What I hope students took away most is a sense of historical empathy. World War II forced millions into impossible situations and understanding those choices helps us think more clearly about our own world. I also hope they learned that big events are made up of smaller, personal stories—and that examining those stories leads to deeper, more meaningful historical insights....
The creation of a new course is a significant undertaking for a faculty member—it takes research, diligence, and a deep commitment to student learning. It also takes a lot of time: the course proposal process is extremely rigorous, going through a minimum of 8 levels of approval, from the department to the college, all the way to the Provost, often with multiple rounds of revisions. From conception to classroom, creating a new course often takes years.
Still, in 2024–25, faculty in the College of LAS created nearly 60 new courses—each one a testament to the curiosity and dedication that drive meaningful impact in our classrooms and beyond.
Here we spotlight a selection of these newly created courses, all of which have been taught for at least one semester, with brief reflections from the faculty and instructional staff who created and taught them. These spotlights highlight the innovative spirit of our educators and the College’s commitment to shaping transformative learning experiences.
If you’re interested in learning more about the course creation process, see LAS Guidelines for course creation, revision, and deactivation.
Block Reference
I hope students take away from this course that entertainment does not have to be seen as a “guilty pleasure” or something that is merely a distraction from the “seriousness” of politics and news. Rather, the political encompasses essentially all of public life, and even the things we do for fun, like watch movies or use social media, are politically consequential....
Statistical techniques are used across scientific disciplines, so if we want to understand how science works and whether it is rationally justified, we need to understand statistics. My hope is that thinking explicitly about the foundational issues from a philosophical perspective will help us to do scientific and political work -- that our lives will be improved as a result of philosophical...
College students will make 15 – 17 career moves during their work lives. Success beyond college requires strong skills to navigate these transitions. I hope that students gain confidence and clarity for their career directions. I would like them to understand where their professional experience fits into both their current academic work and their desired next steps ...
I love movies! I started teaching geology classes and kept getting questions based on an understanding of geology that came from disaster movies. That's when I realized I could teach geology by showing what was wrong with movies. I hope that students take away some understanding of how our Earth works, and that often, it's even cooler than what they show in the movies...
I created this course because insects fascinate me. They are remarkably successful from an evolutionary perspective, and their unique physiology has allowed them to adapt to nearly every environment on Earth. I want students to see patterns—how structure connects to function, and how we can learn from these systems to solve modern problems ...
ESL 535 - Introduction to Technical WritingSemesters offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026Course developer: Jin Pennell, Senior Lecturer, Linguistics; teaching in LAS for 15 years1. How would you...
LAS 450 - Foundations of Academic Research and Creative ActivitySemesters offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026Course developer: Kelvin Droegemeier, Professor and Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Science...