Fall 2026 Ithaca Seminars - Course Descriptions

African Drumming and Dance
(Short Title: African Drumming/Dance)

Baruch Whitehead

African Drumming and Dance for Beginners is a fun and engaging course that introduces students to the exciting musical traditions of West Africa. In this class, you’ll get hands-on experience with three main elements: drumming, singing, and dancing. You’ll learn to play traditional African instruments, explore different styles of music, and discover how music and dance are used in everyday life, from celebrations and ceremonies to religious and community events.

No previous experience is needed—just a willingness to participate, try new things, and be part of a supportive group. Throughout the semester, you’ll also complete a short research paper on West African music, take part in a small group discussion on music and advocacy, and perform in scheduled class showcases.

This course is all about learning through doing—and having a great time while connecting with a vibrant cultural tradition!

Art as Research, Research as Art 
(Short Title: Art as Research)

Jacob White

This ICSM 10800 opens students to a new range of knowledge-building in the liberal arts, exploring how imagination and research not only work off of each other but can at times be one in the same activity. Students will engage with works across different media that each challenge conventional ideas of how we create knowledge, including visual art, documentary film, field recordings, literary work, and performance. Students will present on one of these works while also developing their own project of creative research throughout the semester. Students will carry out fieldwork outside of class, visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, collaborate with the Handwerker Gallery, and also attend a talk and Q&A by Distinguished Visiting Writer Anelise Chen. This course fulfills the ICC Academic Writing competency requirement.

The Art of Belonging 
(Short Title: Art of Belonging)

Jamaica Baldwin

This class seeks to explore what it means to belong to a group, to a place, to a time and what happens when we no longer have access to these communities and spaces. How does belonging —and its opposite, displacement—shape how we perceive ourselves and each other? We will examine these questions through the lens of art and artists who have been telling powerful stories about our human desire to belong as well as the longing many carry in its absence. In this class we will explore film, music, plays, poems, stories, novels, memoirs, and visual art. Students will examine their own displacements, like leaving home (many for the first time) and moving to a new town away from family and friends. What can the artists we explore teach us about navigating displacement? How can navigating strange new worlds lead us to our own artmaking?

Benjamin Franklin and the American Dream: An Inquiry into Our Founding Values
(Short Title: Benjamin Franklin)

Anthony Di Renzo

This course will explore the life, career, and legacy of Benjamin Franklin, the most popular of America’s founders and the original American success story. The youngest son of a poor candle maker, Franklin began his career as a printer and bookseller. By improvising a broad education and capitalizing on a gift for words, he became a successful editor, publisher, entrepreneur, inventor, scientist, legislator, and ambassador. His strategies for communicating intelligently and effectively in the academy, the marketplace, and the assembly remain fresh and instructive, and the problems and paradoxes of the intellectual, commercial, and political worlds that formed him still shape our capitalist democracy. But although his face is printed on the $100 bill, is his vision of the America Dream now bankrupt? Through reading, writing, and discussion, we will consider different answers. This course fulfills the ICC Academic Writing competency requirement.

Beyond the Womb 
(Short Title: Beyond the Womb)

Pam Sertzen

This course explores reproductive justice across time, place, and bodies. At the intersection of reproductive rights and social justice, understanding the framework of reproductive justice challenges us to analyze systems of power, address intersecting oppressions, center the most marginalized, and create coalitional relationships. The course centers on the role of people of color, especially Black women, in spearheading this movement. What can we learn from centering the reproductive needs of the most marginalized?

