Spring 2025 Courses

M W, 3:00-4:30pm, B223 Field House

Professor: Oluwagbemiga DadeMatthews

This course provides an in-depth introduction to medical terminology, with a focus on body systems and medical specialties. It provides the student with guided practice and assessment of prefixes, suffixes, word roots, and combining forms of standard medical terminology (or medical nomenclature). Additionally, the student will learn to read and interpret medical case reports. Presentation of medical case reports, problem solving, and written/verbal use of medical terminology will be the key focus of in-person meetings. 

M W F, 8:30-9:30am, 135 French House 

Professor: Achim Herrmann

This course introduces you to a broad spectrum of basic scientific concepts (geological, zoological, ecological, evolutionary, and climatological) and how scientists use those to decipher events in “deeptime”. Note, this course is not just a “dinosaur” course. This course will also offer an introduction on how geoscientists use the fossil record and scientific techniques to trace the history of life on earth and answer questions about the causes and consequences of major extinctions as well as radiations of different organism groups (not only dinosaur groups but also other vertebrate animals and plants) through time. The course will evaluate hypotheses about catastrophic events such as impacts from space, volcanic eruptions, and climate change and their impact on global biodiversity and the trajectory of life on Earth. This course will draw from many different scientific disciplines, including vertebrate paleontology, biology, geology, and paleontology.

Multiple Sections (6)

Professor: Multiple  

In HNRS 2000, faculty and students will discuss issues of special concern to Louisiana. After reading Eric Nguyen’s Things We Lost to the Water, we will think about how climate change and sea level rise affect the state. To supplement our discussion, we will read Michael Sandel’s Justice to investigate how we make important decisions about personal responsibility and social policy. In exploring those topics, we will think about how we as citizens interpret information. Once we have information and data, what principles guide us in making decisions? What ethical implications should we consider when making choices that affect various communities? To cite the subtitle of one of our texts, Michael Sandel’s Justice, “What’s the Right Thing to Do?”

Section 40: T TH, 9:00-10:30am, 218 French House

Section 900: T TH, 9:00-10:30am, 116 Tureaud Hall

Professor: Ipsita Gupta and Craig Harvey 

This course will cover topics on the science of energy, energy sources and uses, and their place in society. It will educate students on critically evaluating energy issues for everyday life and decisions. Upon completion of the course, students will have an enhanced appreciation for: (1)The science of energy, (2) Energy sources and type, (3) Energy use, (4) Relevance of energy in everyday life, and (5) Energy decisions. The course is directed at freshman, sophomores, and others who have not been exposed to college level science courses. It aims to generate an understanding of energy science for informed decisions on energy issues.

T TH, 3:00-4:30pm, 1220 West Laville

Professor: Mike Kaller

This seminar will introduce how individual and societal values, attitudes, and beliefs affect perception, understanding, and engagement with the wildlife and fish. The world around us is shaped by human actions and inactions. The goal of this seminar is for students to understand how decisions are made regarding engagement and appreciation of wildlife and fish by individuals and groups and how all people can strive to reinforce positive decisions and reduce negative decisions regarding the environment.

T TH, 12:00-1:30pm, 221 French House

Professor: Dominique Homberger

This course is reading-intensive and involves communication- intensive learning. It guides participants from an understanding of the evolutionary and cultural history of the human species and its effects on the ecology of this Earth to a deeper understanding of the ethical and social dimensions of human actions. Required readings from books and articles from the primary and secondary literature describe, critically analyze, and examine the interactive effects among the current environmental conditions, humans, animals, and plants from the perspective of scientists (e.g., ecologists, biologists, sociologists, and psychologists) and ethicists. News items are provided for illustration of current issues that emerge during class discussions. Students are expected to have read and digested the assigned readings before class, be ready to contribute to the class discussions, and take notes.

