Spring 2027 Courses

THESE COURSES ARE TENTATIVE, PENDING C-START COMMITTEE APPROVAL AT THE END OF THE FALL SEMESTER.

C-START COURSES DO NOT FULFILL HONORS CAROLINA PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.

ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO ENROLL FOR ONE (1) HOUR OF PASS/FAIL CREDIT.

SPCL 400.301 | Decoding Disease: From Cells to Culture

Student Instructors: Stefano Braho & Dhairya Patel
Faculty Mentor: Scott Williams
T, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
212 Graham Memorial

Diseases like cancer and arthritis affect millions worldwide, yet the microscopic processes driving them often go unseen, and their prevalence and impact are shaped by culture, environment, and society. Decoding Disease: From Cells to Culture invites students to step into the shoes of a biomedical researcher while also exploring how humans experience disease across diverse populations and medical traditions.

Students will begin by learning and analyzing foundational laboratory techniques, including cell culture, PCR, Western blotting, microscopy, tissue preparation, and quantitative image analysis, developing research thinking through data interpretation and experimental problem-solving. Students will also be given the opportunity to attend workshops in research, learn how to get involved in research, and talk with other students in the allied health profession. The course then broadens to anthropological perspectives, examining health disparities, environmental and cultural influences on disease, and alternative systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, osteopathy, and traditional Chinese approaches.

In the final units, students will analyze case studies, explore emerging research techniques, and practice scientific communication. The course culminates in a poster project and gallery walk, where students translate their discoveries from both scientific and anthropological literature into visual and oral presentations, mirroring how research is shared in the real world. By blending hands-on laboratory exploration with cultural context, students gain a deeper understanding of disease, research, and the human experience of health.

SPCL 400.302 | Biology’s Gateway to Philosophy: Introduction to Philosophical Thinking through Biological Concepts

Student Instructor: Catherine Bulandi
Faculty Mentor: Jiakun Chen
M, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
226A Turner Tate Kuralt Building

Philosophy is the reasoned pursuit of fundamental truths, and in being so, underlies any academic discipline. Biology is no exception: we can extract conceptual questions and abstract curiosities from biological concepts that are not fully addressed by science’s empirical methods. Experimentation alone cannot, for example, define death and evaluate justification for human fear of it, nor propose the causal connection between a physical brain and possible immaterial mind. To answer such questions and further our understanding of humans and the living world, we are instead urged to employ philosophical thought and reasoning. This course will introduce students to the realm of philosophy—from interpreting primary philosophical texts and deconstructing arguments to formulating objections and articulating one’s own philosophical reflections—using familiar themes from biology.

Through guided readings and thought experiments, conversational class discussions, and projects, this course will invite students to engage with the following questions: What does it mean for something to be alive? Should death be feared? Is morality a contingent product of evolution? Are living systems driven by purpose? Are the mind and brain distinct?

SPCL 400.304 | Feminism in the Hexagon: Powerful Progressive Women and Their Effects on French Policy

Student Instructor: Ava Byrd
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Boittin
T, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
201 Stone Center

This course is an introductory-level exploration into the female voices that progressed France into modernity. Spanning the French Revolution to the twenty-first century, the course examines figures such as Olympe de Gouges and Simone de Beauvoir among other activists, writers, and thinkers who challenged existing power structures in French society.
Through historical texts, interviews, and memoirs, we will explore women roles in revolutionary movements via intellectual salons, medicine, literature, and public policy. Central questions that will guide the course include: Were these women extreme or radical in nature for their day? Are they still viewed that way today? Did the movements they fought for stick?
By situating these women contributions within broader political and cultural developments, students will learn about the relationship between gender, power, and policy in France, while engaging in critical reflection on how feminist ideas have emerged and evolved over time.

SPCL 400.305 | The X and Y Effect: Variations in Human Biological Sex Development

Student Instructor: Azriel Carlton
Faculty Mentor: Lillian Zwemer
M, 5:05 pm – 7:05 pm
038 Graham Memorial

Human sex development results in a wide range of phenotypic diversity, with up to 2% of the global population exhibiting variations in sex characteristics (VSCs), also known as differences in sex development (DSDs). Yet, despite this diversity, discussions of human biology often rely on simplified binary models that fail to reflect the true complexity of sex development. Addressing physiologic variations in sex development will empower students to construct a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of human biology. This course will discuss the canonical processes of male and female sex characteristic development, as well as DSDs resulting from sex chromosome aneuploidies, structural variation in the X and Y chromosomes, and differences in sex hormone bioavailability and responsiveness (including estrogen, testosterone, and dihydrotestosterone (DHT)). Through exploration of primary literature, case studies, news reports, video documentaries, and educational podcasts, students will become familiar with the underlying biological processes, clinical diagnostic approaches and treatments, the history and limitations of research in this field, and the evolving societal treatment of individuals with DSDs. For future healthcare professionals, this course builds literacy around the biological basis, clinical presentation, and management of DSDs. For future researchers and educators, it provides insight into the molecular mechanisms behind DSDs and the underlying systems that govern human development.