Boundaries, Borderlands, and the Spaces In-Between 
(Short Title: Spaces In-Between)

Amanda McGee

Boundaries shape how we understand the world – from ancient empires to modern nation-states, from outer space to our own sense of self. In this ICSM, you will explore borderlands as dynamic spaces where individuals and communities navigate different worlds, forging new identities and challenging power. We will examine historical frontiers like the American West and Cold War divides, as well as emerging boundaries in outer space and digital worlds, all while questioning what makes a boundary "real" and who gets to draw the lines. You will learn to see margins not as empty edges but as sites of creativity and resistance, where compelling human stories unfold. Through discussions, primary sources, and contemporary examples, you will develop new ways of seeing the world. Not to mention that as you begin your college journey, this course will help you think about how you navigate your own transitionary spaces – between home and campus, past and future, different communities and identities! No prior history knowledge required for this ICSM– just curiosity about the forces that divide us and the people who reimagine what's possible in-between. 
 

Chemistry and Human Experience from Ancient to Modern Times
(Short Title: Chemistry and Humans)

Anna Larsen

Introduces the basic concepts of chemistry through an exploration of everyday human experience through history. Using a series of case studies, considers the ways in which knowledge and application of chemistry have been used to satisfy basic human needs for water, food, shelter, health, and fuel, and how developments in chemical understanding lead to improved quality of life. Emphasis on hands-on, active problem-solving to support students in learning how to use the tools and methods of scientists to make educated decisions based on the availability of reliable data. Intended for a general audience; no prior knowledge of chemistry expected. The course may also serve as a preparatory foundation for subsequent core chemistry coursework.

Cultivating Creativity 
(Short Title: Cultivating Creativity)

Raul Palma

This first-year creative writing course invites students to explore college as a place, an idea, and a personal journey. Through writing, observation, discussion, and creative projects, students will investigate what it means to learn, belong, and grow in a college community. Assignments may include journaling, generative writing, and reflective essays that will help students connect their interests with broader academic conversations, all in the spirit of exploring academic life. Designed for new students, the course emphasizes curiosity, experimentation, and self-discovery while introducing skills for success: critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and reflective learning. By the end of the semester, students will have a deeper understanding of themselves as learners and a stronger sense of how to navigate—and shape—their college experience.

Data Stories  
(Short Title: Data Stories)

Emilie Wiesner

Over the last 200 years, data has played an increasingly prominent role in the ways that humans understand the world. We will examine how data (and the tools we use to describe and analyze it) have influenced and been influenced by social and political trends, as well as develop our own ability to interpret and critique the use of data in our lives. Along the way, we’ll learn about Victorians’ obsession with “vital statistics”, the connection between the US Census and changing notions of race in the United States, the power and pitfalls of statistical inference in science and medicine, and the prominence of “big data” in modern society.

Designing Your Life: Building a Well-Lived, Joyful Life 
(Short Title: Designing Your Life)

Rebecca Brady

We will apply creative design principles to help you intentionally build the life you love. Don't know what you want to be when you grow up? Perfect. Not a clue about how to find your passion, or how to make your passion a part of your life plan? Excellent. We will build a collaborative and supportive space to figure out where you want to go, who you want to be, and how to get there.

Disconnected: Understanding the Loneliness Epidemic and How to Fight It
(Short Title: Disconnected)

Jessye Cohen-Filipic

In this seminar, we will discuss what former Surgeon General Vivek Murphy named “the epidemic of loneliness” in 2023. We will explore contributing factors to the growing numbers of people in the US who feel disconnected or lonely. Recent estimates suggest that about ¼ of all U.S. adults describe feeling lonely. We will explore loneliness, how it develops, why it is growing, the implications of widespread loneliness, and how we can combat loneliness on individual and systemic levels. We will turn to scientific literature in multiple fields for suggestions on how to reduce loneliness. Intended for students in the School of Humanities and Sciences Pathways program.

Exploring the World of Conspiracy Theories 
(Short Title: Conspiracy Theories)

Joan Marcus

Conspiracy theories abound in our time as they have throughout history, from the claim among ancient Romans that the emperor Nero faked his own death, to the “birthers” who believed President Obama was born abroad, from Pizzagate and chemtrails to vaccine tracking chips. In this class, we will take a deep dive into some of the most provocative conspiracy theories to learn where they came from, why people believe them, and whether there is any truth to them. By examining phenomena such as the 2020 election fraud theory, the flat Earth theory, and many others, and by exploring the psychological states that lead to logical gaps and faulty conclusions, you will hone your critical thinking skills and become a more informed citizen. This course fulfills the ICC Academic Writing competency requirement.