W, 3:00-6:00pm, 135 French House 

Professor: Jennifer Garcia Ramos

Have you ever considered how health challenges and outcomes differ across regions of the country or wondered what it might be like to recover from a health crisis that doesn’t commonly occur in your area? How do communities respond to health threats like pollution, and how do these threats affect you? Our health is intricately linked to the environments we live in, constantly changing due to both natural processes and human activities. Health disturbances, whether from poverty, pollution, or other issues, can significantly impact our well-being and daily lives. However, these effects are not experienced equally—some communities and regions bear a disproportionate burden. In this course, we will explore the dynamic relationship between health and the changing world, examining how socio issues and events impact us differently depending on where we live. We will delve into how various communities experience and respond to health and health equity challenges, and how events can influence our health. To gain a comprehensive understanding, we will cover fundamental topics in sociology, health science, and public health, with a strong emphasis on health equity. This course is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge necessary to critically examine health and health equity issues through the lens of science. We will focus on understanding the scientific method, analyzing conflicting data and perspectives, and exploring how perceptions and stereotypes shape our responses to health challenges. The course will engage in a collaborative exploration of health and health equity issues affecting Louisiana and the broader United States. In teams, students will collaboratively create an informative video focused on select health topics. These topics will be broad, allowing student teams to identify a relevant issue or occurring event of their choosing. Teams will then have the opportunity to engage in discussions with the entire class, broadening their perspectives. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, asthma, COVID-19, PFAS & PFOAs, and artificial intelligence in health care.

T TH, 10:30-12:00pm, 220 French House

Professor: Malinda Sutor 

This course is designed to foster a greater connection with the natural world and understanding of the practice of Natural History research and how important it is to understand current environmental issues and how they are intertwined with human communities. Through the course, students will also learn how to participate in citizen science projects and how to create these projects and analyze data from them and how to share the results with the wider community in the form of a website. The course will contain days for discussion of readings, data analysis and preparation of visuals, and time outdoors observing. There will also be field trips to the LSU Natural History Museum and to LSU Libraries Special collections to learn about some of the natural history items in the collection. We will also have visits from groups like Baton Rouge Audubon to learn more about natural observation skills. This course will be service learning with the Baton Rouge chapter of the Louisiana

Master Naturalists. Students will participate in workshops and volunteer activities with LMNBR. Credits earned will go towards the Engaged Citizen Honors. The course will also be communication intensive in the visual and technological modes. Credits earned will go towards the Communicator Certificate and Medal.

M W F, 11:30am-12:30pm, 218 French House

Professor: Michael Dettinger

Mandatory Study Abroad Component: As part of the LSU/Honors Spring Excursion in Berlin program, this course will introduce students to the surveillance states of Germany during the National Socialist period as well as during the years of former East Germany. Students will more closely examine the concept of these totalitarian (“Big Brother”) societies as they are portrayed in the films The Lives of Others (von Donnersmarck, 2007) and Triumph of the Will (Riefenstahl, 1935). Moreover, students will also analyze multiple scholarly writings on each topic as well as the text 1984 by George Orwell, which represents a fictional interpretation of these surveillance/“Big Brother” states. Students learn about Germany’s history during the Nazi and East German periods, through scholarly articles, texts, and films. After studying the role of totalitarian control and surveillance in Germany, the class will visit Berlin at the end of the semester to gain first hand experiences with the ways the German government implemented total control, as well as how citizens reacted and, in some cases, resisted. Site visits will include: Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Hohenschönhausen Prison Memorial, the German Historical Museum and DDR Museum, the Topography of Terror, the Berlin Wall, and more. The excursion will provide experiences that deepen students’ understanding of the historical and cultural contexts studied in the course.