SPCL 400.306 | The Christian Imagination: Lewis and Chesterton

Student Instructors: Preston Cheek & Laura Martin
Faculty Mentor: John Rose
W, 5:05 pm – 7:05 pm
213 Graham Memorial

This class will study the concept of the Christian imagination through the lens of the works of C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Malcolm Guite, among various other authors. We will, through a seminar- and discussion-style class, engage directly with the works of these three authors to understand how their thoughts, works, and stories interact with the tenets of the Christian faith. We will seek to understand the Christian meta-narrative through the lens of imagination and wonder. We will ask important questions such as: What even is an “imagination ”? Is it possible for a group to share an imagination? What is the Christian imagination, and how does it connect to a Christian worldview?

All inquiries will be rooted in and guided by our primary texts. No prior knowledge of Christianity, academic or personal, is expected or required for such a course. The course will provide the necessary historical and theological context for both the religion and the authors. The core of our time will be devoted to deep reading and dialectic discussion, occasionally led and supplemented by various experts and theologians in the field. Students are encouraged to bring their diverse perspectives and experiences to the table to enrich the collective learning environment.

SPCL 400.307 | Anime, Angels and the Apocalypse: The Intersection of Eastern and Western Thought

Student Instructor: Joseph England
Faculty Mentor: Gabriel Trop
F, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
213 Graham Memorial

Spanning across historical, philosophical, theological, and aesthetic disciplines, this course will offer students a thorough investigation into a milestone of Japanese anime, that being Neon Genesis Evangelion, written and directed by Hideaki Anno. This course will constellate episodes of the program with interdisciplinary readings to draw out the literary and philosophic richness present. Namely, texts will include the psychoanalytical works of Sigmund Freud, the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer, the Bible, historical accounts of postwar Japan, and contemporary cultural studies from Japanese thinkers, among others. From these texts and in-class discussions, students are offered an opportunity to understand the effects of globalization on media, particularly how philosophic and aesthetics ideas have been translated and adapted following the Second World War. Additionally, this course will challenge students to interrogate how they approach genre media and dissect their preconceived notions they may have about Japan, anime, religion, and literary studies.

SPCL 400.308 | Knowing What You Know: Learning and Judgment Under Uncertainty

Student Instructor: Ani Florence
Faculty Mentor: Patrick Harrison
M, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
035 Graham Memorial

This course examines how people navigate learning and judge their own understanding under uncertainty. Students often have to decide whether they understand something, whether an answer is likely to be correct, whether they should keep working, and whether they should check, revise, submit, or move on, without direct access to the outcome. In practice, people make these judgments using many kinds of information. They may notice retrieval success, familiarity, ease, effort, confidence, confusion, anxiety, a sense that an answer “fits,” task difficulty, prior experience, time pressure, goals, or stakes. These experiences and conditions may contain useful information, but their meaning depends on what produced them, what is being judged, and the circumstances in which they occur.

This course is organized around three linked ideas. The first is metacognitive awareness and knowledge – a person’s accumulated knowledge of themselves as a learner, of what different tasks demand, and of strategies for monitoring and controlling their own cognition and learning. The second is control – understanding where corrections and adjustments are possible, and being honest about where they are not. Neither the research literature nor this course promise a fix for every case, and knowing what cannot be controlled is itself part of the material. These pieces work together to develop the third key idea – agency in learning and judgment under uncertainty.

SPCL 400.309 | What’s happening to your brain right now?

Student Instructor: Lauren Gallagher
Faculty Mentor: Alexandra Nowlan
W, 5:05 pm – 7:05 pm
038 Graham Memorial

Adolescence is a distinct window of brain development, and the choices made during it can shape both present and future brain health. This skills-based course explores how binge drinking, marijuana use, nicotine use, sleep, and stress affect the developing brain, with an emphasis on reading, understanding, and discussing primary scientific literature.