Fairy Tales: The Hero's Journey
(Short Title: Fairy Tales)

Katharyn Machan

Fairy tales are the maps of our psyches, the mirrors of our longings and fears. In them we find the questions and answers we need to continue the shaping of our own lives, through darkness and light, shadow and brilliant image. Our oldest fairy tales, from the oral culture, have been polished to the bone; they gleam with an intensity of truth free of specific history. Newer tales, too, their authors known and celebrated, reach to the place of magic and dream, and give us guides in delight and knowledge. This course will focus on the study of classic and contemporary fairy tales, with an emphasis on themes of self-discovery and transition/transformation. Readings will be drawn from the tales themselves, essays about them, and contemporary re-workings of them in fiction and poetry. NOTE: Writing assignments will be for new fiction and poetry inspired by the tales.

Fantasy, Fandom, and Fans
(Short Title: Fantasy, Fandom, Fans)

J. Warburton

In this class, we’ll explore and blog the texts that surround us, inspire us, and invite us to imagine our world more fully, such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Star Trek; cultural markers that develop around love of sports and music; the cultural hierarchy of fandom based on religion, sports, and sci-fi/fantasy; technological, fiscal, and legal concerns; elements of participatory culture, specifically fan fiction; and the impact of fan-based communities, both online and IRL (in real life). Students will be expected to engage in analysis of such texts in a scholarly fashion led by Henry Jenkins’ definition of the “aca/fan,” a “hybrid creature which is part fan and part academic.” We’ll emphasize written forays into fandom along with writing in response to “original” texts as we explore what drives us to imagine ourselves in universes/lives other than our own, and define the ways fandom binds together disparate parts of our lives. Research projects can also include created fan film/art/writing. This course fulfills the ICC Academic Writing competency requirement.

Festivals in Cultural Context 
(Short Title: Festival Management)

Angela Branneman

This course explores the evolution of arts, music, and culture festivals from Woodstock to Coachella. It will examine the history of modern festivals rooted in traditions from the World’s Fair and make connections to Greek and Roman festival rituals that endure. Course materials focus on Western festival traditions, and students are encouraged to contribute resources about festivals worldwide as a component of their reflective analysis. Attention will be given to introductory skills development to plan a festival through topics that include choosing a location, hiring artists and vendors, conducting a safe event, managing crowd dynamics, and marketing and ticketing through social media. Students will analyze film footage and reflect on full-length documentaries, in addition to completing course readings and festival case studies, to identify how the industry has or has not created a culture of inclusivity and belonging and how we can improve it for the future. This course explores the evolution of arts, music, and culture festivals from Woodstock to Coachella. It will examine the history of modern festivals from the World’s Fair to Disneyland and make connections to Greek and Roman festival traditions that endure. Course materials focus on Western festival traditions, and students are encouraged to contribute resources about festivals worldwide as a component of their reflective analysis. Attention will be given to introductory skills development to plan a festival through topics that include choosing a location, hiring artists and vendors, conducting a safe event, managing crowd dynamics, and marketing through social media. Students will analyze film footage and reflect on full-length documentaries, in addition to completing course readings and festival case studies, to identify how the industry has or has not created a culture of inclusivity and belonging and how we can improve it for the future.

Finance on Film: Human Behavior in Investing and Markets 
(Short Title: Finance on Film)

Xinxin Li

This seminar explores fundamental economic and financial concepts and investor psychology through the lens of cinema. Students will critically engage with how psychology influences rational financial decision-making and society by watching and analyzing films that depict capital markets, investing, speculative tendencies, and economic crises. The course emphasizes a liberal arts approach, incorporating history, ethics, psychology, and narrative analysis.

