroscience, anthropology, psychology, advertising, and film studies to understand the tricks of the trade. Assignments include short essays, class presentations, and group creative projects. No prior musical experience is required.Water Planet: The Past, Present, and Future of Ocean Services and Resources
Kylla Benes
We live on a watery planet. About 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, and 96% of it is contained in its oceans. Vast and deep, much of the Earth’s oceans have gone unexplored. Yet, over thousands of years, humans have depended on the oceans for food, exploration, transportation, trade, energy, and more. Our use of and dependency on ocean resources has significantly shaped human culture and society and, in turn, is significantly impacting ocean ecosystems. This course will explore ocean services and resources, how we have and currently use them, and how they may change in the coming century.We’re with the Banned: Defending Diverse Books and Humanity’s Right to Read
Dana Fitz Gale
Dr. Rudine Bishop equates books to mirrors in which readers see themselves: “in that reflection, we see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience.” Books can also be windows, she says, granting us insight into other lives so we can “understand the multicultural nature of the world.” This course will explore books both as windows and as mirrors. We’ll examine the sociopolitical factors contributing to book bans, past and present. Together, we’ll read and discuss contemporary banned books by diverse authors and learn to stand up for a fundamental human right: the freedom to read.
People and Peaks: human impacts on mountain ecosystems
Zac Cheviron
The world’s great mountain ranges are among the wildest, most beautiful, and rapidly changing places onEarth. This course will consider several case studies of recent human impacts on mountain ecosystems
around the world, and explore how cultural differences in ideas of wilderness, wildlife conservation, and
land stewardship influence these impacts and efforts to mitigate them. Students will engage with global
leaders working to understand mountain systems around the world, and to sustainably steward them in
this era of dramatic change. We will explore these topics from multidisciplinary and multicultural
perspectives, combining project-based activities with discussion and collaboration across cultural,
institutional, and international divides.
Migration and Exile across Time and Space
Hiltrud Arens
This first-year seminar will investigate the space where visual and literary stories of migration and exile intersect in a variety of genres set in a globalized Europe and world shaped by human migration in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The proposed course will examine a global phenomenon that is socio-culturally transformative, multi-faceted, and urgently topical. We can observe its relevance in the news media as it affects people’s lives around the world and continues to play a key role in culture and politics. Moreover, migration is closely connected to the issues of inequality and the violation of human rights. In this course, students will analyze and discuss literary and film narratives depicting migration and exile within Europe and between Europe and other geographical regions, spanning two distinct time periods: the Nazi era and present day. The seminar will offer students nuanced insight both into the history of migration in the twentieth century and into the contemporary refugee crisis through the device of individual storytelling, therefore resonating with past and present challenges of global importance.