Most weeks, class will include an introduction to the topic, adolescence-specific considerations, a primary article read, and a guest speaker who will co-host a deeper discussion and serve to offer a networking opportunity to the students. For each insult, students will examine research and clinical perspectives to see why fluency in primary literature matters across pre-clinical, translational, and clinical career paths.

The course is designed for anyone curious about the brain, for pre-professional students building the scientific reading skills needed for admissions tests (MCAT, GRE, etc.) and graduate or medical school, and for those looking to preserve and enhance their brain health. In the final week, students will present on an additional threat to adolescent brain health not covered in the course.

SPCL 400.310 | Mind and Matter: Exploring the Roots of Mental Well-Being

Student Instructor: Alexis Hirth & Darshan Ponkiya
Faculty Mentor: Eric Hastie
W, 5:05 pm – 7:05 pm
210 Graham Memorial

What shapes mental well-being: our brains, our experiences, or the environments in which we live? Mind and Matter: Exploring the Roots of Mental Well-Being challenges the idea that mental health can be understood through any one perspective alone. Instead, students will explore how biology, lived experience, and the world around us interact to shape how we think, feel, and respond to stress.

Designed for students of any major or year, this course requires no prior background in neuroscience, psychology, or biology. Rather than simply memorizing neurotransmitters or mental disorders, students will examine how neurobiology, psychology, and sociology each contribute to understanding mental health.

We will ask questions such as: How can chronic stress change the brain and body? How can where someone grows up affect health decades later? How do sleep, exercise, nutrition, and daily habits influence the way we feel? When does a difference in behavior become something society labels as mental illness?

Through brain dissection, real-world case studies, documentaries, guest speakers, and interactive discussions, students will connect scientific mechanisms with lived experience and examine mental well-being from neurons to neighborhoods. By the end of the course, students will be better equipped to think critically about mental health, evaluate popular wellness claims, and understand why well-being often requires looking beyond the brain itself.

SPCL 400.311 | Beyond the Classroom: Experiential Teaching Methods

Student Instructor: Allyson Horst
Faculty Mentor: William Goldsmith
M, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
212 Graham Memorial

Students falling asleep in class. Teachers are overwhelmed with behavior management. The U.S. ranked 28th and 12th out of 37 OECD countries in math and science. Yet outdated teaching and assessment methods still dominate American classrooms and universities.

This course examines experiential teaching methods used around the world, how they engage students, assess learning, and shape classroom environments, and invites students to rethink conventional U.S. education practices.

Each week introduces a new method by teaching it through that same method, so students experience it as their own students would. Guest speakers include education policy experts, teachers, and school administrators.

Methods covered include Montessori, Reggio Emilia, project-based learning, Guru-style teaching, and outdoor experiential learning, among others.

SPCL 400.312 | AI in Healthcare: Ethics, Accountability, and Human Judgment

Student Instructor: Saumitra Joshi
Faculty Mentor: Anthony Vaccaro
M, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
201 Stone Center

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing healthcare. From algorithms that interpret medical images and predict disease risk to clinical decision-support tools and patient-facing chatbots, AI increasingly shapes how health information is generated, interpreted, and used for healthcare decisions. As these systems become more influential, they raise difficult questions: What happens when an algorithm is biased? Who is responsible when AI contributes to a medical error? How much control should patients have over the data used to train these systems? And when should clinicians trust or override an AI recommendation?

AI in Healthcare: Ethics, Accountability, and Human Judgment explores these questions at the intersection of medicine, technology, and ethics. Students will examine real-world cases involving algorithmic bias, privacy and autonomy, clinical decision-making, accountability, and the responsible design and governance of healthcare AI. No prior background in computer science or medicine is required.

Through case studies, debates, guest speakers, and collaborative discussions, students will learn to critically evaluate healthcare AI and consider the role of human decision-making in an increasingly automated world.

SPCL 400.313 | Exotic Computation

Student Instructor: Grant McKenzie
Faculty Mentor: Stefan Jeglinski
R, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
210 Graham Memorial

What does it actually mean to compute, and does computation have to look like a modern computer? This course explores unconventional ways of processing information, ranging from the physical foundations of ordinary digital computers to quantum, analog, neuromorphic, and other emerging computational architectures. Along the way, we will examine how information is represented physically, what different computing paradigms can and cannot do, and how new hardware may change the kinds of problems we can solve. The course will combine conceptual discussions with accessible demonstrations and case studies. No prior background in computer science, physics, or engineering is required.