Food, Identity, Culture 
(Short Title: Food, Identity, Culture)

Cory Young

What does it mean to be a “foodie”? Where does your food come from? What is the connection between food, identity and culture and how do we communicate this? These and other questions about the role of food in our lives will be explored in this course, including: How do communities and individuals form identities around food? How are these identities expressed through food? How are people and groups with particular food related viewed and treated by others? What does it mean to live, eat, and produce food sustainably? How have different systems of philosophical, literary, religious, and historical thought shaped the values concerning food we live by? We will seek answers to these questions of food, culture and identity, and more, as we engage intellectually through foundational readings from food studies, participate in individual, team and group exercises, and reflect on our food choices and behaviors.

The Frights: Horror in Popular Culture
(Short Title: The Frights)

Paul Hansom

This course is an exploration of the strange pleasures and attractions of entertainments that make us sleep with the lights on. We will examine the secret, emotional satisfactions horror provides to us through the lens of the social and cultural importance of horror in its many embodiments. We’ll peek through our fingers at stories and movies, at monsters, vampires, werewolves and ghouls. Why have we invented these things? Why do we keep returning to them? By engaging with these questions we will seek to understand the uncanny, the eerie, the terrifying, the camp, and perhaps ourselves a bit better. This course fulfills the ICC Academic Writing competency requirement.

Global Pop Art 
(Short Title: Global Pop Art)

Paul Wilson

Description: In the 1960s Pop art exploded onto the scene, bringing bold colors, humor, and imagery straight from daily life into the art world. But what was the point of Andy Warhol painting a Cambell’s soup can or Claes Oldenburg sculpting a cheeseburger? Was Pop art celebrating consumer culture or mocking it? We’ll dig into these questions and explore the connections between Pop art and the Cold War. Moving beyond the United States, we’ll examine how Pop Art took on new meanings in places like Finland, Brazil, and China. Finally, we’ll consider how artists today respond to a world saturated with images and overflowing with stuff.

Girlstories 
(Short Title: Girlstories)

Katharine Kittredge

This class looks at the way that young women’s identities emerge in response to varying social, economic, racial or cultural pressures. We will be analyzing works of fiction, autobiography, drama, and poetry, and we will also analyze visual images presented in film, television, and advertising. As students consider these stories of self-creation, they will also reflect on the ways in which they are growing and changing as a result of the opportunities and challenges of their first semester. The need to balance one's mental, physical, and spiritual needs will be an on-going theme of the course.

Handbells: Performing in Community 
(Short Title: Handbells)

Crystal Peebles

What does it mean to be a musician? Is “professional” music-making somehow more valuable than “amateur” music-making? In this course we will create music in community by playing together in a handbell choir—an amateur ensemble tradition originating in the United Kingdom. By attending Ithaca’s unique music festival Porchfest, interviewing musicians, and performing in a concert, we will explore social facets of music-making and how music can form and strengthen communities.

Hello China: Preparing for the Future 
(Short Title: Hello China)

Hongwei Guan

The primary goal of this seminar will be to develop student awareness and knowledge of the Chinese culture and people. This course will examine and discuss a variety of Chinese topics, such as China history, culture, health and medicine, sports, industrialization, US business relations, language, food, education and the literature and arts. Some guest speakers, group and individual student presenters and group discussions will present these topics as well as group excursions to various Chinese venues in the City of Ithaca. The goal of the seminar is also to help the student adjust to college life by developing interpersonal communication and writing skills, and gaining an understanding of various aspects of and interests in the campus community and surrounding community of Ithaca.

Innovators of Impact
(Short Title: Innovators of Impact)

Susan Swensen Witherup

An interdisciplinary liberal arts course, offered as part of the Innovation Scholar program, and which supports the academic and social transition to Ithaca College. The course will introduce the first-year student to college-level liberal arts inquiry and serve as an introduction to the Integrative Core Curriculum (ICC). Topics focus on sustainability and social justice, use interdisciplinary lenses, emphasize critical thinking, and self-reflection. Though open to all students, this class fulfills a requirement of the Innovation Scholars minor.

