“Creative Citizens” courses build students' skills in creative activism and civic engagement. Course topics may include social justice, environmental activism, civic or political engagement, activist movements, forms of protest, social practice, community engagement, design activism, and more.

Architecture

Neeraj Bhatia

ARCHT-5800-1: UR: Urban & Landscape Elect

MARCH-6800-1: UR: Urban & Landscape Elect

Critical Ethnic Studies

Shalini Agrawal

ETHST-2000-2: Radical Redesign

Decolonizing design and architecture practices starts with understanding the roots and steadfast legacy of colonization to resurface narratives that have been hidden, erased and forgotten. We can disrupt our biases and blindspots towards anti-racism and decoloniality by taking time to learn about forgotten history, and reflect on the unreconciled impacts of colonization. How might we acknowledge the injustices, colonial practices and racism in design and architecture, and acknowledge the resulting long lasting and harmful impacts? This studio begins by identifying areas of Radical Redesign within the traditional design process starting with researching colonization and its correlation with issues of diversity, identity, race, gender and culture. Building on this knowledge, we identify and confront our personal biases that have maintained systems of dominance, while challenging formulaic design processes.

Jack Leamy

ETHST-2000-3: Mural Art

This course explores murals as public living spaces, visual geographical multi-layered zones for political activism, expressing cultural identity and liberation, social/cultural awareness and aesthetic advancement. The overarching goal is to inform the students rapidly into the domain in which they will create. By using a series of documentary films, starting with Mexican social realist painters from the early 1930’s to the present murals brought forth from the BLM movement, we will look at these movements as sources of meaning and forms of social justice activism. Students will also center their Critical Ethnic Studies pedagogy as a means to focus and polish their artist vision. We ask, what is the role of mural art as it is displayed strategically in public spaces? Where does public space become available and to whom? Who claims public spaces and how? How do we define public space and who has the authority to have a voice and be heard in the public realm and why?

Steve Jones

ETHST-2000-5: Agitprop

agitprop | ˈajətˌpräp |noun - political (originally communist) propaganda, especially in art or literature: [as modifier] : agitprop painters.Origin - 1930s: Russian, blend of agitatsiya ‘agitation’ and propaganda. Agitprop, “agitation” and “propaganda,” is political (originally communist) propaganda, especially in art or literature. Propaganda involves persuasive strategies, but is different than persuasion in its intended outcome. A graphic design approach to propaganda will involve an examination of the relationship of message to context, focusing on the intentionality and responses of an audience, and lead to an understanding of propaganda as a communication process. This course will explore the history of propaganda from the mid 19th century to its modern day manifestation in American/global politics. Each student will have an opportunity to explore her/his individual values to establish a theme for a campaign and attempt to persuade a targeted audience through several class assignments.

Marcel Pardo Ariza

ETHSM-2000-6: Collective Practices and Resistances

Shylah Pacheco Hamilton

ETHSM-2000-2: Tryin' to get Free: Foundations and Futures of Intersectionality

ETHSM-2000-3: Spirituality as Resistance

In this course we will learn about the significance of spirituality through the legacy of ancestral societies, the freedom struggles of BIPOC, and the power of diasporic people. We will delve into the philosophies and practices that shaped the formation of spirituality since time immemorial; closely examining the cyclical context of these sensibilities prior to and after the apocalypse of 1492. We will collectively analyze the impact of the last 500+ years of imposed colonial forces using critical race theory, intersectionality and decoloniality. Simultaneously, we will celebrate and put into practice ancestral wisdom—passed down, safeguarded despite genocide, ecocide, censorship, enslavement, displacement, and forced assimilation.

Graphic Design

Eric Heiman

GRAPH-3680-1: Advanced Design Studio: TBD*

TBD* is a student design studio dedicated to helping local nonprofits and civic institutions further their missions through design. The studio’s goal is to provide community partners with quality design services while exposing students to professional experience and the rewards of using their skills in the service of a good cause.

Philosophy and Critical Theory

Melinda De Jesus

PHCRT-2000-4: Monster Culture

This course explores the construction of monsters and "the monstrous" through diverse cultures and historical periods. Analyzing selected examples in literature, art and film, we will discuss the interdependent relationship between our conceptions of humanity/"normality" and monsters/the "abnormal."

Julian Carter

PHCRT-2000-3: Authority and Dissent in America

What's happening in America? In this course we'll explore major themes in current U.S. politics and culture, asking philosophical and historical questions that let us get under the headlines. We will learn how to understand and discuss major issues of the day like immigration and asylum, recreational and prescription drugs, reproductive rights, freedom of speech and religion, vaccines, gender expression, and the right to vote. How do human values and emotional orientations inform our political positions? What authorities can be trusted and how do we recognize them? What role do students play in social change? How do we decide what's true, or right, or fair, and how do we engage with people whose beliefs diverge from ours?

Social Science and History

Maxwell Leung

SSHIS-2000-2: American Politics

This course offers a solid overview of the American political system beginning with studying its foundation and its development over time. The course will analyze the increasingly important role of campaign financing, social media, and other modes of representation in elections in contemporary American politics and how civil society as well as political units such as interest groups, political parties, political action committees (PACs), super PACs, and the media influence the policy making process. The course will introduce how Congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court operate, both in theory and in practice, and how they work for, and sometimes fail, the interests of the nation. Through various pedagogical tools, students learn to think analytically and systematically about American politics, and the importance of the study of American government.

SSHIS-3000-1: Social Problems

This course examines major social problems shaping contemporary life, including racism and inequality, economic precarity, access to healthcare and education, free speech controversies, student protest movements, the curtailing of DEI initiatives, artificial intelligence, and the growing crisis of affordability across key public institutions. A central focus of the course is how social problems are defined, measured, and governed. Students examine the role of political narratives, institutional practices, media, and data in shaping public understanding and policy responses. The course introduces key tools for critical inquiry, including media literacy, basic data interpretation, and analytical approaches to emerging technologies such as AI. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with conceptual frameworks and practical skills to critically engage contemporary social issues and to think carefully about questions of access, power, and collective responsibility.