SPCL 400.314 | Autonomy in/and Liberal Democracies

Student Instructors: Cash Mendenhall & Netra Parikh
Faculty Mentor: Niklaus Steiner
T, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
222 Murphey Hall

What does autonomy mean to you? Do you have enough of it, or too little? What about your neighbors? In this course, we challenge what autonomy means in the contexts of a liberal democracy, examining how autonomy, a concept deeply rooted in liberalism, has been disputed and remade across the arena of global public life.

Our syllabus is organized around a central tension between the “liberal ” and the “democratic ” in liberal democracy. We抣l ask what it means for individuals, communities, and institutions to be self-governing, and how these visions can coexist. Case studies drawn from antitrust law, voting rights, immigration and citizenship, reproductive freedom, and criminal justice will serve as lenses for examining these abstract principles in practice. Amidst rising global suspicion of the liberal democratic tradition, this course will enable students to think critically about that tradition and how divergent conceptions of autonomy fit within it.

SPCL 400.315 | The Ethics of Democracy

Student Instructors: Elias North
Faculty Mentor: Sharon Holland
W, 5:05 pm – 7:05 pm
035 Graham Memorial

In a moment when our republic seems to be floundering, it is worthwhile to take a moment and consider how best to participate in the democratic systems which have brought us to this moment. In this discussion-based seminar, students will examine philosophical and political texts on democracy as a system in conjunction with texts on ethics and ethical life in order to better understand how we can approach our current moment in an imperfect democracy being stressed at the seams. Texts will be drawn from a wide range of origins, from early theorists of the enlightenment and revolutionary age to modern ethicists and theorists. Students will be expected to read and be prepared to discuss 1-2 article length texts and a primary source for each class period and will be principally evaluated based on participation in class discussions.

SPCL 400.316 | Immunology Innovations: Exploring the Newest Applications of Immunotherapies to Gut Health, Cancer, Autoimmune Illnesses, and more!

Student Instructor: Pristine Onuoha
Faculty Mentor: Alaina Garland
W, 5:05 pm – 7:05 pm
212 Graham Memorial

When you think of the immune system, you might think of a simple defense system. But, the reality is a bit more complex. The immune system includes trillions of cells that defend us from threats, both external and internal. But, aside from being protective, a healthy immune system plays an active role to promote healing when the body gets damaged. Think of when you’re recovering from a bad illness–your immune cells work behind the scenes to help clean up and repair tissues. Knowing this, scientists have harnessed the various capabilities of the immune system to treat those experiencing cancer, autoimmune illnesses, organ transplants, and more. In this course, you will first be introduced to basic biology concepts leading up to immune biology, then be guided through cutting-edge immunotherapy innovations. Throughout this, you will learn to think like a scientist through interactive lessons, journal clubs, immersive media, and more. At the end of the course, you will be able to demonstrate your learning via a capstone project of your choice:
-Drafting an article for publication in Carolina Scientific, the Pit Journal, the Daily Tarheel, or a different journal
-Giving a talk as a CLE event open to the entire campus, as a Ted Talk, or as a video publicly uploaded to Youtube
-Making a podcast that is available on Soundcloud or elsewhere online
-Attending an Immunology conference and writing a reflection
-Interviewing 3 local immunology researchers or immunologists
-Joining an immunology lab and submitting a poster or mock poster of your work
-Depicting a concept from the class via artwork in two different mediums or styles and showcasing it online or as a public exhibition offering CLE credit

This class is a great fit for anyone interested in learning something new! All majors are welcome and no prior coursework is needed.

SPCL 400.317 | The Secret Lives of Languages: Whispers, Ciphers, and Songs of Resistance

Student Instructor: Luisa Paraguassu
Faculty Mentor: Pedro Lopes de Almeida
M, 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
301 New East

In this course, you will discover how languages have been a site of protection, community, and world-making throughout history. From the secret language Pajuba of Brazil to Nüshu, a writing system formerly used by Yao women in Hunan, China, or to languages invented by children throughout history, we will travel across space and time to learn about the linguistic and social experiences of these communities in their acts of resistance. We will also explore the world of language revitalization – how communities who have experienced language endangerment or extinction are able to revive their mother tongues.

By the end of this course, you will have learned about these languages from the communities who have used them through readings, films, music, podcasts, and games. This course will culminate in a service-learning project to support a language-revitalization initiative, using what we’ve learned to contribute to efforts that are keeping words and worlds alive.