International Human Rights: Individual Enjoyment and State Obligations 
(Short Title: Human Rights)

Elizabeth Kaletski

The aim of this class is to provide students with a greater understanding of human rights, including their articulation in international law and the numerous ways they may be violated or protected. This will be done through interdisciplinary study using aspects of economics, political science, law, history, and sociology.

The Mathematics of Perspective
(Short Title: Math of Perspective)

Megan Martinez

Imbuing works of art with perspective is a practice that is inherently mathematical. In this course, we will discuss the systems that allow us to create drawings in perspective and analyze the different kinds of perspective that appear in art. We will learn to draw in 1- and 2-point perspective and will produce our own works of art. In addition, we will examine perspective as it appears in art around the world, learn to talk and write about art, and draw meaning from all aspects of a work of art.

The Media and Me: An Introduction to Critical Media Literacy
(Short Title: The Media and Me)

Mickey Huff

In the past decade, “media literacy” became a buzzword that signified the threat media manipulation and “fake news” posed to democratic processes. This course addresses the realities of media ownership, production, and distribution and helps students to understand differential power structures in how media influences our culture. It will also provide students with the tools and perspectives to be empowered and autonomous media users. As a class, we will learn critical inquiry skills to help young people form a multidimensional comprehension of what they read and watch, opportunities to see others like them making change, and insight into their own identity projects. We will cover topics like storytelling, building arguments and recognizing fallacies, surveillance and digital gatekeeping, advertising and consumerism, and global social problems seen through a critical media literacy lens with the goal of helping students evolve from passive consumers of media to engaged critics and creators.

Mindful Learning
(Short Title: Mindful Learning)

Alex Shuhan

Learning is something we all do each day. Whether formally or informally, we are constantly experiencing, reflecting, responding, and adjusting. This course explores learning through a framework of mindfulness, which encourages us to 1) stay in the present moment and 2) have self-compassion. Students will reflect on these concepts and how they might help them as learners. Through study of additional concepts such as learning theories, motivation and flow, and the neuroscientific concepts of brain functioning and neuroplasticity, students will develop a knowledge of themselves as learners and a repertoire of mindful learning strategies for college and beyond.

Mindfulness Across the Lifespan 
(Short Title: Mindfulness)

Mary Ann Erickson

Mindfulness practices seem to be offered everywhere – in schools, at major corporations, in all kinds of religious communities. But what do we mean by “mindfulness”? Where do these techniques come from, and how do they impact people of different ages? Through readings, discussion, and practice, we will take a close look at contemporary mindfulness to understand its origins and its impact. We will also inquire about our understanding of “aging” and how mindfulness and psychological development are related.

Multicultural Picture Books as Critical Analysis
(Short Title: Multicultural Picture Books)

Sayanti Mondal

Picture books have often been regarded as simple texts targeted at young children, and the course aims to argue against this notion and present the literary genre as capable of eliciting complex socially relevant dialogues and understandings within an undergraduate classroom setting. It particularly focuses on loosening the boundaries of age-based expectations when engaging with multicultural picture books. Connections will be made between the stories we read in class to contemporary events to realize this genre's literary potential and sociocultural (and, at times, political) impact. Themes of social injustices, gender, borders and (im)migration, and social and self-identity will be explored through select multicultural picture books authored/illustrated by People of Color. Students will complete a short analytical paper, a public-facing text, a short comics-making project, a short Annotated Bibliography, and a final research paper. The instructor will provide students with the reading materials on Canvas. This course fulfills the ICC Academic Writing competency requirement.

