The Communities
Art & Activism
Can art effect social change?
How may we use the history of radical and avant-garde art to inform present-day movements of artistic and creative activism?
Design in Practice
How do designers envision better futures?
Collaborate in diverse teams to identify real world design challenges and apply design thinking to create solutions.
Freedom Fighting
How did ordinary people destroy American slavery?
How do you slay a many-headed monster? How do you defeat an economic system deaf to the cries of conscience and morality? How do you destroy an entrenched special interest that profits from treating people like property?
Free Speech
Why is the right to free speech so essential in a democracy and such a threat to totalitarianism?
Freedom of speech ensures the freedom to question so without it critical inquiry suffocates. Explore two very different historical experiences and engage in critical inquiry about some of the most pressing free speech issues of our day.
Harvest
How is climate change impacting agriculture and its ability to feed a growing world population?
In this hands-on introduction to data analysis and visualization with real-world data, students will engage in guided and unstructured exploration of parallel subsets of data on climate and agriculture.
Health Justice
How do we ensure everyone has the information needed to live a long and healthy life?
What is the role that information plays in creating and intensifying health disparities?
iGive
How do I give?
Learn about philanthropy, innovation, and social change - then make it happen! As a class, you will identify a social cause that you're passionate about and then donate $7,500 to a real local organization! You will learn and practice leadership skills that will help you change the world for good.
Language
Does information drive human history?
We will use tools from the language sciences to examine what mythological recurrences say about cultures that had to adapt their world views while attempting to preserve them.
Masculinities and Family Health
How do masculinities shape family health and well-being?
Think about family health issues and discuss masculinities and how they shape men’s mental health and relationships.
Once & Future Planet
How does understanding Earth's past help us plan for the future?
Through primary research, explore how life began and evolved and the ways in which its emergence and diversification has shaped our Earth and vice versa. Learn about our world and other worlds, and how humans affect this planet and its future.
Visualizing Knowledge
Is data beautiful?
"Visualizing Knowledge" pulls back the curtain on a ubiquitous feature of contemporary life—data visualization. We know that we live in an age of information, but what is less obvious is how visualization practices shape that information.
Weather & Climate
What are weather and climate?
Climate change is a phrase that evokes strong emotions. Some of those talking the loudest don’t know what climate is and how it’s different from weather. We will learn the basics of weather and climate.