SPCL 400.318 | Stress and the Body: Biology, Culture, and Evidence-Based Strategies for Regulation

Student Instructor: Rohan Patel
Faculty Mentor: Rosie Dutt
T, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
420 Hamilton Hall

This seminar explores how stress leaves measurable biological traces, from changes in hormones to inflammation, and how these processes connect to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and autoimmune conditions. We’ll investigate the gut–brain connection and evaluate how nutrition, sleep, and Ayurvedic practices may help regulate stress. Through discussion and practical exploration, students will examine the science behind everyday strategies and how culture shapes approaches to stress and health.

SPCL 400.319 | An Introduction to Narrative Psychology: The Science of How Storytelling Shapes Us

Student Instructor: Tara Penman
Faculty Mentor: Natasha Parikh
F, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
210 Graham Memorial

The stories we tell may be key to shifting how we feel! This course will explore Narrative Psychology, a perspective of psychology which focuses on how stories shape human experiences. Students will be introduced to key theorists such as Dan McAdams, and explore how individuals construct their own meanings through personal narratives.

Through interactive demos with techniques inspired by narrative therapy, students will understand how these theories can be put into practice, and learn techniques such as identity formation, turning points and externalization. In addition, students will be introduced to qualitative research methods, gaining insight into how narrative psychology allows researchers to capture depth and lived experience in ways that quantitative approaches alone often cannot.

This course is especially beneficial for students interested in clinical psychology, social work, or English – highlighting the powerful intersection between storytelling and human behavior.

SPCL 400.320 | Chinese Economic History since the Qing Dynasty (1800 –Present)

Student Instructor: Giang Pham
Faculty Mentor: Peter Coclanis
T, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
035 Graham Memorial

For centuries, imperial China stood at the forefront of civilization, its merchants and goods roaming the world long before Columbus set sail for America. Yet, the 19th century saw the drastic decline of a once-proud empire to a state fracturing under foreign pressure and domestic upheaval. This course aims to explore the change that followed through the combined lenses of both a historian and an economist. Drawing on primary texts, source books, documentaries, and empirical research paper, we will investigate the intertwine of politics and economics in the case of historical China, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Important questions that this class investigates include: How did China lose its dominance in the 19th century to Western powers? What were the engines behind China extraordinary economic recovery in the 20th century? What could we infer from history about China economic course moving forward?

SPCL 400.321 | The Global ’68: The Search for Solidarity in the Year the World Caught Fire

Student Instructor: Drew Phaneuf
Faculty Mentor: Donald Reid
R, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
201 Stone Center

In 1968, students occupied campuses and took to the streets in places that seemed to have almost nothing in common: an American Ivy League university, the capital of a Soviet satellite state, a one-party regime preparing to host the Olympics. They spoke different languages, lived under rival political systems, and most had never heard of one another. Yet many of them believed they were fighting the same fight. Were they?

This course takes that question seriously. Moving through five cities (New York, Paris, Turin, Prague, and Mexico City), with a session widening the lens to Dakar, West Berlin, Belgrade, and Tokyo, we will examine how students in the “long ’68” (1967–1969) turned radical ideas into action and how they tried, and often failed, to build alliances with workers. Why did these movements erupt at the same moment across such different societies? How did they communicate? Why did their coalitions fall apart? And what do today’s occupations, encampments, and student-labor campaigns owe to them?

Each class pairs a short lecture with small-group work on primary sources (manifestos, broadsheets, posters, fliers, speeches) followed by full-class debate. The semester builds to a mock international tribunal on the movements of 1968 and a final presentation in which each student tells the story of a city, movement, or figure of their choosing. No prior coursework required.

SPCL 400.322 | The Audacity to Be Funny: The Art and Impact of Stand-Up Comedy

Student Instructor: David Ronnel
Faculty Mentor: Daniel Gitterman
M, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
213 Graham Memorial

Stand-up comedy is one of the most widely consumed forms of entertainment in America. Yet, there is a lack of people who understand the structure, strategy, and cultural influence behind it. From shaping public discourse to challenging social norms, stand-up comedy has long served as both an art form and a reflection of American society. This course will analyze stand-up comedy through both a technical and cultural lens. We will examine how jokes are constructed and how comedians use their platforms to engage with broader social issues.

Students will study the evolution of American stand-up from the mid-20th century to today. They will also develop their own material through a structured process of writing, revision, and peer feedback. By the end of the semester, students will have a strong understanding of what makes stand-up comedy effective, as well as the ability to critically analyze performances and deliver a polished three-minute stand-up set of their own.