Navigating Play and Wellness as College Students
(Short Title: Navigating Play & Wellness)

Amie Germain

Dive into a course where play meets purpose. This course invites you to explore the transformative power of play and its vital role in overall wellness. Unleash your inner explorer as we venture into the realm of play. We’ll laugh, learn, and leap outside our comfort zones. Discover how play can be a gateway to mindfulness, reducing stress and promoting emotional well-being as you navigate your transition to college. Liberate your inner strategist by learning how play sharpens problem-solving skills through life’s twists and turns. Tap into your inner creator through art, music, and storytelling. Explore the science of play by understanding how it boosts brain function, enhances learning, and supports mental and physical health. Find stress relief, build friendships, and hone your skills of playing well with others (a great professional skill).

New Worlds and Explorations 
(Short Title: New Worlds)

Maria DiFrancesco

Through the prism of literature, students will closely examine how we understand and define the concept of “new worlds,” and what it means to “explore” or to be the “first” to do something. Though not exclusively, we will center most discussions on how exile and immigration have been portrayed by various writers. Some of the authors whose texts we will read include: Gloria Anzaldúa, Sandra Cisneros, Julia Álvarez, Junot Díaz, Laila Lalami, Edward Said, and Zadie Smith. Through class discussions, writing assignments, oral presentations, and projects that are consistent with a liberal arts seminar style, we will: broadly define the notions at play in the course; and we will analyze and critically evaluate how these terms intersect and dialogue with each other, paying close attention to the roles of social/political/cultural context in identity formation.

Phenomenology of Art 
(Short Title: Phenomenology of Art)

Tatiana Patrone

In what way do we experience works of art? What does it mean to perceive something as beautiful? Are our judgments of art-works based on taste alone, or do they have cognitive content? This course will acquaint you with some of the central concepts and issues in aesthetics – the branch of philosophy dedicated to the notion of the ‘beautiful.’ We will put special emphasis on aesthetic experience from our first-person point of view: our aim will be to describe and analyze our experiences and use what we learn from this in our arguments concerning the nature, the features, and the value of various works of art.

Politics and Comedy: United and Divided in Laughter 
(Short Title: Politics and Comedy)

Carlos Figueroa

What is the relationship between politics and comedy? Does politics shape comedy, or does comedy inform politics? Can these two “ways of knowing,” living and sharing, help or hinder democratic life? In what ways are these two genres, concepts, and practices uniting and dividing people simultaneously? This course will explore these questions, among others, as we examine the following themes: Politics and Comedy: a Historical Perspective; the Political Economy of Comedy; the Comedy of Politics; the Social-Cultural of Political Comedy; and Artificial Intelligence, Politics, and Comedy: The Future?

Popular Culture as Text
(Short Title: Popular Culture as Text)

Katie Marks

In this seminar, we will explore popular culture and its role in contemporary society. We will consider whether it reflects our thoughts and beliefs or whether it shapes them. We will also investigate how it might affect who we become as individuals. Students’ firsthand observations of, and critical thinking about, advertising, television, film, music, and social networking will play a central role in the class.  Intended for students in the School of Humanities and Sciences Pathways program.

Purple Rain 
(Short Title: Purple Rain)

Amanda Spooner

An overview of Prince's career and rise to fame in the early 1980s, the making of the album Purple Rain, the phenomenon of the film by the same name, as front row seats to how the movie was made into a Broadway musical.

Rhetoric for Social Change: Systems of Anti-Capitalism
(Short Title: Rhetoric for Social Change)

Priya Sirohi

This course takes a novel approach to thinking about our economic world. Why does money work the way that it does? How did power get organized like this? More importantly: What are the arguments, communication strategies, and rhetoric that made it this way? Using systems thinking, this course will help students look beyond simple cause-effect thinking to see the bigger picture of how capitalism has shaped our world – and what we can do about it. In everything from social identities to climate change to government & media, capitalism has profoundly shaped our way of thought, often in disempowering ways. This course will not only give students critical thinking and academic writing skills, but it will also give them tools for empowering themselves and meaningfully making a social impact through argument and communication.

Rich and Meaningful Life 
(Short Title: Rich & Meaningful Life)

Julia Lapp

This ICSM explores the theory and application of mindfulness, acceptance and commitment practices for enhanced resilience, value-based living, health, and happiness.