M W F, 10:30-11:30am, 218 French House

Professor: Gibril Cole 

The post-World War II period witnessed widespread anti-colonial agitations and calls for the end of European colonial rule in African societies. After a century of European imperial dominance, the de- colonization of Africa became one of the turning points in the history of the post-war world. The struggle for political liberty by the peoples of Africa also inspired the civil rights movement in the United States. By the 1950s, young African leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah in West Africa and Nelson Mandela in South Africa, stood in solidarity with other advocates for civil and political rights, Martin Luther King in the US, and Jawaharhlal Nehru in India. Students in this class will be exposed to developments in this momentous episode in world history, when the peoples of East, West, And South Africa embarked on the quest for freedom and, following that, in the establishment of modern nation-states. Students will critically assess the triumphs and challenges of emergent African nation-states in the post-colonial period. We shall pay close attention to the cultural, economic, social, and political developments in the respective regions of the African continent. The course will give students an opportunity to better obtain a more comprehensive knowledge of African societies.  

M W, 3:30-5:00pm, 200 French House

Professor: Tim Landry

A study of the life, career, and legacy of Richard Milhous Nixon is as Ronald Reagan described the man himself—complex and fascinating, a worthy pursuit for a university Honors student. You will learn not so much what to think, but how to think. A rigorous university History course will impress upon you that historical figures such as Nixon are much more than “hero” or “villain.” They are incredibly complex human beings and politicians.

Applying the lessons of the history you learn here will lead you to becoming a valuable informed and thinking citizen—no matter your political persuasion or philosophy. The critical thinking skills you learn here—objectively examining historical issues, conflicts, and personalities—will be valuable in your future career—be it law, medicine, the arts, or whatever field you choose.

T TH 4:30-6:00pm, 221 French House

Professor: Tim Landry

While this course will emphasize the impactful presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson, this is primarily a cradle-to-grave study of the 36th President of the United States and the 20th century world in which he grew up and greatly shaped. One cannot properly understand American history without comprehending Lyndon Johnson’s Texas Hill Country and its history as an American frontier, Lyndon Johnson’s family legacy, and how this shaped him into the man and politician he became. An ongoing theme throughout the semester is the struggle described in the Amazon banner on your textbook, the constant tension in Lyndon Johnson’s life and career “between political expediency and getting things done for the American people.” He was the ultimate politician and the original (and best) practitioner in American political history of the “art of the deal.” Learning about Lyndon Johnson the political dealmaker not only increases our understanding of American History, but provides lessons—both do’s and don’t’s—for your own future careers in politics, law, medicine, or where ever your ambitions take you. This course, like my course on Richard Nixon, will contain elements of a History graduate school-level seminar, in that you will be expected to read, write, discuss, and contribute original thought to the discussion and not simply regurgitate factual material. However, this course contains more traditional lecture sessions than my Nixon course.

T TH, 1:30-3:00pm, 203 French House

Professor: Granger Babcock

For LASAL Scholars Only: Students will study the root causes of poverty in Louisiana, and the daily challenges that children who live in poverty face. Students will study the root causes of wetlands loss in coastal Louisiana and the impact of sea-level rise related to climate change. The State of Louisiana is a foundation course for LASAL Scholars.

T TH, 12:00-1:30pm, 214 Peabody Hall

Professor: Joy Blanchard

The main purpose of this course is to provide students with a broad-based overview of issues related to intercollegiate athletics. Utilizing a critical lens, the course will examine intercollegiate athletics vis à vis historical, legal, sociological, economic, and organizational contexts, among others.

M W F, 1:30-2:30pm, 218 French House

Professor: Kenny Smith

This course examines a variety of religious and spiritual movements which are presently, or were in past decades or centuries, “new” to the American context. Examples include the Church of Latter-Day Saints (i.e., Mormon Christianity), the Church of Scientology, the Peoples Temple, Jediism, Wicca and Neo-Paganism, and the enormously broad and diffuse ‘New Age” movement, among others. On a somewhat deeper analytical level, our course locates all such movements in their proper historical and cultural contexts, so as to more clearly perceive the ways in which they, just like the broadly accepted religious communities, are shaped by that larger cultures in which they have their being.

