By Matthew Kaufman
Features Editor
Fall 2023 registration begins this week, and many students are looking for additional classes outside their major to fill their schedule. From learning about ancient sports to watching Ted Lasso, here are seven interesting classes (many of which satisfy Liberal Learning requirements!) that you’ll be looking forward to each week.
HIS 100-02 Ancient Sports & Athletics / CLS 270-01 Greek and Roman Sports & Spectacles
Tuesday/Friday 9:30 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Professor: Emyr Dakin
This class explores the sports of long ago, specifically during the Ancient Greek and Roman time periods. Learn about gladiators, the Olympics and more, while comparing the culture of athletics in the past to that of today.
From the course description: “Within this wider spatial and temporal context, the course will subsequently focus on two separate thematic entities: Ancient Greek Athletics, with particular attention to the development and evolution of the main Ancient Greek athletic events over the ages, as well as an in-depth investigation of the particularities of Roman public spectacles and gladiatorial games.”
JPW 370-01 Podcasting
Tuesday/Friday 9:30 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Professor: Kim Pearson
Prerequisite: JPW 208
Think you have the perfect podcasting voice? Have a story idea that can be brought to life through audio? This class will teach you all you need to know.
From the course description: “Students will learn and practice the fundamentals of producing an audio podcast from concept to production, to editing and engagement.”
RAL 225-01 Children’s Literature
Monday/Thursday 11:00 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
Professor: TBA
Liberal Learning: Literary, Visual & Performing Arts
Miss the days of reading Junie B. Jones and the Magic Tree House? Travel back in time with this literature class all about kid’s books. This is a popular choice among students looking to satisfy Liberal Learning requirements.
From the course description: “It [the course] includes an in depth look at the historical background of both the literature and illustration, establishes criteria for selecting books for children from various genres, includes extensive examination of children's books from each genre of literature, and explores the oral tradition and techniques of storytelling.”
FYW 102-74 Ted Lasso Leadership
Monday/Thursday 3:30 p.m. – 4:50 p.m.
Professor: Erica Kalinowski
The TV phenomenon has a dedicated First-Year Writing class! Students will learn what makes a great leader while watching the popular TV show and strengthening their writing skills.
From the course description: “We will spill the tea – through examples in television and film, podcasts, TED Talks, and assigned readings – and explore themes and intersectionalities in a thoughtful way that dispels the myth that great leadership is bigger than one person.”
First-Year Writing courses in general have some of the most fun topics; other sections tackle topics such as adulting, conspiracy theories, TikTok and Star Wars.
SOC 370-1 Using Social Media to Understand Modern Culture
Monday/Thursday 3:30 p.m. – 4:50 p.m.
Professor: Zachary Kline
Liberal Learning: Behavioral, Social or Cultural Perspectives
Want to spend class scrolling through social media? This one might be for you, although it isn’t a brain-break; you’ll be taking an analytical approach to learn about how social media shapes our culture and language.
From the course description: “In this course, we will examine these different forms of digitization and how organizations create rules and structures that constrain the production of meaning. Students will conduct basic computational text analyses, including web scraping, term frequency and dictionary methods, sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and more.”
COM 370-01 / HON 270-10 Terms of En-Queer-Ment
Tuesday 5:30 p.m. – 8:20 p.m.
Professor: Alan Amtzis
Liberal Learning: Gender; Literary, Visual & Performing Arts
This film studies class with an amazing title will have you watch a different movie each week, each being themed around LGBTQ+ issues. It’s also a quick way to complete two Liberal Learning categories.
From the course description: “Using a wide range of classic and contemporary movies and visual media as texts, this course explores issues of diversity and representation while also looking at what LGBTQ themes contribute to our understanding of contemporary culture and social justice.”
WGS 370-01 Graffiti and Social Movements
Tuesday/Friday 2:00 p.m. – 3:20 p.m.
Professor: alma khasawnih
Liberal Learning: Gender; Global; Literary, Visual & Performing Arts
This class will have students analyzing graffiti and other forms of public art, such as murals and stickers, to understand how these mediums influence social activism and political movements. This course satisfies several Liberal Learning requirements and is perfect for any artist.
From the course description: “Through intersectional transnational and Third World feminist perspectives, this course looks at the roles of these artifacts have in our understandings of gender, race, sexuality, nation, religion, class, and other categories of identity…We will investigate the ways this ephemera engages, negotiates, and resists systems of oppression such as occupation, settler-colonialism, state sanctioned violence, racism, classism, and other systems of oppression and violence.”