The Science of Fiction: Evolution, Cognitive Science, and Stories
(Short Title: Science of Fiction)

Jack Wang

Why are human beings the “storytelling animal”? How are we evolutionarily adapted to producing and consuming stories? What can brain science tell us about our passion for narrative, and what do narratives tell us about how the brain works? Through an exploration of neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and other fields, especially as they apply to literature, television, and film, this course will explore fundamental questions about why we love stories. 

Social Responsibility in Entertainment Media and the Legacy of Rod Serling 
(Short Title: Responsible Media)

William Ressler

Rod Serling, award-winning television writer and creator of The Twilight Zone, taught at Ithaca College from 1967 to 1975, a period that included the establishment of Roy H. Park School of Communications. This seminar will draw from theories and research in social psychology, marketing, and the study of media industries while examining Rod Serling’s television productions, their approaches to issues of social responsibility and social justice, and their immediate and lasting influence on entertainment media and on the way we teach and learn about media content and creation.

Sport, Olympics, and Society
(Short Title: Sport, Olympics, Society)

Hongwei Guan

The ICSM seminars are designed to integrate topical subject areas with a focus on the academic and social transition from high school to higher education. The primary goal of this seminar is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between sports and society, while fostering critical thinking and analytical skills. This course will examine and discuss a variety of topics such as sport and society, how mega events such as Olympic and World University Games impact society, and issues and challenges related to sport. Through critical analysis and inquiry, students will gain a deep understanding of how sports intersect with various societal aspects, including identity, power dynamics, globalization, and social change. Some guest speakers, group and individual student presenters and group discussions will present these topics as well as group excursions to various sport venues in the City of Ithaca.

Stories for a Change 
(Short Title: Stories for a Change)

Alicia Swords

Stories make us who we are. Some stories are so powerful that telling them (or not telling them) can change how people treat each other. This course asks how people use stories to change the world. To answer this question, you will analyze mainstream and alternative narratives that shape our society and learn techniques for telling your own stories in written and oral form. You will practice gathering stories through interview techniques and media analysis. You will examine and reflect on how stories shape public opinion and government policies, from the marketing of cars and toothpaste to testimonies of human rights violations. Though open to all students, this class also fulfills a requirement of the Innovation Scholars minor. 

Taking on Environmental Change
(Short Title: Environmental Change)

Jake Brenner

Taking on environmental change has dual meaning. First it means acknowledging, understanding, and feeling the unprecedented environmental changes of today, like a ship taking on water. Second it means confronting and standing up to those changes through well-informed, thoughtful, and intentional action. The course focuses on the complex interactions of ecology and society, including the basic facts of the biophysical Earth system as well as politics, culture, capitalism, and justice. The course is informed by interdisciplinary environmental science but inspired by grassroots activities around the world. Most of the voices (authors, artists, activists) are people of color or members of “frontline” communities speaking from historically marginalized positions. The course takes a normative approach of optimism, favoring solutions over limitations whenever possible.

[THIS TITLE HAS BEEN CENSORED]: Language and Hatred in a Postracial World 
(Short Title: Postracial World)

Derek Adams

This course offers a direct challenge to the popular public sentiment that we live in a post-racial society and that systematic structures of power and privilege have ceased to exist in our world. In this class, we will explore the persistent operation of systematic discrimination in the 21st century through a collection of materials – i.e. short stories, magazine covers, film, advertisements, critical essays, and websites. Our study begins from the position that certain code words and social practices have transformed overt types of discrimination into more subtle and deceiving forms of bigotry. Words like “nigger,” “bitch,” and “fag” may have fallen out of fashion, but their essence lives on in our daily interactions. We will devote a significant amount of time to assessing how our social interactions are influenced by the legacy. The nature of the material we will cover in this course is likely to cause you cognitive dissonance. This is intentional. Talking about issues of race, gender, and sexuality is rarely conducive to positive feelings. Too, the course requires your personal investment in its development, including sharing and discussing your own race, gender, and sexual orientation with your classmates. I will establish our classroom as a safe space for the respectful reception of your individual life experiences, but there will inevitably be moments when the ideas you express will challenge belief structures that your classmates invest in, and vice versa.