M W F, 2:30-3:30pm, 218 French House

Professor: Kenny Smith

The idea that the physical world in which we currently reside is not the only reality, that there exist other worlds above, below, alongside, and beyond our own, and that human beings may, under special circumstances, access these other worlds, may not represent a cultural universal, but it’s very close. In this course, by reading about, writing about, and discussing together, various historical, literary, anthropological, sociological, and even scientific approaches to the question of other worlds, you’ll develop a strong grasp of how this rich and compelling theme has emerged in so many diverse historical and cultural contexts. Ultimately, you’ll employ the theoretical tools we’ve practiced together to conduct your own, original study of the ways in which this theme plays out in contemporary culture and present the results of your study to your peers.

T Th 1:30-3:00pm, Coates

Professor: Bryan McCann

This course takes stock in the persistence of serial killers in US public culture. Within the wider context of public fascination with crime and criminality, serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez, Ted Bundy, Samuel Little, and Aileen Wuornos, as well as fictional murderers such as Hannibal Lecter, are ubiquitous in cultural artifacts such as film, television series, podcasts, literature, and so-called “murderabilia.” In this class, we will ask, “Why?” In the process, we will come to understand how attention to the role of serial killers in US culture reflects and challenges deeply held norms regarding power and identity.

T TH, 10:30-12:00pm, 204 Coates 

Professor: Emily Graves  

Both topical and timeless, the apology can be a communication skill in and of itself and also an object of analysis. The apology looms large in American popular culture.  Even before the rise of the “Me Too” movement, notable celebrities and politicians have offered public apologies and Americans evaluated them largely along the metric of sincerity. This course examines what other criteria we might use to evaluate an apology, as well as various social and historical contexts to draw upon as we encounter an arguably apology-saturated social landscape. Students will analyze the grammar of apologies at the interpersonal level and consider political implications of apologies among nations.

T TH, 12:00-1:30pm, 218 French House  

Professor: Lindsey Pruett  

This seminar examines the nature of colonial rule, anti-colonial movements, and the transition to independence. We then consider competing visions for political systems seeking to move beyond and dismantle the legacies of European domination. The course focuses on Africa and South Asia, while most assignments center around South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement. 

T TH, 12:00-1:30pm, 135 French House

Professor: Kerri Tobin

Homelessness in the United States is a significant social problem, but there are ways we can understand the issue more deeply, and there are approaches that have worked and are working to get individuals and families into permanent housing. In this course, we will explore experiences and public perceptions of homelessness and how policymakers have responded.

T TH, 3:00-4:30pm, 220 French House

Professor: Craig Harvey 

This course will discuss the ethical issues that surround engineering and technology systems that serve society. We will discuss how ethics is important when developing systems that impact people and society. The Challenger disaster is just one case study on ethics that we will discuss. The Ethics in Engineering course content will include case study presentations/discussions, leading class discussions about the technology ethical issues, and in class thought papers. In addition, students will prepare a paper on ethics that includes their own individual personal ethical statement for their career. Who should take this course? Engineering, science, and math students for sure. All other students interested in ethics and how ethics impacts our technological world. Math, science, or engineering background is NOT required. Students from all educational disciplines are welcomed and will contribute to the discussions.

T TH, 4:30-6:00pm, 218 French House

Professor: Daniel Felty  

This honors seminar explores the philosophical and theological dimensions of good and evil, particularly in relation to the existence of God. The course begins with an introduction to basic metaethics, addressing questions about the nature of moral truth and the foundation of ethical judgments. Students will then examine moral theories concerning God, exploring how metaethical theories relate to theism. Finally, the seminar delves into the problem of evil and criticisms of theism from a moral perspective. The seminar encourages critical thinking and rigorous development of personal perspectives on these complex issues.

T TH, 9:00-10:30am, 135 French House

Professor: Darius Spieth   

This class will give students an opportunity to explore in-depth the interrelationship between art and the Western colonial conquests in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia between 1750 and 1950 from a variety of perspectives (art history, history, political economy, social studies, etc.). We will investigate, in particular, Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian Campaign (1798-1801) as an example for how art reinforced the cause of colonialism at the turn of the nineteenth century. This theoretical side of the seminar will be supplemented by hands-on experience with authentic visual documents from the time of Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt, preserved at Hill Memorial Library, which student will present in class. Completion of this course will earn you credit equivalent to English 2000. 