SPCL 400.323 | Rebuilding the Brain: Limits and Risks of Neural Stem Cell Intervention

Student Instructor: Miguel Sierra-Velazquez
Faculty Mentor: Nicolette Frazer
W, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
405 Dey Hall

What if the brain could replace neurons lost to injury, aging, or disease? Neurogenesis—the generation of new neurons—reveals that the brain is more dynamic than once believed and raises questions about how this process works, its physiological and behavioral roles, and what this capacity could mean for the future of neuroscience and regenerative health.

We will explore the biology of neurogenesis during prenatal development and adulthood and examine it in the context of brain function, aging, injury, and neurological disease. Why does neurogenesis change with age, injury, and disease. What happens when we attempt to manipulate it? We will use these questions to understand the challenges involved in generating neurons that survive, mature, and function within neural circuits.

We will also consider what happens as this science moves toward medicine. We will examine proposed and experimental approaches that use neural stem cells or influence neurogenesis, while considering the evidence needed to justify human testing, the risks of altering complex biological systems, and the challenges of translating findings from preclinical models into clinical treatments. Through readings, case studies, and group discussions, we will examine the landscape of neural stem cell research and the medical, ethical, and policy questions that shape how discoveries reach patients. Ultimately, the course asks not only whether the brain can generate new neurons, but when, how, and under what conditions that ability should be used to improve human health.

SPCL 400.324 | What We Wear: Analyzing Clothing, Identity, and Resistance

Student Instructor: Surafele Sintayehu
Faculty Mentor: Antonia Randolph
T, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
213 Graham Memorial

What we wear is never simply clothing. This course examines fashion as a language, a site of struggle, and a global system, moving from the personal to the political to the planetary. In the first unit, students explore how dress communicates identity: how subcultural styles, religious garments, and gender expression signal belonging to (or departure from) communities, and how fashion works as a system of signs. Students will turn this lens on their own dress practices to consider how clothing reflects their social positioning. The second unit examines fashion as an instrument of both power and resistance. We will study how dress codes enforce social hierarchies, how marginalized groups have used clothing to challenge dominant narratives and claim agency, and how movements from punk to Black Power to feminist protest made style political. We will also address the debate over cultural appropriation versus appreciation. The final unit situates fashion within global economic and political structures, including labor practices, supply chains, sustainability, and the colonial and neocolonial relationships embedded in the international fashion industry. The course culminates in a final project in which students select an outfit of their choosing, wear it to class, and present an analysis of it through all three lenses: what it communicates about identity, how it engages with power and resistance, and where it sits within global systems of production and labor.

SPCL 400.325 | Becoming Fully Human: The Humanistic Revolution in Psychology

Student Instructor: Maxwell Stakun-Pickering
Faculty Mentor: Patrick Harrison
T, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
210 Graham Memorial

What does it mean to live, grow, and flourish as a human being? Humanistic psychology emerged in the 1950s in response to the perceived limitations of existing psychological approaches. In doing so, it introduced a long-overdue holistic view of the person. Leaders of this movement were among the first psychologists to systematically investigate dimensions of human life concerned with meaning, freedom, responsibility, authenticity, love, creativity, personal growth, and self-actualization. In doing so, humanistic psychologists broadened psychology from an explanation of human behavior toward an exploration of human possibility. This course examines the humanistic movement in psychology, with attention to its philosophical foundations, theories of personality, clinical
applications, and historical context.

SPCL 400.326 | Maghreb to the Métropole: Cultural Evolution in Postcolonial France

Student Instructor: Abigail Wells
Faculty Mentor: Ellen Welch
T, 5:05 pm – 7:05 pm
038 Graham Memorial

In an increasingly globalized world, what happens when two cultures collide? How do hybrid identities appear in pop culture, society, politics, and more?

Using postcolonial France as a case study, this course will survey the cultural evolution and synthesis that occurred after immigration from decolonized North Africa to mainland France.

Following the complex experiences of the new Franco-Maghrebi population, especially the second-generation immigrants sometimes known as the Beurs, we will examine the cultural works of a new group of artists as they found ways to express themselves and track their effects on society at large. France is a unique case study due to its colonial past, the lasting social effects of the Holocaust, and the constitutional structure of French universalism, whereby the government legally cannot recognize differences in its citizens.

This distinct cultural evolution from the 1970s to the 1990s led to notable literary movements, new linguistic developments, and sociopolitical responses that continue to drive current French political debate and public policy today. Through this case study, students will consider complex perspectives on immigration, identity, race, nationalism, & culture that remain relevant in our globalized world today.