What Even is Neo Soul?
(Short Title: What is Neo Soul?)

Jeong Yeon Lee

What's neo soul and what makes it new? In the late 1990's, the term "neo soul" was created to market an emerging form of R&B that envoked soul, jazz, blues, and gospel. What began as a promotional label for artists like Erykah Badu and D'Angelo has evolved into an expansive but vague genre that includes Solange, Amy Winehouse, Frank Ocean, and Ari Lennox. In the course we will consider the history and afterlives of neo soul. How does neo soul relate to other genres of black music? What critiques of the present and visions of the future do neo soul artists present? How did these artists reimagine the possibilities of musical self-expression? Throughout the semester, we will listen to neo soul albums and consider their production, lyrics, and effects on us as listeners. We will watch videos and read op-eds, contemporary scholarship in Black Studies, and African American literature that address the political stakes and interpretation of art. These works will offer a sense of the range and diversity of writing on neo soul and the way it continues to shape black artists' politics of sound, music-making, and performance.

Where the Wild Things Are 
(Short Title: Wild Things)

Amy Quan

Our class begins with a simple premise: we are a part of “the wild” and not apart from it. Things get murky after that. We will wonder, wander, and, yes, get our feet (well, shoes) wet as we work through various and often competing notions of wild, wilderness, and humanity. It’s likely that we will end with more questions than we began with. So, be prepared to trade certainty for a bit of productive confusion as we explore the relationships across all these categories and, hopefully, begin to imagine what we want our communities to look like. Also, note that most in-class work will be done "field notes" style with pens, pencils, and even crayons from time-to-time. Laptops will only be needed during presentations, and often not even then. This course fulfills the ICC Academic Writing competency requirement.

Writing about Storytellers
(Short Title: Storytellers)

Jim Stafford

Writing About Storytellers

The class will explore ways that storytellers connect with audiences within a variety of visual and spoken genres. We'll discuss readings from psychology, neuroscience and myth criticism to examine ways that podcasters, comedians, speechmakers, song writers, folkartists, and rural grandparents use strong emotions to capture people's attention and bring them into communities. Storytellers will range from Walt Disney to Maya Angelou to Banksy. This course fulfills the ICC Academic Writing competency requirement.

Writing Anxiety 
(Short Title: Writing Anxiety)

Susan Adams Delaney

Mental health challenges among teens and young adults are consistently framed as a crisis. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy issued a statement in 2021 arguing that such challenges are “unprecedented and uniquely hard to navigate,” producing “devastating” effects. Numerous reports indicate that anxiety and other psychological disorders have been on the rise among college students for over a decade. Some experts, however, caution that such crisis narratives are imprecise and counterproductive. This course will examine the rhetoric surrounding mental health, neurodiversity, and resilience, while exploring the obstacles we face as writers – along with strategies for working through them. This course fulfills the ICC Academic Writing competency requirement.

Youth in a Changing Society 
(Short Title: Youth & Changing Society)

Jessica Dunning-Lozano

This seminar will examine the impact of structural conditions on the social construction of youth and their experiences with key social institutions such as education, the legal system, and the political sphere from adolescence through the transition into adulthood. Over the course of the semester students will be introduced to theoretical and empirical research in various sociological subfields, social science research methods, and analytic strategies drawn on to answer questions like the ones listed above. We will examine historical trends and modern contemporary issues that affect youths and emerging adults, such as bullying and school violence, mental health, social media, the cost of higher education and student loans, as well as the ways in which youths resist against harmful perceptions and treatment. While our inquiry will be sociologically centered, we will also engage research from a range of academic fields, such as education, history, criminology, and media studies.