T Th 10:30-12:00pm, 221 French House

Professor: William Ma 

The course focuses on major Chinese cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, etc.) and their environs to examine issues of urbanism, built environment, artistic creativity, human capital, both historically and in the present day.

Through changes in city planning, visual and material cultures (paintings, advertisements, prints, photographs, commercial crafts, decorative objects, site installations, films, etc.), native artists and anonymous craftsmen, important historical landmarks (palaces, temples, mosques, gardens, tombs, etc.), and architectures (temples, shrines, stadiums, skyscrapers, opera houses, museums, etc.), this course interrogates and reevaluates the Chinese cities within larger theoretical frameworks of Chinese metaphysics, late-imperial ideologies, National and Modernist discourses, cosmopolitanism, commercial workshop practices, political propaganda, gendered spaces, modern designs, post-colonialism, regionalism, and field urbanism.

T, 5:00-8:00pm, 135 French House

Professor: Gwen Murray

This course will provide an overview of modern Brazilian cinema the period of democratization of the 1980s to the new wave of contemporary Brazilian cinema (retomada) of the 1990s to the present. The course will analyze selected films as art and cultural production as well as their representational properties that speak to the sociopolitical context in which they were produced. Films selected for this course are all oriented around the central themes of poverty, race, violence, and gender, and where possible, the intersection thereof.

M W F, 11:30-12:30pm, 127 Coates 

Professor: Touria Khannous 

This course is an introduction to contemporary global cinema covering films by internationally recognized filmmakers from a diverse range of countries. We will examine the aesthetic, cultural and political aspects of the films, their cinematic techniques and major genres, their distinctive national cinemas and the composition of their film audiences. We will particularly focus on the different images of the body represented in contemporary global cinema. Main topics are gendered bodies, digital bodies, body and trauma, etc. The course’s theoretical framework includes readings by Michel Foucault, and Judith Butler, among others.

T Th 4:30-6:00pm, 46 Allen

Professor: Henry Goldkamp

Handspringing across a grand, circus-worthy expanse of clown-centric disciplines—stand-up, performance arts, film, television, fiction, poetry, paintings, and theater—we will ultimately seek the answer to the question: Is the clown an integral part of the human condition? Beginning with a swift history of clown—and quickly dispelling all pejorative connotations that only recently have begun to cling to its polka-dot coat—we will survey the various ways that failure provides a universal springboard for the some of the most fruitful, dynamic artworks ever created. This honors class is designed for the material, cross-genre thinker who would like to learn erudite theories and concepts as they pertain to a whoopie cushion, squirting flower, or banana peel. We will study the gag as cultural artifact, the semiotics of clown makeup and costume, as well as investigate and analyze the manner in which clown is represented by famous and lesser-known works of literature, cinema, and pop culture.

Section 900: T TH, 10:30-12:00pm, 129a Music & Dramatic Arts Section

Section 901: T TH, 3:00-4:30pm, 135 Music & Dramatic Arts

Professor: Brett Duggan

In this course, students will learn, practice, and analyze the transferable skills learned from improvising theatre, including gaining a broader understanding of Improvisation in theater history, modern culture, and the business world. By studying and applying the principles of spontaneous problem-solving, listening, and teamwork, students will gain a strong foundation in how this artform can improve one's work and social life. The various improv tools and step-by-step techniques will help students overcome self-consciousness while discovering how to analyze outcomes in a proactive and impersonal way. Lessons will be experiential, and as the course continues, the complexity of the experiments will deepen. The student will read and compare renowned improv practitioners' and teachers' writings in conjunction with the classwork. Improv is a truly an art-form and a way into experiencing Theater and Performance without a dictator of the script.

