Current Courses
Current Courses
All of our current courses are closed. Click the "upcoming" tab above to explore and register for next term's courses!
Closed Courses
In Session
How are astronomers approaching their search for life in the universe? What have we learned from the surge of exoplanets discoveries? How likely is it that Earth does not host the only life in the Universe? In this course we explore the field of astrobiology, an emerging multidisciplinary field. Progress in astrobiology is driven by telescopes on the ground and in space, and by new insights on how biology emerged on Earth and its diversity. The first detection of life beyond Earth might happen in the Solar System or by seeing biology’s alteration of an exoplanet’s atmosphere. A longshot...
In Session
The monumental symphonies of Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), which have captivated and challenged musicians and audiences for more than a hundred years, stand as landmark works of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. In each of the unique works, Mahler drew heavily on the established Romantic musical tradition but also expanded the landscape of the symphony as a musical genre in unprecedented ways. Primarily through lectures and listening to recordings of excerpts, we will explore all ten of Mahler’s completed symphonies (including Das Lied von der Erde) to consider their compositional...
In Session
Concentrating on five of Shakespeare’s comedies, this seminar will inquire into the ways in which Shakespeare’s development of comedy’s distinctive theme of romantic love enabled him to explore a range of issues. These include hetero- and homosexual love, parent-child relationships, as well as broader political concerns. Essential to the endeavor will be the analysis of character, language, and plot. The ultimate aim will be to deepen our sense of the richness and variety of comedy as Shakespeare wrote it. It was the dramatic form he turned to more often than any other.
In Session
This course explores the history of criminal justice systems in the ancient Mediterranean through close examination of select primary sources. Its primary focus is Greece and Rome, but it will also cover Pharaonic Egypt and the Ancient Near East. We shall move chronologically, geographically, and topically, treating a broad range of literary and archaeological evidence. Law codes from Mesopotamia, tomb robbery in the Egyptian New Kingdom, the trial and execution of Socrates, police in the provinces of Rome, execution by gladiator, spiritual and allegorical punishment: the course...
In Session
One hundred and one years since the signing of the Colorado River Compact, 24 years into a mega-drought, and two years away from new guidelines on sharing the waters, it’s time to take a close look at the past, present, and future of the Colorado River. Where does the water come from, and where does it go? What are the effects of climate change on the river? Whose priorities - tribes, nature, farms, cities, states, countries - supersede the others? Who decides? In this course we will examine all of these important questions and more.
This course is an updated version of one first...
In Session
In this course, we’ll explore the work of four writers contemporary to each other, week by week: Larry Levis, Carl Phillips, Ada Limón and Brigit Pegeen Kelly. We’ll spend time together learning about what makes them the celebrated writers they are—what formal choices they might be making on the page, and how their unique styles as poets create a singular quality to their work. Each course session will have a short orienting lecture, and the balance of the time will be more conversational in nature, following student feedback and questions arising from the course reading. In surveying...
In Session
The two extant passion settings by J.S. Bach continue to move audiences of all faiths as profound artistic expressions and rank as some of the most poignant musical compositions ever written. Holy Week of 2024 celebrates the 300th anniversary of the first time that the Leipzig congregants heard the ST. JOHN PASSION, changing the scope and magnitude of Passion composition forever. This four-session course will examine the history and development of Passion genre from its earliest liturgical responsorial expressions to the monumental Oratorio- Passion structures of Bach’s St. John and St....
In Session
This humanities seminar (2-hour, 10-week) is an examination of the art, architecture, sculpture, literature and history of the republic of Florence during its period of greatest importance to world history. We will begin by examining the first glimmerings in the frescoes of Giotto, the literary works of Petrarch and Boccaccio, the sculptural work of Donatello and Ghiberti, and the architecture and engineering of Brunelleschi. We will study the dynamics of the court of Lorenzo de’Medici, including Poliziano, Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, and Botticelli.
As artistic...
In Session
fter Fitzgerald sent a copy of The Great Gatsby to Wharton, she wrote him back, saying that his was the fiction of the future, hers “the literary equivalent of gas chandeliers.” Although Wharton saw herself as an American Victorian as opposed to Fitzgerald the “Modernist,” they connected as writers in more ways than one. According to Wharton’s biographer, Fitzgerald “revered” Wharton because she anticipated so many of his own themes about money and social class.
This course will begin with Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise, both published in...
In Session
This course focuses on Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE), the far-famed last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt and a key powerbroker during a period of important political change. Her legacy in the western world emphasizes her actions as a “romantic” agent, a deployer of “feminine wiles”, a hostile representation drawn by her opponents. A broader examination of Cleopatra's context demonstrates her connections to a number of dynamic royal women in the Hellenistic world, all image-makers in their own right, wielding female authority and patronage in a cosmopolitan, multicultural world. This course will sift...
In Session
Food is essential for living. What and how much food is consumed impacts both quality and longevity of life. For some people, knowing where and how the source of their food was raised and harvested impacts that person’s ethical and moral beliefs. On the other hand, food manufacturers are economically motivated to entice consumers to select their product over that of a competitor. How one food manufacturer labels their product becomes a primary deciding factor, often more so than cost, of what gets purchased and consumed.
Regulations and policies associated with the labeling of...