Students will be asked to research a specific theatrical genre (for example, Chekhovian Magical Realism, Southern Gothic, or Brechtian) then analyze it. Assigned class teams will be asked to present their findings to the class in presentation and incorporate this research into practical application thru Performance.

Section 902: T TH, 9:00-10:30am, 1005 East Laville Hall

Section 903: T TH, 10:30-12:00pm, 1005 East Laville Hall

Professor: Jennifer Lau

This course explores music in society and its cultural relevance, and is designed to increase the students’ appreciation of music as well as enhance their listening skills. We will use classical music as a starting point for developing listening skills by examining Western classical art music of the Medieval Period to the 21st century. Students are introduced to various periods, styles, and composers of music from various cultures and times. By placing individual pieces, techniques, and composers into context, we can observe how individuals innovate or disrupt the norm to create lasting change. There are many different kinds of music, and all music has value. You’ll have several opportunities to apply your new knowledge and analysis skills to your favorite kinds of music. This course will also provide an introduction to the fundamentals of music and musical notation.

Section 904: W 3:00-6:00pm, 221 French House

Section 905: W 6:00-9:00pm, 221 French House

Professor: DJ Sparr

In Songwriting, students will learn methods to craft their own songs (lyrics, melody, and chords). The course presents songs from the past and present for analysis. Students engage in weekly “roundtable” discussions workshopping their songs. There are no required pre-requisites for the course. A typical class will start with group singing and musical exercises such as solfeggio (aural skills) while talking about musical fundamentals. From there, we will present and discuss “hit” songs where we will analyze lyrics, chord progressions, and historical/social context. Class then becomes either group work on your own songs or the performances of your own songs.

W, 11:30-2:30pm, 221 French House 

Professor: DJ Sparr  

In the Music Composition for Non-Majors course, students will explore methods for crafting musical works, utilizing composition to learn the fundamentals of music. This process follows a "discover, drill, create" technique, where students uncover musical concepts with guidance from the teacher, practice through improvisational exercises using those concepts, and finally, compose original pieces employing these newfound skills. There will also be study of important historical pieces in many genres. You will write a paper and do a presentation on one of these pieces. Each class will commence with a listening and discussion session centered around significant classical or art music pieces, incorporating the study and critique of compositions from both historical and contemporary periods. In addition to weekly composing assignments, students will undertake a "final composition project" and be required to write a paper and deliver a presentation on a historically significant piece of "art music.” Upon completing the Creative Music Composition course, students will gain enhanced knowledge and skills in music composition, a deeper understanding of music history, and proficiency in collaboration, presentation, critical thinking, & discussion.

T Th 10:30-12:00pm, 135 French House 

Professor: Dean Jonathan Earle & Dr. Leslie Tuttle 

Reacting to the Past is an innovative way to study history. The dynamics of history come alive through elaborate simulations in which students play the roles of historical characters. Grades are based on active participation in class discussion and debates, written assignments composed in the voice of one’s character, and a midterm and final exam that test historical understanding of the events we study. NB: Success in this course depends on regular attendance and participation.

T Th 10:30-12:00pm, 218 French House 

Professor: John Protevi 

In this course we will read, discuss, and write on important works from three great German thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. Each of them undertook a critical examination of the political, social, cultural, and psychological changes wrought by the onset of representative democracy and industrial capitalism in Europe. We will then take a brief look at three post-1968 French thinkers, Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, who both critique and carry forward the projects of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. These six thinkers provide essential background concepts to understand contemporary work in multiple critical social theory traditions dealing with gender, race, class, queerness, decoloniality, etc.  

T Th 12:00-1:30pm, B38 Allen

Professor: Gregory Stone 

Students will study the entirety of Dante’s Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise), a work of great scope that aims to provide a complete picture of the reality of the cosmos and of human virtues and vices. One of the great masterpieces of world literature, Dante’s poem is a compendium of the scientific, philosophical, religious, literary, historical, and political issues that were considered important in the Western tradition from classical antiquity through the beginnings of the Renaissance.

T Th 9:00-10:30am, 221 French House 

Professor: Alexander Orwin 

This course aims to capture the variety of Muslim thinking about politics over the fourteen centuries from the revelation of the Quran down to the present day. We will examine and discuss the Quran, Alfarabi, Ibn Khaldun, and Allama Iqbal. 

T Th 10:30-12:00pm, 200 French House 

Professor: Will Mari 

SIGN UP TODAY! Fight for freedom and learn what propaganda did during “the Good War.”

T Th 1:30-3:00pm, 220 French House 

Professor: Will Mari 

The “Cold War” didn’t fight itself. Learn about the propaganda behind the Space Race, the Olympics and the ideological battle that defined a century and led to the world-as-it-is today (and possibly a bad sequel).

M, 4:30-7:30pm, 220 French House

Professor: Nancy Laguna-Luque

Introduction to scholarly writing and research in the social sciences. This course is designed to develop and improve students’ scholarly reading, writing, presentational, and research skills. In this seminar students will conduct research in multiple ethnic heritage and racial identities depending on their interests. Students will explore the cultural practices and social experiences that have given shape to the identity of the other person in our country.

T Th 10:30-12:00pm, 117 Tureaud

Professor: Ashley Mack 

Since 2017, the #MeToo movement has shifted public conversations surrounding sexual violence. Discussing sexual violence and engaging in high level critical analysis of the various ways we communicate about sexual violence in mediated and public life is gravely important. 
This course explores how sexual violence is symbolically negotiated in U.S. public culture. We will examine how sexual violence and consent are framed in legal, political, educational, media, and cultural contexts. We will survey the intersectional relationships between race, gender, sexuality, nation, age, ability, and class as they relate to sexual violence. Finally, we will consider the ways that the public framing of sexual violence impacts cultural views about rape, and in turn, how social institutions (such as schools, the government, religious bodies, or the criminal justice system) attempt to stop sexual violence. 

T, 4:30-7:30pm, 126 Stubbs

Professor: Wesley Shrum

How can we understand recent and future technological developments that promise to change the very nature of what it means to be human? The entities created by Artificial Intelligence may be compared and contrasted with the ways that humans have conceptualized unseen but often influential entities such as gods and ghosts, androids and cyborgs. Course topics include shamanism, the technologies of consciousness, witchcraft, magical beings, and the afterlife.

M W, 3:30-5:00pm, 218 French House

Professor: Julia Irwin

This seminar explores epidemics and pandemics throughout modern world history. Through case studies of many different infectious diseases – including bubonic plague, smallpox, influenza, HIV/AIDS, and others – students will consider the political, economic, social, cultural, and medical

consequences of epidemics on past societies. We will also compare and contrast how different societies have responded to major disease outbreaks, with an eye toward both changes and continuity in epidemic response across time and place. Through class discussions, readings, and written work, students will engage in meaningful, critical reflection about how people experienced epidemic diseases in the past. At the same time, they will consider how this historical knowledge might inform our collective responses to present and future pandemics.

Section 900: T Th, 3:00-4:30pm, 135 French House 

Section 901: T Th, 3:00-4:30pm, 218 French House 

Professor: Gabrielle Ray, Asher Gelzer-Govatos

What does it take to be a good (or bad) friend? What does it mean to fall in love - and what does it take to make love last? Explore these questions and more through works by authors like Aristotle, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Thomas Hardy.

Section 902: MWF 10:30-11:30am, 135 French House

Section 905: MWF 10:30-11:30am, 200 French House 

Professor: Allen Ray and Lama Hantash 

Explore works by authors like Sophocles, Plato, Shakespeare, Hobbes, Locke, and Douglass.

T Th, 12:00-1:30pm, 135 French House 

Professor: Gabrielle Ray  

MWF 11:30-12:30pm, 135 French House 

Professor: Allen Ray 

What does it take to be a good (or bad) friend? What does it mean to fall in love - and what does it take to make love last? Explore these questions and more through works by authors like Plato, Rousseau, Shakespeare, Flaubert, Austen, and Baldwin.

Section 60: T TH, 1:30-3:00pm, 221 French House

Section 900: T TH, 1:30-3:00pm, 200 French House

Professor: Michelle Zerba and Drew Arms 

Exploring the themes of JOURNEY and RETURN in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, HNRS 2402 will feature Homer’s Odyssey, the plays of Sophocles and Euripides, the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, the philosophy of Plato, and Virgil’s Aeneid. Both sections will meet periodically for common lectures.  Short papers and exams, plus an “un-essay” creative assignment.  Seminars will be full of lively discussion of ancient ideas and modern sensibilities!

W 2:00-5:00pm, 220 French House 

Professor: Kevin Cope

Nothing is more peculiar or diverse than the “modern,” twenty-  first century world that we inhabit.  Who can explain a time, a place, and a culture in which one can pursue almost any goal or career, whether riding a spacecraft to the moon, baking artisanal bread, singing about love in cocktail lounges, or discovering the secrets of subatomic particles?  Where did this strangely wonderful and astoundingly varied world come from?  What ideas, habits, customs, or quirks sustain it?  Honors 2406 opens the exciting process of answering these question as it looks at the long era that created modernity and that fancied everything from amoebas to fireworks to considerations of reincarnation.  This lively course surveys the rich, complicated, and entertaining transition from the medieval to a self-consciously modern world, beginning with the invention of the printing press (and the first mass-media period) and proceeding through a delightfully meandering course to the French and American revolutions.  Most of the free, online texts studied in the course come from English-language literature and philosophy, but these readings will open windows to the full spectrum of European cultural and artistic activity during the Renaissance and Enlightenment.  Students will enjoy gaining an understanding of the social and intellectual foundations of many of the great debates of our time.

Section 60: T TH, 1:30-3:00pm, 1220 West Laville

Section 900: T TH, 1:30-3:00pm, 218 French House

Professor: Asher Gelzer-Govatos, Leonard Ray

Come explore the masterworks of philosophy, literature, and the    arts created over the last two and a half centuries. This class explores the complicated web of ideas and movements we call "modernity," from the time of the French Revolution until today. Topics include shifts in technology and political forms, the transformation of society through forces like urbanization and total war, and experimentation in the arts. Potential authors include: Marx, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Woolf, and many more.

T Th 9:00-10:30am, HRK W260

Professor: Fahui Wang

One of the most important trends in social sciences (including applied social sciences and public policy) has been the “growing significance of space, spatiality, location, and place” advanced by the “spatial analytic capabilities” of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (https://csiss.org/aboutus/). This course introduces you to the fundamental spatial analytic tools in GIS that are applied to various issues in social sciences (economics, sociology, history, and geography), business administration, and public policy (criminal justice, public health, and city and regional planning). This course may be used as an elective GIS course for the GIS Concentration in Geography BA/BS, or GIS Undergraduate Minor. 

M W 2:00-3:30pm, 212  Law Center 

Professor: John Church

This course analyzes the relationship between branding of products and the protection of “cultural resources”. Using the wine market as a vehicle, students will compare the development of a wine culture in Europe and the United States. Alcoholic beverages are the only consumer product mentioned in the Constitution, for reasons dating back to the Prohibition era. Similarly, wine is the only product singled out in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, an international agreement designed to facilitate free trade among nations. Specifically, students will examine the development of the European wine market including the establishment of Geographic Indicators as a marketing tool; the political, social and economic of impacts of Prohibition in the US; post-Prohibition regulation of alcohol and the growth of the US wine industry; and the policy and regulation of competition in the alcohol industry. Finally, students will examine the “Old World” and “New World” of wine production and explore the international conflicts, negotiations, and treaties involving wine.

W 5:00-8:00pm, TBD 

Professor: Roy Haggerty, Henry Hays, James Ghawaly